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=== Live Albums ===
=== Live Albums ===
⚫
*''Play, Clown, Your Songs Are Ending'' (Παιξε Παλιατσο Τα Τραγουδια Σου Τελειωνουν), 1997.
*''Live Recording at the [[Sacred Way]]'' (Ζωντανή ηχογράφηση στην Ιερά Οδό) with [[George Dalaras]], 1997.
*''Live Recording at the [[Sacred Way]]'' (Ζωντανή ηχογράφηση στην Ιερά Οδό) with [[George Dalaras]], 1997.
*''Are There Any Goldfish Here?'' (Υπάρχουν Χρυσόψαρα Εδώ;), 1999
*''Are There Any Goldfish Here?'' (Υπάρχουν Χρυσόψαρα Εδώ;), 1999
Line 92: Line 93:


=== Compilations ===
=== Compilations ===
⚫
*''Play, Clown, Your Songs Are Ending'' (Παιξε Παλιατσο Τα Τραγουδια Σου Τελειωνουν), 1997.
*''From Here and There'' (Από δω κι από 'κει), 2002
*''From Here and There'' (Από δω κι από 'κει), 2002
*''Best of Pyx Lux'', 2009 (3 CDs & DVD)
*''Best of Pyx Lux'', 2009 (3 CDs & DVD)

Revision as of 14:26, 21 March 2010

Pyx Lax

Pyx Lux (Greek: Πυξ Λαξ; meaning: "punching and kicking"),[1] was a Greek rock band. Originally formed in 1989, the band released its first recording in 1990, and broke up in 2004. The band mostly recorded in Greek, but also made some few recordings in English. The English-language songs include “Someone Wrote ‘Save Me’ On a Wall” (with Eric Burdon singing lead) and “All My Angels Falling” (with Marc Almond singing lead) on the album Joyous In the City of Fools (2003). Also “Terre D' Oru” (Fields of Gold), a collaboration with Sting and the Corsican band I Muvrini.

Influence and Popularity

In their time, Pyx Lux were one of the most popular bands in Greece. They were also influential. As one critic, Sotiria Malfa, put it: “The stamp of Pyx Lux on Greek music of the end of the 90s and the beginning of the 00s is something more than profound.” [2] Another critic, Pavlos Zervas, wrote that the demise of Pyx Lux

“…leaves the Greek music scene significantly poorer, since it is losing a band which granted us unique, unbelievable moments, and which retained for all these years a character all its own—a character which was tending to become a “school” followed by many artists and groups. It is not chance that after the appearance of Pyx Lux, phrases like “Clone Pyx Lux” were used to characterise other groups and their music.”[3]

A third critic describes them as a phenomenon:

“No matter how hard you try to describe the phenomenon Pyx Lux, the truth is very difficult to put into words. We are talking about one of the greatest bands the Greek music scene has known, a fact which is evident not so much from the number of records sold, which is phenomenonal for a Greek group, or their longevity, but from the unique feeling which was created between Pyx Lux and their beloved public.”[4]

This special relationship with the public is noted by other commentators, including Pavlos Zervas in his review of the band’s final album End:

“The End for a band which for 15 years now has had a unique relationship with the public. The End for Pyx Lux who are still today the greatest group, in terms of their reach and influence, that the Greek music scene has known.”[5]


History

Initially the members of the band were Filippos Pliatsikas (also spelt Philippos), Bambis Stokas, Sakis Stamoulis, and Panayiotis Spyropoulos. Their professional recording career began with a demo cassette which they delivered to EMI in Athens:

It was the beginning of the summer of 1989. We were gathered in the office of the producer Secundus Buchayer and his then secretary Maria Parousi, when the group that later became Pyx Lux appeared.... The three who came were Bambis, Sakis “Kounoupis” (Stamoulis is his real surname) and Panayiotis Spyropoulos. Filippos was absent. I accepted the [demo] cassette, and having greeted us politely, they left.

