Niki N. Phaser

Vangelis’ career is one of many interesting contrasts and considering that he started making music at the age of four, it’s only natural that he explored quite a few genres before becoming the synth-guru he is known today. Less famous than Aphrodite’s Child, his international successful band with Demis Roussous, is his first musical pack, The Forminx, which were the Greek version of The Beatles’ craze, that swept pretty much the whole world and bred countless clones, one (or more) for each country. The Forminx were quite a hit in 1960′s Greece, after seducing the youth with their catchy rock’n'roll tunes and innocent schlagers. In the latter category, Love Without Love holds an honourable place. The English lyrics sung with a bit of accent, the strange choice of words here and there (”You understand me so much”), Toto’s trumpet, they all provide Love Without Love with the 60′s charm of European schlagers. But beyond that, this is a very well done piece of music, that doesn’t conjure up laughs, but a real emotional response in the listener and hypothetically ‘translated’ into contemporary music production, it would prove to be a masterful tearjerker ballad.

LISTEN TO Love Without Love

Ok, so maybe your San Francisco gran would spit in my eye for calling The Byrds ignored-gold, but the truth remains that you have to be into 60′s music in order to be well acquainted with this band. They are known, but they just haven’t had the luck of Oliver Stone making a movie about them. Though not a fan of their rodeo-Nashville Mr. Hyde, I can’t help acknowledging the timeless quality of songs like Child of the Universe and Eight Miles High.

But, right off the bet, I must clarify that I’m reffering to the orchestrated version of Child of the Universe, as it appears on the end titles of the 1968 sex-comedy, Candy. Also, I should mention that, despite a cast including Marlon Brando, Richard Burton or John Huston, this song is probably the best thing about that movie, though one must admit that the peeks at Ewa Aulin anatomical highlights gives one a retro hard-on. I guess the real thing about The Byrds, as with many bands of their time, is the vocal harmonics they achieved in both of the songs mentioned. Still, maybe Child of the Universe has more charm because of its flower-power-esque lyrics, like “Love for anyone who needs her, Innocence is all that feeds her” or maybe because of the Krzysztof Komeda-like arrangements (including male choir), done most likely by Dave Gruisin, who co-wrote the song with Roger McGuinn. However, Eight Miles High contains some of the most studied vocal harmonics, because their effect creates a sound that could hardly be characterized. But, don’t take my word for it, listen to both songs:

Child of the Universe Eight Miles High