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IT'S FIVE O'CLOCK

Aphrodite's Child

Symphonic Prog


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Aphrodite's Child It's Five O'Clock album cover
2.79 | 101 ratings | 11 reviews | 10% 5 stars

Good, but non-essential

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Studio Album, released in 1969

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. It's Five O'Clock (3:31)
2. Wake Up (4:05)
3. Take Your Time (2:39)
4. Annabella (3:45)
5. Let Me Love, Let Me Live (4:43)
6. Funky Mary (4:11)
7. Good Time So Fine (2:46)
8. Marie Jolie (4:42)
9. Such A Funny Night (4:34)

Total time 34:56

Bonus tracks on 2010 remaster:
10. I Want To Live (1969 Single) (3:52)
11. Magic Mirror (1969 Single) (2:54)
12. Lontano Dagli Occhi (1969 Single) (3:42)
13. Quando L?Amore Diventa Poesia (1969 Single) (2:41)
14. Spring, Summer, Winter And Fall (1970 Single) (4:55)
15. Air (1970 Single) (4:17)

Line-up / Musicians

- Demis Roussos / vocals, bass, guitar
- Vangelis Papathanassiou / keyboards, flute, vibes, percussion, vocals
- Lucas Sideras / drums, percussion, guitar, backing vocals

Releases information

Artwork: Claude Delorme (photo)

LP Mercury ‎- 138.351 MCY (1969, France)
LP Mercury ‎- 6333 001 (1970, Greece)

CD Mercury ‎- 532 953-2 ‎(1996, Greece)
CD Esoteric Recordings ‎- ECLEC 2206 (2010, UK) Remastered by Paschal Byrne with 6 bonus tracks

Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition
and to Quinino for the last updates
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APHRODITE'S CHILD It's Five O'Clock ratings distribution


2.79
(101 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(10%)
10%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(21%)
21%
Good, but non-essential (49%)
49%
Collectors/fans only (18%)
18%
Poor. Only for completionists (3%)
3%

APHRODITE'S CHILD It's Five O'Clock reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Proghead
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars "666" this is not, in fact it's not too far off to compare this album to GENESIS' "From Genesis to Revelation". Mostly the music here is late '60s pop with some psych touches. There are a couple songs that point to the direction of" 666", but comparing "It's Five O'Clock" with "666", well, there's no comparison, "666" is easily their best. This one is basically for completists. Not a bad album, but not essential, either.
Review by Eetu Pellonpaa
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
2 stars The opening track of this unbalanced album is a totally marvelous song, which can be easily compared to Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" as a singular hippie-era anthem. Sadly the rest of the album is doesn't work as well as the previous debut mix-up of different styles ? I think on this release the quality got altered too, maybe due sense of success potential gained from releasing "End of The World". Actually this album is quite similar with the forthcoming solo albums of the group's singing tent, highlight tracks being minor ballads like "Annabella". If the group failed to enhance their vision by baking another cake with same recipe as the first, maybe this was one factor leading the to rethink their approach for the forthcoming "666" concept classic. Some beautifully sounding money making attempts at Italy were included to the straits on this path.
Review by Seyo
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
2 stars APHRODITE'S CHILD second album is much in the vein of the debut, but it fails to progress any further. Apart from two nice ballads, the title track and "Annabella", and a good guitar work on a "acid rock" number "Let Me Love, Let Me Live", "It's Five O'clock" remains largely a minor work probably interesting for AC fans only, or for people who want to hear a broad spectrum of the late 1960s psychedelic pop.
Review by ZowieZiggy
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars Let's put things into perspective.

In May 1970, I was offered my first pick up and the first singles I purchased were : Eloïse (Barry Ryan), Cecilia (Simon & Garfunkel), Let It Be and Something (from The Beatles) and finally It's Five O'clock from Aphrodite's Child.

