APHRODITE'S CHILD — 666

Progressive Rock fans usually are unfair with talented musicians as Demis Roussos and Evanghelos Odyssey Papathanassiou (Vangelis), is true that Demis solo career is mostly based in soft pop but people forget he was a very talented bassist with a great vocal range, in the same way Vangelis is remembered for his New Age boring albums or commercial soundtracks instead of progressive masterpieces as “Heaven & Hell” or even his albums with Jon Anderson, which are not among my favorites but must recognize as quality music.

It’s also a important to remember APHRODITE’S CHILD was not only formed by the mentioned musicians because Anargyros (Silver) Koulouris who had returned from his military Service to record this album is a very good guitar player and Lucas Sideras is a very capable drummer, this two members had a direct participation in the album

Because of the complexity of 666 they recruited also a good number of Greek artists to complement the band as the multi talented and brilliant actress Irene Papas, Harris Chalkitis and Michel Ripoche for the winds, a great lyricist, movie director, book author and member of the European Film Academy Costas Ferris to take care of the lyrics and even the well known artist Yannis Tsarouchis for the Greek text. In other words, the album was carefully planned.

The concept of the album is about the most complex and controversial Book of the Bible, “Saint John’s Book of Revelations” also known as “The Apocalypse”, a really hard task even today, but harder in 1970 when there was no experience with conceptual albums, it’s important to notice that 666 is considered the first properly concept album, because before it were only released some rock operas which are part of a different sub-genre.

When 666 was recorded the problems inside the band were leading to the inevitable split, mostly because Roussos and Sideras wanted to continue doing commercial music as in their previous albums and Vangelis was decided to take a more complex path, so 666 was really their last attempt to maintain the classic formation of the band allowing Vangelis to compose a real progressive and complex album, but it was too late for the band, and 666 was their last album, an excellent way to close the short story of APHRODITE’S CHILD.

It’s hard to describe the music because there’s not other band that had a similar sound or style, the Greek influence is also different than the usual, don’t expect something catchy or folksy as Zorba the Greek, because the band uses darker religious music over a 100% Symphonic structure with touches of Psychedelia, it’s important to remember that Greece is the country where the Orthodox Catholic Church is based, and this influence helps to create a Biblical and mysterious atmosphere.

The greatest achievement of the band is the way they blend this liturgical music with more western influences like pop and of course symphonic prog. But they do something even more adventurous, they include some tracks that sound like prayers by monks, with traces of Gregorian Chants and even complex sounds, they were ahead of their time in many aspects.

It’s hard to describe the tracks searching for a favorite or high point, because the album is very faithful to “The Book of Revelations” and any attempt of separating a song takes it from it’s natural context and breaks the atmosphere so carefully created by APHRODITE’S CHILD.

For example the track Infinity (sign that can’t be reproduced with a PC keyboard) outside of the album means nothing except a woman having an orgasm, but in the context of the album makes sense because the Book of Revelation makes various references to the prostitute that tempted the kings. It may be a good interpretation by Irene Papas but don’t place out loud in the CD player of your car unless you have the windows closed because it may be embarrassing.

Disk 1 has many important songs after the weird “The System” which sounds as a strange prayer.

“Babylon” is a rock song with an outstanding guitar work, even though is a studio track, the band created the sound of a crowd to symbolize multitudes on the biblical capital of the world, very good song even if not progressive.

“Loud, Loud, Loud” is a narration of a paragraph of the Bible surrounded by a beautiful piano, for this song the band used the voice of the son of a Greek Diplomat, very atmospheric track.

“The Four Horsemen” is a terrifying song that starts with a scary narration in the form of a sung prayer, talks about the moment The Lamb (Christ) opens the seals to free the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, followed by the band leaded by Lucas Sideras and his accurate drums, really scares me very much.

“The Lamb” is an instrumental with a very Greek sound; the entire band is perfect and well supported by a chorus that adds some dramatics. Almost in the same vein but softer and darker comes “The Seventh Seal” which announces more terrible moments for humanity, the phrase “And when the Lamb opened the Seventh Seal, Silence above the Skies” resumes the terrible message.

“Aegian Seal” has an introduction that you could expect from any Vangelis later album but followed by explosions of music and narrations.

