By Darren Allison
Finally,
Vocalion has treated us to a rather unique couple of albums. Visions of Eight (CDSML
8502) is a film about the personal dreams that make the Olympic Games transcend
the physical into the spiritual. When the Wolper Organization was granted the
authority to record the 1972 official film of the games, they elected to ignore
the traditional documentary approach in favour of the human stories that
emerged during the contests. Whilst the cameras recorded the tragic events
surrounding the death of the Israeli athletes, the film remains a non -
political tribute to all the contestants and to the spirit of the games. Eight
respected directors of the era were brought on board, each with a chance to
capture their separate visions. The producers commissioned three-time Academy Award
winner Henry Mancini to provide a score that captured the film’s international
spirit. Mancini handles the scoring rather well; it is full of his beautiful
melodies, whilst tracks such as ‘Spaced Out’ and ‘Soft Flight’ reveal an
otherworldly, dreamlike quality. It is an album that remains an essential part
of the composer’s body of work. If Visions of Eight was not enough to tempt
Mancini collectors, Vocalion have also added the rare 1977 album Just You and Me Together Love as a bonus. Vocalion’s CD marks the first time this
has been released on a digital format. A rather obscure piece, it features original
music by Mancini scored to the poems and narration of John Laws. Laws worked
for Australian radio and struck up a friendship with Mancini during several of
his tours in the country. It is a
pleasant enough listen and one that will certainly appeal to the Mancini
completists. The audio quality is what
one would come to expect from Vocalion with crisp clear sound, a nicely
produced booklet and production notes. Original British LP artwork has been
reproduced for the front cover, with the option of reversing to display the
original Japanese LP artwork – perfectly thought out and highly recommended!
Keep em coming! Darren Allison
http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=CDSML8502