Morning coffee was an opportunity for us to listen to it, before it went to Manos and Secundus... I was working in Foreign Repertoire, Maria didn’t listen to Greek music, so superior criticism and nitpicking were a given... But it didn’t happen like that. We liked it; and I always remember from that first cassette an early performance of "Γιατί" ["Why"], which much later appeared on their third album. Naturally Manos liked the cassette even more![6]

Manos Xydous, then Marketing Director at EMI, liked it so much he later joined the band. Another member of staff, Dimitris Fergadis, the head of Sales, proposed their name Pyx Lux.[7]

Of the four members of the band mentioned by Vasilis Konstantoulakis in his account of the submission of the demo tape, two left the band in its early days: Panayiotis for reasons not known to Konstantoulakis, and Sakis “probably because he was bored” (“μάλλον βαριόταν”).[8] Informally Manos Xydous was a member of the band from early in its recording career—he contributed songs to all of their albums, including the first, and is pictured on the cover of the second album along with Bambis Stokas and Filippos Pliatsikas. At some point he gave up his job at EMI Greece and formally become a member of Pyx Lux. It can be deduced from what Konstantoulakis says that this must have happened sometime after the recording of “Let Her Talk” for the third album (“We all knew that informally he [Manos Xydous] was now a member.”), and before the band went to Oxford to record “My Loneliness Everything”.[9][10]

Their first promotional performance was at Laleousa on Ethniki Odos, a club known not for rock but for "laika" (a popular song style based on traditional forms). This was followed by an appearance for the media at the Rodon in November. Vasilis Konstantoulakis remembers it was a beautiful night ("όμορφη βραδιά"), and remembers that Filippos Pliatsikas said they would return and play there again. They did after three years, with three sold out concerts.[11]

It was their third album, 1993's The Winter Sun Makes Me Melancholy (Ο ήλιος του χειμώνα με μελαγχολεί) which firmly established their reputation in Greece. It included their first big hit, “Let Her Talk” (Άσ' την να λέει), a song by Manos Xydous which was sung on the album by the popular singer Vasilis Karras.

Their next album, For the Princes of the West Bank (Για τους πρίγκιπες της δυτικής όχθης ) went gold. Their first platinum album followed: The Bogeyman Sings Alone At Night (Ο μπαμπούλας τραγουδάει μόνος τις νύχτες).

Following the release of For the Princes of the West Bank, Pyx Lux were often referred to as "Princes of the West Bank". (The West Bank is western Athens.)

In 1994 we released the record For the Princes of the West Bank dedicated to the people of western Athens, where we lived—people who laboured and were wage earners, and whom we saw as princes because they returned to their homes [from work] and had the heart to smile. They kept up their friendships and were civil to one another. That’s how we got stuck with the title “princes of the west bank”.[12]

In 1997 they released an album (Live Recording at the Sacred Way) and single (Evening Stroll on the Sacred Way) in collaboration with one of Greece’s long established top singers George Dalaras. Both went platinum.

Their biggest selling record was the album Shine (Στιλβη, 1998),[13] made up mostly of music and songs from the film by Dimitris Panagiotatos My Loneliness Everything (Μοναξιά μου όλα).[14] It includes a fine version in Greek of Bob Dylan's "Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)" from Street-Legal.

Shine was followed in 1999 by another commercially very successful release--the double album Are There Any Goldfish Here? (Υπάρχουν Χρυσόψαρα εδώ;). Half of the album was new songs and the other half live recordings.

In 2002, the first year of the Arion Music Awards, Pyx Lux won the best Rock/Alternative Album award for The Climbing Frames on the Grass Are Waiting For the Children (Τα δοκάρια στο γρασίδι περιμένουν τα παιδιά). The album also earned Pyx Lux the award for best group in the Entechno category.[15] This feat was repeated in 2004 with their last studio album Joyous In the City of Fools (Χαρούμενοι στην πόλη των τρελών).[16]

They have collaborated with many Greek singers and musicians, and also with Sting, Eric Burdon, Gordon Gano, Marc Almond, Steve Wynn, and I Muvrini.

In 2004 the band announced in a television interview that they would be breaking up after two goodbye concerts. The concerts were scheduled for 18 September in Athens and 20 September in Thessaloniki. Tickets for the Athens concert were sold out within a few hours, and a second concert was arranged for 19 September.[17] Their final album, called simply Telos (End) is a recording of the first goodbye concert in Athens.[18]

Discography

Studio Albums

  • What Else Could You Say More Simply (Τί άλλο να πεις πιο απλά), 1990
  • Difficult Times (Ζόρικοι καιροί), 1991
  • The Winter Sun Makes Me Melancholy (Ο ήλιος του χειμώνα με μελαγχολεί), 1993
  • For the Princes of the West Bank (Για τους πρίγκηπες της δυτικής όχθης), 1994
  • The Bogeyman Sings Alone At Night (Ο μπάμπουλας τραγουδάει μόνος τις νύχτες), 1996
  • Shine (Στιλβη), 1998
  • Are There Any Goldfish Here? (Υπάρχουν Χρυσόψαρα Εδώ;), 1999 (2 CDs, one live)
  • The Climbing Frames on the Grass Are Waiting For the Children (Τα δοκάρια στο γρασίδι περιμένουν τα παιδιά), 2001 (2 CDs)[19]
  • Joyous In the City of Fools (Χαρούμενοι στην πόλη των τρελών), 2003

