Albedo 0.39

Untitled

Albedo 0.39 is an album by the artist Vangelis, released in 1976. It is a concept album around space and space physics. Albedo 0.39 was the second album produced by Vangelis in Nemo Studios, London, which was his creative base until the late 1980s. It contrasts with his previous album, Heaven and Hell, which was classically inspired and choral, while Albedo 0.39 has blues and jazz overtones. Nevertheless, both albums share a classic, 1970's aura of intense electronic majesty.

Albedo

The album title refers to the average albedo value of the planet Earth as it was in 1976. From the explanation on the back of the LP cover : "The reflecting power of a planet or other non-luminous body. A perfect reflector would have an Albedo of 100%. The Earth's Albedo is 39%, or 0.39".

Due to a variety of solar, atmospheric, electromagnetic, seasonal, and pollution issues, earth's albedo value is in constant flux. See 'Sources', below, for data pertaining to the issue.

Instruments

Vangelis plays all instruments. Although it is uncertain which synthesizers Vangelis employs on this album, other instruments include acoustic drums, bass, percussion, a xylophone, a gamelan (track 2) and recordings of the speaking clock (courtesy of Post Office communications) and the Apollo moon landing ("courtesy of NASA"). It appears Vangelis alternates synthesizer and acoustic basses on different tracks.

The only vocal is the narrative on the title track, which is uncredited. It was later revealed to be the voice of Vangelis' sound engineer, Keith Spencer-Allen.

Overview

"Pulstar" (supposedly a contraction of "pulsar" and "star") was to be the most popular track, building on a synthesizer pulse sequence, a trumpet main line and various other synthesizer brass lines. It ends with a recording of the speaking clock.

"Freefall" builds on a gamelan sequence, two flutes and a synthesizer line.

"Mare Tranquillitatis" is a quiet synthesizer piece featuring recordings of several Apollo moon landings. Samples of this track can be heard on Enigma's album, The Cross of Changes (uncredited).

"Main sequence" is propelled by a pulsed synthesizer sequence, along which a trumpet- and drums-based jazz track develops. It calms down and flows into—

"Sword of Orion", built on an arpeggio chord, trumpet melody, and percussion.

On "Alpha", Vangelis employs a composing technique he would use extensively on later albums (e.g. Direct): a simple theme of a few bars is developed through increasingly complex instrumentation. Instruments include a slow synthesizer arpeggio, synthesizer mallet melody line, xylophone, percussion and (later) acoustic drums. It is a rather upbeat piece.

The "Nucleogenesis" suite conveys a somewhat darker mood, employing a church organ, an organ synthesizer pulse, various lines of Vangelis' patent synthesizer brass, acoustic drums and basses. Although hard to classify, the pieces appear to hold a ground between classical, blues and hard rock.

The title track, "Albedo 0.39" is an atmospheric track building on waxing and waning synthesizer chords and arpeggios, while a voice with a British accent narrates various physical properties of the Earth, such as its mass, length of the year in various measurements, and, finally, its albedo (amount of light reflected back into space).

Excerpts from "Pulstar" and "Alpha" can be heard on episodes of Carl Sagan's documentary series Cosmos, along with several other Vangelis themes. "Alpha" was used over animation illustrating evolutionary theory.

"Pulstar" was used as the theme music for a children's BBC television programme, "Horses Galore". It was also used as an early theme tune for ESPN's Sportscenter and ABS-CBN's news program TV Patrol. Some local newscasts used Pulstar as theme music, including WNEV in Boston, CBLT in Toronto and CFCF (channel 12, CTV) in Montreal. Pulstar is also the name of an arcade shoot 'em-up published by SNK in 1995. In Brazil it appeared on a TV add for the former cigarette brand "Advance", in a well produced, high tech styled 3 minute long clip by director João Daniel Tikomiroff filmou. it was an instantaneous success due to it's vanguard looks for the time. It involved several cigarettes rolling and moving to make geometric shapes.

Track listing

All songs written and arranged by Vangelis

1. "Pulstar" – 5:45
2. "Freefall" – 2:20
3. "Mare Tranquillitatis" – 1:45
4. "Main Sequence" – 8:15
5. "Sword of Orion" – 2:05
6. "Alpha" – 5:45
7. "Nucleogenesis (Part One)" – 6:15
8. "Nucleogenesis (Part Two)" – 5:50
9. "Albedo 0.39" – 4:30

Personnel

• Vangelis - synthesizers, keyboards, bass, drums
• Keith Spencer-Allen - engineer

Charts

The album reached # 18 in UK Album Charts

Sources

• Album lyrics
• 'Vangelis Movements' webpage entry
• 'Elsewhere' webpage entry
• "Inside the Synth lab" interview with Keith Spencer-Allen
• Samples
• "Albedo" information : 1 , 2 , 3