Albedo 0.39


Albedo 0.39 is a studio album by the Greek electronic composer Vangelis, released in 1976. It 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. It was his first Top 20 UK album.

Overview

It is a concept album themed around space physics. Its title is inspired by the idea of a planet's albedo, the proportion of the light it receives that is reflected back into space. The album title refers to the average albedo value of the planet Earth as it was calculated by science 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".
As with Heaven and Hell, it was performed at the Royal Albert Hall in 1977.

Release

The album reached #18 on the UK Album Charts. In 2011 the album was included along with Heaven and Hell and Spiral in a 3-CD box set series "Original Album Classics" by Sony, RCA and Legacy Recordings. In 2013 the album was released in a remastered and reissued digipak edition by Esoteric Recordings.

Instruments

Vangelis plays all instruments. As well as synthesizers, other instruments include acoustic drums, bass, percussion, a xylophone, a gamelan, and recordings of the speaking clock and the Apollo moon landing. The only vocal is the narrative on the closing title track by Vangelis' sound engineer, Keith Spencer-Allen.

Composition

"Pulstar" builds on a synthesizer pulse sequence, a main line and various other synthesizer brass lines. It ends with a recording of the speaking clock. "Freefall" builds on a gamelan sequence and a synthesizer line. "Mare Tranquillitatis" is a quiet synthesizer piece featuring recordings of several Apollo moon landings. "Main Sequence" is propelled by a pulsed synthesizer sequence, along which a drums-based jazz track develops. It calms down and flows into the next song, "Sword of Orion", built on an arpeggio chord, melody, and percussion.
On "Alpha", Vangelis employs a composing technique he would use extensively on later albums : 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 acoustic drums. The "Nucleogenesis" suite is a collage that conveys a somewhat darker mood, employing a church organ, an organ synthesizer pulse, various lines of Vangelis' patent synthesizer brass, acoustic drums and basses. The title track, "Albedo 0.39" builds on waxing and waning synthesizer chords and arpeggios, while a voice, reputedly the album's engineer Keith Spencer-Allen, narrates various physical properties of the Earth, such as its mass, length of the year in various measurements, and, finally, its albedo.

Reception

Mike DeGagne of Allmusic described the tracks as "mesmerizing trips of assorted rhythms that include elements of jazz and mild rock", that along with "Albedo 0.39", "the two parts of "Nucleogenesis" are among the strongest cuts that keep his cosmic theme from deviating, while the livelier "Pulstar" involves some impressive instrumental range and electronic buoyancy". He concluded that "the stretches of notes and rhythms don't become weary or monotonous at any point of the album", and that "intention of conjuring up the vastness and immensity of space is soundly accomplished". Henri Stirk from Background Magazine rated the 2013 edition by Esoteric Recordings 4/5 stars.

Track listing

All songs written and arranged by Vangelis

Personnel

;Production