AEROLIT

4.5 stars. I knew nothing of this man until he was added here but the bio says he moved from Russia to Poland when he was around 19 years old. He became a singer in Poland in the early sixties before becoming a pioneer in that country with his Psychedelic music in the latter half of the sixties. "Aerolit" is an incredible album filled with Czeslaw's emotive vocals and his amazing synth and mellotron work. Add to that a very talented drummer, upfront bass and electric piano and you have a classic. He sings in Polish and it's pretty cool that members of SBB were in his band prior to this album. Great album cover too apparently painted by his wife.

"Cztery Sciany Swiata" is the 10 1/2 minute opener and the longest track on here. Drums are joined by bass before the synths and a melody kick in. I'm not big on the melody and it will return a few more times during this song. The song pretty much stops after 1 1/2 minutes as drums then passionate vocals take over. Some nice bass too and it's fairly dark and brooding here. Mellotron 3 minutes in then it kicks in to an uptempo synth/ drum led section. Bass to the fore after 3 1/2 minutes as that melody returns from earlier. Man this changes often. Electric piano after 4 minutes with drums, synths and bass although the synths dominate the sound. I like this a lot. Guitar joins in replacing the synths but they will continue to trade off. There's that earlier melody again before it changes as the vocals and that dark sound return after 7 1/2 minutes. Mellotron too and man can this guy sing!

"Pielgrzym" opens with mournful synths as almost spoken vocals join in but they are rich and full of character. Percussion and bass join in around 5 minutes then the vocals stop as it continues to trip along. Vocals are back with about a minute left. Great track. "Kamyk" starts with electronics which sounds pretty cool as the drums shuffle. Mellotron follows then the synths start to growl as the vocals join in before 1 1/2 minutes. He's singing in a laid back manner here. The tempo picks up before 3 minutes as it turns jazzy. Then high pitched, bouncy synths start to dominate before giving way to some great sounding electric piano. It turns darker with deeper sounds before 5 minutes and the vocals return. Those bouncy synths are back after 6 minutes.

"Daj Mi Wstazkl Btekitna" features picked guitar, cymbals and sweeping mellotron to start as reserved vocals and a beat take over. Picked guitar and bass also help out as well. Mellow. The mellotron is back! Electric piano arrives when the vocals stop after 2 minutes. The vocals return around 3 minutes. "Smutny Ktos-I Biedny Nikt" hits the ground running and vocals join in quickly. When the vocals stop we get an impressive instrumental section, especially the electric piano and drums. Vocals are back but again when they stop the instrumental work just kills. It settles with electric piano and a beat before 5 minutes then the synths return late.

In my opinion this stands up very well with the best from 1975 and that's saying something.