Jon and Vangelis - The Best of Jon and Vangelis

[TomDac]

<TABLE border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Jon and Vangelis
The Best of Jon and Vangelis
1984 Polygram Records
Genre: Pop

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<TABLE border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=750>General Comments
[size=-2]01/10/2004 Tom D'Acquisto [/size]
Jon and Vangelis is Jon Anderson, lead singer for the progressive rock band Yes, who was most popular in the 70’s and 80’s, and the composer Vangelis. They did several albums together and this is their “Best of” CD.

The CD contains lots of sweeping from one channel to another which is very much a trademark of Vangelis. This can be heard at the extensively in the intro to track 4 “One More Time” and in Track 3 “State of Independence”, which is one of my favorite tracks on the disk.

Track 6, “The Friends of Mr. Cairo” is the reason I bought this CD. It’s got lots of sweeping gunshot and car chase sound effects and will prove to anyone that Martin Logans can deliver punch and bass very quickly. At 1:55 there is a huge thumping drum beat. This starts off and on again starting 3:59 into the track and if your jaw doesn’t drop, there is something wrong with your system. You should feel this thumping in your chest! This is another song to use as a reference when auditioning equipment. Recording quality of this CD is good. AAD designated.

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[TomDac]

In the UK top 10 again! Hmmm. Wonder why.

Not sure why, but this CD is in the UK top 10 again. Perhaps there's a movie that features some of their music....

:musicnote:

 

[STV]

Wow, that's pretty amazing! An album that was originally released back in '84 is in the top 10 spot in the UK. Tom's right about this recording, It's very well done. Looks like those Brits have some good taste in music Very interesting, thanks for sharing

 

[invenio]

This has been one of my most played CD's in the last few weeks. This past week there was a day I actually listened to it twice in one day. Although my favorite song is "I'll find my home", the song "The friends of Mr. Cairo" is probably the best demo song I have ever heard in showing the limits of what my Vantages can do for clarity, sound-stage, and dynamic range. I would advise anybody out there who doesn't own this CD to pick it up, I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

 

[MDSPHOTO]

I bought this CD when it came out and I always go back to it for the Friends of Mr. Cairo track. The thumping bass line near the end of the track sounds phenomenal through the Summits. If you like this CD due to Jon Anderson's vocals, I would also highly recommend you check out the "Legend" soundtrack where he teams with Tangerine Dream and Kitaro's "Dreams" album.

 

[TomDac]

Hey guys,
glad there are others who love this disc. I'm a huge Yes fan also.. just love Jon's voice. Anyway, I must mention that the "Friends of Mr. Cairo" song on this disc is the abbreviated "radio friendly" version. The song on the "Friends of Mr. Cairo" album is over 12 minutes long and is just magnificent.

 

[invenio]

Hey guys,
glad there are others who love this disc. I'm a huge Yes fan also.. just love Jon's voice. Anyway, I must mention that the "Friends of Mr. Cairo" song on this disc is the abbreviated "radio friendly" version. The song on the "Friends of Mr. Cairo" album is over 12 minutes long and is just magnificent.

Wow, now I have to get that album as well! The track length on the Best of cd is nearly 12 minutes.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Thanks Tom, looks like another disc to pick up.

 

[TomDac]

Hmm..

Here's the 2nd half of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNugjm0iNxU

This portion of the song is NOT on the "Best of" disc... At least not the one I have. The song ends at about 6 minutes. The other half of the song IS on the "Friend of Mr. Cairo" Disc. Maybe they re-released it with the full version of the "Mr Cairo" track.

Regardless, the rest of the "Mr. Cairo" disc is really nice too..

 

[MickeyVee]

Hmmm.. my pressing of the 'Best Of' has an 11:50 version. I find the recording compressed but I'm listening to an Apple Losless (iTunes 8) version I ripped years ago.
I love this CD but remember that is was a little flat and lifeless. Going to dig out the physical CD from the archives and give it another shot. I may just be a bad rip..

 

[invenio]

Hmmm.. my pressing of the 'Best Of' has an 11:50 version. I find the recording compressed but I'm listening to an Apple Losless (iTunes 8) version I ripped years ago.
I love this CD but remember that is was a little flat and lifeless. Going to dig out the physical CD from the archives and give it another shot. I may just be a bad rip..

Wow, that's really unusual. The CD played on my oppo with Conrad Johnson preamp and amplifier on ML Vantages is one of the most dynamic songs I have heard. All the way from the subtle sound of the film projector near the end of the track to the booming sound of the gunfire earlier on. I'm presuming your playing this from a computer (as you mentioned itunes), what type of DAC are you using?

