Socrates (Drank The Conium) with Vangelis Papathanasiou – Phos

Socrates (Drank The Conium) with Vangelis Papathanasiou – Phos
Release: 1993 | Orig. Year: 1976 | Label: Vertigo/Polygram Records | Number: 518738 2
Made: Greece | Style: Progressive Rock | Stereo | FileServe.com

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Socrates Drank the Conium is a Greek progressive/blues rock band that formed in 1969 and was active in the early 1970s. Their sound was reminiscent of other such bands of the approximate period like the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Jeff Beck and some of the more progressive, experimental works of Black Sabbath. Their categorization as “progressive” can be attributed mainly to their abundant use of less-than-conventional time signatures. The group would go through many lineup changes throughout the years, but the two core members have remained: guitarist Yannis Spathas and bassist/singer Antonis Tourkogiorgis.

History

Socrates (as the somewhat ponderous name is often abbreviated) began its career in the clubs of Athens. Most prominent of these was the popular Kyttaro. They were present at a number of other locations in and around Victoria Square in Athens. Apart from playing many original songs at gigs, Socrates often covered Jimi Hendrix songs, none of which were featured on any studio releases. However, a thirteen-minute cover of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones found its way onto their 1972 album Taste of Conium. The guitarist, Yannis Spathas, favored two sunburst Fender Stratocasters, a Candy Apple Red Roland GR-505 guitar synthesizer, a black Gibson Les Paul Custom and a cherry sunburst Les Paul Standard as his instruments, Antonis Tourkogiorgis played a mid-1970s natural ash-bodied Fender Jazz Bass, a Warwick Corvette Double Buck bass and sang, while several drummers were used throughout the live shows and recording sessions. As a whole, the three-piece outfit resembled that of Cream: counterparts Spathas and Clapton, singer/bassists Tourkogiorgis and Bruce and drummers Boukouvalas and Baker.
In 1975, Socrates went through a change in stylistic direction with Phos which released in 1976 and was produced by Vangelis and featured his contribution on many tracks. Phos was mostly reworkings of older songs by Socrates. Both LPs On the Wings and Phos were issued in the USA via Neil Kempfer-Stocker’s Prog imprint Cosmos.

During 2002 Socrates reunited in an extended form (featuring keyboards and a second singer) to do several shows around Greece.

The Album Notes:

In 1975 Vangelis worked with the Greek rock band Socrates on their third album “Phos”. The band consists of three members at the time, Antonis Tourkogiorgis, John Spathas and George Tradalidis. Their cooperation with Vangelis lasts only for this one album, he is credited for producing the album, playing keyboards and percussion and also for composing one of the songs.

Before and after this album Socrates made a number of other albums, sometimes under the imaginative name ‘Socrates drank the conium’…

Review

Greek band Socrates (without Vangelis) sound like a standard seventies rhythm’n'blues-outfit with a lead-vocalist/bass player, lead-guitarist and drummer, somewhat akin to early Fleetwood Mac, Free and other bluesy bands like those. But they also remind you of some of the livelier moments of Aphrodite’s Child – in fact, Antonis Tourkogiorgis’ voice is not dissimilar to that of the younger Demis Roussos, and likewise the guitar-work of John Spadas compared to that of Silver Koulouris. But they lack some of the melancholy and weirdness of their illustrious predecessors, which is where Vangelis comes in for this 1976 album “Phos”.

Socrates, like Aphrodite’s Child, recorded for Vertigo/Polygram which is probably how they got in touch with Vangelis, who in turn might have relished the chance to work with some fellow Greeks again, in a rather uncomplicated style far removed from his own at the time (e.g. “Albedo 0.39″, “Spiral”).

Describing the album track by track, focusing on Vangelis’ input:
“Starvation” alternates between the vocal line (duplicated on guitar) and a nice keyboard-riff played by Vangelis using his typical organ-sounds. A tough heavy rock-song, plenty of guitars, well executed.

