666 (Aphrodite's Child album)

666 (The Apocalypse of John, 13/18)

Studio album by Aphrodite's Child

Released

June 1972

Recorded

Late 1970 – Early 1971 (3 Months)
Studio Europa-Sonor, Paris, France

Genre

Progressive rock, psychedelic rock, experimental rock

Length

77:58

Label

Vertigo

Producer

Vangelis Papathanassiou

Aphrodite's Child chronology

It's Five O'Clock
(1969)

666
(1972)

666 (The Apocalypse of John, 13/18) is a double album by psychedelic/progressive art rock group Aphrodite's Child. 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 the song "Break" was also released. 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.

Conception and production

666 was created with an outside lyricist, Costas Ferris. The music combines psychedelic and progressive rock with ethnic instruments, choral chanting, recitations, and use of keyboards. The record company, Mercury Records, objected to the double-album length of 666 and the musical experimentation, as well as the track "∞" (infinity), on which a female orgasm is simulated by the Greek actress Irene Papas, who repeated the words "I was, I am, I am to come" over a sparse percussion track.

The liner notes state "This album was recorded under the influence of Sahlep."

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[1]
Mojo	favorable^[2]
Sputnikmusic	^[3]

After Roussos and Sideras had already released their first solo albums, Mercury agreed to release 666, one year after completion and two years after the band had finished their parts in it, on its progressive rock subsidiary Vertigo Records. The single "Break" also came out in 1972, as did a single vinyl edition of the album in Brazil, also titled Break.

Allmusic gives it 4½ stars, but notes that "the entire set eventually becomes too overwhelming to sit through". IGN rated the album #3 on their top 25 list of Prog Rock Albums.^[4] 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".^[5]

Track listing

Vinyl release

Side One
No.	Title	Length
1.	"The System"	0:23
2.	"Babylon"	2:47
3.	"Loud, Loud, Loud"	2:42
4.	"The Four Horsemen"	5:53
5.	"The Lamb" (Instrumental)	4:34
6.	"The Seventh Seal"	1:30

Side Two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Aegean Sea"	5:22
2.	"Seven Bowls"	1:28
3.	"The Wakening Beast" (Instrumental)	1:11
4.	"Lament"	2:45
5.	"The Marching Beast" (Instrumental)	2:00
6.	"The Battle of the Locusts" (Instrumental)	0:56
7.	"Do It"	1:44
8.	"Tribulation" (Instrumental)	0:32
9.	"The Beast"	2:26
10.	"Ofis"	0:14

Side Three
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Seven Trumpets"	0:35
2.	"Altamont"	4:33
3.	"The Wedding of the Lamb" (Instrumental)	3:38
4.	"The Capture of the Beast" (Instrumental)	2:17
5.	"∞" (Infinity)	5:15
6.	"Hic and Nunc"	2:55

Side Four
No.	Title	Length
1.	"All the Seats Were Occupied"	19:21
2.	"Break"	2:59

Brazilian vinyl release (released as Break)

Side One
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Babylon"	2:52
2.	"The Four Horsemen"	6:10
3.	"The Lamb"	4:40
4.	"Aegean Sea"	5:22
5.	"The Beast"	2:26

Side Two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"All the Seats were Occupied"	19:21
2.	"Break"	2:59

CD release

Disc One
No.	Title	Length
1.	"The System"	0:23
2.	"Babylon"	2:47
3.	"Loud, Loud, Loud"	2:42
4.	"The Four Horsemen"	5:54
5.	"The Lamb" (Instrumental)	4:33
6.	"The Seventh Seal"	1:30
7.	"Aegean Sea"	5:22
8.	"Seven Bowls"	1:29
9.	"The Wakening Beast" (Instrumental)	1:11
10.	"Lament"	2:45
11.	"The Marching Beast" (Instrumental)	2:00
12.	"The Battle of the Locusts" (Instrumental)	0:56
13.	"Do It"	1:44
14.	"Tribulation" (Instrumental)	0:32
15.	"The Beast"	2:26
16.	"Ofis"	0:14
Total length:		36:28

Disc Two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Seven Trumpets"	0:35
2.	"Altamont"	4:33
3.	"The Wedding of the Lamb" (Instrumental)	3:38
4.	"The Capture of the Beast" (Instrumental)	2:17
5.	"∞" (Infinity)	5:15
6.	"Hic et Nunc"	2:55
7.	"All the Seats were Occupied"	19:19
8.	"Break"	2:58
Total length:		41:30

Personnel

Band musicians

Vangelis Papathanassiou (Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou) - keyboards, organ, piano, vibraphone, bass, flute, percussions, backing vocals ("Lament", "The Beast", "Break")
Demis Roussos (Artemios Ventouris Roussos) - lead vocals ("Babylon", "The Four Horsemen", "Lament", "Hic et Nunc"), bass, guitar, backing vocals
Lucas Sideras - drums, lead vocals ("The Beast", "Break"), backing vocals
Silver Koulouris (Anargyros Koulouris) - guitar, percussion

Guest musicians

Harris Halkitis - bass, tenor saxophone, congas, percussion, backing vocals
Michel Ripoche - trombone, tenor saxophone ("Babylon", "Hic et Nunc")
Irene Papas - vocals ("∞")
John Forst - English narration
Yannis Tsarouchis - Greek narration ("Ofis")
Daniel Koplowitz - voice ("Loud Loud Loud")
Costas Ferris - lyricist

Production

Vangelis - producer
Hans Brethouwer - mastering
Gerard Fallec - production coordination
Minoru Harada - product manager
Roger Roche - engineer
Jean-Claude Conan - assistant engineer
Hitoshi Takiguchi - mastering engineer
Kiyoshi Tokiwa - art coordinator

References

↑ 666 Aphrodite's Child Allmusic.com Steven McDonald
↑ Ross Bennett. "Aphrodite’s Child - Disc of the day - Mojo". Mojo4music.com. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
↑ 666 Aphrodite's Child Sputnikmusic.com Hernan M. Campbell
↑ "Top 25 Prog Rock Albums". IGN. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
↑ Q Classic: Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, 2005.

External links

Aphrodite's Child – 666 at Discogs