END OF THE WORLD

The debut album from Aphrodite's Child straddles three lines at once: Brit rock, Psychadelic, and Prog. That they straddle all three in fine fashion is quite the achievement. The album is missing a solid guitar, likely due to their guitar player having to stay behind in Greece to serve in the military as his band mates moved on to Paris, but Demis Roussos steps in to handle what he can on guitar while also kicking it on bass and vocals. Any guitar that may have been overlooked is more than made up for by the widespread sounds of various keyboards by Vangelis. The album was a big deal when it came out and a couple singles earned them some goodwill and fame. The proggiest of the bunch are The Grass Is No Green as well as Day of the Fool. Even so, a shorter track like The Shepherd and the Moon still evokes a prog sensibility while also highlighting their ability to keep a sense of their cultural ideal intact. Despite not being a prog track, You Always Stand In My Way is a killer rock number and Roussos absolutely slays the vocal on this one. All told, End of the World is a striking debut and sets up a further expansion of the growing prog genre.