IGPTEBFrontIntroduction

This odd one-time ensemble by the name “Inter-Groupie Psychotherapeutic Elastic Band” is shrouded in mysteries! It seems the makers went through a lot of trouble to conceal their true identity... The clue that helped uncover some of the mystery is the credit for A. Koulouris, who wrote the b-side ‘Coloured Butterfly’. This refers to none other than Argyris Koulouris, the guitarist of “Aphrodite’s Child”, who worked with Vangelis on the band’s final album "666" (1972). It is Koulouris who confirmed that Vangelis (who is not credited on this single) is playing on both songs, ‘Floating’ and ‘Coloured Butterfly’.

For unknown reason the song ‘Floating’ is credited to ‘A. Loafer’, which obviously is a pseudonym. The most likely candidate would be Vangelis, though at the moment this not entirely clear... In this song Koulouris not only provides the vocals but also plays the lute and guitar, while Vangelis is playing percussion and keyboards.  Could it be that Vangelis did not want his name to be associated with this release, as he was still under contract with Philips as part of Aphrodite’s Child?

Another pseudonym seems to be ‘Raf Ale’, credited for production. Could this be referring to Giorgio Gomelsky, the music producer that earlier worked with Vangelis and Koulouris on the progressive rock album “666”, and later was responsible for producing other BYG recordings such as “Hypothesis", "The Dragon", and “Alpha Beta” (1971)? We may never know for sure...

To confuse things even more, the song ‘Floating’ has also been included on a promotional LP from BYG Records titled “Special Disc-Jockeys”, but here mis-spelled as as ‘Florting’, performed by ‘Hypto Facto’ and written by ‘Roup La Montagne’... Well, whoever came up with all of these names must have had a lot of fun!

 

IGPTEBBackTracklist and credits

  • ‘Floating’
     Written by A. Loafer.
  • ‘Coloured Butterfly’
     Written by Argyris Koulouris.

Produced by Raf Ale.

 

Discography

7” single

  • 1971 Floating / Coloured Butterfly BYG Records 129 031 France

CD

  • 2009 “The BYG Deal” Finders Keepers FKR025CD UK (includes ‘Floating’)

LP

  • 2009 “The BYG Deal” Finders Keepers FKR025LP UK (includes ‘Floating’)
  • 33T “Special Disc-Jockeys” BYG Records SP1 promo (includes ‘Floating’, mis-spelled as as ‘Florting’ and attributed to ‘Hypto Facto’)

 

IGPTEBLabelRecording studio

Although not confirmed, considering the period and participating artists it is most likely that this record was recorded in Europa Sonor Studio in Paris, where also Aphrodite's Child album "666" was recorded.

 

More

  • Argyris Koulouris is mostly known as the "fourth" member of Aphrodite's Child, who re-grouped in France with the band just in time to work on their final album "666". After that he als contributed to Vangelis' albums "The Dragon" (1971), "Earth" (1973) and "See You Later" (1980), as well as Demis Roussos' album "Reflection" in 1984.
  • Giorgio Gomelsky produced the recordings for both “Hypothesis” and “The Dragon” but was not involved in their release. Vangelis and Giorgio worked together on several occasions, first on Aphrodite’s Child “666” (1972) and later on the “Alpha Beta”.

 

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