Kosmik Radiation Radio - Mar 12, 2008 Playlist

CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Socrates Drank The Conium "On The Wings" 1973 (Greece)

The theme for this month is "global psych", especially from the non-English speaking world. So this week, here's one of the kewlest guitar albums you've probably never heard of before. Socrates Drank The Conium was sort of like Athens' version of Cream in the late 60's, a power trio featuring the impressive chops of lead guitarist Yannis Spathas and singing bassist Antonis Tourkoyorigs. Their first two records are fairly typical of "provincial" heavy bands of the psychedelic era (they do lots of covers and obligatory blues numbers) -- though in the context of Greece's military dictatorship of the time, they were almost revolutionary -- Rolling Stones records had even been outlawed!) But it was when they added second guitarist Gus Doukakis for their third album that they produced their one truly stellar "unsung" hard rock album. The intertwining dual lead guitars are wonderfully unique -- like if the Allman Brothers grew up playing bouzoukis on the shores of the Aegean, then moved to Detroit and fell in love with the MC5!!!
Founders Spathas and Tourkoyorgis gigged together as Socrates in 2006, and there's an entire concert up on YouTube! Here's their recent version of "Starvation", a heavy classic from the first SDTC album. Plus here's a video of another great Greek band, Aphrodite's Child (featuring Vangelis on keyboards and Demis Roussos on vocals) playing "It's 5 O'Clock", a Europe-wide smash in late 1969. Finally, here's a clip of the legendary multi-instrumentalist Vangelis himself, hard at work on a tune that doesn't suck too much! (Just kiddin' Van!)

Artist	Song	Album	Year (Label)	Country
Gedo	Track 1 (title in Japanese)	Best Gedo (CD compilation)	rec. 1974	Japan
Aguaturbia	EVOL	Volumen 2	1970	Chile
Shocking Blue	Love Buzz	At Home	1969	Netherlands
Magma	Kobaia Iss De Hundin	Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh	1973	France
Socrates Drank The Conium	Breakdown	On The Wings CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1973	Greece

Socrates Drank The Conium	Who Is To Blame	On The Wings CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1973	Greece
Socrates Drank The Conium (with Vangelis)	Mountains	Phos	1976	Greece
Vangelis	The Dragon	The Dragon	1971	Greece

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks	Dragonfly Pie	Real Emotional Trash (N)	2008 (Matador)	USA
The Gomers	Things Fall Apart	Mike Zirkel The Album (N)	2008 (Beeftone)	USA
Dead Meadow	Ain't Got Nothing (To Go Wrong)	Old Growth (N)	2008 (Matador)	USA
Black Mountain	Wucan	In The Future (N)	2008 (Jagjaguwar)	Canada
The Dragons	Cosmosis	BFI (N - previously unreleased recordings)	rec. 1970, rel. 2007 (Ninja Tune)	USA

The Mars Volta	Ouroborous	The Bedlam In Goliath (N)	2008 (Universal)	USA
Beatallica	Ktulu (He's So Heavy)	Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band (N)	2007 (Oglio)	USA
The Evaporators	Cripsy Space Bacon	Gassy Jack And Other Tales (N)	2007 (Mint/Nardwuar)	Canada
The Big Sleep	Sleep Forever	Sleep Forever (N)	2008 (French Kiss)	USA
Condor Moments	Lord Protector, Milk Collector	And Though We're Told We've Got It All, The All We've Got Is Freezing Cold (N)	2007 (What Delicate)	UK

Ananda Shankar	Metamorphosis	Ananda Shankar	1970	India
Ramsey Kearny	A Blind Man's Penis	Do You Know The Difference Between Big Wood And Brush (song poem anthology CD)	1976?	USA
Magical Power Mako	Jump Yo You	Jump	1977	Japan
The Cosmic Jokers	Raumschiff Galaxy Saust in die Lichtbahnen / Der Planet des Sternmaedchens	Planetary Sit-In	1974	Germany

Sand (Produced by Klaus Schulze and recorded in Kunstkopf Stereophonie or "Artifical Head Stereo Sound")	Helicopter	Golem	1974	Germany
Code III (Produced by Klaus Schulze and recorded in Kunstkopf Stereophonie or "Artifical Head Stereo Sound")	Formations / The Genesis	Planet Of Man	1974	Germany