Socrates - Phos* 1976 (full album)
Originally (and also later, but only on special occasions), they were called Socrates Drank the Conium, "Socrates drank the hemlock." However, since a considerable amount of literature had already been produced about the death of the Athenian, and not to mention that it wasn't exactly the most agile name for a band, they chose to shorten it (even on the covers) to Socrates. Synthesis is always important.
They entered history - and the English charts, where they lingered for a couple of weeks - with the album Phos (Light) in 1976. It was produced by Evangelos Papathanassiou, whose (omni)presence on the record goes far beyond the role of "special guest" and co-writer ascribed to him.
Under Papathanassiou's artistic direction, the muscular blues rock of the band - dominated by the Hendrixian riffs of Piraeus guitar hero Yannis "John" Spathas - allows for airy and evocative ambient/progressive openings highlighted by celestial synth textures (the majestic coda of 'Every Dream Comes To An End'), as well as complex folk frameworks of Hellenic and/or British flavor, particularly paying homage to Gentle Giant ("Time of Pain") and inevitable yet valuable nods to the pop of Aphrodite's Child ("A Day in Heaven").
A radiant testimony of the potential of Greek rock, less prolific than that of the nameless Anatolian counterparts but certainly no less inspired, and a way to remember Yannis Spathas, who passed away in 2019.
Originally (and also later, but only on special occasions), they were called Socrates Drank the Conium, "Socrates drank the hemlock." However, since a considerable amount of literature had already been produced about the death of the Athenian, and not to mention that it wasn't exactly the most agile name for a band, they chose to shorten it (even on the covers) to Socrates. Synthesis is always important.
They entered history - and the English charts, where they lingered for a couple of weeks - with the album Phos (Light) in 1976. It was produced by Evangelos Papathanassiou, whose (omni)presence on the record goes far beyond the role of "special guest" and co-writer ascribed to him.
Under Papathanassiou's artistic direction, the muscular blues rock of the band - dominated by the Hendrixian riffs of Piraeus guitar hero Yannis "John" Spathas - allows for airy and evocative ambient/progressive openings highlighted by celestial synth textures (the majestic coda of 'Every Dream Comes To An End'), as well as complex folk frameworks of Hellenic and/or British flavor, particularly paying homage to Gentle Giant ("Time of Pain") and inevitable yet valuable nods to the pop of Aphrodite's Child ("A Day in Heaven").
A radiant testimony of the potential of Greek rock, less prolific than that of the nameless Anatolian counterparts but certainly no less inspired, and a way to remember Yannis Spathas, who passed away in 2019.
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