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Quart og Hove
To norske festivaler plukkes ut blant Europas 20 beste musikkfestivaler i sommer. Quart var jo så bra at det bel skifteretten som fikk mest glede av deres nærvær sommeren 2008! At det er ekstremt lite fokus på prog, og rene progfestivaler er vel knapt særlig overraskende, men at to norske festivaler er plukket ut er uansett hyggelig.
Det er den britiske avisen The Times som har plukket ut det den mener er sommerens beste musikkfestivaler i Europa i år. Det arrangeres drøssevis av festivaler i Europa i sommer, og da er det ganske imponerende at hele to norske festivaler er med i det gode selskap. De to er selvsagt de største og mest prestisjefylte musikkfestivalene i Norge - Quart og Hove."Vikinggalskap i Skandinavia", kaller avisen det. De har også plukket ut noen festivaler i Danmark og Sverige.
”Det er utrolig gøy at det er to norske festivaler som plukkes ut på
denne listen”, sier Quarts festivalsjef, Daniel Nordgård.
Om
Quartfestivalen
(2.-5. juli) skriver avisen at arrangøren skryter av å ha det vakreste
festivalområdet i Nord-Europa, og at dersom man vil dra for å sjekke om
det stemmer, kan man få med seg band som Kings of Leon, Röyksopp og The
Streets.
I tillegg til de navnene Times har trukket frem, vil festivalsjef
Nordgård også gjerne nevne at Kent og Kaizers Orchestra kommer.
”Og Battles, et ganske ukjent band i Norge, men det blir knallbra”, sier
Nordgård, som også nevner at KlubQuart blir bra i år, med et tungt
program som lanseres snart.
Om
Hovefestivalen
(23.-27. juni) skriver Times at den er miljøvennlig, og kan skryte av
fine strender der man kan slappe av mellom konsertene. Avisen trekker
frem artister som Raconteurs, Jay-Z, Yeasayer og The Kooks.
På listen kommer også
Roskildefestivalen
(3.-6. juli), hvor blant andre Digitalism, Grinderman og Radiohead
kommer. Göteborgsfestivalen og
Way Out West
(8.-10. august) er også med. Hit kommer Sonic Youth, The Flaming Lips og
Franz Ferdinand, blant andre.
Andre festivaler som plukkes ut som verdt å få med seg i sommer er
disse:
Primavera Sound,
Barcelona, Spania - 29.-31. mai - Portishead, De La Soul, Public Enemy,
Vampire Weekend og Simian Mobile Disco, blant andre.
Pink Pop,
Limburg, Nederland - 30. mai - 1. juni - Metallica, Kaiser Chiefs, The
Verve, Groove Armada, Alanis Morisette og Rage Against The Machine,
blant andre
VipINmusic Festival,
Zagreb, Kroatia - 3.-4. juni - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Prodigy
og The Go! Team, blant andre
Southside Festival,
Tuttlingen, Tyskland - 20.-22. juni - Radiohead, The Wombats, Foo
Fighters og The Chemical Brothers, blant andre.
Rock Werchter,
Belgia - 3.-6. juli - R.E.M, Radiohead, The Chemical Brothers, Lenny
Kravitz og Neil Young.
Main Square Festival,
Arras, Frankrike - 4.-6. juli - The Chemical Brothers, Mika, Radiohead,
Sigur Ros, The Kooks og Underworld, blant andre.
Open'er,
Gnynia, Polen - 4.-6. juli - The Raconteurs, Interpol og Massive Attack,
blant andre.
Ruisrock Festival,
Turku, Finland - 4.-6. juli - The Cult, Interpol og Primal Scream, blant
andre.
Eurockeennes, Belfort,
Frankrike - July 4.-6. juli - Massive Attack, Moby og Babyshambles,
blant andre.
Exit, Novi
Sad, Serbia - 10.-13. juli - Sven Vath, Laurent Garnier, Manu Chao og
Gossip, blant andre.
Melt,
Ferropolis, Tyskland - 18.-20. juli - Hot Chip, Fujiya & Miyagi,
Teenagers, Editor, the dEUS, Goldie og Alter Ego, blant andre.
Fiberfib,
Benicassim, Spania - 17.-20. juli - Leonard Cohen, Morrissey, My Bloody
Valentine, Hot Chip og Gnarls Barkley, blant andre.
Paredes da Coura,
Praia do Tabuão, Portugal - 31. juli - 3. august - Sex Pistols, The
Wombats og Primal Scream, blant andre.