I was really in love with this beautiful song (fully Fab four oriented). I can't tell how many spins I may have given to this single. Such a beautiful melody (but the band wrote several ones of this calibre), great and symphonic keys. A jewel of a pop song and a major commercial success for the band. Almost forty years later, I can't have enough of it, and I listen to it once in a while with the same pleasure (as most of their popular songs).

Needless to say that Wake Up which backed up the single was little played. Press next. But what to say about the completely useless Take Your Time?

The second pleasant moment is the nice ballad Annabella even if the background sound of the waves are quite cliché.

Two other songs from this album will also be released as single. Let Me Love, Let Me Live backed up with Marie Jolie. The former is fully psychedelic; very much Sgt Pepper's oriented. It has nothing to do with their catchy pop songs which were chosen as single songs. This one is more complex and features no melody. A straight forward psychedelic rock song ending rather chaotically. Below average IMO.

Marie Jolie, the B-side is a more melancholic song. Childish and very much of its era. Pleasant tambourine work. Nothing extraordinary. Just an average B-side single.

Funky Mary is another psyche song, totally uninteresting. Press next. Absolutely. At least Good Time, So Fine is more bearable (but not any good either). The closing number is another childish and insipid song. Press next to get rid of this work.

This album is poor. If it wasn't for the title track and the emotion I feel while listening to it, I would have rated this effort with one star. I will upgrade it to two. But I told you why.

Review by Easy Livin
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
3 stars It's one before 666

A year after the release of their début album, Aphrodite's Child followed it up with this set. "It's five O'clock" does not represent any progression as such, the nine pop based tracks here running to around 35 minutes in total. By the time of these recordings, the band were already down to a trio with Anargyros Koulouris having been conscripted in Greece. Interestingly, it is Demous Rousos who therefore plays the guitar parts. Once again, the song-writing is almost exclusively in the hands of Vangelis, this time in partnership with Richard Francis. Demis Roussos does write one track ("Annabella") with Richard Adams.

The opening title track is one of the highlights of the album, with Rousos delivering a fine vocal performance, and Vangelis adding some excellent keyboards. The song was released as a single, backed by the second album track "Wake up". If the title track represents the band at their commercial best, "Wake up" is its antithesis, being pure euro- pop. "Take Your Time" is equally dismissal, but this time the band infuse a country barn dance element into the music.

The ballads are generally the songs which work best here, the aforementioned "Annabella" being another of the better songs. Unfortunately, there are not that many ballads, with songs such as the awful hippy chant "Let me love, let me live" being afforded far more space that they warrant.

Aphrodite's Child are highly respected in prog circles. The simple fact is though that the respect is entirely due to their third and final album "666". On their own, the two albums which precede "666", would probably not even qualify for addition to this site under the proto-prog category. While they contain well performed music with a clear level of sophistication and ambition, they are by and large collections of 60's pop. They can still make for an enjoyable listen though.

The recently released CD version of the album includes 6 further tracks, all of which were non-album singles and their B sides.

Review by octopus-4
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR RIO/Avant/Zeuhl,Neo & Post/Math Teams
3 stars A melodic pop song. One of the most successfull of the end of the 60s. Based on the organ of Vangelis and the splendid high pitched voice of Demis Roussous whose bass playing justifies a comparison with Procol Harum's A Whiter Shade Of Pales.

The band is in a sort of exile. The "colonel's" regime is ruling Greece and even if Aphrodite's Child don't put too much politics in their songs, they are not much loved by the fascists as their "Rain and Tears", an arrangement from the Pachelbel's Canon in D major (another remind to Procol Harum) was become a sort of anthem of the "French May".

"It's Five O'Clock" finished to be one of the most successful singles of the period, but it was an exception, not the standard. The rest of the album is quite different. Too psychedelic for the mainstream public who loved the single, and unfortunately for us, too "proto" respect to the postumous masterpiece (as published after they disbanded) "666".

What comes next is vey different.

