LABORATORIUM — Modern Pentathlon (review)

LABORATORIUM — Modern Pentathlon album cover

Album · 1976 · Fusion

4.5/5 · 2024-08-21
FunkFreak75

Smooth yet-complex and very competent Jazz-Rock fusion from Poland. These musicians make it all seem so easy!

Line-up / Musicians: - Janusz Grzywacz / piano, Fender Rhodes, Roland 2000 synthesiser - Marek Stryszowski / vocal, alto sax, bass clarinet - Paweł Ścierański / guitars - Krzysztof Ścierański / bass guitar - Mieczysław Górka / drums

1. "Pięciobój nowoczesny" (20:00) using lots of experimental sound-making from electronic and acoustic instrumentation, the band opens this song with some jungle-zoo-like giving the music a feel and palette not unlike something HERBIE HANCOCK might have been doing with the help of Patrick Gleeson. The faux-Gregorian chants taking over at 6:10 provide an odd bridge to the next motif, a very NOVA Driftwood"-like atmospheric passage. In the eleventh minute there is another motif change, this time into something sounding more like somethting from the Bitches Brew or Mwandishi sessions, though the motif gradually becomes dominated by first alto sax and then a drum solo. Unfortunately, drummer Mieczysław Górka is probably the weakest member of the quintet, so this is nothing so very exciting. The next motifi something quite crazed in a Daevid Allen/GONG way--like something straight out of the psychedelic craziness that pervades the Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy of albums, only all echo-effected vocals from wind player Marek Stryszowski. The rest of the band begins to return in the 18th minute and then finishes the song out with a hard-driving guitar- (and voice)-led jazz-rock passage. Definitely a suite of totally different song themes sewn together rather arbitrarily, but it ends up being a rather fun and enjoyable journey. (36.75/40)

2. "Funky dla Franki" (4:46) funky-lite that just doesn't go deep enough into the bottom end but the synths, keys, and electric guitar do a great job of supporting the bass. Acoustic guitar is the first soloist, with Mieczyshaw's sax coming in at the end of the third minute and then taking over the lead during the fourth. A very decent if rather lite song. (9/10)

3. "Szalony baca" (6:00) opens with jungle bird noises accompanied by some solo voce African chanting. At the 0:30 mark the band slides smoothly into a hypnotic groove in which sax, Fender Rhodes, and chorused electric guitar present a very pleasant almost Caribbean melody while the drums and bass also carry forward a solid if loose and syncopated Carib rhythm track. Sax gets the first solo followed by electric bass before the chants rejoin far in the background, eventually mirrored by the electric guitar. The recording and play here is so chill, relaxed, and smooth. A wonderful song that definitely puts on display the cross-cultural bleeding that Jazz-Rock Fusion has become such a melting pot for. (9.5/10)

4. "ABZ" (4:58) part yacht rock, part Weather Report cool, part high energy Mahavishnu Orchestra, part celebration of jazz's recent history, mixed with a lot of funky joy and fearlessness. So fun! (9/10)

5. "Grzymaszka" (2:24) opens with some serious, melancholy, though very jazzy McCoy Tyner- or CHick Corea-like piano play that becomes more dramatic and Gershwin-dominated as it goes along. Excellent adaptive lounge piano play that one might find being played by a live musician in the foyer of a very exclusive club. (4.5/5)

Total time: 38:08

A wonderful album that definitely celebrates the fusion of international sounds and styles with one very-well produced album.

A-/five stars; a masterpiece and most excellent addition to any jazz-rock fusion-loving prog lover's music collection.