ENIGMATIC

This album is from 1969, the year of Woodstock where Joe Cocker performed With A Little Bit Help From My Friends. Listening to Niemen his music on Enigmatic I have the idea that the aformentioned song by Joe Cocker was a main inspiration, during the entire album I notice a bluesy atmosphere, layered with the powerfull and distinctive sound of the Hammond organ by Niemen (who also sings). But in the first song Bema Pamieci Zalobny- Rapsod (15 minutes) Niemen delivers not only organ but also choir, church bells and his six piece band includes a wide variety of instruments like saxophone, guitar and flute. A fine album with very emotional Polish vocals and Eric Clapton inspired bluesy gitar.

After all htese years - this record remains fresh. no one before Niemen (and no one after him) used Greek-catholic traditioal chanting in rock music (the opening suite). Niemen was the first vocalist using oriental ways of singing. Niemen composed wonderful themes and dressed them in modern, jazz-rock clothes. Niemen used the words of the greaest Polish poets, like Norwid (BEMA PAMIECI...) or Słonimski (JEDNEGO SERCA). Niemen was a visionaire - he always tried to find ew routes for his music.And I'm not writing it only because I'm Polish.

My thoughts on this album are preceded with an apology up front that I’m sure they will not do justice to this album, which is clearly held in high regard by Niemen’s countrymen. I own it simply because I found it in a record store many years ago after picking up the 1974 record Mourner’s Rhapsody and being impressed by Niemen’s voice and his jazzy yet soulful compositions. I also have Ode to Venus, but find that one a bit more difficult to get into.

In some ways this album reminds me of Mourner's Rhapsody. On both albums there is a central, extended work that consumes half the record, filled with chamber choral arrangements and heavy celestial organs and stern strings. In the case of this album that song is “Bema pamięci żałobny rapsod”. In both cases the almost church-like music is broken up with Niemen’s emotional voice and more traditional jazz instruments – guitar, piano, saxophones, drums, plus flute in this case. In both cases my understanding is the works are based on traditional Polish poetry with some social significance. And in both cases the remainder of the album consists of a handful of shorter, lighter fusion numbers. On this album there are three additional tracks, “Jednego serca”, “Kwiaty ojczyste”, and “Mów do mnie jeszcze”. The latter two are well-done but fairly unremarkable jazzy tunes, while “Jednego serca” has some kick to it with strong vocals (complete with a female choral backing) and lively instrumentation, particularly in the multiple saxophones.

The vocals are what I assume to be Polish, so I do not have the advantage of having any idea what Niemen is singing about, but it really doesn’t matter. My interest in him is largely in his very intriguing voice, which I can’t help but compare to Joe Cocker in his prime, although Niemen has more range than did Cocker, and his voice is noticeably more melodic.

This is probably closer to folk rock in the strictest sense of the term, but the instrumental arrangements are very well-developed, and the musicians are all clearly among the best in the business at their various instruments. The saxophones (three of them at least) are especially strong, at times improvisational but rooted in clearly defined arrangements. I get the impression Niemen encourages contributions but has a specific outcome in mind with his compositions.

This artist is probably too far on the ethnic fringe for most music fans, but for those who have a healthy interest in world music, multi-textured jazz fusion from the late 60s, and very accessible soulful vocals, this album is definitely worth a few spins.

Here again our rating system is a bit restrictive, as I would say this is not strictly an essential progressive album, but it is much better than simply good. 3.5 stars would seem appropriate, but I’ll round up in favor of the quality keyboards, brass, and vocals and give this four stars.

peace

This album is said to be the first really progressive album of Czeslaw Niemen. It's a lot based on organs again, with a choir every now and then to give an original touch.

The first song, Bema pamięci żałobny rapsod, sounds like a religious piece, with a church choir chanting the words of a well known Polish poem, which is a common theme on the album actually. The song goes on quite some time with just the organs, but after some, five minutes, the church organ changes into a hammond one and the storm breaks out. There's a lot of cacophony and passionate playing when the drums come along. Later Czeslaw himself does the singing, and the choir takes a little less responsibility. Niemen is again himself with great singing and melodies. The choir backs him up as he takes out everything he can from his voice. These are the moments that send shivers up and down my spine. The song seems to grow up the whole 16 minutes all the time getting more closer to a climax. This song is really good for just closing your eyes, lying back and listening. Everytime Niemen screams the listener feels like he's lifting up a few inches. The song is very, very powerful.