"Wake Up" is a kind of flower/power song of a kind which reminds me to "Antoine", a French singer of the same period and his Dylan's cover about throwing stones...the only remarkable things are that it's an ascending canon in the first half of the song and acquires a Beatles influence in the second half.

"Take your time" is a country-rock song. Very 60s as well. The bad is that Demis doesn't use his falsetto and Vangelis doesn't play organ. The two bigger strength of the band are not used.

They are used on "Annabella" instead. This is the first song of the album with a progressive appeal (consider that we are more into the "proto" zone). The seashore in the back could have been limited to the beginning and the end of the song. There's too much of it, but it's not so relevant.

"Let Me Love, Let Me Live" is a psychedelic song with flower/power lyrics. Like the psychedelic period of Beatles. Personally, I like the genre. The "let me love"crescendo takes too much, anyway.

"Funky Mary" contains hints of what they'll experiment better on "666". it's a percussion based song with bluesy vocals and almost no chords. A very interesting song closed by a nice piano contribute by Vangelis.

"Good Time So Fine" sounds East-Coast with a Broadway like female choir and a trumpet which adds an easy-jazz touch. Demis singing appears mimic of Louis Armstrong. Nota song to skip but surely not a highlight.

"Marie Jolie" is at least a song which takes advantage of Demis' high pitches. It's a melodic song with folk elements. One on which the Greek roots are evident. Instead of a 12-string guitar they could have used a bouzuki. Too melodic for my tastes but not a bad song at all. A curiosity: For many years I have thought that the song title was "Sometimes", the word with which it starts.

Finally it's likely a bouzuki that opens "Such A Funny Thing". A folky song on which Demis uses his highest pitches alternated to flute and piano.

It's not properly a progressive album, but I can suggest to listen to it because it's very "dated". It means that you can have an idea of how the late 60s were. Apart of the obvious Beatles King Crimson and Pink Floyd in 1969 were already on a different level. This is how the more artistic pop was sounding.

Review by siLLy puPPy
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic
3 stars Considering all the trials and tribulations that APHRODITE'S CHILD had to endure in leaving their homeland Greece after a right-wing dictatorship commonly known as the Regime Of The Colonels usurped control of their country and forced them to relocate to London to recognize their musical ambitions, not to mention getting stuck in Paris en route during 68's tumultuous riots and unrest, it was utterly amazing that the band found resounding success with their debut album "End Of The World" all throughout the European continent the very same year. Having finally settled in London, the trio of Vangelis Papathanassiou, Demis Roussos and Lucas Sideras wasted no time in recording a followup and with success already achieved with their huge hit ballad "Rain And Tears," the band entered Trident Studios to record the sophomore effort IT'S FIVE O'CLOCK which logically tried to copy the successful formula of the hit singles from their debut album "End Of The World" and tried to Anglicize them by bringing in Richard Francis to write the lyrics and offer a more proper English speaking perspective. The results are a much less impactive statement than the debut, a less cohesive unit and despite clever pop tracks created, ends up sounding like an attempt to mimic UK band styles over developing the interesting menage of musical styles on the debut.

Right from the very first opening title track it's apparent that IT'S FIVE O'CLOCK is a less ambitious and more streamlined pop album that jettisons much of the debut's Greek and Middle Eastern sounds for a more streamlined British approach. The strangest part about this album is that the tracks are so diverse that it often sounds like a various artist compilation than a single band performing. The title track sounds like some straight out of the Procol Harum playbook with moody organs churning out their notable baroque pop and classical influences. The second track "Wake Up" sounds like a totally different band with a pop folk hippie infused consciousness awakening psychedelic pop feel that is drenched in key changes. "Take Your Time" takes yet another direction as it tackles country rock and reminds me most of those Beatles tracks that showcased Ringo Starr on his one song allotment per album as lead singer. "Anabella" is a sappy ballad with heartfelt lyrics, the swishing of tides permeating the background drenched in a keyboard rich snail-paced tempo that is broken by a brief overwrought chorus.

