BAśNIE

While the lion's share of second wave prog emerging in the 1980s at least in terms of popularity existed in the United Kingdom with bands like Twelfth Night, Marillion, IQ, Pallas and Pendragon leading the way, it's astonishing that many other nations were following suit simultaneously with bands like Scarab emerging from Finland, Arkus from the Netherlands, Sirius from Germany and bands like Osiris emerging in the most unlikely of places, Bahrain. While still basically locked behind the influence of the U.S.S.R. in the 1980s, Poland too got in on the act with the Warsaw based COLLAGE emerging as not only one of the first bands but also one of the nation's most popular.

COLLAGE formed as far back as 1984 but would take several years to release demos and develop their sound sufficiently to compete on the world's stage with the established bands of the fledgling neo-prog subgenre. While the band underwent many lineup changes over the years, the 80s saw its share of members come and go with only guitarist Mirosław Gil and drummer Wojciech Szadkowski leading the way to the next chapter. Cementing a lead singer was the most problematic and after a short stint with Jarosław Wajk (who would later rejoin briefly), the band settled on the lively vocalist Tomek Rozycki who only appeared on the band's 1990 debut album BAŚNIE (Polish for 'Fairy Tales') before being briefly replaced by Zbigniew Bieniak, again by Wajk and then ultimately by the band's longest running vocalist Robert Amirian.

The band's debut came out in 1990 and became a huge hit in not only its native Poland but also surprisingly abroad despite all the lyrics of the eight tracks that spanned a playing time of just over 45 minutes being entirely delivered in the Polish language. The album spawned many radio hits in Poland including "Ja i ty", "Kołysanka" and 'Rozmowa" and two years later would find a secondary home on the Italian label Subteranea Records. At this stage the band also featured Przemek Zawadzki who played bass as well as all keyboards. The album may have been the anomaly in the band's overall career but was successful in allowing the band to gain almost instant national success that spilled over into the rest of Europe despite existing essentially behind what the West deemed as the Iron Curtain of communism.

While essentially a predictable neo-prog album inspired by the usual Genesis tricks of heavily synthesized atmospheres and Steve Hackett style guitar sweeps, COLLAGE also had a first wave of British neo-prog to offer hints of inspiration including the imitable Fish and his fist rendition of Marilion as well as the less theatrical bands such as IQ and Pendragon. While perhaps not the most original specimen of early neo-prog, BAŚNIE made up for it with a true sense of enthusiasm and an adventurous energetic approach that offered heavy bass grooves and beautiful motifs that shifted moods and offered a stellar display of instrumental interplay which allowed the band to become popular as a live act. With diverse tracks that crafted varying tempos, chord changes and of course addictive melodies, COLLAGE proved to be a cut above the competition from the very beginning and even though Tomasz R'życki would only appear on this sole release, his vocals showcase a sense of maturity and extremely compatible stylistic approach for the keyboard-drenched neo-prog style that COLLAGE was undertaking.

COLLAGE would achieve greater artistic kudos for its well-regarded 'Moonshine' and even more recently its comeback album 'Over And Out' which found the band return some three decades after its debut but BAŚNIE was instrumental in launching the band into the limelight at an early stage and garnered fantastic reviews in its own right. Perhaps the band plays it a little too safe and hadn't quite latched onto its own distinct sound but despite not going too far out on a limb exuded a confidence and energetic delivery that proved to be enough to overcome any comparisons to other bands that preceded. Overall i wouldn't call this the band's creative peak in any way, shape or form but this debut is certainly a very competent first offering that rightfully put the band on the map and propelled COLLAGE to the ranks of one of Poland's top progressive acts of the modern age, which is quite the undertaking in its own right. It's extremely well done and really is an early Polish classic of prog.