Singles

  • Evening Stroll on the Sacred Way (Νυχτερινος Περιπατος Στην Ιερα Οδο) with George Dalaras, 1997.
  • Pyx Lux with Makis Christodoulopoulos, 1998.[20]
  • Neutrino (Νετρίνο), 1998.[21]
  • Let the picture speak (Άσε την εικόνα να μιλάει) with I Muvrini (& Sting), 1999.[22]

Live Albums

  • Play, Clown, Your Songs Are Ending (Παιξε Παλιατσο Τα Τραγουδια Σου Τελειωνουν), 1997.
  • Live Recording at the Sacred Way (Ζωντανή ηχογράφηση στην Ιερά Οδό) with George Dalaras, 1997.
  • Are There Any Goldfish Here? (Υπάρχουν Χρυσόψαρα Εδώ;), 1999
  • End (Τέλος), 2004 (2 CDs + DVD. Recording of their final concert: 18 Sept. 2004, Lykavittos, Athens)

Compilations

  • From Here and There (Από δω κι από 'κει), 2002
  • Best of Pyx Lux, 2009 (3 CDs & DVD)

Other

  • "The deadly loneliness of Alexis Aslanis" (Η θανάσιμη μοναξιά του Αλέξη Ασλάνη) on Τραγούδια έγραψα για φίλους (1998), a tribute album to Dionysis Savvopoulos.
  • The Remixes by Panic!, 2000.

References

  1. ^ See List of Greek phrases. On some of their albums, a latinised spelling of the band’s name is also given: Pix Lax on Difficult Times (1991); Pyx Lax on Joyous In the City of Fools (2003) and on Panic! The Remixes (2000). However in modern Greek λαξ sounds more like “lux”--in English “lax” gives a wrong pronunciation.
  2. ^ Review of From Here and There by Sotiria Malfa at http://www.avopolis.gr/greviews/default.asp?ID=987. Retrieved on 20 March 2010.
  3. ^ Review of End by Pavlos Zervas at http://www.musiccorner.gr/nees_kyklof/04/pyx_lax.html. Retrieved on 20 March 2010.
  4. ^ “Πυξ Λαξ: Χαρούμενοι στην Πόλη των Τρελών”, 18 July 2003 at http://www.focusmag.gr/articles/view-article.rx?oid=27854. Retrieved on 20 March 2010.
  5. ^ Review of End by Pavlos Zervas at http://www.musiccorner.gr/nees_kyklof/04/pyx_lax.html. Retrieved on 20 March 2010.
  6. ^ Vasilis Konstantoulakis in the booklet which accompanies Best of Pyx Lux, 2009. This excerpt translated by Pavlos Andronikos.
  7. ^ Vasilis Konstantoulakis in the booklet which accompanies Best of Pyx Lux, 2009.
  8. ^ This could also be understood as "he couldn't be bothered".
  9. ^ Vasilis Konstantoulakis in the booklet which accompanies Best of Pyx Lux, 2009.
  10. ^ They chose Oxford because they wanted to use the studio which Radiohead had used to record "Creep".
  11. ^ Vasilis Konstantoulakis in the booklet which accompanies Best of Pyx Lux, 2009.
  12. ^ From “Ούτε όλοι στο Μέγαρο ούτε όλοι στο Σκυλάδικο”, an interview with Filippos Pliatsikas at http://fpliatsikas.googlepages.com/ependytis_fpliatsikas.pdf. This excerpt translated by Pavlos Andronikos.
  13. ^ Vasilis Konstantoulakis in the booklet which accompanies Best of Pyx Lux, 2009.
  14. ^ See http://90lepta.com/m453.html
  15. ^ See http://www.arionvraveia.gr/html/winners/first.htm.
  16. ^ See http://www.arionvraveia.gr/html/winners/third.htm.
  17. ^ See http://archive.enet.gr/online/online_print?id=67755468,81797964,89688268.
  18. ^ According to the album sleeve notes.
  19. ^ Alternative (but unlikely) translation: The Children Are Waiting For Climbing Frames on the Grass
  20. ^ Music for the film by My Loneliness Everything (Μοναξιά μου όλα). See http://90lepta.com/m453.html.
  21. ^ Music for the film Netrino by Yiannis Paraskevopoulos. See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0316314/.
  22. ^ CD with three tracks, one of which is Terre d’ oru (Fields of Gold) with additional Greek lyrics. See http://www.geocities.com/pixlax02/cd10.htm.
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