1. Take a chance - Queen Samantha (1979)
2. Hi Jack - Oasis (1980)
3. Welcome - M.T.C. Athenee (1978)
4. L.O.V.E. got a hold on me - Demis Roussos (1978)
5. Time is over - Harris Chalkitis (1974)
6. Golden tears - Sumeria (1977)
7. Fantasies of magic love - Magic Power (1980)
8. Tonight - Sigma Fay (1979)
9. Listen - Robert Williams (1978)
10. Romeo and Juliet - Alec R. Costandinos (1978)
11. Cosmic ride - Ypsilon (1977)
12. Any...Time Anywhere - Dimitri (1978)
13. More...I like it - Adolf Stern (1979)
14. What you gonna do - 141 G (1984)
Οι Greek Salad
with Gus Kamaras δημιούργησαν ένα κεφάτο super funky δίσκο με μπουζούκι. Η Δύση συναντά την Ανατολή σε ένα δίσκο που στην original έκδοση κυκλοφόρησε με ένα βιβλιαράκι εκμάθησης χορού της κοιλιάς! Ξεχωρίζουν το εναρκτήριο groovy “Do the belly disco” και το funky “Greek
salad”. Greek Salad (1979)
Εδώ κάποιες από τις εμφανίσεις του σπάνιου αυτού δίσκου (οι φωτογραφίες προέρχονται από το Amazon): DiscogsPopsikeAmazon
Costa Anadiotis was born in Greece and moved to South Africa at the age of 18. During the 12 years he lived in South Africa he played with several local bands including Buffalo, Fantasy and Café Society.
Buffalo, the band of Peter Vee, was a group mainly doing classic rock covers, blending rock and disco.
Anadiotis played the keyboards in their first 3 albums (Born To Be Wild – 1978, Magic Carpet Ride – 1979 and We’re So Glad You Made It – 1980).
Fantasy was a disco band playing mostly originals mainly written by Anadiotis, Angelopulo and Chelakis.
They released one LP (Fantasy) in 1979. Anadiotis played keyboards and contributed vocals.
According to YouTube uploader keurspel (Leon Rossouw) they supported The Temptations in 1979 while in 1980 they toured in Greece for several months.
Fantasy - Baby I'm In Love (from Fantasy LP, 1979)
Café Society was the personal vehicle of Costa Anadiotis who played almost all instruments and produced the one album they released in 1985, Relight My Fire and the various singles.
The band was formed in Johannesburg in 1984 and was a quite successful italo-disco act of the 80s.
Café Society - Night Rider (from Relight my fire LP, 1985)
In 1986 we find Costa playing keyboards and producing the Cineromantza album of Giannis Palamidas.
From the 90s and on Costa lives in Greece, writing, playing and producing for several Greek artists.
Italo-disco emerged in the late 70s, early 80s. During the 80s there were several Greek artists who contributed a bunch of worth mentioning songs (or even whole albums) to the genre. The same artists became the major entertainers/songwriters/producers/singers in the 90s, leaving the English lyrics in favor of Greek and re-starting their careers mostly with local focus.
Costas Charitodiplomenos managed to have a successful presence in European charts from 1983 till 1987 when he shifted focus to the local market. He is one of the pioneers of the Greek Italo-disco sound, with good compositions and great production.
“What you gonna do” comes from his first LP Itchika of 1983. The song was released as a single too under the name 141 G.
Side B of the single one would find the dub version of the song which in 2012 was included in compilation: Into The Light: A Journey Into Greek Electronic Music, Classics & Rarities (1978 - 1991).
Sunday Club was another group that stood out.
They only released one LP produced by Vasilis Dertilis, another master of the italo sound.
The band offered a couple of singles before their leader left to follow a solo career.
Here’s “Lies” from their 1984 LP For Sale.
Scraptown started as a ska/reggae/blue soul group in 1982 to become another italo-disco act with their third album and Viva Sahara single before that.
The song was a hit in many European countries in 1984. .
They split in 1985.
Besides their contribution to the italo-disco genre, their first album (Scraptown 1982) is a ska/reggae masterpiece.
Another bunch of songs from the "usual suspects", artists that were related with one way or another with Aphrodite’s Child and have been already presented on previous posts. The common element here is their groovy, funky, soul sound.
Harry Chalkitis left his footprint on the late 70s euro-disco arena with his disco project Queen Samantha. Their successful album Queen Samantha II (1979) was followed by a solo Chalkitis album, Tiger in The Rain a year later (1980) in the same euro-disco style. The album was released again in 1981 under another title (So Long) with exactly the same songs of Tiger in The Rain plus a maxi version of So Long.