Jednego serca on the other hand is a bit more straightforward material. With a female choir and a basic Niemen-singing, the song is very pretty, and, even though less, still quite rock'n'roll as the ones before '69. I'd say this song would be the best to describe his music throughout the times.

Kwiaty ojczyste I've heard being played on several occasions, though it's still a complex organ-prog song. The three songs after the long piece are all these organ based jazz-rock songs, though this one is more based on guitars than the rest and has a really nice sax solo in the middle. The same female choir chants a nice filling melody under Niemen, it's really catchy, and easy to remember.

Though I admit, this is not my favourite Niemen album, it's still very good. It's not so instrumentall based as it could be, and was later on, but it has really nice organs and singing. This was the style Niemen did really well back in the days. And with the blues-guitar in the third song, along others, the sound is very good. Mów do mnie jeszcze to an untrained ear is pretty much like the two former songs. Fusion with the female choir again backing up. Still, the album manages to hold on to the feeling from the beginnign to the very end, and the album never gets boring.

I aquired a version that has two bonus tracks too, Lipowa Lyzka and Pozegnanie Harnasia. These are both a lot more straighforward and closer to the soul that he was so good with earlier albums. Good songs too, and unlike with some albums, I don't regret getting the remastered version. I think, all in all, this album is better than just good, but still, for the common prog-listener, not obligatory, Niemen surely has better music that is essential. However, I recommend that everyone who's into jazz-rock/fusion and organ based progrock or just plain awesome singing... that they should all buy this album. I think it's easily worth its four stars!

I am not Polish, but I was born and grew up just around hundred miles from the village ( in Western Belorus, which was a part Poland till 1939),where Niemen was born and spent his early ears. Later he was deported with thousands of other Polish families from their homeland by Russian occupants to Poland, kind of ethnic cleaning). And I perfectly know these forests and lowlands, and mystic all around of small villages. All these heavily influenced Niemen's music (and full his life).

This fourth artist's album is .... let say a mystic one for me. Just four compositions, but first one takes all side A. It starts with Hammond organ, but not in Lord's tradition. Big part of this song is just dark and mystic Orthodox (possibly more correct - Greek Catholic) church organ with church chorals and bells sound. Niemen sings very recognisable soulful and very passionable voice. I heard his songs from my teens (on Polish radio), so possibly I can't feel the same as just newcomer to this album. I feel strange deep, dark magic , but with bright lights here and there, when listening this song. It's very difficult to put this feeling on paper....

Three other songs are more usual ( to be honest nothing is very usual in Niemen early music) compositions. Mostly proto-prog, combining very soulful and melodic tunes with bluesy roots and many jazz elements (young future fusion sax star Michal Urbaniak plays his solos there as well).Interesting guitar solos and female back-up vocals. But most of all it's common atmosphere - if you will catch it you will love this music, if not - possibly it will be just next proto- prog album for you.

Magic album, based on Polish classic literature. If you understand Polish (as I am), this music will touch you even more. But not the music for everyone. If you're searching for something different from late 60-s - try this.

Enigmatic, from polish Czeslaw Niemen, sounds like a good basic progressive album, where songs include all the basics: hammond organ, well executed guitar solos, dense and precise percussions, and depth high saxophone.

This "Enigmatic" is a healthy and beautiful fusion between elements of jazz and soul. Upon seeing the cover i expected something very dark and cryptic, and although the music is relatively, but does not fit at all, this isn´t bad, in contrast, shows that the simple cover is greatly exceeded by the music it offers, a great record, basic and simple, two things that the musicians know hardly integrated.

Niemen might be striking a Vincent Price pose on the front cover, but there isn't very much of the Gothic or horrific about this four-track collection of organ-dominated progressive compositions. Drawing on the Polish folk music tradition for material and motifs that set this one apart from most organ-centric late 1960s proto-prog, and Niemen's arrangements also slip in a choir here and there to add a little gravitas to proceedings. Slow and stately for most of its running time, this isn't an album which offers up fast-paced Emersonian keyboard wizardry - rather, it aims for the Enigmatic tone its title suggests and more or less attains it.

"Enigmatic" is indeed enigmatic!

