END OF THE WORLD

Soon after APHRODITE'S CHILD was formed, the guitar player Anargyros "Silver Koulouris is called to the military Service and has to leave the bands (only to rejoin them for the recording of 666), so they turn into a trio with Artemios (Demis Roussos) taking both the bass and guitar.

With this emergency lineup they release "End of the World" in 1968, an album that lead them to fame due to the self titled single "End of the World" which reached N° 1 in most continental Europe, but the album is much more than a hit single, even when their Prog leanings are not yet so obvious, the adventurous and delicate blend of Psychedelia with Greek ethnic roots is simply delightful. Probably a bit naive in comparison with their masterpiece, but this kids were releasing very elaborate and interesting music when the 60's were dying.

The album starts with the title song in which the absolutely dramatic and clear voice of a young Demis Roussos creates a nostalgic moment only broken by his sentimental screams, but again, this is much more than just a ballad, the Greek Folk influence is more than evident while Vangelis adds outstanding organ sections with an evident Psyche/Prog orientation, I can't understand why people catalogue this outstanding song as soft POPO when it's one of the more advanced pieces of music you can listen in 1968, love the disheartening atmosphere and pure passion.

"Don't try to Catch a River" is much faster and snappy than "End of the World", but not less interesting, even when the funky entrance seems to announces a catchy POP track, the wonderful keyboards of Vangelis take us in a trip to an electronic Psychedelic universe, while that human metronome named "Lucas Sideras" adds dissonant backing vocals that prove how elaborate this track is.

People often criticize "Mister Thomas" and catalogues it as a childish song, but lets not forget this guys are Greek and want to include their ethnic roots into their music, yes, you can dance to it almost as you would do with a Tarantella, but they are shouting "We are Greeks and don't want to sound like a British band".

"Rain and Tears" is another track that obtained popularity for APHRODITE'S CHILD, and even when it's basically a ballad, the contrasting and dissonant choirs plus the subtle organ and violin, makes of it interesting from start to end.

Now it's time for "The Grass is no Green", an experimental song with an extremely strong ethnic component that gives us hints of what 666 will be, absolutely dramatic and disturbing, demonstrates that this guys are going for more than just a place in the Billboards combining their national essence with trippy Psyche.

"Valley of Sadness" sounds like a track taken from the 60's British Invasion, but again their Greek atmosphere make it unique and creates a contrasting mood with the heavy "You Stand in my Way" where Demis gives one of his best vocal performances.

As "Mister Thomas" before, "The Shepherd and the Moon" is a folksy song, but the distorted vocals and radical changes make it worth to be listened, the band tries to embrace Rock but never forgetting their essence, simply delightful and mysterious.

The album ends with "Day of the Fool", one of the proggiest and more challenging songs in the album, they go from Rock to some sort of melodic Prog, Avant Garde to an outstanding and extremely long organ solo by Vangelis, the perfect closer for an excellent album.

Before rating "End of the World" I must say that before last week I only heard this album once back in the 80's and didn't impressed me, so I udsed to believe tha APHRODITE'S CHILD was a mainstream band that released one Prog album (666) by luck.

But before placing it in a box with the albums I never listen decided to give "End of the World" a new chance, and my opinion has changed in 180° degrees, it's fantastic release in which the seeds of 666 are starting to blossom, so I can't rate it with less than 4 solid stars.

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