Albedo 0.39 is an album by the artist
VangelisEvangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
, released in 1976. It is a
concept albumIn music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
around space and
space physicsAstrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior...
.
Albedo 0.39 was the second album produced by
VangelisEvangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name 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.
Albedo
A planet's
albedoAlbedo , or reflection coefficient, is the diffuse reflectivity or reflecting power of a surface. It is defined as the ratio of reflected radiation from the surface to incident radiation upon it...
is the proportion of the light it receives that is reflected back into space. The album title refers to the average
albedoAlbedo , or reflection coefficient, is the diffuse reflectivity or reflecting power of a surface. It is defined as the ratio of reflected radiation from the surface to incident radiation upon it...
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
gamelanA gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....
(track 2) and recordings of the
speaking clockA speaking clock service is a recorded or simulated human voice service, usually accessed by telephone, that gives the correct time. The first telephone speaking clock service was introduced in France, in association with the Paris Observatory on 14 February 1933.The format of the service is...
(
courtesy of Post Office communications) and the Apollo moon landing (
courtesy of NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
). 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" (possibly a portmanteau of "
pulsarA pulsar is a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. The radiation can only be observed when the beam of emission is pointing towards the Earth. This is called the lighthouse effect and gives rise to the pulsed nature that gives pulsars their name...
" and "
starA star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
") was to be the most popular track, building on a
synthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
pulse sequence, a trumpet main line and various other synthesizer brass lines. It ends with a recording of the
speaking clockA speaking clock service is a recorded or simulated human voice service, usually accessed by telephone, that gives the correct time. The first telephone speaking clock service was introduced in France, in association with the Paris Observatory on 14 February 1933.The format of the service is...
.
"Freefall" builds on a
gamelanA gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....
sequence, two flutes and a synthesizer line.
"
Mare TranquillitatisMare Tranquillitatis is a lunar mare that sits within the Tranquillitatis basin on the Moon. The mare material within the basin consists of basalt formed in the intermediate to young age group of the Upper Imbrian epoch. The surrounding mountains are thought to be of the Lower Imbrian epoch, but...
" is a quiet synthesizer piece featuring recordings of several
ApolloThe Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration , that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F...
moon landings. Samples of this track can be heard on
EnigmaEnigma is an electronic musical project founded in Germany by Michael Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson in 1990. The Romanian-born Cretu conceived the Enigma project while working in Germany, but has based his recording studio A.R.T. Studios in Ibiza, Spain, since the early 1990s until May...
's album,
The Cross of ChangesThe Cross of Changes is a 1993 album by the musical project Enigma. It is Enigma's second album, following MCMXC a.D., released three years earlier....
(uncredited).
"
Main sequenceThe main sequence is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness. These color-magnitude plots are known as Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams after their co-developers, Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Norris Russell...
" 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
OrionOrion, often referred to as The Hunter, is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous, and most recognizable constellations in the night sky...
", 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 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. Although hard to classify, the pieces appear to hold a ground between classical, fusion and progressive rock.
The title track, "Albedo 0.39" is an atmospheric track building 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.
Track listing
All songs written and arranged by
VangelisEvangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
- "Pulstar" – 5:45
- "Freefall" – 2:20
- "Mare Tranquillitatis" – 1:45
- "Main Sequence" – 8:15
- "Sword of Orion" – 2:05
- "Alpha" – 5:45
- "Nucleogenesis (Part One)" – 6:15
- "Nucleogenesis (Part Two)" – 5:50
- "Albedo 0.39" – 4:30
Appearances in other media
"Pulstar" was used as the theme music for a children's
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television programme,
Horses GaloreHorses Galore was a BBC1 children's TV programme broadcast between 1977 and 1979. The theme tune was Pulstar from the album Albedo by Vangelis. The presenter was Susan King....
. It was also used as an early theme tune for
ESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
's
SportsCenterSportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...
and
ABS-CBNABS–CBN Corporation is a Philippine-based media conglomerate. It is the Philippines' largest media and entertainment conglomerate. The corporation was the merger of Alto Broadcasting System which at that time owned by James Lindenberg and Antonio Quirino, and the Chronicle Broadcasting Network ...
's news program TV Patrol. Some local newscasts used Pulstar as theme music, including
WNEVWHDH, digital channel 42 , is an NBC-affiliated television station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest NBC station not owned by the network. Owned by Sunbeam Television, WHDH is a sister station to CW affiliate WLVI...
in Boston, CBLT in Toronto and CFCF (channel 12, CTV) in Montreal. Pulstar is also the name of an
arcade shoot 'em-upis a shoot 'em up developed by now defunct Aicom Co. Ltd and published by SNK for the Neo Geo, Neo Geo CD and arcade; it is the prequel of Blazing Star. Pulstar, as well as its sequel, are often regarded as among the best-looking shoot 'em up games for the Neo Geo.-Story:In the year 2248, the first...
published by
SNKSNK Playmore Corporation is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of , which was SNK's original name. The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986....
in 1995. In Brazil it appeared on a TV ad for the cigarette brand Advance, in a high-tech styled, three-minute long clip by director João Daniel Tikomiroff involving several cigarettes rolling and moving to make geometric shapes. It was an instantaneous success due to its vanguard look for the time.
Excerpts from "Pulstar" and "Alpha" can be heard on episodes of
Carl SaganCarl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books...
's
documentaryDocumentary television is a genre of television programming that broadcasts documentaries.* Documentary television series, a television series which is made up of documentary episodes....
series
CosmosCosmos: A Personal Voyage is a thirteen-part television series written by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, and Steven Soter, with Sagan as presenter. It was executive-produced by Adrian Malone, produced by David Kennard, Geoffrey Haines-Stiles and Gregory Andorfer, and directed by the producers, David...
, along with several other Vangelis themes. "Alpha" was used over animation illustrating evolutionary theory, with the music's climax timed to coincide with the appearance and achievements of humans. Excerpts from "Pulstar" and "Alpha" were also used in the 1980 film
Death of a PrincessDeath of a Princess is a British 1980 drama-documentary, produced by ATV, produced in cooperation with WGBH in the United States. The drama, be based on the true story of Princess Masha'il, or Mish'al is the story of a young princess from Saudi Arabia Islamic nation and her lover who had been...
.
An excerpt from "Pulstar" was used as the title track in the 2009
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary
Micro MenMicro Men is a one-off BBC drama television show set in the late 1970s and 1980s, about the rise of the British home computer market, particularly the rivalry between Sir Clive Sinclair who developed the ZX Spectrum, and Chris Curry - the man behind the BBC Micro; played by Alexander Armstrong and...
.
Sources