It's Five O'Clock [Bonus Tracks] (1970)

Aphrodite's Child's second LP was in some ways both a continuation of and departure from their debut album, End of the World. There were some grandiose keyboard-based sub-British psychedelic tracks that could have fit in well on the previous record. The title song's celestial organ, for instance, is much like that heard on U.K. psychedelic records of the period such as Rupert's People's "Reflections of Charlie Brown," though it's more sentimentally romantic than virtually anything a British band would have released, ... Read More

Aphrodite's Child's second LP was in some ways both a continuation of and departure from their debut album, End of the World. There were some grandiose keyboard-based sub-British psychedelic tracks that could have fit in well on the previous record. The title song's celestial organ, for instance, is much like that heard on U.K. psychedelic records of the period such as Rupert's People's "Reflections of Charlie Brown," though it's more sentimentally romantic than virtually anything a British band would have released, especially in its vocal delivery. Yet on other cuts, the group took on a markedly different character, whether it was mildly rousing social consciousness ("Wake Up"), pretty fair stomping power pop-psych ("Let Me Love, Let Me Live"), and, least successfully, good-time country-rock ("Take Your Time") and gravelly vaudevillian soul ("Good Time So Fine"). "Funky Mary," on the other hand, is a really cool departure into almost experimental soul-rock, its phased vocals backed by an almost musique concrète wash of bashing drums, Latin-African-flavored bongos, and jazzy vibraphone. If it's guiltier pleasures you're looking for, the unreservedly heart-tuggingly sad "Marie Jolie" is their best (if most saccharine) pop ballad with Mediterranean gondola balladeer overtones complete with accordion solo, though it's End of the World's "Rain and Tears" that the group is most remembered for in that department. "Such a Funny Night," which follows right after that, steers the boat back to pop-psychedelia in the twee British mold, with some of the cheapest facsimiles of sitar twangs ever committed to vinyl. Like their first album, then, it's a very uneven record, but one whose best half or so is pretty enjoyable psych turning into prog with Greek accents to both the vocals and melodies, even if it's never going to be classified as especially hip. [The 2010 U.K. CD reissue on Esoteric adds considerable value by including six bonus tracks from 1969-1970 singles. Of these, "I Want to Live"/"Magic Mirror," according to the new historical liner notes, "reached number one in several European countries," and is accordingly more pop-oriented than the LP's average cut, though "Magic Mirror" is the considerably more soulful and harder rocking of the pair. The bittersweet, sentimental "Lontano Dagli Occhi"/"Quando L'Amore Diventa Poesia" is a real oddity, as it was released only in Italy, and recorded for the 1969 Sanremo Song Festival. "Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall" doesn't sound too unlike the early Bee Gees, who might have done a better vocal job with the number. The latter's B-side, "Air," is seriously funky considering Aphrodite's Child's rather precious image (and boasts some searing keyboards), as more evidence that the group could offer surprises that resisted that pigeonhole.] ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi Read Less

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2010, UPC: 5013929730649 CD See All