SBB — Pamięć (3) (review)

Album · 1976 · Jazz Related Rock

5/5 · 2024-10-11
FunkFreak75

Had I heard this or any SBB album in the 70s I might not have favored FOCUS/JAN AKKERMAN and RETURN TO FOREVER/AL DI MEOLA/CHICK COREA/STANLEY CLARKE/LENNY WHITE so much. This is perhaps the best match of emotion and virtuosic jazz fusion I've ever heard--and I do like this album more than the other three highly acclaimed SBB studio albums (1981's Momento z banalnym triptykiem and 1978's "Slovenian Girls"). Not so complex or complicated as to lose listeners but by no means simple or uniform, these songs are well composed and extremely well preformed.

1. "W Kolysce Dioni Twych (Ojcu)" (9:07) the album's opener sucked me in from the opening notes like a PFM or RTF classic. Just beautiful music! And then it matriculates into an absolutely AWESOME groove at the 5:20 mark. (I love the subtle but masterful interplay of the instrumentalists during the minute before the guitar and vocal solos begin.) The switch at the seven minute mark saddened me, but then I was able to relax into it and enjoy. The drums are so tight! Keyboard work is fun! It segues back into a recapitulation of the beautiful intro section for the final 45-seconds with guitar and voice(!) leading the high register melodic notes. (19/20)

2. "Z Ktorych Krwi Frew Moja" (10:14) had almost the same effect on me as the opener: sucking me right into its emotional, melodic weave. The vocal, electric guitar, and background vocals at the one minute mark bring forth a beautiful hook. This B section returns until at 2:37 we have a subtle bass keyboard solo. The hypnotic mid-section supports an adequate guitar solo before everything slows down to a spacey FOCUS-like section at 6:55. RPI-like vocals at 7:35. Still AKKERMAN/VAN LEER-like guitar & organ background throughout. This one didn't reach the heights nor sustain it as dramatically as the opener (though the ending two minutes is stronger vocally) but it's still an excellent, emotional song. (18.75/20)

3. The album's side-long epic, "Pamiec w Kamein Wasta" (19:48) opens with synth "waves" and some very slow, subtly developing space music. It sounds like a prelude/interlude piece from the soundtrack of 2001: A Space Odyssey--the part where the evolutionary chimps are figuring out the use of weapons (leading up to Ricard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra"). Eventually the song evolves into a "Court of the Crimson King"-like song (especially the Michael Giles-like drumming). At 10:15 an ELP "Tarkus"-like section starts up before evolving into what sounds (incredibly) like a cross between EUMIR DEODATO's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" and a JEAN-LUC PONTY classic. Great fun following the drums, bass, keyboards, and volume pedal controlled guitar both separately and stepping back to hear the effect of the woven mix. AT 14:55 there is an shift into a more funky rhythm section to support a three-minute electric guitar solo. Not quite AL DI MEOLA but a very nice solo anyway. The next shift is into another chorale-led section (nicely displaying the drummer's prowess) that brings me back to a familiar PHAROAH SANDERS/GINO VANELLI feeling. Fade out is as it started: spacey keys and synth waves. Great song despite the divertissement section to support the lengthy guitar solo. (38/40)

Total time: 39:30

My CD version has two bonus songs, "Niedokonczona Progresja" (6:24) (9/10) and "Reko-reko" (4:31) (7/10), the first a slow piano-based song that builds slowly into a kind of TONY BANKS/ANTHONY PHILLIPSian piece (with some awesome frenetic synth soloing), while the second song starts out with the melodrama of a great GINO VANNELLI song. Later the presence of a mouth organ makes it take on a little bluesy feel. I can see why theses songs did not make the cut for this album as they don't have the development of the other songs--they are in fact kind of one-dimensional, though still very melodic.

A/five stars; a true masterpiece of jazz-rock infused progressive rock music; one that has earned its place in my Top 10 Jazz-Rock Fusion Albums of the "Second Wave" of the "Classic Era" of J-R Fusion.