Sziget,
Budapest, Ungarn - 12.-18. august - Iron Maiden, R.E.M, Jamiroquai og
Kaiser Chiefs, blant andre.
Electric Picnic,
Stradbally, Irland - 29. -31. august - Sex Pistols, Sinead O'Connor,
Sigur Ros, My Bloody Valentine, Underworld, The Gossip og Franz
Ferdinand, blant andre.
Qango
Live in the Hood
Qango was 'founded' in 1999 when a proposed Asia
reunion fell apart and John Wetton and Carl Palmer got together to play
a set with some Asia and Emerson Lake and Palmer classics. The two were
joined by John Young (who had previously played in the John Wetton Band
and is currently working with Greenslade and Fish) and Dave Kilminster,
another Wetton Band veteran.
The band played a total of 11 gigs in February and April 200, all in the
UK. Live in the Hood was recorded at the second gig in The Robin
Hood, Brierley Hill on the 3rd of February.
After a short introduction with the intro from
Fanfare for the Common Man by John Young on keyboards the album
takes of with the two Asia classics Time Again and Sole
Survivors. Two good and energetic openers of the set, although the
version of Sole Survivor, when comparing it to the version on
Wetton's
Nomansland, makes it
more than clear what a marvellous drummer Steve Christy is (if you know
what I mean). Carl Parlmer can maintain a steady rhythm, but at times
his drumming is a bit too straightforward and monotonous. John Young's
keyboard playing is also different from Martin Orford's, but not
necessarily in a bad way.
Next up is ELP's Bitches Cristal, not one of my favourites from
this CD. Especially the piano play is a bit messy here and there.
After this powerful first section of the CD it's time for a resting point. After a short acoustic solo by Dave Kilminster, which also features a snippet from Promenade of Pictures at Exhibition, Wetton and Kilminster continue with two acoustic guitars in a wonderful version of Bob Dylan's All Along The Watchtower. At the end of the song Palmer joins in with some percussion and Young on synth-piano.
The peaceful mood remains for a while longer with The Last One Home. This song was originally written by John Young
and part of it formed the basis for Wetton's Arkangel track.
A version of this song can also be found on John's demo CD
Life Underground. I
personally think that the verses and the choruses don't really match; I
constantly get the feeling that I'm listening to two different songs (both
of them pretty nice though!). This version of the song features a new
section with the full band, which was probably written by Wetton because
his name now suddenly pops up in the credits for this song.
John Young sometimes has the urge to be a bit too much 'present' on
piano during Kilminster's solo, where it might have been beter to play a
'supportive' part. Then again, this track still seems to be a bit of a 'work
in process'.
We continue John's composing contribution with a keyboard solo called Paddydog, after his dog that passed away last year (by the way, this official title was not mentioned on the CD). The track is a bit of a mish-mash of various melodies and concludes with a free interpretation of Beethoven's Ode to Joy.
And then it's Aaron Copland time! Qango plays two
ELP versions of this composers work, first the 'wild west tune'
Hoedown, followed by one of ELP's most famous tracks, Fanfare for
the Common Man. Young and Kilminister deserve a special thumbs up
for their amazingly tight play in Hoedown, in which they
alternate and join each other on the melodies of the song. Fanfare
for the Common Man sounds powerful as well and includes a choatic
improvisation by John and Dave, followed by a drum solo by Carl Palmer.
The album closes with a great encore in the form of Asia's Heat of
the Moment.
Throughout the performance the band is playing pretty tight, especially considering the fact that this was only the second gig. I can't help but wonder if the CD would have been even better if they would have recorded one of the later gigs. Dave Kilminster's solos sound a bit muffled at times; I wouldn't have minded a bit more 'treble' and a bit less distortion at times. It also seems to be located in the left speaker a bit too much. Wetton is in good form on bass and vocals.
The choice of tracks and their order was done in a very wise way; first a powerful group of songs, than a more peaceful (semi)acoustic intermezzo, followed by another powerful section. This keeps the CD interesting and fascinating from beginning to end. Besides a couple of minor flaws this is a very enjoyable album, especially if you like Asia and ELP.
Tracklist: Time Again (5.34), Sole Survivor (6.28), Bitches Crystal (3.58), Dave Kilminster Solo (2.09), All Along the Watchtower (4.51), Last One Home (8.57), John Young Solo (Paddydog) (5.13), Hoedown (4.01), Fanfare for the Common Man (8.31), Heat of the Moment (5.48)
Queensryche
Operation Mindcrime II
Finally 16 years after the success of Operation Mindcrime Seattle rockers Queensrÿche release the sequel. For all these years fans and critics have been comparing every new Queensrÿche album with OM, always stating that it was not as good as…. I can only say that I truly like newer QR albums like Hear In The Now Frontier, Q2K or Tribe; the latter being exceptionally good. However, the reviews and the criticism on those albums were extremely harsh and uncalled for, as a good rock band should move on and adapt their music to modern times, like Rush did e.g..
