William's Song a Day Blog - est. September 2007

From: End of the World ; Year: 1968; Genre: Psychedelic Rock From time to time I go back to Aphrodite's Child and their gorgeous music; I'm glad I did last night once more. Rain and Tears , which was their first big hit and was particularly popular in Italy and across northern Europe; I do not know how it did on this side of "The Pond," but if it didn't we really missed out. Evangelos Papathanassiou (aka Vangelis) and Boris Bergman wrote this piece around the overly used motif of Johann Pachelbel's famous Canon in D, P.37 . Immediately you will recognize the melody, but once they start to introduce and reintroduce their themes and vocals, their musical masterwork embellishes around the skeletal motif into something really amazing and beautiful. I cannot help but keep on resetting the needle over again and again.   Hear Rain and Tears on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Pearl Jam - Why Go     My song pick 2 years ago today: James Brown -...

From: End of the World ; Year: 1968; Genre: Progressive Rock/Psychedelic Rock Here is another song that would've gone good yesterday, so I guess it's an April Fools bonus! Been listening to this storied Greek power trio a bit over the last couple of days; I have to say, when a band's first record is titled End of the World and their final album is titled 666 (The Apocalypse of John) , you have to be ready for some really heavy music in the extreme.  They do not disappoint on this track; I am not entirely sure as to what exactly this song is about, as far as I can tell it about an adult, Benjy, with a child's mind that wanders whose birthday it is and that for a change everybody is being nice to him, especially his best friend Caddy who he seems to be infatuated with. However, this could all be in the person's mind and/or someone losing it. That is probably the best aspect of a song such as this: the listener can find his/her own meaning. All that being said, the mu...

From: 666 (The Apocalypse of John, 13/18) ; Year: 1972; Genre: Progressive Rock/Hard Rock This quite interesting and underrated concept album from the Greek progressive rock band Aphrodite's Child was on my mind again over the weekend; thought that I would listen to it again and pick another track from it. These two songs that open the double LP set whist shorter in length, (at about 25 seconds and just under three minutes respectively), they really do a great in packing way more than one would expect in such small packages.   Hear The System on YouTube. Hear Babylon on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Arlo Guthrie - Coming Into Los Angeles   My song pick 2 years ago today: The Who - Success Story   My song pick 3 years ago today: Booker T. & The MG's - My Sweet Potato   My song pick 4 years ago today: Blue Öyster Cult - When the War Comes Home My song pick 5 years ago today: Steeleye Span - Wintersmith My song pick 6 years ago...

From: 666 ; Year: 1972; Genre: Progressive Rock/Psychedelic Rock The other day I found out that composer extraordinaire Vangelis passed away at the age of 79. He is most likely best-known for writing and performing the scores of Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner amongst many other films and documentaries. Other than the fore-mentioned movies my main exposure to Vangelis' work was the final album from one of his early bands/projects: Aphrodite's Child , 666 . The Four Horsemen is one of the songs of notoriety from the record, which, of course, was a concept album based on The Apocalypse of John . It's a great dynamic track with some great musical ideas throughout and is one that is actually quite accessible to most casual listeners; the song and entire album makes for some awesome "headphone music."   Hear The Four Horsemen on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Gap Band - You Dropped a Bomb on Me   My song pick 2 years ago today: Barenaked Ladies...

From: End of the World ; Year: 1968; Genre: Progressive Rock/Psychedelic Rock I am in a weird mood today, so I needed a weird song to pick; this one definitely fills the bill. Hear End of the World on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Triumph - I Can Survive My song pick two years ago today: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Otherside My song pick three years ago today: Cruachan - The Gael My song pick four years ago today: Jim Croce - Alabama Rain My song pick five years ago today: Derek and the Dominos (Eric Clapton) - Bell Bottom Blues

1668 Aphrodite's Child - The Beast From: 666: (The Apocalypse of John, 13/18) , Year: 1972 Genre: Progressive Rock/Psychedelic Rock I thought I would keep this 'Beastie' mini theme going one more day with this song off of Aphrodite's Child's Prog Rock Concept album based on The Book or Revelation, aka 'The Apocalypse of John .' In my opinion this is actually an excellent and quite an underrated album in so many ways. I love how many of the songs contrast with one another, yet still flow quite nicely. The main draw for me on the entire album, however, is, of course, the compositions and amazing musicianship from Vangelis and company. I love the bluesy feel and the funky groove they used on this track in particular. Here is a fan video with the song on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Duran Duran - Lonely In Your Nightmare My song pick two years ago today: Jethro Tull - Dogs in the Midwinter My song pick three years ago today: John Denver - Season Suit...

899 ( Aphrodite's Child - Hic et Nunc ) A little over a couple of weeks ago Arthur (Tuuur) chose a song from Aphrodite's Child off of this album . I had been trying to find out who did this the album for quite some time after hearing it over 20 years ago. The main problem is I could only remember the music, 666 on the album cover, and the subject matter. Try to put that into search engine and you won't believe how many millions of irrelevant hits you get concerning music, 666, and the end of the world; not very useful at all. Anyway, as I said before, Arthur posted one of their songs, helping to end my search; my thanks go out to him. Aphrodite's Child was a Greek Rock band and was one of Vangelis' projects; he would probably be best known for his composition: Chariots of Fire (which can be found here on YouTube ), which is another melody that is indelibly burnt into my mind. This album is a rock opera of sorts using The Apocalypse of John , aka The Book of Revel...