Taxi and Coo both left but one album.
Yet both albums are the best Greek ones of what we call AOR or melodic rock.
Taxi released their album Take it or Leave it in 1980.
Members of the band where Yiannis Saroglou, Richard Whitman, Nikos Politis and Nikos Karvelas who has written all music and lyrics.
Take it or leave it
Breakin' in
Coo released their album Rock Eyes in 1982.
The band members where Manos Neofitos, Babis Persidis, John Calabokas, Bill Ghinos, Cosmas Amiralis, while the album was produced by Makis Milatos.
Although David Bowie was a great influence for the Greek pop/rock scene (from Kostas Tournas to South of No North to His Majesty’s the King of Spain and many others), not much of his songs have found their way to discography (as opposed to live performances).
Throughout the Greek discography there is one song that stands out because a) it’s a good song and b) it describes an imaginary (personal) relationship with David Bowie:
As mentioned many artists were influenced by his music and transformations. Kostas Tournas was among the first to introduce a similar approach to music (music + mythology + pop art innovation) in his Aperanta Horafia (1972) and mostly Astronira (1973).
More recently 2 of the few Bowie covers found their way to an album: both are covers to Gene Genie! The first one dates back to 1986 from a Dimitris Poulikakos live recording which was published in 2004.
The second one (Gene Genie again) comes from a live (again) of Stavros Logaridis (2004) release on a double cd shared with Poulikakos in 2009.
Apart from his connection to Cyprus (through his wife Angie) and to the island of Patmos where he was a regular visitor, it is worth mentioning his one and only live appearance in Greece back in 1996. It was the next year of his great come-back album Outside and Bowie was performing after Elvis Costello and Lou Reed!
The sound, band and orchestration were great and matched the Outside sound, making his older songs sound contemporary (Scary Monsters).
Here’s a David Bowie portrait made of test tubes installed in the front lobby of the hotel King George in Athens. A nice pick!
Here’s Duran Duran playing Starman 40 years after its release in front of Greek audience.
And here’s Dimitri Vassilakis, the sax player, performing The Man Who Sold The World live in a Greek club (2014). The band covers several Bowie songs that night. Unfortunately the sound is …very bad.
And finally here's a mashup I did combining How easy is to fly by Mikael Delta and Let's Dance by David Bowie.
The new album Phosphorus Hesperus by Takis Barbagalas is one of the 2015 surprises.
It’s been two years since the second Manticore’s Breath album and Takis returns to the atmospheric, progressive sound of Will-O-the-wisp to deliver a fully instrumental album inspired by the myth of Phosphorus and Hesperus, the star with the two names.
Phosphorus Hesperus is a progressive-psychedelic album based on guitar, farfisa and flutes. Dreamy and poetic.
There are 4 compositions in total: side A is Phosphorus (3 parts), side B is Hesperus (1 part).
The artwork is again of very high standards with a hard cover and colored vinyl.
There are 3 limited vinyl editions: 300 numbered blue vinyl, 300 numbered green vinyl and 65 red & purple split vinyl including cd, poster and card. There is also a cd edition.
Video - Giorgos Panourgias
Takis has kindly answered a few questions for GREEKAZOID (in Greek the original answers adapted in English by GREEKAZOID):
Συνέντευξη με τον Τάκη Μπαρμπαγάλα - An interview with Takis Barbagalas
G: Phosphorus - Hesperus, Αυγερινός - Αποσπερίτης. Ο ήχος και οι συνθέσεις φέρνουν περισσότερο στο μυαλό τις μέρες των Will-Ο-the-wisp αλλά με ένα πιο ανοικτό και εξωστρεφή τρόπο. Πως προέκυψε αυτός ο δίσκος;
Phosphorus – Hesperus. The sound and compositions bring in mind the Will-O-the-wisp days but in a more extrovert way. How did this record come up?