I can imagine that Tate & Co got sick of the Mindcrime comparisons and therefore decided to release Mindcrime II?? Now that it has been released I cannot understand the critics and the fans, as the majority do not seem to like OM II….. Having read a lot of reviews I cannot (and will not) understand comments like:
“it is not as good as OM I"...
"the new album does not have songs like Revolution Calling or Suite
Sister Mary"...
"Geoff Tate’s vocals are rather mediocre"...
or
"this album is a degradation of the legend as it is chaotic, uncatchy,
cold and without emotion".
Give me a break, this is 2006, the music business is NOT the same as it was 16 years ago and if you listen to this album (with headphones on) very carefully and more than ONCE, then you will notice that the album grows on you. The more you hear it, the more you will love it.
Of course it is different than the “original”, but who wants to hear an exact copy of OM I, who wants to hear the same thing over and over again?? On this new album Geoff Tate still sings like a true metal god, only his high-pitched “screaming” is “omitted.” And that is just as well, because it would not fit in with the rest of the music and furthermore no singer screams like that in the year 2006, it is NOT done anymore. The music on OM II is again rather heavy and aggressive as the entire album is filled with raw guitar riffs, speedy solos and even some guitar duels. Tate is at his best in songs like Hostage, The Chase (with an amazing guest role for Ronnie James Dio as Dr.X) and All The Promises, in which the duet with Pamela Moore leads to a rather emotional and gripping end…. The album has it all, a great story line, chilling vocals, bombastic parts, guitars all over the entire album and it never really loses its momentum. Right from the start after the dark, bombastic intro Freiheit Ouverture and the audio fragment Convict (where we hear that Nikki is released from prison), songs like I’m American, Hostage and The Hands grab me just like Revolution Calling grabbed me 18 years ago….
I cannot understand people that are disappointed in this album as it is still growing after repeated listenings, and I am really looking forward to Arrow Rock on June 10 where Queensrÿche will perhaps play OM I & II in their entirety… This album should be on every prog metal lover's top 5 list of the year 2006!! Stop nagging, Queensrÿche is back with a vengeance, although in fact they have never been away, of course…..
Tracklist: Freiheit Ouverture (1:36), Convict (0:08), I'm American (2:53), One Foot In Hell (4:13), Hostage (4:30), The Hands (4:37), Speed Of Light (3:12), Signs Say Go (3:17), Re-Arrange You (3:11), The Chase (3:10), A Murderer? (4:34), Circles (2:59), If I Could Change It All (4:28), An Intentional Confrontation (2:32), A Junkie's Blues (3:42), Fear City Slide (4:58), All The Promises (5:11)
SurREvival
Quidam is back. Well actually, 50% of Quidam is back. Female singer Emila, who's voice was so characteristic for Quidam, as well as the band's rhythm section left two years ago. Fortunately Zbyszek Florek (keyboards), Maciek Meller (guitars) and Jacek Zasada (flutes) decided that this didn't have to mean that the book called Quidam had to be closed. Instead they continued and recruited a new singer, Bartek Kossowicz, and rhythm section, Mariusz Ziólkowski (bass guitar) & Maciek Wróblewski (drums, percussion). And although some people might think that they should have continued under another name, I would beg to differ. SurREvival is a splendid record with more than enough characteristic Quidam trademarks to justify the use of the name.
On their first two records, Quidam and Sny Aniolow, the band mainly seemed to be influenced by bands like Camel and Marillion. On Time Beneath the Sky the band moved into more darker areas which reminded me a lot of Porcupine Tree, especially in the instrumental tracks Credo I and Quimpromptu. The band continues on this path with SurREvival on which some of the instrumental sections are not to far removed from the mentioned two on the previous album and some sections even remind me of Sylvan's recent work.
Unlike the previous
album this new CD does not feature any instrumental tracks, not counting
the two and a half minute Airing, which is a ridiculously long
series of sound effects which has immediately earned the 'skip award
2005'. Fortunately the rest of the album is material which is absolutely
not skip-worthy.
As on previous albums the music features a lot of delicious flute solo's,
sometimes even two in one song, but the guitar and keyboard solo's are
also prominently present throughout the album. As such, the band may
have changed their style but certainly not their preferred arrangement.
