Athens, Greece: In 1974, the group Frog’s Eye became the psychedelic hard rock band The 4 Levels Of Existence after Nikos Dounavis was replaced by lead guitarist Nikos Grafsas. The remaining musicians were guitarist Athanasios Alatas, bassist and singer Marios Giamalakis, and Christos Vlahakis on drums. The unusual band name was taken from a philosophical dictionary. Following their first performance at the Sporting Stadium in Athens, the band were offered the chance to record an album, including ten hours of studio time and a private pressing of several hundred vinyl copies.

As there was no established infrastructure in the music business at the time, the band had to take care of everything themselves. From making contact with the record company to designing the cover and organising the studio. The recordings for their first and only LP took place at Columbia Studio III on 5 and 6 January 1976 and were completed within ten hours. It was recorded like a live album, with no subsequent overdubs or corrections made. Their self-titled debut was released in April on the tiny independent label Venus, featuring cover artwork by guitarist and co-producer Alatas, originally intended for their previous band, Frog’s Eye.

The small first print run was limited to just 500 copies, of which the band had to buy the first 120 records themselves. It is superb progressive hard rock featuring psychedelic elements, distorted guitars, melodic solos and experiments with Greek folk music. However, it all came to an end shortly afterwards, as the band members had to begin their military service. This heavy underground LP, which disappeared from the market almost immediately, ranks among the most significant and rarest rock albums in Greek music history.