POD NIEBEM CZAS / THE TIME BENEATH THE SKY

The Polish symphonic/neo-progressive rock band QUIDAM's third studio album is called "Time Beneath the Sky" and it was released in April last year. What's significant for Quidam is that their music is very beautiful and spiced with folk music. I really liked their "Sny Anilow" album and "Time beneath the Sky" is perhaps even better. I believe that all their albums have been released in two different versions: one with Polish and one with English lyrics. The album I've heard are unfortunately the English version, because I would've preferred the Polish version if there were such a version released. However this is a really wonderful album if you like symphonic rock and soft neo-progressive rock.

In contrast to my co-reviewer I listened to the version of this album in polish language and I've to say I'd rather have the english one maybe I would like it more. Not to get it wrong I really appreciate that Emila is singing in her native language and she's got a very beautiful voice. It's probably just an individual problem, but to my ears the language is sounding somehow inconvenient and disturbing.

Okay let's put the language problem aside and concentrate on the music. To me it sounds partly quite floyd-ish and these are mainly the parts I like, the more mellow songs remind a bit to (late era) Camel and there are some folk-ish and mystic influences as well. Unfortunately the song I like the most is not their own, the LedZep cover No Quarter. But it's very nicely done and sounds a bit like PINK FLOYD would play LedZep, really nice symphonic adaptation of this great song. Credo I & II as well have some Floyd influence, at least partly, of which I prefer part II since it is all instrumental (again the language!!!). In my version there is one song more (between Nowe imiê and Credo) which is called Kozolec (dla agape) and is a quite a nice folk-ish one. I really would like to listen to this one in English. There are a few songs that sound a bit boring and mediocre to my ears like Ci¹gle czekam , Jesteo and the last one but alltogether the album is not a bad one and maybe for the english version I would have given even one star more.

Since I like only about half of the songs, I think 3 stars is an adequate rating.

For this, their third album, Quidam seemed determined to compensate for their previous release, which, as nice as it was, it failed to sustain the energy and melodic richness that had been so majestically exposed in their excellent debut album. "Pod Niebem Czas" shows Emila Derkowska and her partners of Quidam regaining the excellence and taking it to a new top, in this way, delivering their best recording so far. Not only the musical magic has resurfaced in full swing, but also it has been enhanced with the incorporation of renovating textures from Eastern European and Arabic folklores (not unlike Solaris' "Book of Prophecies"), as well as modern electronic pop, somewhat related to Porcupine Tree, albeit with a softer vibe that may remind us of 90s Pink Floyd and the calmer side of Ozric Tentacles. The opening track is an example of the former, while track 2 takes the latter trend. The addition of these elements are fluidly integrated into the band's main essence, so it is not a stylistic twist what is taking place here in "Pod Niebem Czas", but a revitalization of the particular neo-prog trend that Quidam had already made their legitimate landmark. This is particularly true about the sequence of the last 5 numbers, conceptually integrated under the overall namesake title. This is not really a suite, but a series of linked tracks that range from ethereal electronics with ethnic flavours ('Credo II') to crescendo jamming ('Quimpromptu') to sheer melodic vibe ('Credo I' and the closing track), with 'Jesteś (W Labiryncie Myśli)' stuck in the middle and providing a moment of impenetrable melancholy. As always, the keyboard orchestration meet a proper counterpoint in the alternating guitar, flute and synth leads, but none of the latter ever get too overwhelming; also as usual, Derkowska incarnates the vocal dimension of Quidam's magic with her skilful touch of distinction and polished sensibility. The band's most aggressive side is wisely incarnated in their excellent cover of the Led Zeppelin tune 'No Quarter': while the original's somber ambience was mostly treated as a sinister exercise in hard rock, Quidam takes that same somberness and transforms it into something more mystical while retaining its air of unearthly mystery. More a reinvention than a cover, indeed. On the least challenging side of things, the folk-oriented 'Kozolec (Dla AgaPe)' and the conventional melodic rock ballad 'Nowe Imię' bring some passages of simple pleasure, reminding us of the overall candour of the previous album. The statement of the Polish album's title (all things have "their time under the sky") was also applied to the band's fate - after the tour that succeeded this album's release, Derkowska left the ranks in order to pursue her own musical interests, focused on gospel choirs. It would take three years and some important line-up changes before a refurbished Quidam returned to the musical scene, but that's a matter for another review: at this point, I'll conclude my review by marking this album with a 4-star rating. An excellent farewell to an era in the history of Quidam.