The new rhythm section is very tight and well recorded and my initial
fears about the new male singer have proven to be quite unnecessary.
Sure, it took a while to forget about Emila and get used to the voice of
Bartek, but he proves himself to be a very able singer indeed. His vocal
style is very atmospheric and although his reach seems to be limited -
he sings in mostly the same way for the whole album - he puts in enough
variation to keep things exciting. For some reason he reminded me a lot
of the singer of Land's End, although that might have more to do
with his style than his actual voice. Another fear, the presence of the
inevitable Polish accent proved to be needless as well. Bartek sports
flawless English and thereby outclasses most if not all German and
Polish singers in other prog rock bands. Nevertheless, I do have to
admit that the 'h' is sometimes pronounced as a 'g' and there are
occasional errors in pronunciation and articulation. But since these are
never really annoying I definitely consider Bartek to be a worthy
replacement for Emila.
Where previous Quidam albums sometimes suffered from the presence of too many ballads this problem is fully absent on SurREvival. But this doesn't mean that the album doesn't have it's quiet moments. Almost all of the songs on the album consist of two sections, starting with a more peaceful, and sometimes remarkably jazzy, opening and moving to a more energetic different melody halfway through, often using great repetitive riffs. A remarkable exception is the album's longest track, which actually is one long stretched composition that continuous to use the same melody but simply gets heavier and heavier before quieting down again. And all of that without ever getting boring.
A few words about the
individual tracks. The nine and a half minutes long Hands Off is
the real album opener, starting with a very powerful riff and Moog
keyboards before changing into a peaceful atmospheric mood. We are
treated to splendid singing by Bartek and excellent solo's by flute,
synths (twice) and guitar. As the song proceeds the opening riff returns
and the song gets darker and heavier, working to a passionate climax.
No So Close moves from an acoustic opening and a catchy chorus to
a real toe-tapper rhythm with fine driving bass. The song eventually
ends with a break building into an emotional multi-vocal ending which is
among the highlights of the album.
The Fifth Season is a rather jazzy ballad that opens with upright
bass, brush drums, piano and acoustic guitar and quickly conjures up
visions of smoky bars. Now, a ten minutes song like this might seem
boring, but don't fear because halfway through the track, after the
second flute solo, the song suddenly changes into something which would
not be out of place on a Peter Gabriel album. Complete with chant
and all. After this the tempo speeds up and a guitar/synth/flute duet
brings us to the climax. Marvellous stuff.
The title track
SurREvival is a more straightforward rock song, but a quality one at
that with more aggressive singing by Bartek and in your face guitar/bass
riffs. But even among all of this musical violence the bands finds a
place for another spot for Jacek to shine on the flute.
The more light-hearted and optimistic sound we've known from the
previous Quidam albums shortly returns like a breeze of fresh air in
another slightly jazzy moment opening Queen of Moulin Rouge. The
atmosphere initially is comparable to that of The Fifth Season
but after four minutes the song develops into a Porcupine Tree-like mood
and continuous to build in energy up to the final chants of the album
title. The band has even hired a DJ to add some scratch effects to this
section. Now that's progressive rock in the true sense of the word.
Another highlight !
The album closes with the longest track, Everything Has Ended,
which as mentioned before is really one long continuous track, reminding
me a lot of Sylvan and Porcupine Tree. Imagine the long instrumental
tracks of Time Beneath the Sky being expanded into full fledged
songs with vocal sections. As such this song is not the most original
track on the album, but still well worth listening to over and over
again.
To sum it up, Quidam is not gone. They've never been gone and they prove it with their best album to date. The band has survived and revived. Highly recommended to any prog rocker !
Tracklist: Airing (2:25), Hands Off (9:25), Not So Close (6:22), The Fifth Season (9:45), SurREvival (5:13), Queen of Moulin Rouge (8:24), Everything's Ended (13:14)
Sny Aniolów / Angels' Dreams
Quidam's second album isn't among their most interesting work, but even a less perfect Quidam album stands well above the average prog rock album. Therefore Sny Aniolów still walked away with a DPRP recommendation in my original review. Looking back I still think that there's some classic Quidam material on this album, including Moje Anioly/Angels Of Mine, Morelowy Sen/An Apple Dream, the guitar solo of Wesola/Cheerful, Jest Taki Samotny Dom/There Is Such A Lonesome House and the epic Pod Powieka/Behind My Eyes (although the latter does not reach the same heights as Plone on their debut album).