TB: Η ιδέα για έναν instrumental δίσκο προέκυψε μετά την δημιουργία του τρίτου δίσκου των Will-O-the Wisp. Γι’ αυτό το λόγο στον τέταρτο δίσκο (A gift for your dreams) τα φωνητικά είναι περιορισμένα, ενώ τα μουσικά μέρη μεγαλύτερα. Η ίδια συνθήκη ίσχυσε και στα άλμπουμ των Manticore’s Breath. Μετά από αυτές τις παραγωγές θεώρησα ότι ήμουν πλέον έτοιμος για έναν instrumental δίσκο. Ο ήχος πλησιάζει περισσότερο στους Will-Ο-the-wisp, αφενός γιατί είναι ένας psych-prog δίσκος, αφετέρου γιατί δημιουργήθηκε από τους ίδιους συντελεστές. Η συνθετική λογική, η τεχνική και το κλίμα του δίσκου όμως διαφέρουν εντελώς, με το τελικό αποτέλεσμα να διαφοροποιείται αισθητά από τη δισκογραφία των Will-Ο-the-wisp. The idea for an instrumental album evolved after the 3rd Will-O-the-wisp record. That’s why the 4th album (A gift for your dreams) had extended musical and less vocal parts. The same condition was also present in Manticore’s Breath albums. After these releases I considered myself ready for a full instrumental one. The sound is closer to Will-O-the-wisp as it is a psych-prog record created by the same band members. Yet the approach and technique behind the composition differ and so does the ambience, making the final outcome quite different from the Will-O-the-wisp discography.
G: Κάνεις τις παραγωγές των δίσκων σου, φροντίζεις τα εξώφυλλα, αλλάζεις συχνά εκφραστικά σχήματα αλλά δεν κάνεις live. Σου λείπει η επαφή με τον κόσμο; Σου γίνονται προτάσεις να παίξεις στο εξωτερικό;
You produce your records, design the covers, change frequently expressive vehicles but hardly do any live performance. Do you miss this interaction with your audience?
TB: Τα τελευταία χρόνια, το ενδιαφέρον μου εστιάζεται ιδιαίτερα στη σύνθεση και στο studio. Ως προς το κομμάτι της δημιουργίας νομίζω πως αυτό με καλύπτει απόλυτα. Επίσης θεωρώ πως είναι λίγο δύσκολο να αποδοθεί στο live η όλη εικόνα, που έχω στο μυαλό μου. Ίσως στο μέλλον να κάνω ορισμένες επιλεκτικές εμφανίσεις. Όσον αφορά το artwork και την παραγωγή των δίσκων δίνω ιδιαίτερη σημασία στο να αποδοθεί το κλίμα του δίσκου με τον καλύτερο τρόπο και το τελικό αποτέλεσμα να φτάσει σ’ ένα υψηλό επίπεδο. These last years I am particularly interested in composing and working at studio. As of the creative part I am fully satisfied with this. I consider it difficult to make a live performance as I envision it. Probably in the future we will do some selective appearances. As for the artwork and the production, they are of great significance to me in order to best support the music and achieve a high quality standard.
G: Τι να περιμένουμε μετά; Δεύτερο προσωπικό, WOW, Manticore ή κάτι άλλο;
What to expect next? A second personal album, Will-O-the-wisp, Manticore’s Breath or other?
TB: Η επόμενη κυκλοφορία θα είναι ένας δεύτερος προσωπικός δίσκος, κατά πάσα πιθανότητα instrumental. Υπάρχουν ήδη δύο συνθέσεις έτοιμες και ηχογραφημένες. The next release will be a second personal album, probably instrumental. Two compositions are already finalized and recorded.
G: Έχεις κάποιο "τρελό" μουσικό όνειρο που θα ήθελες να πραγματοποιήσεις κάποτε;
Do you have a “wild” music dream you want to make true at some point?
TB: Νομίζω πως μετά από τόσα χρόνια και τόσους δίσκους έχω πραγματοποιήσει αρκετά από τα τρελά μουσικά μου όνειρα, μέσα από τα οποία αποβλέπω σε μία συνεχή μουσική εξέλιξη. I think after all those years and records I have fulfilled many of my wild music dreams, through which I aim at a continuous musical evolution.
Coo released their album Rock Eyes in 1982.