I love the cover of this record, it reminds me of growing up at Wasaga Beach. Across the road where I grew up were houses, and behind them a river, and beyond the river, sand dunes and then the bay.The sand dunes were at a higher elevation, so we saw them every day. The sand dunes have since become a park and a parking lot, but we still have the world's longest fresh water beach. A long winded reason why I love the cover art. I noticed the band thanked Colin Bass in the liner notes. I feel there is something very special about this band, and this album. It's just hard for me to point to one thing and say that's it.

The record starts off with "Letter From The Desert I" a dark, atmospheric song with restained, emotional vocals from Emila, and some beautiful flute and aboe. Acoustic guitar and percussion after 2 minutes as the vocals stop and a melody takes over and builds. "Still Waiting (Letter From The Desert II)" is a light breezy song with gentle vocals and flugelhorn. It reminds me of PAATOS. "No Quarter", yes the LED ZEPPELIN song is covered amazingly well by this band. This for me is the highlight of the record. The flute is very prominate, lots of keyboards, atmosphere and soaring guitar. There is lots of breathing room in this song for the musicians to stretch out. After 10 minutes the song becomes even more uplifting. Fantastic job !

"New Name" opens with soaring guitar and the beautiful vocals of Emila. "Kozolic (For Agape)" has a Celtic or Folk vibe to it, and includes accordion and mandolin. "Credo I" has a CAMEL feel to it during the instrumental parts. This is another favourite song of mine on this record, and it ends with a beautiful extended guitar solo. "Credo II" is a fantastic instrumental featuring spacey synths with drums and guitar to create a gorgeous melody. "You Are" is a smooth, mellow tune. "Quimprompto" is a long spacey instrumental with a hypnotic beat and flute. This record was a great way to end this era of QUIDAM, farewell Emila ! And thankyou !

I guess you could call me sentimental here because this is barely 4 stars, but I do feel this is a special album for various reasons therefore the fourth star.

Quidam´s third effort - and, unfortunately, the last one with Emila Derkowska on vocals - totally redeems the lacklustre affair that was Angel´s Dreams. While the latter was uninspired, boring and commercial, this one returns with all the mighty sound that impressed us all when the band released their first CD. Ok, they´re maybe a little more accessible now, but the music is definitely progressive, haunting and amazingly beautiful, with symphonic, neo, polish folk and eastern music influences. Emila is singing better than ever and the band reached its instrumental peak at this point. I bought the polish lyrics version and it sounds great.

Of course the main attraction in this CD is the group´s version of Led Zepellin´s No Quarter. I agree with the other reviewers that say it sounds like Pink Floyd doing Zep, and that the song is really more a reinvention then a cover, giving it a whole new approach, while still maintaining the original spirit. Nevertheless, the remaining, self penned songs, are all very good and varied, making The Time Beneath The Sky the most consistent album Quidam´s released so far. It´s a pleasure to hear it form beginning to end with its many moods and changes, and, of course, tinged with Emila´s emotional and unique interpretation. If the lyrics are lame or bad, her vocal make them sound like heaven.

So, overall this is a must have for anyone who likes good music in general, not only prog lovers. Highly recommended.

When this album was released, there were little talks that it would be the last one with the superb Emilia on the vocals. This is another album released in both English (Musea Records) and Polish (except "No Quarter" of course).

This Polish band, although ranked in the neo-prog genre has a broader range of music: neo of course, but symphonic and definitely some prog folk as well. In all, they play a quite diverse and interesting music which should appeal to a lot of prog fans.

The opening "Letter from the Desert" is a good example of these folkish influences: fine fluting but dark mood and some fine (but short) vocalize part in the same line than during "Chocbym" from their debut.

The mood is very melancholic in "Still Waiting": it is a tranquil ballad in which crystal clear vocals are the best attributes. Folk influences are plenty and a track as "For Agape" is just another example. It sounds as a Polish "Mostly Autumn". But there is nothing wrong with this.

In their live album recorded during the prog conference in Mexico, the band covered already one of my fave hard-rock band. They chose a very difficult song from their repertoire, and IMO it was a total failure ("Child In Time"). This time, they are tackling another one of the genre, namely Led Zep.

They were inspired not to have chosen "Whole Lotta Love" for this exercise, and they wisely covered "No Quarter". It is not so far from the original studio version, keeping the heavy passages (and not substituting them with pastoral ones like they did for "Child"). "Quidam" will add a spacey and psychedelic instrumental break which is slightly increasing the length of the song. It is still a pleasant version.