 

[MDSPHOTO]

Hmmm.. my pressing of the 'Best Of' has an 11:50 version. I find the recording compressed but I'm listening to an Apple Losless (iTunes 8) version I ripped years ago.
I love this CD but remember that is was a little flat and lifeless. Going to dig out the physical CD from the archives and give it another shot. I may just be a bad rip..

I played my version from Best of yesterday and it is also 11:50 in length. Again, if you like Jon Anderson's vocals combined with more new age type music check out these two discs below.

 

[MickeyVee]

Yes, 2011 MacBook Air >> Furutech USB cable >> PS Audio DL III >> Rotel RSX 1560 >> Vista
It's sounds good, but not great. All of the detail is there except the dynamics I expect. Can't find the original CD but I've moved 3 times sing I burned it years ago. Still on the hunt for the CD. Definitely want to give the CD a try (Oppo BD83 >> DL III)

Wow, that's really unusual. The CD played on my oppo with Conrad Johnson preamp and amplifier on ML Vantages is one of the most dynamic songs I have heard. All the way from the subtle sound of the film projector near the end of the track to the booming sound of the gunfire earlier on. I'm presuming your playing this from a computer (as you mentioned itunes), what type of DAC are you using?

 

[invenio]

Yes, 2011 MacBook Air >> Furutech USB cable >> PS Audio DL III >> Rotel RSX 1560 >> Vista
It's sounds good, but not great. All of the detail is there except the dynamics I expect. Can't find the original CD but I've moved 3 times sing I burned it years ago. Still on the hunt for the CD. Definitely want to give the CD a try (Oppo BD83 >> DL III)

You can try to burn the audio files to CD and play it on your Oppo, if it sounds better, than I think it's the MacBook air, you may want to go directly from the oppo to the Rotel just to make sure it's not the PS audio (however I doubt that's the problem). Clearly, you would want to compare this to the original CD. Let us know what happens! You could probably pick this CD up used online for a few bucks (try amazon and gohastings).

 

[MickeyVee]

Finally found the original CD.. I get what Tom says in his original post but my jaw doesn't drop.

CD in the Oppo and tried it three ways, through the DL III (preferred) and direct analogue out and again through the MacBookAir. Good but not jaw dropping and I definitely hear the potential. I know my system can reproduce good recordings well and blu-rays are just jaw dropping (as Tom says :bowdown: )

Just for giggles, I re-ripped it in iTunes and ran it out of my MBA through a portable dac/amp into a pair of Sennheiser HD-25's and heard pretty much the same thing. I do love it through the headphones :music:

I'm sure I got the CD when it first came out.. may purchase a more recent copy and see if there's any difference. I know that I do need to spend some time to tune the Vista/Grotto integration for 2 channel stuff. (or time for the McIntosh 6600 I've been cooling over)

In the mean time, I still love this CD and thank Tom for his comments leading me to shake the dust of this one.

 

[invenio]

I bought the LP version of this recently and it's also a truly great record. It's interesting to listen to the same album on CD and then LP, same "music", very different experience!

 

[Rehan Azim Hashmi]

Thanks Mr. TomDac for recommending this very good recording. I have placed an Amazon internet purchase order for The best of Jon and Vangelis. I look forward to listening to this album. The 80's were my favorite music decade.

 

[invenio]

I played my version from Best of yesterday and it is also 11:50 in length. Again, if you like Jon Anderson's vocals combined with more new age type music check out these two discs below.

I listened to Kitaro's Dream album as you suggested. It was a very pleasant listening experience. The highlights for me were the 3 tracks that Jon Anderson lends his vocal to. My favorite was the last track "Island of Life." Audio quality was 4/5 in my opinion.

 

[MDSPHOTO]

I listened to Kitaro's Dream album as you suggested. It was a very pleasant listening experience. The highlights for me were the 3 tracks that Jon Anderson lends his vocal to. My favorite was the last track "Island of Life." Audio quality was 4/5 in my opinion.

Glad you liked and would agree with your assessment that the JA tracks were the highlights of the album.

 

[Rehan Azim Hashmi]

Mr. TomDac i finally after a long waiting period listened to Best of Jon and Vangelis.
I was not at all disappointed. The music is excellent. Like they say in the West for wine
that it is a good or very good year. Similarly i say 1984 was a very good year for music since
many outstanding albums were created in this year. Though my CD is not a digitally
re-mastered edition if such a edition exists. For a AAD recording made in 1984 the
dynamics are good. On my system I have to turn up the volume to enjoy completely
the excellent music. The quality of the recording is very good, just slightly less
dynamic than most recent CD's in the market place.
Once again, thanks Mr. TomDac for a very enjoyable album.