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•	1992 East West European Album

•	1992 Atlantic Album

•	2025 East West Album

•	1992 East West European Album

•	1992 East West Spanish Album

•	1992 Atlantic Album

When all of these parts of Vangelis' ensemble are put together, he creates a lovely and balanced presentation that emphasizes each part well. The mix of the recording is, as usual for Vangelis' works of this size from the era, extremely wet. That echoing atmosphere extends the score further into new age territory and, with the normal lack of abundant subtleties in Vangelis' constructs, helps to hide the simplicity of the music by making it sound harmoniously overwhelming. Like his score for Alexander a decade later, Vangelis' 1492: Conquest of Paradise is dominated by one spectacular primary theme and populated later by lyrical motifs that share more in tone and performance style than they do in actual structure or narrative. The theme this time around is the rhythmic choral and keyboard piece in "Conquest of Paradise," highlighted by an intoxicatingly infectious, tonally inspiring bass riff and chant that builds in intensity to a few frenzied and victorious synthetic interludes that raise the same positive spirit as the composer's famed identity for Chariots of Fire. This cue, heard most prominently over the end credits of the film, is easily among the highlights of all film music in 1992, and alone it sold countless albums with its cross-over similarities to the music of popular new age group Enigma at the time. It became the anthem for numerous sports teams and European politicians, played through countless venues at conventions, and even blossomed into a surprising staple for weddings in Lebanon. Even Andrè Rieu adapted it to a flashy live performance as part of his usual glitzy act. Lyrics about the new world were eventually written for the tune, and a notable English-language performance of the song form by European singer Dana Winner remains a strong tribute to the melody's legacy. Like Vangelis' other popular scores, however, he fails to adapt this theme very well into the remainder of the score. Development of variations and the reprise of thematic cores has never been his inclination, and of the major cues in this score, only "Twenty Eighth Parallel" elaborates on this title theme in its utterly gorgeous, lighter touch to the keyboarding. (The fuller choral version is dropped elsewhere into the picture by Scott, however, the director seemingly preferring to repeat the victorious interlude sequence for keyboards.)

The remainder of 1492: Conquest of Paradise is far more consistent than Alexander would later be, and while that produces a better listening experience on album, it somewhat cripples the music in the film. For most listeners, the album for this score plays like a standard new age product, each cue providing a new exploration of the same general sound. In the film, however, the score throws aside the concept of synchronization points and often disregards changes of camera angle or scene in favor of long and continuous development of one musical idea, even if the changing visuals on screen are too disparate to use the same cue. Still, some of the recordings are spliced to pieces and meander in and out as needed to accentuate a particular shot. It is "stream of consciousness" music in its most beautiful incarnation, and Scott and Vangelis obviously intended for that stream to act as a free-floating element of discovery in the film. Fortunately for them, nearly every listener of the music (or reader of this review, for that matter), will only be concerned with the music as heard apart from the visuals, so a stunning album is all that matters. As a standalone experience, 1492: Conquest of Paradise is arguably Vangelis' most powerful and gorgeous work. Aside from the aspect of strategic misalignment, there are very few detractions in the on its own. Despite significant character hardship in the film, ranging from introspective tragedy to a massive hurricane, Vangelis' demeanor only marginally reflects these troubled waters. He maintains the minor key for the element of historical awe but switches effortlessly to the major for the hopefulness of the endeavor as needed. The presentation on album is mostly passive until "Hispanola" (which still finishes with a lovely flourish of tonal magnificence) and "Moxica and the Horse," which seems like a failed attempt to truly address the musical needs of the indigenous cultures via harsher guitar and vocal inflection. This music is moderately effective at establishing a mood but retains a "foreign" feel. Outside of the title track's thematic highlight, the score's best moments are the immediately following "Monastery of La Rabida," which hauntingly introduces the religious element into the score, and "Twenty Eighth Parallel," which, as mentioned before, soothingly conveys the main theme with Vangelis' elegant touch at the keyboard.

The material in "Monastery of La Rabida" is adapted fairly frequently into the score for the obvious Catholic influence on the plot, and it, with its liturgical chanting behind the synthetics, represents some of the more appropriately voiced material in context. A resolute choral progression in "Light and Shadow" is one of the score's more ambitious moments, alternating between stark chanting and lyrical performances by the full choir while moving relentlessly forward with forbidding percussion. The solo flute mix in this cue is outstanding, and that mode continues with more introspection in the soothing "West Across the Ocean Sea." A choral crescendo in the latter half of "Deliverance" is frightfully gripping before a somewhat flimsy expression of native rhythm at the outset of "Eternity" is gradually overtaken by a pretty electronic and choral interlude that would also be thrown onto the last minute of "Pinta, Nina, Santa Maria," a lengthy cue that inserts some slight rock rhythms and electric guitars for all of the players and singers. Despite covering the major components of the score, the initial album release of 55 minutes is absent a substantial amount of material, especially in the adapted versions of the various Vangelis ideas that made the picture. A handful of truly unique moments of choral grandeur more akin to Alexander grace the score and receive no representation on this album whatsoever, and many of the more interesting blends of score vocals and diegetic ones in the picture are also missing. Reissued endlessly, however, the 1992 product sustains a popular attraction even if it is missing some of the score's more diverse moments. Later expansions only added two cues amounting to six minutes of material, and none of it is attractive. The drum kit, electric bass, and other pop mannerisms of "Line Open" against solo cello are totally out place in this score, and the cello's extension into "Landscape" is more in line with the remainder of the work but is subdued to a fault. Not surprisingly, fans bootlegged the score extensively in the decades that followed its initial release, but these presentations, while confirming the existence of important unreleased music, were largely riddled with sound effects from the film and featured poor sound quality. There is no doubt that 1492: Conquest of Paradise deserves a proper extended treatment on album, but that appeal exists because of the score's great merits on its own. Its position in the film remains a curious misfire.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

• Music as Written for the Film:  **
• Music as Heard on Album:  *****
• Overall:  ****