Unfortunately, as far as own compositions are concerned, we are far from their debut and if you would except the "Credo" suite and the crescendo "Quimpromptu", there are hardly numbers to point out after their cover. Too many mellow and ambient songs.

Average album: five out of ten. I will temporarily upgrade it to three stars.

Quidam's third album finds them having grown well beyond the Pendragon-IQ-Marillion hybrid sound they had on their debut, and incorporating a swathe of modern electronic influences into their music to create an intriguing hybrid between classic neo-prog and cutting-edge modern genres. They also try out a number of unexpected musical experiments which turn out to work brilliantly - including their fantastic cover version of Led Zep's No Quarter, which works far better than I ever expected that it would. It isn't quite as immediately arresting for neo-prog fans as the debut album was, but some listeners will come around to it if they give it a chance to grow on them a little; others, however, will tire of its more New Age ambient affectations and soporific tone (the No Quarter covers stands out in part because it's a welcome bit of action).

When this album was originally released, back in 2002, I was absolutely blown away and to this day it is still one of my favourite Polish albums. This reissue is a double disc set, with the original album and a DVD ? more of the latter in a minute. My lack of understanding of the Polish language in no way detracts from the album as a whole, as for me the vocals becomes another instrument. Emila Derkowska had a wonderfully clear voice and the whole band gels and shines together in a similar fashion to the way that Pink Floyd once did. With a flautist within the band (Jacek Zasada) it gave them the opportunity to move away from the (reasonably) standard five person prog set up, and they also used guests to fill out the sound even more (oboe, flugelhorn (!), mandolin, accordion).

This is a progressive album that really is, one that brings together different instruments and players in a way that makes it feel as if they belong together. There is a cover version on the album, a brilliant take on "No Quarter" that nearly breaks the twelve minute mark, and the second half of the album is taken up with a complex piece which when taken as a whole is thirty minutes long (although it can be subdivided into five songs). I still believe that this is the best of all of Quidam's albums, showing the majesty and grace that only a band at the height of their powers could achieve.

At the beginning of 2003 after Quidam had come back to Poland from shows in Belgium and Holland, they started preparations for a special show in the band's hometown, Inowroclaw. As it turned out later, this performance was the last one of the band's line-up of that time as singer Emilia Derkowska decided to quit the band. On 16th February 2003 Emilia bade farewell during the sold out show in Teatr Miejski in Inowroclaw. Soon afterwards, the rhythm section, Radek Sikorski and Rafal Jermakow also left and the band had to regroup. Luckily, that final show was captured by three digital non-professional cameras and this is the DVD. If you have never been fortunate enough to see this line-up of Quidam in concert (and most of us haven't) then this is the only opportunity we will have. Also, this was one of the times that Colin Bass (Camel) made a guest appearance with the band so it is definitely worth catching.

A great reissue of a great album, www.rockserwis.pl

The ultimate recognition for Quidam comes in 1999.The Polish group passes the Atlantic to perform among the headliners of the Baja Prog Festival, a live that was captured the same year on CD both by Rock Serwis and Musea.The links with Camel remained strong.Colin Bass invited Quidam to support him during the European promotional tour of ''An outcast of the islands''.Come 2000 and the band focused on writing and recording the third album with only sporadic live appearances.Third work becomes reality in March 2002, first comes the Polish title of ''Pod niebem czas'' on Rock Serwis and a few months later the same album was released on Musea as ''The time beneath the sky''.

With a mix of Polish and English vocal tracks, Quidam appear to somewhat abandon their 70's influences in order to propose a modern-sounding effort, closer to the likes of Neo Prog but retaining the evident Folk flavors of English groups such as IONA and MOSTLY AUTUMN.Symphonic arrangements become a minority and the focus here is on atmospheric soundscapes with sensitive guitar solos in the vein of PINK FLOYD and CAMEL, while the omnipresent flute parts have a now some discreet JETHRO TULL acoustics.Despite the clean production and the contemporary style, the vintage references come and go through the presence of organ and piano.On the other side, the more rhythmic guitar parts are more powerful and emphatic, showcasing a need by the band to rise a bit the volume, while the English tracks are well-worked but with less character than the Polish ones.Ambiental soundscapes start to become a trademark of the band, evolving slowly into heavier moves with guitars and orchestral synthesizers in evidence.The flute work of Jacek Zasada is among the album's highlights: Delicate, touching but also pretty hard-driving in some moments.Quidam had become a master of combining emotional and more energetic textures.