The CD was released in two versions. Initially in a Polish version (the one I reviewed) and later in an English version through the Musea label. The band have not made it a big secret that they were not 100% satisfied with the English version since Emila's English skills left to be desired. Had it not been for the label's pressure they probably would have never released it. I have to admit though that I enjoyed this version much more than I had expected. The English lyrics work and flow remarkably well and the ability to understand the lyrics and actually tell one song from another simply overshadows Emila's obvious accent. Strange enough though, the last two tracks of English the album are not sung in English and regardless of the translated titles and lyrics in the booklet they consist of the Polish original.
Unlike the other albums, this
special edition does not contain any additional liner notes in the
booklet. What you get is simply the Polish original with the
English version added as a bonus disc. As such this might well be the
least interesting special edition since it doesn't feature any real new
material (not counting a hidden track with 2 minutes of bird noises on
the English version).
If you haven't got the album yet you might prefer to have either the
Polish version or English version, instead of both. Then again, with the
low prices that Rock-Serwis is charging you might as well go for both. I
can therefore only conclude that you might want to check this album out
if you haven't got one of the originals yet. For those who already have
one of the versions of the album this is only interesting for
completists or those people who are desperately looking for the other
version.
CD One: [Sny Aniolów] Przebudzenie (1:43), Moje anioly (4:21), Morelowy Sen (5:17), Wesola (6:59), Beznogi Maly Ptak (4:06), Lza (4:56), Pod Powieka (13:57), Przebudzenie (Swit Nadziei) (4:07), Jest Taki Samotny Dom (5:31)
CD Two: [Angels' Dreams] Awakening (1:43), Angels Of Mine (4:21), An Apple Dream (5:17), Cheerful (6:59), Little Bird With No Legs (4:06), One Small Tear (4:56), Behind My Eyes (13:57), Awakening [Dawn Of Hope] (4:07), There Is Such A Lonesome House (5:31)
Live In Mexico '99
The original version of the band's performance at Baja Prog was released and reviewed by DPRP in 1999. Click here for the review of that release. I'll not repeat JJ's fine review here but would only like to emphasise that the purchase of the album is very well worth your money since it's the only commercially available material with the band's old line-up and performances are splendid (not counting Emila's occasional problem to reach certain notes). As an icing on the cake you also get brilliant live performances of Camel's Rhayader/Rhayader Goes To Town, the guitar solo of Genesis' Firth of Fifth and Deep Purple's Child in Time in the setlist.
The bonus disc of this re-mastered edition is highly interesting since it's actually a DVD with footage taken from the Baja Prog festival. It is filmed by multiple camera's and does a nice job at showing the band performing. Unfortunately the stage lighting isn't always optimal and the video quality leaves a lot to be desired, being very blurred and pale at times. Nevertheless it's quite watchable, it's the only (semi-)professionally filmed material with Emila on vocals and the sound quality is good. Furthermore, the material on the DVD includes three tracks that are not present on the CD of the gig: Pod Powieka, Nocna Widziadla, Bajkowy. I'm not sure which songs were in the band's setlist but together the CD and DVD should do a good job at presenting a complete recording. It's also a pleasure to see the band having so much fun on stage, like when they suddenly launch into the traditional La Cucaracha during Angels of Mine.
The DVD also contains two short documentaries about Quidam's trip to Mexico. Those of you who have seen the tour footage on the band's Fifth Season DVD know what to expect. It's like watching a couple of Polish friends on vacation in a country far, far away. Including the compulsory visit to the beach, sombrero clad bands in restaurants ... you get the picture. There's also some footage from the actual gig, including Gleboka Rzeka which unfortunately isn't present among the professionally filmed material on the DVD. All nice but hardly essential.
The original live CD was already a recommended release and the bonus DVD only adds to the value of this album, including 25 minutes of additional live music. For Quidam fans who don't mind the slightly bootleggy quality of the filmed material there's even a good reason to re-purchase this new version. You won't be disappointed.
Tracklist CD: Przebudzenie (2:47), Gleboka Rzeka (7:10), Chocbym (6:12), Plone / Niespelnienie (18:17), Jest Taki Samotny dom (5:37), Rhayader/Rhayader Goes To Town (10:02), Sanktuarium (10:45), Angels Of Mine (6:10), Child In Time (9:43)
Tracklist DVD: Chocbym (6:04), Snowgoose: [Rhayader/Rhayader Goes To Town] (9:43), Sanktuarium (10:42), Angels Of Mine (6:02), Pod Powieka (13:06), Nocna Widziadla (7:27), Bajkowy (4:17), Quidam in Mexicali [Documentary part 1] (4:24), Quidam in Mexicali [Documentary part 2] (3:38)
Time Beneath The Sky
It's been no less than 4 years since the second Quidam album Sny Aniolow. I was almost beginning to think that this DPRP favourite had slipped into obscurity when I heard about the new album a few months ago and was offered a review copy by their record label. Having been a great admirer of the band, I could hardly wait to get my hands on this new CD.
