I see some new reissues out there from Belle Antique. Does anyone know if these are new masters, or just a recycling of the old ones?
I see some new reissues out there from Belle Antique. Does anyone know if these are new masters, or just a recycling of the old ones?
Do you mean these from last year: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/person/700687265 ?
^^
Not remasters. They always sounded great though, and considering that they might not resurface on CD ever again, I'd grab them if you haven't already got any of these. Czech progressive rock - now there's a whole scene of things to be rediscovered. Wonderful stuff indeed.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Fermáta are Slovak, but point taken. Their stuff has grown on me, some of their members had been in Collegium Musicum, who I liked a bit better (even if a lot of their stuff was that hoary old “rocked-up classics” shtick). But I’ve always been a big fan of Modrý Efekt, their last three albums are classics!
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
Yes, Fermata and Collegium Musicum were both indeed Slovak, as was the great Dezo Ursîny who released the amazing Provisorium album in 1973. I think Fermata's highlight was the Huascaran album. As for Collegium M., I find them one of the sadly misunderstood acts of Eastern European 70s progressive, as Marian Varga's take on "rocking the classics" came from a purely mock post-modernist perspective rather than the seriously exhibitionist, campy angle of the Emersonians. Varga was always more of a noisemaker and abstractist than a poseur pseudo-virtuoso, not too different from what a new-music-dressed-in-organtrio-shape act like Steamboat Switzerland did in the early 2000s.
But hey, they were Czechoslowak back then! Flamengo, Framus Five, Jazz Q Praha, Synkopy, M. Efekt (yes, those last three are phenomenal!), Extempore, Gattch, Progres 2, Combo FH, Plastic People of the Universe, Energit, Prazsky Vyber (and their debut in particular), Ota Petrina, Bohemia, Mahagon, Labyrint, Impuls... Lotsa great, great music right there.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
OK thanks I won't bother with these then.
Speaking of Fremáta: I only had Huascaran and Dunajská Legenda on LP and recently I bought the 2009 Opus-rerelease, which sees these albums gathered on a double-CD: https://www.discogs.com/Fermata-2-Hu...elease/5230843.
Two quite different albums, but I enjoy them still.
Listening to this one right now, and it's a real treat. Thanks for the tip, you evil bastard.
And featuring the inescapable bass tone of Vlad Kulhánek (of Flamengo and Bohemia), who went on to recruit the very young Iva Bittova to stints with his ensuing project Stromboli, led by former Prazsky Vyber-guitarist Michael Pavlicek. Stromboli became one of the leading lights of the Czech underground along with The Plastic People of the Universe, MCH Band, Extempore, DG 307 and Ser Un Peyalero.
Interest about this soothes as a looming doom of fume in here.
Before you know it, Czech and Slovak underground are takin' over.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
^ Svet is all Serbian. This is Czech steck'n'schmeck'n'dreck'n'meck-to-weck-vs.-beckinbleck. Altogether a completely different affair, Moe.
That being said, I actually spun that debut S Vremena Na Vreme record this evening, expecting to ponder a bit on ol' Svet. Instead, all I could think of was Bela Fleck and especially Gregory Peck, who is much cooler than Glenn Beck.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Lots to absorb in this thread. I am starting with Provisorium.
Yes, indeed, thank you. Astonishingly accomplished music. Nothing extravagant or superfluous here - just a laid back flow of effortlessness that permeates the whole work. I particularly like the vocals: sounds a bit like Greg Lake, but just 2 times better of a singer.
That Straka V Hrsti album from Prazsky Vyber sounds quite ahead of its time for me, in the realm of progressive punk. Reminds me of Cardiacs. Complete bonkers!
Of course the debut is a completely different story, with its blend of symphonic fusion.
I like them both a lot.
What strikes me the most in the Czechoslovakian scene is how the scene continued to thrive in the 80's and most probably in the 90's (I say most probably only because of limited knowledge). The strong ties between progressive rock and the new-wave/post-punk movement have been already discussed, but in Czechoslovakia they were truly embodied to the maximum with bands like Stromboli, Prazsky Vyber, Synkopy - where there was a merge of 70's progressive rock with the 80's values. And it was the same people that carried the flag.
True. Michael Pavlicek was only about 20 when he played on that (quite wonderful) Bohemia record (Zrnko Pisku) in 1978, the same year that he appeared on Prazsky Vyber's debut Zazen, which was indeed a highly arranged, progressive jazz-rock work. When he reappeared with Stromboli and Prazsky a few years down the line, both bands had long since incorporated serious elements of new-wave or post-punk, in Stromboli's case even snippets of Zeuhl. One of Iva Bittova's first truly notable appearances is on the studio part of Stromboli's double album from 1987, a gem of an underground classic.
Prazsky's Straka remains their masterwork, I think - and interestingly it coincided with the emergence of Uz Jsme Doma and Ser Un Peyalero, who would become stalwarts of the Prague/Brno art-punk/progressive/whatever scene along with MCH Band, Domaci Kapela, Dunaj, Urfaust, Oswald Schneider, Narajama and others. All of these are worth checking out. If you can find the music.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Yeah, Czechoslovakian prog scene is for all practical purposes not existent right now. Uz Jsme Doma, Cuprum, Hokr, some prog-folk bands were last bands doing something. But they are getting quiet as well.
What is even more shame is how the jazz and fusion disappear from the scene. The country that produced great bands and musicians as Fermata, Mahagon, Jazz Q, Energit, Jazz Cellula, SHQ, Vitous, Stivin, Hammer, Combo FH ....has virtually nobody I am aware of right now
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I am completely blown away by Uz Jsme Doma - Uprostred Slov. This is one of the most original takes on weird progressive-avant-punk I have ever encountered.
Another gem is Jazz Q - Symbiosis. Pozorovatelna is a beauty of progressive fusion - but in Symbiosis the song format reaches new, unfamiliar territories of jazz songwriting, incorporating elements of the psychedelic 60's or even classical singing. This is an immense achievement of crushing emotional force.
I am just completely in awe of the Czech musical scene. Despite the song titles reminding me of all profane Greek words.
^ Uprostred Slov and Jeskyne are their finest offers, IMO. Completely one of a kind band with a substantial following in their homeland, and colossally great to see live!
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
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