Retro album of the week 8 - Oceanic

Oceanic appeared at the end of 1996 and was Vangelis's seventeenth solo studio album. By this time he was in quite a new age groove, which is not to everyone's taste but I really like this instrumental album, which is more of a classical album in style than a rock thing. The theme is the sea (with tracks such as "Bon Voyage" - 2:33 "Sirens' Whispering" - 7:59 "Dreams of Surf" - 2:43 "Spanish Harbour" - 6:42 "Islands of the Orient" - 7:24 "Fields of Coral" - 7:44 "Aquatic Dance" - 3:44, etc). The sound effects of the sea between tracks that turn it into one continuous track are done seamlessly. They even lifted a single from it (the gloriously Shadows-inspired "Song of the seas"). This album will not be to everyone's taste but I just love it. Interestingly, it did best in Hungary, where they have no sea. I'm not a sea lover a such myself. Appropriately enough the US version came out on the Atlantic label.