The rest of the first CD is full of laments, tribulations and Greek style music blended perfectly with progressive rock, maybe except for “The Beast” which I supposed would be the darker song but paradoxically is the only poppy track of the album with a guitar that reminds of Clapton’s slow hand.

Disk 2 is even better than the first one (if this is possible) “Seven Trumpets” is a 30 seconds track that literally announces the next song “Altamont” which is very atmospheric and elaborate and shows the great skills of Vangelis as keyboardist, who without the wonderful excesses of Wakeman or Emerson does a very precise work, the background voice is very disturbing and scary, as anyone could expect from an album that describes the end of the world.

“The Wedding of the Lamb” is a strange song that mixes Gregorian Chants with Greek Liturgical music, supported by percussion, other typical Greek instruments and the whole band, confusing but very good track. The next song “The Capture of the Beast” is a track based in percussion and chain sounds with some typical Vangelis keyboard interruptions.

Talked already about “Infinity” so I won’t do it again. “Hic et Nunc” (Here and Now) is a jazzy tune that works as a relief in preparation for the most important song of the album which is “All the Seats Were Occupied”, a 19:19 minutes epic that mixes all the influences, sounds and songs of the album in a single track all surrounded by a mystical atmosphere, extremely beautiful and very complex represents Progressive Rock best face.

The album ends with the only ballad named Break, which sounds to me as a Roussos contribution, not a filler, but not necessary either, because IMHO 666 would have ended perfectly with the wonderful “All the Seats Were Occupied”

After 666 was recorded in 1970, the band broke and the album couldn’t be released until 1972 because of many reasons that include the track “Infinity”, the controversial concept and an innocent confession made by the band that they were influenced by Sahlep, most people believed it was a demon or a drug when it’s only a non alcoholic beverage from Turkey. There was even a boycott by several radio stations, and when the album was finally released by Vertigo (the adventurous face of Mercury), the band was separate for two years.

There’s no other possible rate for this essential masterpiece than 5 stars, not only for it’s quality but also because this guys were ahead of their own time, something unusual for a band that had previously released only two poppy albums in search for a hit single.

— First review of this album —

God, this is insane! Well, not really, but it is zany.

No review of this album would be complete without discourse on the lyrical themes of this irreverently titled French album ("God is Insane"). Unfortunately, French is not my lingua franca, and so, perhaps, an analysis of the music shall suffice (well, it won't, but...) However, not being a musicologist, and being rather tone deaf, I shall not be able to offer much in the way of learned observations of the music. Oh, I could bluff my way through it, focusing on tone, rhythm, harmony, and texture to make myself seem semi-intelligent, but instead I shall vaguely focus on my vague impressions, tangential commentary, and share my love of the music. Anyway, if music is the universal language, and French is the language of love, perhaps my love of this French music shall suffice.

This is a very good album to my ear, and this highly collectible and eccentric vinyl obscurity deserves a proper CD release. Since Duffard was able to secure the necessary requirements for such an ambitious and accomplished release with a large and talented group of performers, it is surprising that there is so little information readily available about him. However, he had worked on a project with Pascal Lami before who was quite a popular French pop artist, and so he must have been quite connected within the music industry. Both projects utilized a large array of performers, some of which worked on both.

I might say that this theatrical avant/ folk/ pop/ rock/ jazzy/ operatic/ Zeuhl-related album sounds as if it is Henri Gougaud meets Magma, meets Laurent Thibault, Pierrot Lunaire, and Ripaille. Additionally, I might say that it meets Hellebore, Zao, Ange, Schonberg’s Les Miserables, Arthur Brown, Gyorgy Ligeti, Jerry Goldsmith and Claude Francois for a philosophical and ecclesiastical discussion over a cup of tea (champignon infused perhaps) . I could do this, or use a different set of names, but that seems excessively silly and I fear that it would not provide much help besides. Moreover, I would probably miss the best examples! More correctly, and inarguably, it is composer Pascal Duffard meets all those who participated on his project, and with some research on all those names, I could provide a more useful list than the one I presented. Suffice to say, I like to think of this project as an avant French answer to Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Jesus Christ Superstar." Musical theatre of the absurd in another way to describe this dramatic, wacky, and beautiful recording. Whether you think it absurdly good is another matter. Each vocalist plays a role in the pantomime which is unfolding -- from folk/pop to dialogue, to opera to chant, to laughter and ecstasy (each section has a dialogue of sorts with contrasting textures and tone, and the whole album feels cohesive despite jarring interjections/ juxtapositions and diverse musical expression). It seems a terrific concept even if the finer points of the concept elude me.

