The 1972 album 666 by Aphrodite’s Child delivers a musical take on the apocalypse, and while it displays all the excess and bombast of progressive rock at that time, some have since considered it a masterpiece work for the genre.
What Is It?
666 is a concept album by the psychedelic/progressive rock band Aphrodite’s Child, inspired by the biblical Book of Revelation, presenting a surreal, often abstract retelling of the apocalypse. It follows a non-linear narrative as the album unfolds through a series of symbolic and experimental pieces that collectively depict the rise of chaos and corruption in the world, the collapse of established order, the arrival of apocalyptic forces (often tied to the number 666 and the Beast), and humanity’s descent into decadence, madness, and destruction. The story, such as it is, takes place as a circus show performs the apocalypse in front of a live audience while the actual apocalypse unfolds outside the tent. As the album closes, performance and reality merge together.
Track Listing:
Side 1
1. “The System” 0:23
2. “Babylon” 2:47
3. “Loud, Loud, Loud” 2:42
4. “The Four Horsemen” 5:53
5. “The Lamb” 4:34
6. “The Seventh Seal” 1:30
Side 2
1. “Aegian Sea” 5:22
2. “Seven Bowls” 1:28
3. “The Wakening Beast” 1:11
4. “Lament” 2:45
5. “The Marching Beast” 2:00
6. “The Battle of the Locusts” 0:56
7. “Do It” 1:44
8. “Tribulation” 0:32
9. “The Beast” 2:26
10. “Ofis” 0:14
Side 3
1. “Seven Trumpets” 0:35
2. “Altamont” 4:33
3. “The Wedding of the Lamb” 3:38
4. “The Capture of the Beast” 2:17
5. “∞” 5:15
6. “Hic et Nunc” 2:55
Side 4
1. “All the Seats Were Occupied” 19:21
2. “Break” 2:59
Legacy:
This early progressive rock entry offered many of the tropes of that musical sub-genre while also displaying all of the excesses. But it did present an interesting interpretation of the end times, and while it did not receive much airplay, it had a notable influence on prog rock at the time.
A Closer Look:
Vangelis is best known for his soundtrack work on films like Blade Runner and Chariots of Fire or his collaborations with artists such as Jon Anderson of Yes, but one of his early ventures was the psychedelic/progressive rock band Aphrodite’s Child, which produced a very different sort of sound from what he has since been associated with. The first two albums they produced veered closer to psychedelic pop, and the band found great success in France. For the third album, they shifted into more of a prog rock direction with its apocalyptic tale 666, driven largely by Vangelis and lyricist Costas Ferris, who was not officially a member of the band. This morphed into a double album, and it had very little of the radio-friendly tunes of the previous two records.
Progressive rock was at its height at that time, with bands like King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer selling well in record stores and drawing audiences to concert venues. Virtuoso playing, lengthy songs, complex time structures, dark themes, and some degree of self-indulgence were common among prog bands at that time, and Aphrodite’s Child keyed in on all of that for its album 666. They display all the excesses and bombast of the genre while delivering four sides of a sonic experience that includes an instrumental assault along with singing, spoken word, chanting, screaming, and more, and it proves exhausting by the time the listener gets to the end. This is not an easy album to tackle and is definitely not recommended for those just discovering progressive rock.
I am a long-time prog rock fan, yet somehow I missed this one when I was devouring every album in the genre that I could get my hands on back in the ’70s and ’80s. But I knew it existed, and when I did seek it out, I was not too enamored with it on my first listen. I gave it another spin, though, and found that it had a hypnotic quality (maybe the subliminal message of the Beast!), and eventually I came to appreciate it. 666 received mixed reviews when it first came out, but sentiment has changed over the years, and many now consider it a prog rock classic.
As mentioned, it has all of the excesses of the genre on display, and at times it veers into Magma-level obtuseness (more on that band at this link), but it has its moments and should appeal to many veteran prog rock fans. The best place to start is the nineteen-minute track “All the Seats Were Occupied” from side four, which is one of the more listenable pieces on the album (along with the final track “Break”), and it merges many of the themes of the full record (the song “The Four Horsemen”, from the video above, is also another accessible track). If you get through that, you can continue on with the rest of the album, but be warned that it is a wild ride. 666 is definitely not for everyone, but it does deliver an interesting interpretation of the end times (assuming you can follow the convoluted lyrics) as it gives you prog rock at its best and most extreme at the same time.
Should It Be Revived?
Absolutely, this one has cheesy rock opera written all over it. Sadly, Vangelis passed away in 2022, but they could bring together any of a number of prog rock veterans and take this on the road as an all-out spectacle. Its 55th anniversary is coming up in 2027, so that would be a perfect time to get the production going. They could also turn this into a rock opera film, which could quickly become the next midnight movie favorite along the lines of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Either way, we could definitely use an updated version of this notorious ’70s piece of prog rock.
Interesting Facts:
This album was completed in 1971, but it took another year before it was released because Mercury Records considered it too uncommercial. They particularly objected to the piece “∞” because it originally ran for 39 minutes and featured Greek actress Irene Papas chanting “I was, I am, I am to come” to the point of orgasmic frenzy, which Vangelis claimed represented “the pain of birth and the joy of intercourse.” He eventually cut it down to about five minutes, but the record company still had issues with the track, and they ultimately released the album on their progressive rock subsidiary Vertigo Records.
Salvador Dalí reportedly liked the album and said that it reminded him of the Sagrada Família church in Barcelona. He planned a special event to celebrate the release of 666, but that did not happen because he had a falling out with the band.
Where Can You Listen To It?
666 is still widely available on vinyl, CD, and MP3. It is also available on YouTube where you can sample some of the songs as well as see some music videos.
