Vangelis -- Chariots of Fire (Titles)

 

Well, I only heard the news late last night right after I had finished the usual Thursday ROY article for Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes", but unfortunately Greek musician and composer Vangelis (Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou) passed away a few days ago on May 17th at the age of 79. He actually already has some representation on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" since I wrote about his moving contribution to the 2002 World Cup by Japan and South Korea through the tournament's official "Anthem".

And as much as he has been lauded for his work on "Blade Runner", I think that when the news came out on his death, most folks remembered the 1981 sports historical film "Chariots of Fire" starring Ben Cross and John Gielgud.

Pretty much everyone who saw "Chariots of Fire" and even those who never did will most likely remember the theme song by Vangelis and the footage of British Olympic athletes running barefoot along the sea. From what I read on Wikipedia, Vangelis didn't want to go full historical, musically speaking, but he also didn't want to go full electronic either, and so the end result was "Titles" according to the movie soundtrack list. However, for all those listeners and radio DJs out there, the song was known simply as "Chariots of Fire".

Just my opinion, but what Vangelis did in his contribution to the movie was akin to what John Williams had done with "Star Wars" a few years earlier. No one would have imagined Williams to come up with a swashbuckling score worthy of Errol Flynn to support a sci-fi movie, and so I think that it was pretty brave for Vangelis to bring in a Yamaha CS-80 among other electronic instruments to help score a movie about the 1924 Olympics in Paris, France. And yet in an age when the synthesizer was beginning to excite musicians and music lovers alike through pop music in general, "Titles" knocked the socks off of everyone as the theme for a serious movie with its combination of anthemic electronics and elegant piano illustrating something joyous, inspiring and proud.

Released as a single in March 1981, it reached No. 1 on America's Billboard chart and No. 4 in Canada. The movie itself won a couple of Oscars: Best Movie and Best Original Score. I remember it getting plenty of airplay on the radio for months. I offer my condolences to Vangelis' family, friends and fans. 

Since Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" was also released in the same month and I've scoured through the Oricon chart there, I'll go with what won at the Japan Record Awards in 1981 to show what the big hits were.

Grand Prize: Akira Terao -- Ruby no Yubiwa (ルビーの指輪)

Best Song: Hiromi Iwasaki -- Sumire Iro no Namida （すみれ色の涙）

Golden Aidoru Prize: Seiko Matsuda -- Kaze Tachinu （風立ちぬ）