Aphrodite's Child- It's Five O' Clock (1970)

Quality: 3 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 3 out of 5

Aphrodite's Child made a serious change of gears on their second long player, It's Five O' Clock. Whereas on their first disc they were firmly a strange psych-pop band, they try to adopt a more country-rock sort of vibe here with just a few hints of psychedelia. That's right, a Greek band playing country rock.

They really don't do a bad job of it at all. Unfortunately, the eccentricities that made the first album so interesting are mostly smoothed over here and the overall sound is much more bland and less distinctive. In fact, I had trouble believing thart this was the same band until the fourth track, "Annabella," where Roussos finally returns to his amusingly overly dramatic vocals. Some of the songs, while well written, don't really take off until the band gets onto more of a freaky jam mood as in the second half of "Let Me Love, Let Me Live."

Aphrodite's Child still maintains interest as a truly organ driven band on many of the tracks, but there are far more guitars present here. I guess you can't really do country rock like "Wake Up," "Take Your Time," "Marie Jolly," "Or Such A Funny Night" without some strummed acoustic guitars. For better or for worse, none of these tracks are embarrassing, but they do come off as uninspired. These are very much utilitarian compositions.

The band tries to reach out in a few different directions on "Funky Marie" and "Good Time So Fine." "Funky Marie" is certainly not funky in the traditional sense, but it is odd with its manic percussion including jazzy vibes and spastically hit bongos. Unfortunately, it's not very good either and is more of a overly stoned jam than anything else. The band fairs a little better trying to create a touch of dixieland on "Good Time So Fine" and mixing it with, uh, hoarse yelping. Still, I'd take, well anything from the first album over this.

The title track, which is also the opener, is sort of a rehash of "Rain And Tears" from the last album. It's not bad, but it does suffer from the law of diminishing returns. If I want to hear something like this I'd sooner put on "Rain And Tears."

The lyrics are far less noticable on It's Five O' Clock. I guess the singing is integrated in the mix a little more, but I didn't pick up on any of the demented psychedelic cliches which I enjoyed so much on the first album.

It's Five O' Clock is a pretty average album. There are a few successful country rock numbers which are worth a listen, but the experimentation often flies off the rails, and the album unfortunately pales in comparison with it's far more distinctive predecessor.

Apparently, Aphrodite's Child took a deep plunge into the weird on the next album, 666. I haven't been able to track that one down, but if someone out there can send some mp3s my way, I'd love to review it.

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Aphrodite's Child- It's Five O' Clock

Aphrodite's Child- End Of The World (1968)

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Aphrodite's Child was a Greek band featuring several future musical luminaries. New age/electronica guru Vangelis (of "Blade Runner" fame) shows up here as a multi-instrumentalist and writes the bulk of the music. Demis Roussos, who apparently had a successful solo career in the 1970's is the lead vocalist. This album is their debut and feature some prime, if slightly-skewed, 1968 psychedelia.

You've perhaps heard "Rain And Tears," the closest thing to a hit on this album. It's a pleasant organ-led psych track in the "Whiter Shade Of Pale" mold. Fortunately, it's not the best song here as End Of The World turns out to be a very consistent album.

I've often heard the early "prog rock" tag thrown at this direction. Although there are a couple of slightly longer tracks (like six minutes) present, the modus operandi here is very much psychedelic pop. We're not looking at multi-part, constantly shifting songs here. I think the progressive elements apply more to the oddball elements of this band.

As Greek musicians (who also spent time in Paris), these guys were probably pretty disconnected from the British/American mainline of 60's pop. Demis Roussos seems like he's often horsely belting out the vocals without any restraint in a strange approximation of his counterparts. This often works to enjoyable effect as "Mister Thomas" comes of as much less twee as it would otherwise, and I always get an amusing image of Mr. Roussos blasting from the top of a windswept mountain on the sideways rocking "Don't Try To Catch A River."

This is also an early example of an almost guitar-less rock album, which would become a common progressive rock gimmick. Vangelis is quite a keyboard player, however, and I never found myself missing guitar tones. It fact, I really had to pay close attention to the album to notice the lack of guitars. As a warning to fans of Vangelis, the songs here little in common with his solo works, although you might be pleasantly surprised by his different, but great performance here.

Lyrically, this album gets a bit strange, perhaps due to the fact that English was not these guys first language. Things are pretty creepy on opening track "End Of The World" as Roussos suggests "You should come with me to the end of the world without telling your parents or your friends," and that he'll "give you anything that lives on earth." It's not an enticing offer from a hairy hippy. As the album continues, we hear plenty of other psychedelic cliches twisted into surreal shapes.

The longer tracks, "The Grass Is Not Green" and "Day Of The Fool," break from the basic psychedelic pop mold. Here Aphrodite's Child get a little more progressive, but it's much closer to Days Of Future Passed Moody Blues than "Karn Evil 9." They do manage to end the album on a very creepy, unsettling note filled with decaying organs and sputtering percussion with "Day Of The Fool." End of the World, indeed.

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Aphrodite's Child- End Of The World