The album opens with a trippy, spacey piece (a la some music in "2001: A Space Odyssey") with bleeping electronics that would suit some acid-enhancing sci-fiish movie from the late 60's/ early 70's. From there, it moves into dramatic, operatic, weird free jazzy territory interspersed with experimental avant madness and beautiful poignant-sounding chanson and acoustic passages that provide good contrast and a satisfying playfulness. Bombastic, pretty, strange, pretty strange, and I think pretty wonderful. I also discern a delicious sense of irony in the proceedings.

The direction, arrangements, and performers are very good, as is the production. Although I fully want to give it five stars as it's one of my favourite albums, I find the finale a bit of a letdown. I would not expect an epic, majestic finale, but I would have liked it to end on a very dramatic note. Instead, it tails off and fizzles; not necessarily in a bad way, however. It may work well for the concept, but I would have liked something grander (perhaps of the Grand Guignal variety). The way it ends is just a bit too anti-climactic for me. So I give it four stars for the lack of “kaboom.” The Earth getting blown up at the end due to a deus ex machina, now THAT'S a finale, but, though a rather Prog concept, may be too Hollywoody (especially if "the guy" and "the girl" were to live happily ever after against all odds). Considering that the vinyl can set one back hundreds of dollars, one may expect plenty of "bang" for the buck! If only there was a sequel....

NeBeLNeST's sounds mixes a range of progressive styles. One thing that I find interesting about this band is that it seems that each member of the band was a fan of a different style of music. The keyboardist clearly was influenced by symphonic rock, and he is not afraid to let it show in his mellotron (!) parts. The guitarist seems to be largely influenced by psych/space rock, evidenced by his use of every stomp box imaginable except distortion. The drums reek of heavy metal influence, complete with (subtle and tasteful, not machine-gun) double-kick and roaring fills. The distorted and rolling bass shows a zeuhl influence. What is most remarkable, though, is the way it all blends together in one cohesive whole.

The music is dominated by the rhythm section, as the aforementioned rolling distorted bass and heavy-metal drums run you over with the melody section going nuts on top. If you are looking for beautiful, hummable, and uplifting melodies, look elsewhere, as everything EXCEPT that is represented by the band. The bass and drums just pound away in constantly shifting patterns, seemingly unable to repeat themselves more than once. Every time signature you can imagine is used on this album, but it is done so with startling ease; I had listened to this album several times before I even realized that the music was in odd time sigs.

This album actually manages to stand out with its production. Ordinarily, I don't care much about production, but the production on this album is good enough to make me notice. There are only a handful of albums that I think have a true "atmosphere" to them, and this is one of them. Despite all of the rapid twists and turns he puts into the album, Bob Drake managed to maintain remarkable consistency in the overall "feel" of the album.

This album single-handedly restored hope for me that the world was still producing good music. I cannot recommend this album highly enough to anyone who is a King Crimson fan (particularly the Red-era), an RIO fan, or simply someone looking to hear something you haven't heard before. If you are looking for a symphonic orgy of melody, this is not the place. Otherwise, you owe it to yourself to hear these guys.