"Let Me Love, Let Me Live" is heavier pop-stomp that sounds more like The Who in full "Pinball Wizard" form and in retrospect shows a slight interest in rock opera greatness although it is far from fulfilled on this brief musical statement. "Funky Mary" takes another 180 as the trio delve into Sly & Family Stone territory with a funky soul rock groove although Roussos sings more like Hendrix, the percussion is fiery with Santana-esque bongos and a jazzy vibraphone provides an unexpected counterpoint. "Good Time So Fine" then jumps into the world of Vaudville as it sounds similar to the good vibe musical format that would become Jesus Christ Superstar. "Marie Jolie" is yet another ballad only sounds more like something from the 50s in an almost Bobby Darrin sort of style only augmented by tribal bongo rhythms and an accordion solo that adds an undeniable Mediterranean cafe feel. Of all the tracks on board, it's the closer "Such A Funny Night" that is probably most like anything of the debut album. Catchy piano grooves, psychedelic Indo-raga sitar and helium induced vocal pitches augmented by flute and sitar trade-offs. Definitely my favorite track and the catchiest that even manages to squeeze in some ragtime piano sounds.

Overall, IT'S FIVE O'CLOCK is basically a grab bag of ideas, more like an album of leftover tracks than a bona fide album itself. It seems that Vangelis had sort of a one tracked mind and was obsessed with the apocalypse and end days, which when applied on the debut album and "666," flourished in great progressive fecundity, however with this second album it seems that the band were just going for as much chart topping pop jugulars as they possibly could with the only attention being paid to crafting as many commercial hits as allowed by law with no regard given to the unifying potentials of the album as a whole. Far from a bad collection of tracks, IT'S FIVE O'CLOCK does pale in comparison to the more timeless themes of the two albums that sandwich it. Despite the tracks lacking the unified thematic luster of "End Of The World" or not even coming close to the progressively polished sophistication of "666," it still has it's charms and while eternally doomed to be the lesser of APHRODITE'S CHILD's mere three albums, is still a decent psychedelic pop album that displays Vangelis' signature melodic sound coupled with Roussos romantic Mediterranean vocal style that would propel them into hugely successful solo careers in the 70s and beyond.

Latest members reviews

2 stars Another mainly pop oriented effort by Aphrodite's child. Roussos voice and Vangelis keyboards are the main selling points. The first and title track is a fine ballad with Moog and organ chords, solemn and a bit reminding of "A whiter shade of pale". Vocal is in the foreground of this song. ... (read more)

Report this review (#2242902) | Posted by sgtpepper | Saturday, August 10, 2019 | Review Permanlink

1 stars Symphonic prog? Of course not. It's Five O'Clock is the second album by Aphrodite's Child, and it's a poor Country Folk spin-off work, with some psychedelic rock influences IMO. It's tiresome, boring melodies and the whole album have that "I have heard it before" feeling. Even the keyboards ... (read more)

Report this review (#975370) | Posted by VOTOMS | Monday, June 10, 2013 | Review Permanlink

3 stars The band's second album isn't quite as good as the first one, but it's still interesting and even more diverse. This time, they took it a little easier on the psychedelic vibe and explored some different styles.There are lots of unpredictable twists and some classy songwriting here. For me, a bunch ... (read more)

Report this review (#396410) | Posted by Frankie Flowers | Monday, February 7, 2011 | Review Permanlink

4 stars This one is not as prog as the first album, it has been recorded at the trident studio in LONDON ,it displays various kind of styles because VANGELIS asked the guis to renew themselve.VANGELIS plays more piano and added flute and vibe,DEMIS plays a little ac guitar and brings his first song,ve ... (read more)

Report this review (#292482) | Posted by jean-marie | Thursday, July 29, 2010 | Review Permanlink

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