Phos

After shortening their name to "Socrates" from the original "Socrates Drank The Conium", Greece's favorite and most famous rock trio collaborated with former Aphrodite's Child keyboard wizard Vangelis Papathanassiou (yes, THAT Vangelis) for this album, which is arguably their magnum opus and the closest they've ever come to the progressive rock genre. Lush, atmospheric keyboards enhance the intricate arrangements, which are on par with the best the international rock, hard rock and progressive rock could offer at the time. The only gripe is the wiry, weak and nasal tone of Yiannis Spathas' guitar. "Killer" is actually a reworking of the frenetic, driving "Death Is Gonna Die" from their previous effort, "On The Wings"; don't confuse it with Adamski's dance hit. "Mountains" is perhaps the finest example of how an electric guitar can be used to play a traditional improvised Greek clarinet solo. "Queen Of The Universe" is just what a love song should be, sensitive and heartfelt, without being mushy and corny - and it also has a gorgeous melody. "Starvation" is the album's most famous song. Although it's incredibly well-composed and written, this is where we see why I don't like the guitar tone. All of the songs, in general, are of a very high standard. I highly recommend this album to every rock connoisseur.

This so called remaster is taken from the same vinyl source as all the previous CD releases (you can easily hear the vinyl noises in the paus between track 3 and 4 if you turn up the volume). This CD is just a bit EQ-ed and has extra reverb added. If you have one of the earlier CDs (or even better the original vinyl) you don't need to get this one.The music itself is great beeing one of the heaviest productions Vangelis was ever involved in, but there are also some spacey moments very typical for V's 70s style. I guess this is how Aphrodite's Child could have sounded if they had continued during the 70s. VANGELIS ROCKS!!

nice remaster with a great booklet of the final album by this greek prog band that came after aphrodites child, the liner notes say it all, if you take typical 70s prog and throw a little greek mystical sounds in there that was what this record was about at this time, i am hoping esoteric does the rest of the socorates albums on cd, as far as i know now they are available us cheap european imports that have not been remastered, great album this was for its time........................