Aphrodite's Child

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Aphrodite's Child was a Greek rock band formed in 1967, by Vangelis Papathanassiou (keyboards); Demis Roussos (bass guitar and vocals), Loukas Sideras (drums and vocals), and Anargyros "Silver" Koulouris (guitar). Papathanassiou and Roussos have been already succesful in Greece (playing in the bands Formynx and Idols respectively) while they got together with Sideras and Koulouris to form a new band. Their first recording as a band was for George Romanos album In concert and in Studio where they were played on four songs and credited as "Vangelis and his orchestra". In the same year they recorded a two song demo and submitted it to Philips Records.

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[edit] From Athens to Paris

It was probably Vangelis idea that the, still anonymous, band should be relocated in London which would be a more suitable environment. This decision was not problem-free however. Koulouris had to stay in Greece to fulfil his military service while the band, on their way to London, got stuck in Paris partially because they did not have the correct work permits and partially because of the strikes associated with the May 1968 events.

In Paris they signed to Mercury Records, christened "Aphrodite's Child" and released their first single "Rain and Tears", a reworking of Pachelbel's Canon in D major. With this song the band became an overnight sensation in France and several other European countries in which the single charted well. In October of the same year, the band released their first album End of the World. The album contained an equal amount of psychedelic pop songs and ballads in the vein of Procol Harum or The Moody Blues.

The band begun touring around Europe and in January 1969 they recorded a single in Italian for the San Remo Festival in which they did not participate, however. Their next hit single was "I want to live", an arrangement of the song "Plaisir' d'amour".

For their second album, the band travelled this to London, to record at the famous Trident Studios. The first single from the new album, the rootsier "Let me love, let me live" came out in October, while the album It's five o'clock came out in December 1969 featuring more successful ballads (like the title song) but also songs that crossed many musical genres including country rock.

After their second album, the band begun touring again, this time without Vangelis who preferred to stay in Paris and record the music for Henry Chapier's film "Sex Power". Vangelis was replaced on stage with Harris Chalkitis.

1970 went by with the band promoting their latest album and Vangelis working on his first film project. To keep the steady flow of hits, the band released another single in August, "Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall".

[edit] 666

The band began to record their crowning achievement late in 1970: a musical adaptation of the biblical Book of Revelations, entitled 666. Silver Koulouris, having finished his Greek army duty rejoined the band. However, relations between all the band members were not good at the time, and continued to worsen during the album's creation.

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. This did not sit well with the other band members, who wished to continue in the pop direction that had brought them success. Furthermore, Roussos was being groomed for a solo career, and recorded his first solo single "We shall dance" (with Sideras on drums), and his first solo album On the Greek side of my mind, whereas Vangelis recorded the score for L'apocalypse des animaux and worked on a single with his girlfriend Vilma Ladopoulou, performing with Koulouris using the pseudonym "Alpha Beta".

The double LP 666 finally came out in late 1971 but the band had already split. Both Vangelis and Demis Roussos pursued successful solo careers, Roussos as a pop singer and Vangelis as one of the pioneers in New Age music. Koulouris worked with both on occasion. Loukas Sideras pursued a less successful solo career, releasing an album and the single "Rising Sun" after the break-up.

[edit] Discography

Albums

Singles

  • "Plastics nevermore" / "The other people" (1968)
  • "Rain and tears" / "Don't try to catch a river" (1968)
  • "End of the world" / "You always stand in my way" (1969)
  • "Valley of sadness" / "Mister Thomas" (1969)
  • "Lontano dagli occhi" / "Quando l'amore diventa poesia" (1969)
  • "I want to live" / "Magic Mirror" (1969)
  • "Let me love, let me live" / "Marie Jolie" (1969)
  • "It's five o'clock" / "Wake up" (1970)
  • "Spring, summer, winter and fall" / "Air" (1970)
  • "Such a funny night" / "Annabella" (1970)
  • "Break" / "Babylon" (1972)

Compilations

  • Best Of Aphrodite's Child (1980)
  • Aphrodite's Child's Greatest Hits (1995)
  • The singles (1995)
  • The Complete Collection (Aphrodite's Child) (1996)
  • Babylon the Great (2002)
  • The singles+ (2003)

[edit] References

Dinos Dimatatis, Get that beat: to elliniko rock, 1960s-1970s (Thessaloniki: Katsanos, 1998)

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