The English song titles might give you the impression that Quidam have stopped singing their songs in Polish but (with the exeption of the Led Zeppelin cover No Quarter) all lyrics are still in Polish. To make it a bit easier for us Western folks, they have however printed the song titles and lyrics in the booklet in English, which does make it a whole lot easier to actually remember (and pronounce !) a song title.
Letter From The Desert I is an absolutely enchanting piece. It starts with 2 minutes of atmospheric chanting by Emila, followed by one minute of eastern flute and string instruments which would not have been out of place on an Ozric Tentacles album. Than the pounding drums kick in and we are treated to a powerful piece of flute music that reminds me a lot of the album version of One Night In Bangkok from Chess. A very surprising track and one of my favourites on the album.
As on the previous album, Time Beneath The Sky
contains quite a few ballads. Whereas this brought the
Sny Aniolow album down
a bit, the melodies of the ballads on the new album are so incredibly
beautiful that I find most of them absolutely adorable, especially
Still Waiting and New Name.
Kozolec, on the other hand, is a joyful folky tune with some fine
melodies shared by recorder and guitar.
I have never been a big fan of Led Zeppelin. The reason is not that I think they made bad music, on the contrary, they have made some classic stuff ! It's just that I really dislike Robert Plant's vocal performances. I have therefore for instance always preferred the Far Corporation's version of Stairway to Heaven above the original. And now Quidam present another cover version of a Zeppelin song. I wasn't really familiar with the original of No Quarter, but I did check it out before writing this review. And again I have to say that I prefer the cover version. For those of you who know the Zeppelin version, imagine that it would get the Pink Floyd treatment. Lots of Gilmour-like guitar, vocoded voices, and a middle section with solo spots for flute, guitar and keyboards, the latter having that typical seventies Richard Wright sound. And of course there's Emila's marvellous vocal performance, once again proving that she masters both loud, agressive parts as well as tranquil, quiet parts. Her marvellous singing quickly makes you forget the Polish accent in her performance. Another highlight !
The center piece of the album is The Time
Beneath the Sky, which consists of the last 5 tracks of the album.
Although this might give the impression of a seamless 30+ minute epic,
that's not the case here. Basically all of the tracks are separate
compositions (with the exception of Credo I & II) and personally
I can't really figure out why they are presented as one whole.
Credo I is a wonderful opener for this 5-piece, going through
different moods and styles in it's 8 minutes and containing some
brilliant vocal performances. This is probably the track that reminds me
most of the bands debut album.
Credo II is a very dark instrumental tune which reminds me a lot
of Porcupine Tree. It's got the same spooky effects, effective
bass line and riffs and Barbieri-like synths. Being a big PT fan, this
immediately became one of my favourites on the album.
You Are, the next part of the set, is a whole different style. It
is a very smooth and laid back jazzy kind of piece. Quite a new style
for Quidam, and takes a while to get used to.
Quimpromptu starts in a way similar to Marillion's The
Slide, with a bass line around which the rest of the band builds up
towards a climax. The style is comparable to the mentioned Marillion
track, as well as some of the earlier instrumental work by Porcupine
Tree. The last minutes of the track consist of a beautifully
emotional guitar solo.
The 5-piece composition ends with the title track (Everything Has Its
Own) Time Beneath The Sky, another gentle ballad-like song. Although
it certainly isn't a bad song at all, it isn't the most remarkable track
on the album either. The vocal overdubs, layers of backing vocals and
flute play are a delight though.
The production of the album is extremely good and sounds very professional. There´s some very interesting percussion effects (not unlike Spock's Beard's experiments on their last two albums). Furthermore, the album features some interesting instrumentation. For instance, Still Waiting contains a flugelhorn solo, while the folky Kozolac features mandolin and accordion and Letter from the Desert 1 contains oboe. The jazzy You Are features some delicious upright bass playing.
