Members
Vangelis
Demis Roussos
Loukas Sideras
Anargyros "Silver" Koulouris (1967, 1970-1972)
Albums
End of the World (1968)
It's Five O'Clock (1969)
666 (1972)
Aphrodite's Child were a prog band (mixing some psychedelic later on) from Greece. They ended up in Paris and signed on to Mercury Records in 1968, where they would release their first song, Rain and Tears, making the band an overnight sensation as the song charted high and gained them recognition. Their first album, End of the World, was released in October of that year.
Their second album, It's 5 O'Clock, was released in 1969 and provided a number of successful ballads.
1970 proved to be troublesome as the members of the band failed to keep on good terms with one another, which was making their third album, which they were working on at the time, a difficult process.
666 was released in 1972, though the band has already broken up due to not being able to agree with the direction they wanted to go.
GREAT band, a lot of their songs are quite touching.
These guys were cool, it's a shame things didn't work out for them in the end.
This band is connected with my first stoner days.. But I have only heard one album by them..
Pretty much a two album set that deals with the Apocolypes..
Songs that mostly were written in context with the book of Revelations..
I've met maybe 3 people in my life who have heard that album..
__________________
It's simple to be wise.. Just Walk To The Edge Of Your World.. And I'll Meet You There..
Friends and family are always surprised to hear me playing Aphrodite's Child, knowing what I usually listen to.
Think I first heard Rain And Tears on the radio at a very young age. It struck something with me. Later I began to love their tunes like It's Five O Clock. Don't know really what it is why I like those tunes so much. Think Demis's vocals and Vangelis's great keyboard play. While listening their music I often think it is way too much ( false ) emotion and empathy, but I like it anyway.
Here's another great one:
__________________ 'cause I only got to where I am now
Learning how to love you.
This was and is the most depressing, gloomy, heaviest and oppressing piece of music I've ever heard. I remember buying this Lp 25 years ago and listening to it, I was feeling like I wanted to commit suicide. The next day I rushed out to return it to the record store to rinse my hands of this bloody biblical affliction. An absolute abomination and ill repute.
Seriously !?!?!? I always thought it was a bit too mild as I was hoping for something a bit more terrifying .Not that I didn't enjoy it but I was expecting much .......
worse .
Seriously !?!?!? I always thought it was a bit too mild as I was hoping for something a bit more terrifying .Not that I didn't enjoy it but I was expecting much .......
worse .
An apocalyptic bombast and overwhelming complexity. Try and sit through and listen to the whole album. It reminds me of a bad acid trip I had when I was 16. Covered in lamb's blood, beatened, broken, and begging for mercy. God, where in the hell are you?
An apocalyptic bombast and overwhelming complexity. Try and sit through and listen to the whole album. It reminds me of a bad acid trip I had when I was 16. Covered in lamb's blood, beatened, broken, and begging for mercy. God, where in the hell are you?
I have listened to it several times all the way through .Never had that same effect on me .Slayer's Season In The Abyss bothered me much more as a kid then 666 ever came close to .
Different people are effected differently by different things though .
666 (The Apocalypse of John, 13/18) is a double album by psychedelic/progressive art rock group Aphrodite's Child. It is one of the early cult albums in rock history, and is still popular among fans today. It was released in 1972, and was the primary vehicle/effort for the Vangelis project. It had a minor Album Oriented Radio hit in "The Four Horsemen," and a nearly pop hit with "Break." The album was ostensibly an adaptation of Biblical passages from the book of the same name, but was also very experimental in lyrics and composition, including a curious piece of performance art in which Greek actress Irene Papas performs a struggle to chant a mantra while in the throes of hysteria and sexual climax.
Essentially, 666 was Vangelis' concept, created with an outside lyricist, Costas Ferris. The music that Vangelis was creating for 666 was much more psychedelic and progressive rock oriented than anything the band had done before. The music itself was an impressive display of Vangelis' abilities, combining psychedelic and progressive rock with ethnic instruments, choral chanting, recitations, and very advanced use of synthesizers and keyboards for the time. In time the album became recognized as one of the most important early progressive rock works, and a defining example of the concept album. 666 also made Vangelis an underground name to watch, and in 1974 earned him an offer from Jon Anderson to join Yes following the departure of Rick Wakeman.
Just before the release of the album Vangelis engaged in a long fight with Mercury Records over the content of the album. The record company, in particular, objected to the song "∞" (infinity), which they considered obscene. It consisted of Irene Papas chanting the words "I was, I am, I am to come" over and over again in various stages of hysteria, while Vangelis accompanied her on a maelstrom of percussion (the five-minute finished track was reportedly edited down from a 39-minute piece recorded in a single take). However, the double-album length of 666 and the musical experimentation, as well as the subject matter, also exacerbated Mercury's ire. Another bone of contention was the sleeve note stating "This album was recorded under the influence of Sahlep." This was at first suspected to be either a drug or some form of occult ritual; in fact it is a drink popular around the eastern Mediterranean and made from the dried powdered roots of a type of orchid. After Roussos and Sideras had already released their first solo albums, Mercury finally agreed to release 666 one year after completion and two years after Roussos, Sideras and Koulouris had finished their parts in it, on its progressive rock subsidiary Vertigo Records. The single "Break" also came out in 1972.
Current fans and critics typically rate 666 as the group's finest effort; Allmusic gives it 4˝ stars (although their review does say "the entire set eventually becomes too overwhelming to sit through"). IGN rated the album #3 on their top 25 list of the best prog rock albums. In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition ‘’Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock’’, the album came #40 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".
Sitting through the whole Lp is a bit rough for me as well..But I like certain songs and have added them to comp tapes I've made in the past..
I use them as an intermission in between songs.. But I don't consider the album dark or satanic in any way..I've read the bible so it's just passages put to music in my book..
__________________
It's simple to be wise.. Just Walk To The Edge Of Your World.. And I'll Meet You There..
Just listened to it again all the way through to see why it would be too overwhelming ,just kind of a dramatic prog record IMO .I don't mean anything bad by that as I already stated I like it a lot . I guess it's just music to me and nothing that bothers me at all . All that threat of hell /damnation , Armageddon stuff never bothers me though TBH .
Probably half my Metal collection has an eerie doom and damnation vibe about it
Last edited by DaKillerWolf; 08-29-2010 at 07:21 AM.
I have listened to it several times all the way through .Never had that same effect on me .Slayer's Season In The Abyss bothered me much more as a kid then 666 ever came close to .
Different people are effected differently by different things though .
It had a real negative effect on me. Mind you, it was 25 years ago. I might try to listen to it again. I could be over exaggerating, memory can sometimes play tricks on you.
^^^ I just finished listening to it on youtube. For some reason, it takes to me to a place that I don't like. I'm not a religious man, though there seems to be something "evil" behind this musical expression. Taunting, an underlying provocative message that is masqueraded. It could be that I'm looking too deep(?). After all the title is 666. Though some of the songs are rather "soft", for lack of a better word in a musical and lyrical context, the devil does come in many different disguises.
Off topic here but how would you feel if you found out there's no such place as hell?? And you've believe all your life in the creation of a person known as "The Devil" and he was just something made up to instill fear in you???
But back on subject.. This album is a blast to listen too with headphones on.. All the panning left to rights is a trip.
The only part I don't care to sit through is Irene Papas's little mantra chant.
And the part I sorta like is the ending of "All The Seats Were Occupied"..
It reminds me of Pink Floyds "The Great Gig In The Sky".
__________________
It's simple to be wise.. Just Walk To The Edge Of Your World.. And I'll Meet You There..
Aphrodite's Child 
Linear Mode
