Vangelis ‎– The Dragon (1978, LP, Greece)

Tracklist:

A. The Dragon (15:00)

B1. Stuffed Aubergine (11:27)

B2. Stuffed Tomato (9:24)

Musicians:

Bass Guitar – Brian Odger

Drums – Mick Waller

Guitar – Anargyros Koulouris 'Arghiris'

Keyboards, Percussion – Evangelos Papathanassiou

Violin – Michel Ripoche

"The Dragon" is a composition by Vangelis recorded in 1971 and released in 1978 on an album of the same name. It is an odd piece in Vangelis catalogue. In fact - it is not even officially released - the 1978 album was a cash-in bootleg. Vangelis himself disowned it and characterized as "bad" because it was never really finished. What you can hear is a sketch. A starting point, something meant to be developed but ultimately left undone.

"The Dragon" is long and brooding stomp with some eastern stylings. It is composed in epic fantasy medieval style. It is very much like very-very drawned-out composition of Vangelis former Aphrodite's Child - just bigger, longer and more about the journey than a destination. The length of "The Dragon" is its defining feature. It goes and goes and goes. It moves forward relentlessly. This makes a lot of space for musicians to play off each other occassionally returning to a central theme before bouncong back to another soloing bout.