The production is far better than on the debut album and the overall quality of the compositions is higher than on their second album. Overall, the thing that immediately became obvious when playing the album the first time was the fact that this new album is a lot more darker and mysterious than the previous two albums, which tended to be quite lively. Whereas the previous albums seemed to lean more on Camel and Marillion, this new album moves more in the direction of Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree. And since I like dark and mysterious this third Quidam album might well become my favourite. Individual tracks might not be as strong as Gleboka Rzeka or Plone from the debut album, but as a whole Time Beneath The Sky is probably the most enjoyable of their three studio releases so far.
Tracklist: Letter From The Desert I (6:08), Still Waiting (letter From The Desert II) (4:50), No Quarter (11:50), New Name (4:56), Kozolec (for Agape) (5:05), The Time Beneath The Sky: Credo I (8:07), Credo II (5:13), You Are (in The Labyrinth Of Thoughts) (4:40), Quimpromptu (9:37), (Everything Has Its Own) Time Beneath The Sky (4:15).
Quidam
Quidam's debut album remains as impressive as it was 10 years ago. Rarely have I heard a progressive rock band made such an impact as Quidam did with their first release. Although the sound of the album is at times slightly metallic the production sounded incredibly professional. This was something to be expected since the producer and mixing engineer of the album were no others than Szadkowski and Palczewski (both of Collage fame and currently active with their new band Satellite).
And not only the production was top-notch. The songwriting abilities of the band, in particular those of guitarist Maciek and keyboardist Zbyszek, were of a standard one normally only finds among well established prog dinosaurs. Sure, the band were obviously heavily influenced by bands like Camel, Genesis and Marillion (often paying tribute to the first two by playing covers in their live sets) but they nevertheless had their own sound and identity. Probably the presence of a female vocalist with an enchanting voice in the person of Emila Derkowska added that finishing touch to the magic of Quidam.
As mentioned the album only contains quality material, among which some real classics like Sanktuarium, Chocbym, Gleboka rzeka and Plone, all of which remained live favourites in the years that Emila was still behind the microphone and as far as I'm concerned are among the highlights of prog rock in the nineties. The guitar solo in Plone alone would be more than worth the price of this CD.
There's quite a few surprises with this new edition. First of all the booklet for the original album features translated lyrics. A nice touch since it finally - after 10 years - enables me to understand what these songs are about. Second, the promo video of Warkoce can be found on the first disc in AVI format. Surely not one of Quidam's most interesting songs, but interesting for those who haven't seen this on the The Fifth Season DVD yet and quite impressive from an artistic point of view (not to mention Emila's sexy dress).
Most important however, this new anniversary album comes with a bonus disc which might well be the most interesting one in the series since it's full of unreleased material that rates high on the rarities scale.
Szukajac szczescia is basically a rough demo version of Chocbym of the debut album that the band got to record in a professional studio after winning a band competition. The guitar solo in the intro is still missing and the lyrics are different but overall it's already quite close to the final version. The next three songs, Koleda Nocka, Los and Snilem, are performances by the band Ogrodnicy which featured Emila, Zbyszek and Maciek, as well as Quidam's current drummer Maciej. The three songs were recorded at the end of 1996 and seemingly concluded the existence of this band. The music is completely different from Quidam's, with trumpet and a style ranging from groovy blues (Koleda Nocka) to pop ballads (Los and Snilem). Nothing much progressive here and a bit too mainstream to get overtly excited about, but interesting from a historical perspective nevertheless.
The album continues with two cover versions the band played live at a 1996 concert in Krakow, being the acoustic guitar ditty Horizons by Genesis and the long White Rider by Camel. There's a few bum notes here and there and the band don't play as tight yet as we've come to know them but these cover versions show their great potential nevertheless. Also keep in mind that the mix of this recording is far from perfect.
Another Camel cover is the album opener Irish Air (from Camel's Harbour Of Tears), which is a demo that Emila and Ewa recorded and sent to Andy Latimer when he came to tour Poland in 1997. It immediately prompted Andy to invite the two ladies to open the Harbour Of Tears set in Krakow with their rendition.
The next song, Modlitwa, was recorded by a band called Talath Dirnen, who seemingly were recording in the same studio where Quidam were working on their debut album. They were so impressed that they invited Emila to record guest and backing vocals with them. From a prog rock perspective this might well be the most interesting non-Quidam track on the bonus disc (not counting the covers and Szukajac Szczescia), even though the Quidam connection is rather limited. The song has a bit of a Floydian feel and even features violin and saxophone.
