Vangelis: Odyssey

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald rating: * * )

Snicker if you will -- and you're allowed, this does sound very 80s -- but synth mechanic Vangelis at least made memorable music. The theme to Chariots of Fire, for example.

He also delivered up the love theme and end title music of Bladerunner, which are here (the later versions, not the original soundtrack treatments) on this 18-track collection alongside his swelling Hymn from Opera Sauvage (chimes like shattering glassware) and the anthem for the Fifa World Cup in 2002.

If you've got his Themes album you've got a third of what's here; the entrapment for fans is a new track, the musically predictable Celtic Dawn. It all sounds like it would be best heard in a cinema with Val Morgan or Dolby ads on the screen, but you've got to give the man his due: he knew the word "pomposity" -- and didn't flinch an inch.

(Universal)