Socrates With Vangelis - Phos(1976) [Greece, Progressive Rock]

Brilliant. Vangelis Papathanassiou lends a hand on this album and Socrates record an masterpiece similar to which Greece and most of the world haven't heard before. First of all, the multi-talented musician added plenty more keyboards to the set turning the blues rock band, with the inclusion of influences of Greek traditional music, into more of a progressive group. Dukakis has left the group before this album and the band consists only of Spathas on guitar (where else?), Tourkoyorgis on bass and vocals, Tradalidis on drums and the great Vangelis on keyboards. What a dream team really? The musicianship is great once more. Actually though the formula for the creation of this album is not that complex (at least not for their brilliance). What Socrates did was to expand the sound of some of their previous songs plus a few new pieces. The result was a genuine artistic achievement. This album if packed with tremendous tracks, all classics in the Greek community. "Starvation", "Queen of the universe", "Killer", "Mountains", "Every dream comes to an end" and "A day in heaven" are masterpieces that any top artist of a bigger market would envy. Phos is considered a cult highlight in Greek (and not only) music history but also one of the most ignored ones of Rock music in general.

Yannis Spathas (guitar)
Antonis Tourkoyorgis (bass)
George Tradalidis (drums)
Vangelis Papathanassiou (keyboards)
Nikos Antipas (drums)
Pavlos Alexiou (keyboards)

 1 Starvation 2 Queen of the Universe 3 Every Dream Comes to an End 4 The Bride 6 Killer 7 A Day in Heaven 8 Time of Pain 9 MountainsThe best album of this group. The collaboration of Vangelis Papathanasiou gives a more progressive feeling to "Phos" with many keyboards, experimentations and changes, especially to tracks like "Queen of the universe". It's apparent that he didn't appear as a guest (though officially he was), but as a full member with precious contribution. Many of the tracks are not new, but their versions here are more interesting and "improved" in comparison to the older ones. But, no matter how progressive it gets to some moments, this album does not stray too much from their original style, adding also even more greek folk elements to their hard-rock/blues influences. The musicianship of all band members is proficient, solid, exact and deeply emotional, while the songwriting is really inspired and fresh (not a "copy-paste" mood but really something different and pioneering). The production is also excellent (at last!). A "must buy" for every collector of cult albums. Highly recommended to all 70's rock fans.

1. Starvation 3:44
2. Queen Of The Universe 4:59
3. Every Dream Comes To An End 5:56
4. The Bride 3:36
5. Killer 2:25
6. A Day In Heaven 4:31
7. Time Of Pain 3:26
8. Mountains 7:29

1976 - Socrates (with Vangelis O. Papathanassiou) - Phos