City [CD]

Vangelis entered the '90s with this fairly low-key album of electronic interludes and sparkling, poetic vignettes in honor of a city. He uses an enormous array of digital and high-tech sounds to describe his metropolis, suggesting that such a city yet resides only in the future."Dawn" is a simply lovely paean to the opening light of the day. Light strings and melancholic trumpets rise over a skyline painted ambient shades of orange and ecru. "Side Streets" begins with humming sequencers and sad violin stabs as car motors awaken. Voices litter the sidewalk, as flutes pipe in the oncoming day. "Nerve Center" finally introduces engaging rhythms and lurching guitars into Vangelis' mix, portraying a teeming environment of bodies-stressed laborers huddled over their desktops, banging on surfaces with copper tubes. While not as in your face as DIRECT, THE CITY is involving all the same.