Chariots of Fire (Vangelis)

(1981)

Recorded by Vangelis in his new London Studio in 1981, the Main Titles of the Chariots of Fire soundtrack were an amazing success, remaining on the Top 200 of the UK’s Billboard charts for over 100 weeks. It’s easily the most famous work of the composer’s career and has been the musical accompaniment to numerous parodies, most of which feature slow-motion video footage, as does the opening scene of the film. Interestingly however, this was not the original main title them that Vangelis wrote for the film – the initial theme that was written impressed the director so much he said to Vangelis that it couldn’t possibly be made any better. Vangelis went ahead and wrote this piece anyway, and presented to the director and producer at the last minute, telling them if they liked the new piece they could use it, if they didn’t, they could just keep the old one. They liked the new theme that Vangelis had composed, and it became of the most famous themes ever written.

As successful as it was, it received criticism from some for the fact that modern synthesized music was being used in a 1920’s film. Vangelis was even sued for plagiarism by Stavros Logaridis, but acquitted when he demonstrated his composition style live on his synthesizers in court.

The main issue with this score however, is the fact, that, as wonderful as the main title may be, the remainder of the score is just a boring electronic drone. To say again – the main theme is wonderful and deserves every bit of praise it gets, but as a whole, I personally think that this score is rather overrated, and the fact that it won the Oscar over John Williams’ Raiders of the Lost Ark (and, to a slightly lesser degree, Randy Newman’s Ragtime) remains one of the biggest injustices as far as the Oscar for Original Score goes. Even Vangelis himself reportedly does not consider this score among his most compelling works. Having said that, I would say personally that this score is worth purchasing just for the main titles, although you can purchase them as a single download off Amazon for just 69p, without having to buy the entire album.

Purchase from Amazon: CD | Download (UK)

Purchase from Amazon (USA)

Track Listing

1 – Titles

2 – Five Circles

3 – Abraham’s Theme

4 – Eric’s Theme

5 – 100 Metres

6 – Jerusalem

7 – Chariots of Fire

Credits

Composed, Performed and Produced by Vangelis

Awards

Academy Award for Best Original Score (Won)

BAFTA Award for Best Music (nominated)

Insert Notes

None – Purchased as MP3 Download

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