Socrates Drank the Conium, known also as Socrates, is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

rock band that formed in 1969 and achieved success in the 1970s. Influenced by heavy blues and rock bands like

The Jimi Hendrix Experience James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

and

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

, the band melded the unorthodox time signatures and orchestration of

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

and the intensity of blues and hard rock music, creating a unique sound that distinguished them from other Greek rock acts of that period. Outside Greece, Socrates is best known for ''Phos'', their 1976 landmark collaboration album with

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...

. The group has gone through many lineup changes, but the two core members remained: guitarist Yannis Spathas and bassist/singer Antonis Tourkogiorgis. Spathas died in 2019, aged 68. Nikos Antipas died on January 31, 2022 from complications related to stroke, aged 68.

History

Socrates began its career in the clubs of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, most prominently the popular Kyttaro. They were present at a number of other locations in and around Victoria Square in Athens. In addition to performing originals, Socrates often covered Jimi Hendrix songs, none of which were featured on any studio releases; a thirteen-minute cover of " (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones, however, found its way onto their 1972 album ''Taste of Conium''. Yannis Spathas favored two sunburst

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuousl ...

s, a Candy Apple Red Roland GR-505

guitar synthesizer A guitar synthesizer is any one of a number of musical instrument systems that allow a guitarist to access synthesizer capabilities. Overview Today's guitar synths are direct descendants of 1970s devices from manufacturers (often in partnersh ...

, a black

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Les Paul Custom The Gibson Les Paul Custom is a higher-end variation of the Gibson Les Paul guitar. It was developed in 1953 after Gibson had introduced the Les Paul model in 1952. History The 1952 Gibson Les Paul was originally made with a mahogany body with a ...

and a cherry sunburst Les Paul Standard. Antonis Tourkogiorgis played a mid-1970s natural ash-bodied Fender Jazz Bass, a

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

Corvette Double Buck bass and sang, while several drummers were used throughout the live shows and recording sessions. In 1975, Socrates went through a change in stylistic direction with ''Phos'', which featured

' production and contributions on many tracks. ''Phos'' was mostly reworkings of older songs by Socrates. Both LPs ''On the Wings'' and ''Phos'' were issued in the USA via Neil Kempfer-Stocker's Prog imprint Cosmos. In 2002, Socrates reunited in an extended form (featuring keyboards and a second singer) to do several shows around Greece. This lineup remains active. Yannis Spathas died on 6 July 2019, aged 68.

Band members

;Lineup (2002–2010) *Antonis Tourkogiorgis – lead vocals, bass *Makis Gioulis – drums *Asterios Papastamatakis – keyboards *Markella Panayiotou – backing vocals (reunion 1999 – 2009) ;Past members *Yannis Spathas – lead guitar (died on 6 July 2019) *Elias Boukouvalas – drums *Kostas "Gus" Doukakis – guitar *George Trantalidis – drums *Nikos Antypas – drums *Costas Karamitros – drums *Costas Triantaphyllou – guitar *Yiorgos Zikoyiannis – bass *Pavlos Alexiou – keyboards *Leonidas Alachadamis – drums

Timeline

Discography

;Albums *'' Socrates Drank the Conium'' – 1971 *''

Taste of Conium ''Taste of Conium'' is the second album by Greek progressive/ Blues rock group, Socrates Drank the Conium. The album was released in 1972. It features a thirteen-minute cover of The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock m ...

'' – 1972 *'' On the Wings'' – 1973 *''Phos'' – 1976 *''Waiting for Something'' – 1980 *''Breaking Through'' – 1981 *''Plaza'' – 1983 *''Live in Concert'' – 1999 ;Singles *"My Only Fellow / Friends Blues" – 1971 *"Live in the Country" – 1972 *"Starvation / Queen of the Universe" – 1976 *"Justice (Live)" – 1999 ;Compilations *''From Persons to Socrates Drank the Conium – The Singles Collection'' – 1996 *''The Complete Polydor Years'' – 1997 *''The Original Singles'' – 2005 ;VA *''Live at Kyttaro'' – 1971

References

External links

* {{Authority control Greek rock music groups Musical groups established in 1969 Musical groups from Athens 1969 establishments in Greece