Aphrodite's Child
Best of Aphrodite's Child

Ok, I know very well that reviewing a compilation is not a very orthodox thing, especially for us from DeBaser. I take this excuse, however, to talk about a great band that for a very brief period, less than three years, from 1968 to mid-1971, made a deep mark in the history of non-Anglophone music with a handful of highly emotional songs.

A Greek band, Aphrodite's Child, which boasted the fantastic and poetic voice of Artemios Ventouris Roussos (Demis), the great drumming of Lucas Sideras, and the lucid madness of that genius Evangelos Odyssey Papathanassiou (that is, the great Vangelis).

I don't even want to dwell on all the pieces of this albeit slender collection (nine tracks in total), among which there are true gems like "Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall" and "I Want to Live", but I want to highlight two songs that, even now, listening to them again after years provokes the whirlwind effect of a powerful emotion.

The first is the well-known yet splendid "Rain and Tears", the piece that first made the world aware of the beauty and uniqueness of the voice of this great (in every sense, he was a large man) singer, while the second is "It's Five O'Clock".

It is truly difficult for me to describe the sensations that this piece evokes in me, from the magical initial keyboards to that voice that rises clear as the Aegean Sea, especially in the beautiful refrain. Wonderful, too, is the central solo by Vangelis which brings the piece significantly closer to Procol Harum.

It's a pity that the band lasted too little, partly due to Vangelis' desire, certainly justified given his monumental talent, to engage with more challenging works than pop-rock, which would anyway lead him to achieve worldwide glory and fame, especially with the soundtracks of "Blade Runner" and "Chariots Of Fire", and also because Demis' voice, at a certain point, had to "walk" on its own.

That Demis sometimes sold himself short with pieces and arrangements on the verge of kitsch is another story, but on the other hand, that voice could move you singing anything.

P.S.: I recently heard Julio Iglesias sing "Forever and Ever". Well, guys, THERE'S NO MATCH, Demis 8 Julio 0.