The insane ‘Happening’ Salvador Dalí wanted to do for Aphrodite’s Child in 1972 *

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by delmonaco, Jul 29, 2014.

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  1. delmonaco

    delmonaco Forum Resident Thread Starter

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    Sofia, Bulgaria
  2. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    Man, that Dali cat was seriously wigged out! Awesome story.
     
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  3. delmonaco

    delmonaco Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Sofia, Bulgaria
    There's also some interesting additional info in the commentaries beyond the article.
     
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  4. Dondy

    Dondy Forumaniac

    Wacky! The desription of the event sounds exactly like one of his paintings - and may have been brilliant as such. :)
     
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  5. Steel Horse

    Steel Horse Forum Resident

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    Uppsala, SWEDEN
    Way to go, Dali...
     
  6. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

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    Atlanta
    I was stunned by the article's apparent claim that 666 sold "20 million copies." I followed the links and the original article actually claims that Aphrodite's Child as a group sold 20 million albums in 5 years. However, this still seems hilariously over-inflated to me.

    Dali's "event plan" was so nuts I don't know whether to laugh or shake my head.
     
  7. delmonaco

    delmonaco Forum Resident Thread Starter

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    I don't think that they sold so many albums, possibly this is their total sales figure (singles, EPs and albums). Anyway, this is not so important - their contract with Philips back then was so unfair, that even if they sold billions, they didn't gain a single coin from the recording sales. This is the main reason that, despite being very successful, they split after just 3 years of existence.
     
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  8. Bruno Republic

    Bruno Republic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Me too. The group only released three proper albums; even if you count 666 as two, that would average out to 5 million per album, which would have been absolutely massive for a group which was largely unknown outside of Europe. 20 million records is a bit more plausible ("Rain and Tears" was a big hit in Europe), but 20 million albums seems completely off the mark.

    Wikipedia also claims 20 million albums, but the citation is an article originally from an Italian newspaper on the elsew.com fan site. I think something got lost in translation.
     
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  10. lobo

    lobo Music has always been a matter of Energy to me...

    Location:
    Germany
  11. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Yeah, my understanding was that "Rain And Tears" was a huge hit, and "End Of The World", "It's Five O'Clock" and "Break" were all respectably successful, but I'd think that even if each of those singles sold a million, it would have been a staggering success.

    It's a shame about their Phillips contract - so many really outstanding bands got so screwed in the 60's.
     
  12. Bruno Republic

    Bruno Republic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    And '70s... and '80s... and... well, you get the idea.
     
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  13. Folknik

    Folknik Forum Resident

    There's a thin line between genius and psychosis. Some people walk that line. Dali crossed it.
     
  14. Seederman

    Seederman Forum Resident

    People also should remember that Dali had a sense of humor...
     
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  15. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Oh yeah, but the 60's (and probably 50's as well) were especially egregious. So many young musicians with no clue.
     
  16. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Dali built a home on the line and then built a vacation home in Psychosis! :laugh:
     
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  17. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Yeah, he was probably kind of trolling - "Let's see just how much of this these guys will fall for..." :evil:
     
  18. delmonaco

    delmonaco Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Sofia, Bulgaria
    Of course no one can tell the exact sales figures, but they did sell quite well, because despite the lack of royalties from the record sales, Vangelis, as the main author of the music, refused to go on live performances just one year after they started, because the money he received only from the songwriting credits were enough for him to live quite well in Paris and to spend most of his time experimenting in the studio. The other two members, Demis Roussos and Lukas Sideras, toured on the name of Aphrodite's Child for some time (because this was their only income), and at some point Roussos just decided take the risk and to go for a solo carrier, in order to make some money, and this was the end of Aphrodite's Child.
     
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  19. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    I understand Roussos still performs AC hits, which is very cool.
     
  20. delmonaco

    delmonaco Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Sofia, Bulgaria
    Yes, he do, but sadly in the last few years he's in very bad health and voice shape. He actually re-recorded all AC hits in 1987 - they sound quite different from the originals, some are good, some not so.
     
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  21. I love AC, the debut and 666 are two of the greatest Rock albums not from the UK or the States.
     
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  22. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    I was listening to End Of The World today on the train while reading the Iliad. :laugh: It just kinda worked out that way. Fantastic album, it's the soundtrack of my summer this year.
     
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  23. Not one duff track on that Album..."Valley of Sadness" is a personal fave.
     
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  24. Platterpus

    Platterpus Senior Member

    Interesting article. I'm a fan of both Aphrodite's Child and Dali.
     
  25. edenofflowers

    edenofflowers A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular!

    Location:
    UK
    Slow motion live exploding swans?
    I think I saw that at a Suzanne Vega concert once.
     
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