Tiger in The Rain (M. Swirid, M. Chalkitis, H. Chalkitis) stands out as a super funky track
A few years earlier (1974) he released his (first?) 7” Time is Over, another super groovy track, written by M. Sundahl / M. Swirid / A. Koulouris.
Artemios (Demis) Ventouris Roussos, member of The Idols, We Five and Aphrodite’s Child, has quite a few groovy moments in his solo career. His collaboration with Alec R. Constandinos in 1975 left a very successful album, Souvenirs including the great Midnight is the Time I Need You (A. Koulouris - R. Costandinos).
The album was re-released in 1998 with the addition of 6 more tracks that were left out of the original release.
Among them The Secret in Her Eyes, a composition of R. Constandinos and S. Vlavianos
In 1978 Dino Fekaris and Freddie Perren wrote the disco anthem I Will Survive for Gloria Gaynor. The same year they also wrote for Demis Roussos the disco track L.O.V.E. Got A Hold On Me which was released as a single and was included in Demis Roussos album of 1978.
Finally a disco/funky track from Dimitri(Tambossis). You Are A Sinner (1977) was released as a b-side to Dimitri's single I Am.
You're A Sinner is written by S. Vlavianos / P. Mieucens / S. Woods.
Just before temperature hits 40C for the first time this summer, it is time to pay a small tribute to the world’s most famous summer song: George Gershwin’s Summertime.
So here are 3 Greek covers to be added to the thousands of covers.
In chronological order.
1. The M.G.C.
The M.G.C. (ModernGreekCombo, 1967-1971) is one of the first greek rock bands. Summertime comes from their 1967 single ("Summertime / I'm Gonna Cut My Head", 7" Vinyl, Pan-Vox, 1967).
The song also appears in “Greece Goes Modern Vol. 1” compilation of 2000 (info here).
The group members are: Polytimos, Poulikakos, Tseberopoulos, Belliyiannis, Kiurktsoglu, Sembos, Dovas, Triandafyllou, Dallas, Katsadorakis, Alahadamis, Tzimopoulos.
The M.G.C - [1967] Summertime / I'm Gonna Cut My Head
2. Solid Silver
Solid Silver is a side project of Argyris – Silver – Koulouris, rhythm guitarist of Aphrodite’s Child.
This is the only single released under this name.
The cover is an extraordinary funky-disco piece, a really unique addition to the long Summertime cover list!
Solid Silver – [1976] Summertime / Walrus Music
3. Elias Zaikos
Elias Zaikos is a band leader, guitar player, singer from Thessaloniki.
He is one of the blues pioneers in Greece, demonstrating a rich and lasting career with his band Blues Wire or solo.
Summertime comes from his solo album of 1997, Off the Box and is an instrumental blues version combining the guitar and the violin.
Alec R. Costandinos, (born Alexandre Kouyoumdjian in 1944 in Cairo, Egypt) is considered one of the Euro-Disco pioneers. He worked in France and during the 70s he published hits for several artists including Demis Roussos, Dalida, Cerrone and others. With his group Love & Kisses (!!) he entered the US market and scored a Billboard disco hit with "I've Found Love (Now That I've Found You)".
By mid 70s he started focusing on disco operas and under his name he released Romeo & Juliet in the form of disco suit using a full orchestra. He continues with other concept albums like Judas Iscariot released under the name Sphinx. Listen to Simon Peter from this one:
Sphinx - Simon Peter - 1979
In 1977 he releases the album Golden Tears under the name Sumeria. From this album here’s Cosmic Traveller:
Harry Chalkitis is already presented in other posts. One of his incarnations during the 70s was Queen Samantha, a disco band featuring American vocalist Gloria Brooks. They released 3 albums (written and produced by Chalkitis). They had several hits in Europe and US, including Mama Rue, Take a Chance, The Letter (The Box Tops cover) and others.
Here's Mama Rue from their 3rd album, 1979
and here's Take a Chance, a space disco song from their 2nd album, Queen Samantha 2 (1979)
Vagelis Pitsiladis was the composer behind some 60s hits by Olympians but also some greek popular songs.
In the 70s he released two albums under the name Oasis (!!) in the euro-disco style, singing in English.
He has also numerous releases as Vagelis Pitsiladis (singing in Greek or English) and some very nice scores for films and TV series.
Below 3 different samples.
First coming from Oasis Lp Yes I Do (1978). It's a euro-disco instrumental.
Oasis - Tycoon (1978)
Second sample is from Oasis 1979 Lp Call Me Now. A more soulful track.
Oasis - Conquistador (1979)
Last one is from 1979 LP Vagelis Pitsiladis - Agapi Mou (My Love). It's a cinematic instrumental track which starts easy to become a nice psych groove.
