NINE SONGS OF JOHN LENNON

"Nine Songs Of John Lennon" is the second full-length studio album by Polish progressive rock act Collage. The album was released through SPV Poland in 1993. It´s the successor to "Baśnie" from 1990. Only guitarist Mirek Gil and drummer Wojtek Szadkowski remain from the lineup who recorded "Baśnie", and "Nine Songs Of John Lennon" therefore features a new keyboardist (Krzysztof Palczewski), a new bassist (Piotr Mintay Witkowski), and last but not least a new vocalist in Robert Amirian.

It´s quite unusual to record an album full of covers as your sophomore album, but Collage actually manage to get something decent out of doing it. John Lennon´s songs are arguably all rock classics which most people have heard in one form or another, which makes it quite the bold move to make a full album of Lennon covers. Collage manage to put their own spin on tracks like "Woman", "Power To The People", and "Imagine" loading the songs with synths/keyboards and epic soaring guitar leads and themes, which provide the songs with a neo-progressive touch. There is no doubt in my mind, that Collage wisely chose this path instead of making true to the original covers. The tracks are of course still recognisable as Lennon´s songs, but you wouldn´t mistake them for the originals.

"Nine Songs Of John Lennon" features a clear, detailed, and well sounding production, and upon conclusion it´s a decent quality release. A would rather have heard a new studio album with original material at this point in Collage´s career, but "Nine Songs Of John Lennon" does function as a nice stopgap release between "Baśnie" and "Moonshine" from 1994, which by many is considered the band´s masterpiece. A 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.