Senogul has delivered with this album a manifesto of their musical genius, stating one of the most exquisite new affirmations of the prog genre in their country. The material recorded through the years 2005 and 2006 is what we find here in Senogul's offiical debut recording, now released by Mylodon Records in 2007. Five of the 12 tracks that are comprised in this repertoire already existed in their demo "Tránsitos", and now we can enjoy them in refurbished fashion... well those tracks and all of them, in general. The quantity of guests (mainly on wind instruments) is very revealing of the band's interest on the expansion of the colors inherent to their compositions. The band's sound is characterized by an energetic combination of symphonic prog and jazz- rock, porperly ornamented with classical music touches and folky flavors. García Salueña's keyboards (with the piano assuming a prominent role) play a reasonable featured part in the band's sonic architecture, while the rhythm duo displays a high degree of dynamics and precision, very accurate to help the band's overall input to make things happen in a convincing way. The album's first 6 minutes are occupied by the diptic of 'Dr. Gull I' and 'Racionalidad'. 'Dr. Gull I' gest started on a solemn note, based on the ambiences delivered by the piano chordp rogressions, while the other instruments (mainly the lead guitar) build up a moderate sense of energy instilled into the main motif's development; with the choir adding a touch of majestic vibrations to the fold, teh door is open for the entrance of 'racionalidad', a delicious track plethoric of melodic dynamics and an exciting tempo. Next comes the first opus in teh album, 'Tango Mango'. This is sheer old-fashiones progressive sophistication: various motifs succedding one another, variations of mood and tempo, tight performances full of technical prowess, but never getting the pyrotechnics to a gratuitous level. The inclusion of tango-based elements helps the track to preserve its colorfulness throughout its expansion. Having said this, I confess that I find this track less cohesvie than the other long numbers: it is very good, but it wll soon be eclipsed by the next two pieces. 'La Verbena Hermética' is just awesome, captivating, owning a captivating dexterity that comprises both variation and cohesion in perfect doses. The piano leads the track's main body with its inspiration in the jazzier side of Emerson. There is an interlude near the end that goes deeper into the jazzy side of things while the horn arrangements play some agile counterpoints, very much a-la GG. And then comes the final section, a lovely lovely translation of part of the main motif into a 6/8 tempo, a homage to Asturias' folk dances (Asturians happens to be the band members' native Spanish region). The candid colors of Norhern Spain's folk are funnily complemented by the amazing Moog solo and the burlesque of animal sounds - I get goosebumps everytime I get to this closing portion. 'Microcosmos Blues' is more jam-oriented, consisting on a smaller amount of motifs that fin more room for expansion than those comprised in 'Tango Mango'. Unlike its immediate predecessor, 'Microcosmos Blues' bears a more greyinsh mood, like an autumn evening under the haze. This prominent mood is more featured in the relaxed sections, although there is also room for some solid dual guitar riffing (leading the band toward a flirt with tandardized psychodelia) and even a brief reagge-jazz interlude. The album's second half begins with another diptic, 'Dr. Gull II'-'Gotas de Cristal en Tu Vaso de Lluvia' (beautiful title, 'Crystal Drops in Your Glass of Rain'). 'Dr. Gull II' begins with a reprise of some piano touches from the first 'Dr. Gull', and then comes a series of special effects that serve as a proper prelude for the manifestation of density in 'Gotas de Cristal...'. One of the most amazing tricks of this number is how well the intense spiralling piano goes sliding under the rhythm section's slow motion and the dense guitar solo. 'La Maha Vishnuda' continues with this trend of slow tempo and melancholy ambiences, but this time the track is less dense and more candorous. The interaction between the two guitarists is carefully crafted in order to guide the track's dynamics fro mbeginning to end in a solid manner. 'Agua, Fuego y Porexpán' brings back the appealing colorfulness that had been cleverly exploited in tarcks 2-4. The track's punchy spirit is enhanced by the effective work of the guests on saxes, trumpet and trombone - following the road of fusion, the band also feels comfortable, although the sytlish vibe they deliver is evidently due to their overall progressive approach. The jazz thing persists in the beautiful (albeit too ephimeral!) 'Travesía de las Gaviotas', a display of soft Ltin-jazz under a guise of serenity. I personally feel that 'La Maha' and 'Travesía' could have benefited from further expansion, but anyway, things are as they are and these two tracks are very good as they are. 'La Mulata Eléctrica' has, in comparison to the version included in "Tránsitos", a tighter guitar work and more notable dynamics. The band's symphonic splendour is revealed in full colors, even including some crafty hints to Andalusian prog (like Triana or Mezquita, so to speak). Well, the last 4+ minutes are occupied by 'Dr. Gull III', the most articulated composition in the 'Dr. Gull' series, setting once again that fluid combination of symphonic and jazz-rock that is Senogul's. This album is really great, essential to get to know one of the peaks of the current Spanish progressive scene - Senogul has reached full maturity in terms of performance and creativity.