END OF THE WORLD

I never pretended I ever knew anything about Vangelis [perhaps I should rectify this once and for all], as famous as he may be or appear, but I (therefore?) had no clue he was in Aphrodite's Child. I'm considering this more of a re-dig into this early Symphonic Prog band, borne out of a Classical Crossover and the contemporary (international) Psychedelic Rock movements. I assume like many others, I first heard 666 (1972), their third and final album. I'd consider it at least adjacent to YouTubecore. [This will be a review for the 2010 remaster with 2 bonus tracks. More on that and my rating decision at the end.]

"End of the World" is a sweet, melancholic ballad. And given the time period and the general vibe of it, this is like a dark Moody Blues to my ears. Rooted in Trad Pop, yet full aware of the (Romantic?) Classical and the Psychedelic. The drums are pretty wild. "Don't Try to Catch a River" is a bright, upbeat number. I love the rhythm section in full view here and the sort of harpsicord sound. And I haven't mentioned it yet, but the vocals of Demis Roussos are just excellent. Full but gruff. "Mister Thomas" is an interesting Renaissance-evoking(?) song. A little silly. Very interesting, especially to hear this in 1968. This is not the Edwardian Classical Psych of the Beatles...

"Rain and Tears" feels like a Procol Harum-style Trad Pop lift of "Canon in D" [I highly recommend the "BEST WEDDING VERSION" available on YouTube /s]. It's very of the time, especially with, to me, that unavoidable Procol Harum feel. Up next is "The Grass is No Green" [sic?]. Sweet yet ominous, and then it picks up (for not the first time to my ears) in a way that seems to precede the darker lilt of other Classical obsessives ELP (maybe I'm misremembering, but a similar vibe to bands like Jackson Heights, too?). Very cool. Continuing in this still-very-Psychedelic vein is "Valley of Sadness", a shockingly upbeat number. Interesting vocal performance, and now, with that, my mind goes to early Bee Gees--I'll always recommend Bee Gees' 1st (1967). And then a short bouzouki solo! Hell yeah! The first time I had heard the instrument, to my knowledge, was through Zappa, who used it intermittently (if not randomly) through his career. But really, the general sound of the instrument here is reminiscent of the bright, twangling jangle of the beloved Byrds (but with a booming, post-Ringo-Paul rhythm section... all compliments, by the way).

The gruff returns on "You Always Stand in My Way"! Fantastic sound on this one. Booming bass and crashing keys underneath this awesome, basically Metal vocal performance (something about it reminiscent of Rod Stewart, if I can try to make a more popular connection... but that's just a small part of it). We are all over the place here as we once again shift focus on "The Shepherd and the Moon". More dark, nega-Moody Blues energy to my ears. Even as it falls away to a spoken poetic section over soft near-ambience (R.I.P. Graeme Edge). Interesting song. Certainly progressive haha. And finally for the original album run we have "Day of the Fool", with an eerie, haunting, [insert synonym here] allure. And indeed this is a dark song to close out the album. This will likely appeal (more than me) to many (early) Prog fans.

Finally finally we have the two bonus tracks, both singles from 1968. Up first, the quirky, buzzing positivity of "Plastics Nevermore". A lot of strange effects and definitely a balls-to-the-wall approach to production. This is sort of in the Magical Mystery Tour vein of early progressive ideations. Very interesting, to say the very least. Best to experience it yourself. And then, to close out this edition, we have "The Other People", with understandably comparable production to "Plastics". A lot less enthused about this one... A lot less.

Gonna stick to my guns on this (as stated above, as I reviewed here the 2010 remaster specifically), and round down from a True Rate of 3.5/5.0.