The Mysterious Cities of Gold Soundtrack on Vinyl

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).

The Golden Condor's Maiden Voyage... Into My Heart

The Mysterious Cities of Gold was a French- Japanese co-produced animation series by the company with the hilarious name, well at least when you were a kid, DIC Entertainment and Studio Pierrot, a less funny name which is strange considering it is named after a clown! Anyway, the series premiered in Japan on NHK on 29 June 1982 and ran weekly for 39 episodes.

I first caught the series on BBC 1 in the early 80s and was beguiled by the mythical adventure story of a young Spanish boy named Esteban who joins a voyage to the New World in search of the lost Cities of Gold and his father.

The impressive looking background art, sharply drawn characters, and the beautiful soundtrack kept me entranced throughout the whole series, becoming my favourite programme of all time. Against the poorly animated dross on most of 80s children's animation this series really stood out and as a result It informed my formative years and introduced me to the wonders of the ancient world including the Incas, Aztecs, Atlantis and El Dorado. Even at the age of 35 I still regularly revisit the programme every year and I can attest to the fact that it still holds up as an impressive piece of work, even with those rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia taken off.

Whilst browsing through the internet I came across an advertisement promoting the sale of the Golden Condor from the MCOG. Now for those who know the series the Goldon Condor was a magical machine created by the people of Hiva which the children find in episode 18 that uses solar power to fly. It is this magical machine that most people remember the series for mostly, it was features prominently in the opening credits and looked beautiful in the show when animated. The condor flying with the track St. Elmo’s Fire by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy is ingrained in my mind and still gives me goosebumps whenever I watch the series. A chance to own a metal 1:25 scale model of the golden condor was too good an opportunity to pass up as memorabilia to do with the show is extremely rare and expensive. I already own a replica MCOG medallion and an original animation cel and douga but the condor was what I desired so I bought it for just under £100 pound, a high price for someone on a lowly teachers wage but was it worth it? Well, I'll be doing an unboxing soon so watch out.

Jean Michel Jarre Announces Oxygene 3 Album

It was nearly 40 years ago that electronic music pioneer Jean Michel Jarre released the legendary Oxygene album. To mark the occasion Jarre has created a follow up with Oxygene 3 to be released worldwide on 2nd December 2016, the exact date the original was released all those years ago (well, except 40 years ago obviously).

I am so excited for this as I am a huge fan of Jarre. In an influence map I created 3 1/2 years ago he features quite prominently and there is good reason. I discovered his work off the Landscape Channel (remember that old satellite TV chestnut?) whilst enjoying the Children's Channel (another old Sky TV errr... Brazilnut?) and falling in love with the synthesizer music of Haim Saban and Shuki Levy for The Mysterious Cities of Gold (a great cartoon which is my favourite show ever).

Jarre's last few albums have been a bit of a mixed bag but with Oxygene 3 I am hopeful. He created the album in just 6 weeks, which is how long it took to compose the original Oxygene, and he has kept the art style the same, borrowing Michel Granger's art style to give the album an added sense of history.

I am eagerly awaiting the new album and will review it here. In the meantime enjoy his new track below and let me know what you think!

Mysterious Cities Of Gold Season 3 Premiere

I have a deep love for the Mysterious Cities of Gold and after an okay season 2 which picked up midway through the episodes it is with bated breath that I have waited for any announcements regarding the third season.  Well at the 19th FIFEM Festival (Festivale International Du Film Pour Infants) in Montreal the new season is being kicked off with a premier of the first 3 episodes. Living in England I'm obviously not able to go but I hope that the new series arrives soon as I need closure after 2 cities of gold were found and now the hunt is on for the third in Japan.