We continue our look back at music of 50 years ago……
Jesus was big business in the late 60’s-early 70’s music industry. Everyone has heard Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell. Spirit in The Sky was a big hit. There was even a pop hit version of the Lords Prayer by a nun named Janet Mead. You may not be familiar with another foray into the Bible by a Greek rock band called Aphrodite’s Child. The album from 1972 was called “666” and the songs were based on the Book of Revelations. This wasnt Jesus people stuff…this was the apocalyptic view of the world.
What makes this interesting to me is one of the main musicians in the band was a guy named Vangelis Papathanassiou. you know him better for this…..
The rest of the group includes Demis Roussos on vocals and bass, Loukas Sideras on drums and Silver Kouluris on guitar.
The album is done in all kinds of musical styles including rock, jazz and greek & world instrumental music. It was viewed by the band as a concept album like Tommy or Sgt Pepper, although the story was never very clear. Only six of the 24 songs have lyrics.
The Four Horsemen is one of ths standout tracks for me. lots of cool drumming and keyboards with an excellent 2 minute guitar solo at the end. Also “Altamont” , “The Battle Of The Locusts”, “Do It”, and “All The Seats Were Occupied”.
If you want a detailed description of each track and how it follows the story, Wikipedia has a pretty good summation.
This won’t be everyone’s cup of ouzo but it’s apostcard from the European counter-culture.