“Queen Of The Universe” is a hybrid cosmic blues-song, with Vangelis simply marking the beat in the bluesy parts, but really taking over in the mysterious “cosmic” interludes: three beautiful reminders of “Albedo 0.39″ and also “Cosmos”.

The instrumental “Every Dream Comes To An End” is co-credited to Vangelis but, as he gives the song its structure through his main piano-part, it’s probably his composition with the others figuring out their contributions on acoustic guitar, bass and drums and a few dramatic electric guitar solos. Apart from the only occurrence of the piano on this album, a flexible high CS-80-type sound is also heard throughout. During the beautiful long coda, it’s Vangelis completely on his own, and the piece ends with a clock ticking, another theme from “Albedo 0.39″.

The highlight of this album, naturally, for Vangelis fans.

“The Bride” is a ballad, Socrates-style, with a low and a high (slightly out of tune) vocal singing the same melody-line as played by the acoustic & electric guitar. Vangelis’ input is slight, a high CS-80-type sound and a few bass-sounds make up his contribution here.

“Killer” is a short, complicated blues-song with no discernible contribution from Vangelis, or it must be percussion, for which he’s also credited on this album Vangelis reappears on “A Day In Heaven” however, along with a mystery female vocal. Could this be Mariangela, who also recorded an album at Orange Studios in London with Vangelis ? Who knows, anyway, it adds a nice touch to this slow rock-song. Vangelis simply plays his organ-part, no pyrotechnics here, apart from a few thrills at the end.

The same description applies to “Time Of Pain” as did earlier to “Killer”, plenty of complicated intertwined guitar-parts, the only Vangelis input possibly being some strange “painful” noises at 2.35.

Longest track “Mountains” at first repeats the Fleetwood Mac trick on “Oh Well” of the lead-singer several times singing on his own followed by a guitar-riff. Then it all stops, and Vangelis joins in to accompany a long difficult acoustic guitar-part in the best seventies guitar-freakery tradition. This plus some weird percussion creates a slightly “666″ atmosphere to end this album.

“Phos” is not a masterpiece of an album (but certainly the better for Vangelis’ contribution) and Socrates as a band would have remained highly obscure and of interest to blues specialists only, were it not for their involvement with the much better-known Vangelis. For him, it was probably just an opportunity to “let his hair down”, have some fun and help out a few fellow Greeks. The result is enjoyable enough to listen to once in a while, as simply another oddity in the long Vangelis canon. ~Review by Ivar de Vries

Artist: Socrates
Title:   Phos
==========================================
01 – Starvation
02 – Queen Of The Universe
03 – Every Dream Comes To An End
04 – The Bridge
05 – Killer
06 – A Day In Heaven
07 – Time Of Pain
08 – Mountains

Discography
Although recorded in 1975, an LP was first issued in 1976 in Greece and the USA, the last one which was later withdrawn. The USA print had a yellow cover with a statue-head picture, where as the Greek printed a different cover, with a collage of pictures from the three band members. No singles were released. The first cd was issued in Greece in 1993 by Vertigo, which was later re-issued in South Korea by Si-Wan records. Both have the collage cover. In 1998 Vertigo re-released a remastered edition of the album, with the statue head cover. Apparently also a single was released from the album in Greece…

LP
1976 Vertigo 6331 950 Greece
1976 Peters International PILPS 9013 USA

CD
1993 Vertigo 518 738 2 Greece
1995 Si-Wan Records 518 527 2 South Korea
1998 Vertigo 518 738 2 Greece (Remastered)

Recording studio

As his own studio was still being built up, Vangelis booked recording time Orange Studios, a small but centrally located studio. There he met Keith Spencer-Allen, sound engineer at Orange Studios at the time, who would be his assistant at Nemo during the remaining part of the seventies. Not only did Vangelis record this album at Orange Studios, but also an album with Greek singer Mariangela. Actually the female backing vocal in “A day in heaven” is Mariangela.