With progressive rock still not being fully developed as a genre in its homeland, the United Kingdom, Czesław Niemen in Poland was creating very innovative and advanced music. What's more, he was doing it behind the Iron Cutrain. Consider that Poland was than a poor country ruled by a communist regime of USSR and it was definitely no fun being a progressive musician at the time.

Niemen's musical extract consists of elements of Polish folk music fused with soul and jazz sensibilities. "Bema Pamięci Żałobny Rapsod" is a side-long epic, which applies these influences. It starts out driven by church-like organ, which brings some of Focus' later sounds to mind, and is supported by a pastoral choir and tubular bells. Then comes Niemen's deep voice, similar to that of Joe Cocker, and the piece completely changes its flow with Hammond organ being put into a more soul-inspired scenario. Later on, we encounter an incredibly emotional bluesy guitar solo. The lyrics are a musical interpretation of a rhapsody by a national 19th century Polish poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid. A piece is really moving and expressive in every part and is definitely the highlight of the album. Side two offers more jazz-oriented pieces with superb bass-lines, a competent horn section and Niemen's great voice.

"Enigmatic" is a highly ambitious work of a proficient and inspired musician. It's without a doubt one-of-a-kind work and will make a great addition to every progressive rock fan's collection. I have had a little bit of dilemma whether it deserves four or five stars. A five star rating might be a bit missleading, this album having a few minor flaws, that some might find more bothering than I. In the end, four stars are more adequate. Add another imaginary half-star to that. Recommended!

Enigmatic was the fourth album by Polish rocker CzesŁaw Niemen, and it was supposedly his best. When I first found out about this record, I was mainly drawn to the album cover. And I just knew an album with a cover that captivating had to be extremely progressive, and I was hoping it would something like the amazing Pictures by Island. They both had this gloomy and dim album cover, so I was led to believe they had a similar sound. However, when I actually listened to the record, I was met with disappointment. It was still a good album, but it just doesn't live up to expectations. This is less of a true eclectic progressive rock album and more of a crossover progressive rock album. I'm not saying that his full discography isn't eclectic (I haven't listened to his full discography yet), but this album just felt like something was missing. Like I felt this record had a lot more possibilities with the musicians talent, and most of it was wasted on this straightforward record.  

The album opens with the sidelong suite, Bema pamięci żałobny rapsod, which includes some generally normal organ playing, though I will say that it does have some good emotion that ties in with it. The music switches from the organ to what sounds like Christian hymns a couple of times, before the music switches to a percussion sequence mixed in with the organ. After a little under eight minutes of this passage, the real music kicks in and Czeslaw lays down some gorgeous vocals accompanied by his organ, but the drums in this section are a bit boring. Most of his band joins in by this point, with some pretty cool yet short guitar solos. I feel like the chants by the chorus group also add some depth to this song. Now, the main problem I have with this song is that the song is basically the exact same for the rest of this sidelong suite. And while the vocal harmonies are still good, it can get a bit boring after a while.  

The next song and the opening of side two is Jednego Serca, which sounds a lot more classic in terms of rock. It can feel a little jazzy at some points, but it's still generally a rock song in a sense. The drums become a bit more interesting around a minute in, with some very nice fills and a much more aggressive yet happy sound. There's also an amazing guitar solo with a saxophone solo that I enjoyed quite a lot. The song evolves into a much more happy feeling with a female chorus instead of a male one and a lot more use of the other musicians musicianship. The next song, Kwiaty ojczyste, opens with a neat riff at the beginning and goes into another, for the most part, normal rock song. I would also like to note that I do like the bass line of this song and how it seems like it's always changing. The drumming style on this song changes again, and it sounds more like Guy Evans of Van Der Graaf Generator on this track, and this is probably the most progressive song on the album. Similar to the first song, however, it can drag a little. Now the last song on this album is M?w do mnie jeszcze (I'm not sure why CzesŁaw chose that as the title, but I won't judge because I don't speak Polish) and maybe the most classic rock sounding. Apart from some areas near the middle of the song and another guitar solo, it's just a little bland, and there is not much to say about it other than its generic sounding.  

In conclusion, Enigmatic was a bit of a letdown. I was really hoping for dark, complex, intricate, and mysterious judging by the great album cover, but in the end I was left disappointed. For now this is the only album by CzesŁaw Niemen that I have listened to, so maybe in the future I'll review his other work and give this album a revisiting, but for now I will leave this at a 3/5. It's still a generally good album, but it could use a lot more progressive structure and just overall interesting music.