The presence of English lyrics somewhat lowers the value of this album compared to the previous releases, but the musicianship remains at a professional level and the creation of imaginery sounds has been established as the hot point of the band.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.

The Polish NeoProg artist's third album and last with vocalist Emila Derkowska and the rhythm section of bass player Radek Scholl and drummer Rafał Jermakow. Though I've been a fan of Quidam for some time now--since discovering their debut album around 2012--this is really my first exposure and repeat dive into this album.

1. "List Z Pustyni I / Letter from the Desert" (6:08) a great exposition of progified World Music, starting with the wonderfully hypnotic Arabian a cappella vocalise of Emila Derkowska. The music that follows is powerful, beautiful, excellent; prog perfection. (10/10) 2. "Ciągle Czekam (List Z Pustyni II) / Still Waiting (Letter from the Desert II)" (4:51) synth wash and muted snare open this before piano, bass and drum kit establish a gentle, spacious, and beautiful tapestry to support Emila's front and center vocals. Incredibly moving melodies coming from Emila's soothing voice. A pop ballad that is not very proggy until the Hackett-like sustained guitar note and soulful flugelhorn in the fourth minute, Simply beautiful. (9.5/10)

3. "No Quarter (Page - Plant)" (11:51) You read that correctly: a cover of the famous Led Zeppelin song! And introduced by flute and piano! They manage to do quite a nice job! Emila's voice is, of course, heavily effected (it has to be!). Embellished in the middle by a great guitar solo. You can tell how much the band love and revere this song, the performances are so impassioned and emotional. Not even the near-reggae section supporting the flute solo can spoil this for me. (23/25)

4. "Nowe Imi' / New Name" (4:56) A very simple, straightforward ballad with nary a prog lick in it even the guitar solo sounds like it could've come from Journey or Foreigner. (7.75/10)

5. "Kozolec (Dla AgaPe) / Kozolec (for AgaPe)" (5:05) prog folk with wooden flutes and weird drum sounds (very tight snare?) while Emila and Maciek show their skill for creating great melodies with their respective instruments. I love the stripped down, slowed down passage in the fourth minute with its nice keys and wonderful flute play. Almost in the land of Iona. (8.5/10)

- Pod Niebem Czas / The Time Beneath The Sky: 6. "Credo I" (8:07) more IONA-like prog folk; these guys really know how to make prog the right way: with many influences and lots of creative, new ideas. Great guitar and vocal arrangements here, beautiful use of organ and gorgeous flute and guitar solos. (13.75/15) 7. "Credo II" (5:13) long sustained atmospheric Bar-do period (two minutes) before new motion and motif are formed. Instrumental (other than angel voices) with not much development--though the synth solo in the fourth minute is pretty awesome. (These guys know how to solo!) (8.5/10)

8. "Jestez (w Labiryncie Myzli) / You Are (In the Labyrinth of Thoughts)" (4:40) a weird man whistling while walking through a house bridges the previous piece to this. Strummed acoustic guitar with Emila angelic voice singing a beautiful, impassioned vocal in her native Polish. Flanged guitar chords and fretless bass are used to perfection. Remarkably, the chorus is even more beautiful--but the brief bridge that follows is a bit off-putting--but then they return to the chorus to finish. (9.25/10)

9. "Quimpromptu" (9:37) pacing themselves (never in a rush to develop--masterful use of space and time to create the perfect amount of tension) this song develops from bass, space synths, gentle drums, and "native" flutes into quite a gorgeous PINK FLOYD-like hypnotic piece. Great display of impassioned flute play throughout the middle and then a great guitar solo in the eighth minute--something David Gilmour or Roy Buchanan would, I think, be quite proud of. (18/20)

10. "(Wszystko Ma Sw¢j) Pod Niebem Czas / (Everything Has Its Own) Time Beneath the Sky" (4:16) twangy lead guitar and strummed acoustic guitar set up the back drop for Emila to sing over. This one sounds light and airy--positive and uplifting. A little too radio poppy. (Perhaps this is the direction Emila was heading--the reason she left the band after this album.) (8/10)

Total time 64:44

Definitely my favorite Quidam album! One of the few near-perfect prog albums I've ever heard and definitely one of the best albums of the Naughties. A band of mature prog masters at the very top of their game. If it weren't for the weakness of the two "pop" songs this would be a veritable masterpiece.

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of masterful progressive rock music that should be in every prog lover's music collection. I want so badly to give this five stars but those two songs . . . .