FEATURED CD - Aphrodites Child : 666

[Duncan Glenday]

You gotta love an album that starts with the chant:
We've got the system
To fuck the system
We've got the system
...



Per Allmusic:

An amazingly bombastic concept album about the Apocalypse of St. John seen as a rock spectacle. Demis Roussos wails the lyrics in a frantically operatic falsetto, while the band pound fiercely through Vangelis' furiously complex music. It certainly has its moments, but the entire set eventually becomes too overwhelming to sit through.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/666-mw0000501041

[JJ88]

It's been too long since I played it, but I feel it's an extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime album that stands on its own and pushes things to the limit. I've always been of the opinion it's the best work I've heard from those involved.

Some astonishing electric guitar workouts on this like 'Battle Of The Locusts' and some seriously trippy production work on things like 'Aegean Sea'. The most famous track is probably the epic 'Four Horsemen', though the anthemic 'Babylon' and 'Break' are equally appealing. Most infamous track is that one with the symbol...not sure what to write about that!

Perhaps the downright strangest thing about this album is Demis Roussos' involvement! Hard to believe that only a couple of years later he seems to have become the darling of the suburban housewife set (anyone ever see 'Abigail's Party'??) with saccharine ballads like 'Forever And Ever'.

[mogrooves]

Hit-&-miss for me, but I dig its ambition.

[progeezer]

Agree with the "hit or miss" assessment, but even after "Zorba The Greek" & "Guns Of Navarone", nothing made me respect Irene Papas more as an actress than "Infinity" on this album.

[bob_32_116]

If ever two band members followed widely divergent paths, it was Demis Roussos and Vangelis.

[Troopers For Sound]

Long time since I've listened to it as well...my memory of it is about 1/3 is amazing, and the rest is interesting at least. Some gorgeous pre-synth keyboard textures.

Matt.

[Modry Effekt]

I have used "Ofis" for my cell phone song

[Progatron]

Parts of it are fantastic - never understood the inner gatefold artwork however!

I recall hearing that "The Four Horsemen" was still used in Euro dance clubs as some kind of remixed, thumping-beat dance tune. I wonder if that's actually true.

[Just Eric]

A seminal album in shaping my musical preferences throughout my life. Still fresh and relevant, still groundbreaking.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

DO IT

[flowerking]

Hit-&-miss for me, but I dig its ambition.

Good way to put it. Its an eclectic mix of good rock, jazz, experimentation, weirdness, jamming and psychedelia, plus Infinity whatever the f*ck that is about. Sometimes it works well and other times it sucks. As JJ88 said, both Babylon and Break are very appealing.

[Rune Blackwings]

Best song="The Four Horsemen".

[Progtopia]

I knew Vangelis' music long before this album, but I do spin the vinyl of it from time to time. I always liked that sentence on the cover "It is a man's number."

[spacefreak]

The best greek rock related album.

[Rune Blackwings]

The best greek rock related album.

this side of yanni

[mellotron storm]

The best greek rock related album.

I agree, and other bands I like from Greece are Akritas, PLJ Band, Will-O-The-Wisp and La Tulipe Noir.

[battema]

I was a fan of the more known music from Vangelis when I picked this up on a whim in college (i.e. his most well-known soundtrack work, and some of his 80's albums). It was...an unexpected experience Took some time to appreciate the thing, but now I think it's terrific

[Yanks2014]

Was this really an appropriate title to feature over Easter weekend? I know it's not really a satanic album, but it just doesn't seem right seeing this here today.

[Rune Blackwings]

Was this really an appropriate title to feature over Easter weekend? I know it's not really a satanic album, but it just doesn't seem right seeing this here today.

It's about the Book of Revelations and references to Christ's return are in the album, such as "The Four Horsemen" ("The Lamb" refers frequently to Jesus Christ), so since Easter is about his Death and Resurrection and this is about His Return, then in my opinion, it is quite appropriate.

[Progatron]

Was this really an appropriate title to feature over Easter weekend? I know it's not really a satanic album, but it just doesn't seem right seeing this here today.

Perfectly appropriate for those of us who don't believe in such things, yes.

[Man In The Mountain]

Extraordinary album. Nothing else really like it, it's a real work of art. Truly experimental across the board, always an interesting and exhilarating adventure in sound.

[JJ88]

Was this really an appropriate title to feature over Easter weekend? I know it's not really a satanic album, but it just doesn't seem right seeing this here today.

[Scrotum Scissor]

I agree, and other bands I like from Greece are Akritas, PLJ Band, Will-O-The-Wisp and La Tulipe Noir.

Try Axis, Peloma Bokiu, Poll, Apocalypsis, Iraklis, Pete & Royce, Dimitri Poulikakos, Stamatis, Socrates (espec. Phos) and Kostas Tournas (the Choraphia album) as well. Together with Aphrodite's, Akritas and PLJ they pretty much sum up the "first wave" of Greek progressive rock/pop/folk music.

I think 666 is a great - and, like others have said, quite *unique* - release. One of its main assets, IMHO, is that it retains an experimental approach to just about every idiomatic medium it attempts to channel - and although it isn't all successful, the end result is still self-contained in its artistic concept precisely because this is one of pure experimentalism. In its combined delivery of rawness, freshness and refined sophistication, it somehow reminds me of the calculated aesthetic which emannated from the most adventurous Krautrock and French "free rock" of the day. Of course, the band (just like Kostas Tournas, Theodorakis and numerous others exiled from the Greek military junta) lived in Paris at the time. Note for instance the obvious proto-Zeuhl of a track like "Altamont":

[mellotron storm]

^ Thanks Mr. Scrotum for the giving me a list of bands to check out, and for your analysis of this amazing double album, you have a way with words that few have.

[Just Eric]

Was this really an appropriate title to feature over Easter weekend? I know it's not really a satanic album, but it just doesn't seem right seeing this here today.

Is this Easter weekend??