I am a huge fan of the animated series Mysterious Cities of Gold, it is my favourite programme of ALL time and was a formative part of my childhood; single handedly igniting my interest in anime, manga, South and Central American cultures and synthesizer music (It's why I love Jarre, Vangelis and Oldfield).
In my mancave I have a MCOG medallion, an original cel, a French book discussing the making of (even though I haven't studied French since my GCSE's 20 years ago) and a model of the golden condor. However no mention of The Mysterious Cities of Gold would be complete without a mention of the mesmerising soundtrack. There have been some amazing soundtracks for TV shows over the years but the synthesizers and futuristic sounds used in the soundtrack gave this series a unique, mesmerising atmosphere all its own.
Wagram have re-released the original French soundtrack, which contains all the key themes and tunes from the series. The track list is:
Track 1 Cités D'or
Track 2 Thème De Zia
Track 3 Thème De Tao
Track 4 Thèmes D'Esteban
Track 5 L'aventure De Tao
Track 6 Le Vol Du Condor
Track 7 Heureux Esteban
Track 8 L'aventure D'Esteban
Track 9 Tristes Cités D'or
Track 10 En Naviguant
Track 11 Les Incas
Track 12 Esteban Dans La Ville
Track 13 La Tempête
Track 14 Les Dieux Des Incas
Track 15 Les Aventures Electroniques
Track 16 Les Cités D'or (Instrumental Version)
The vinyl was re-released on 15th December 2017 but I only got around to getting it recently. I've reviewed the soundtrack before but only on CD. This vinyl has a lot of great tracks but is by no means complete. The most glaring omissions is St. Elmo's Fire (also known on other versions of the soundtrack as La Passage Secret), known to many fans as the Song of Mysterious Awesomeness. The sense of awe and wonder this music piece brought in me at the time was palpable, I would shake with excitement as this track was reserved for only the most special moments of the series. It is used when a new discovery is made or when the characters experienced a grand phenomena. The juddering driving synths mixed with the whoozy flow of the main tune lend the piece an otherworldly air which perfectly suited the air of mystery. I have extremely powerful memories of this track as this music was used on the maiden flight of the golden condor. The point when the machine comes online for the first time and flies is etched in my memory. I've seen this episode more than any other (I watch the series annually) but I still get goosebumps when the music kick in. The link to this moment is below and I would recommend you watch it (it kicks in at 56 seconds).