Czas is a song by a band called Belgrad, whom Quidam met at the aforementioned band competition. Belgrad's flute player Jacek would eventually replace Ewa on flute on Quidam's second album. Belgrad were also the band that played an early version of Sanktuarium, unfortunately not present on this bonus disc. Czas itself is a nice piece with a blues-rock feel and a splendid guitar solo and (if I understand the liner notes correctly) guest appearances by Quidam's Emila and Zbyszek.
The bonus disc ends with the only unreleased Quidam track with Emila on vocals, the superb Rzeka Wspomnien, which was originally recorded for the Time Beneath The Sky album. A very nice and peaceful track that would not have been out of place on that album or the band's second album. I assume it was left of Time Beneath The Sky because it already featured a couple of tracks with the same atmosphere. A real shame since, as far as I'm concerned it's the most interesting Quidam track on this disc featuring a nice 'African' chant section. Good to have it available to a wider audience after all.
The CD also contains three AVI movies. Sanktuarium was filmed at
the Dutch Day of Dreams festival that was a pivotal event in the start
of the band's success outside Poland. Despite the blurred quality of the
footage it's nice to see some material of this important gig. The
inclusion of the Firth Of Fifth guitar solo and the presence of
Ewa on flute, making it one of the few videos in which she appears, are
also worth mentioning.
The video of Beznogi Maly Ptak is very much out of place on this
album since the song actually appeared on the band's second album. It's
also a far cry from the quality of the Warkocze video on the
other disc, but for those of you who haven't seen it on the live DVD and
fancy seeing the band dressed up as a bunch of hippies escaped straight
from the Sixties there's probably some entertainment value here.
Perly Z Lamusa is a track the band wrote as one of their earliest
compositions while the band was still called Deep River. This
performance was filmed at the festival which earned the band their first
professional studio session. Good to hear and see some of the very early
roots of the band, although I'm not all that disappointed that unlike
Szukajac Szczescia this track did not make it to the band's debut
album. Especially the first half with Emila singing a melody throughout
the flute intro is rather tedious.
In conclusion, if you haven't got this solo debut album of the band yet you should be ashamed of yourself. Go out and get it and while you're at it you might well buy this special re-release with all the bonus material. For those of you who already own the original version, you'll have to make up your own minds. As mentioned, there's a lot of interesting rarities on the bonus disc. Beware though that you shouldn't expect a lot of material in the same style as Quidam's debut album since most of the stuff was played by pre-Quidam bands and line-ups that were playing very different styles that often cannot be considered progressive rock.
CD One: [Quidam]: Sanktuarium (8:57), Chocbym (7:05), Bajkowy (3:42), Gleboka Rzeka (8:03), Nocne Widziadla (7:21), Niespelnienie (9:44), Warkocze (4:07), Bijace Serca (1:53), Plone (14:09), Warkocze (Promo Video) CD Two: [Rzeka Wspomnien]: Irish Air (Demo) (1:55), Szukajac Szczescia (6:25), Koleda Nocka (4:55), Los (4:54), Snilem (4:23), Horizons (1:49), White Rider (9:59), Modlitwa (Czyli Krzyk Oblakanego) (7:19), Czas (5:35), Rzeka Wspomnien (6:00), Perly Z Lamusa - Gitariada '93 (Video), Sanktuarium - Day Of Dreams Festival, Zwolle, Holandia, 1997 (Video), Beznogi Maly Ptak (Promo Video)
Quella Vecchia Locanda
is a great Italian prog band of
the historic scene, formed in Rome in the early seventies. QVL plays a
complex music with a lot of instrumental combinations, beautiful
melodies and a very high sophistication. Close to KING CRIMSON.
QVL released two albums which are both considered essential releases
from that particular scene. The first album is still regarded as a
classic in its field, with an original fusion of classical influences
and the use of flute and electric violin in evidence. QVL was fairly
typical of the style, especially on their second album, "Il Tempo Della
Goia", which ranks as one of the finest examples of classical, pastoral
Italian symphonic along the lines of PFM, CELESTE, ALUSA FALLAX or
LOCANDA DELLE FATE. The group sadly disbanded soon after the second
album, leaving us with two more italian progressive gems, both with
beautiful covers. Two of the most looked records of Italy!!!
Album Discography:
"Quella Vecchia Locanda" (1972) Help! - ZSLH 55091
"Il Tempo Della Gioia" (1974) RCA-TPL1 1015
Personnel:
Massimo Roselli: Keyboards, Vocals
Giorgio Giorgi: Vocals, Flute
Patrick Traina: Drums, Percussion
Romualdo Coletta: Bass
Raimondo Maria Cocco: Guitar, Vocals
Donald Lax: Violin
Claudio Filice: Violin
