LIVE IN MARBURG 1980. THE FINAL CONCERT

I am fan of Progressive Rock in Eastern Europe in the seventies. This album justifies that my passion for there bands and musical moments absolutely fabulous. This album represents another great musical moment live with exceptional moments. From psychedelic moments, made ​​with keyboards, which gives a spatial context, through moments of great Jazz Fusion, with great moments of improvisation guitar and rapid scales solos, symphonic movements beautiful and harmonious and great music, made this album a masterpiece of live moments os Progressive Music. What more can I say a big concert which certainly very pleased to those who attended? This cd is a double CD with music of the highest quality, performed by a blockbuster band from Poland. Thank you SBB by providing me with unique and great musical moments. I recommend a careful hearing only focused on music and not be listening and do other things. 5 stars because it's really a masterpiece

Final concert by the first incarnation of this legendary Polish band.

Stunning, largely instrumental, long tracks I've never heard before took me by complete surprise. Like their excellent "Karlstad" album, the material here is unique and atypical of the band's better known style.

It's sad to see them disband afterwards, due to drummer Jerzy Piotrowski's retirement, but at least they go with a grand finale at the peak of their careers before reforming with new drummers a few years later. But that's another story.

There is nothing to indicate that the band was getting tired at this point, rather the opposite. High intensity, spirited performance throughout this 2CD-set is but a pure delight from beginning to end. To call it jazzy could be somewhat misleading. It's more like groovy dressed with some sexy jazz chords on the Fender Rhodes. Rhythmically it often reminds of Santana minus the Latin approach! Strange, but that's how it feels.

Soaring guitar and Moog solos - not heard since Mahavishnu, or Brand X - add to the overall pleasure. Long time friend and occasional collaborator Slawomir Piwowar (g, k, b) is guesting here and what a great addition he is!

At first listen I ended up leaving the album on repeat for the rest of the day, only to hear it again in the next two days. It's that good. The best Christmas present I got this time and heartfelt thanks for Metal Mind Productions for the release. Highly recommended.

SBB out of Poland have stories. The communist government, the police and the authorities in general hated these guys. And so they were the object of a lot of abuse over the years until things in their country changed. I can't express in words the sheer power that this trio generated on stage. They were a lit fuse. And they all being virtuosos at that. So here we are with that first incarnation of the band, after many albums released in the 70's, they decide to call it a day. This is their final concert played in Marburg, Germany, November 10th, 1980.

They decided to be a four piece here, and I'm almost in shock that the lead guitarist is playing bass here. What!? And they brought in a young guitarist for this. The keyboardist, like Geddy, was both the keys and bass man, so they shifted things around for this tour. I'm not sure how inspired they were here, it doesn't feel like they were. Maybe that is why they decided to retire the band, and they were serious. Yes they would come back, but they wouldn't release another studio album for over 20 years after their last studio record.

I'm maybe being hard on this one but I don't think so. The fact the band didn't even release this hour and a half, double album at the time speaks volumes. Yes in 2007 they would finally unveil it but clearly they weren't happy with it. You can imagine the hard core fans waiting for this, or even the fact that the band could make a few bucks from this release but no. I mean it pales big time when compared to the "Karlstadt Live" or "Hofors" both from 1975, and both would peel the paint off your walls. I can't believe how jammy this is. The first disc especially, while the second disc has some variety but it's inconsistent to my ears.

I'd probably pick the song "Rot" the closer from disc one as my favourite. Yes they jam but there's some energy here at times. Thankfully this wasn't really the final concert, as it would have been a disappointing way to end it all. These guys have released over 40 live records as the archival stuff continues to be released.