PAMIęć

I was shocked. Last saterday I went downtown to buy just one record, considering my low- budget student. I tried a lot of vinyls, until I almost desperately went to this last corner of the big second hand vinyl store in Nijmegen. Here I found this record of SBB, of which I knew it was a high-rated eclectic prog band on PA.

When I started listening to this record at home I was blown away! The style of SBB is so refreshing! I'll try to explain. This power-trio of keys (and bass), electric guitar and drums (often jazz-rock like) has this special vibe. Perhaps a bit spacey, but more melodic. It's harmonically challenging like King Crimson, yet sort of peaceful. The music progresses so naturally that the listening experience is kind of relaxing - Yet the compositions are almost unearthly adventurous and the musicianship is sublime. It's nice to hear how much confidence S.B.B. has, the band takes it's time and never looses it's grip on a composition. Sometimes it get's symphonic, even bombastic, but yet I can't find one moment of pretentious leanings. The whole album just sounds like pure magic to me.

W kołysce dłoni twych (In The Cradle Of Your Hands (To My Father) has a long spacey atmospheric intro. Not spacey like Hawkwind, but more like the sound-track of 2001 A Space Odyssey. The melodic parts of this epic are very strong and the vocals are intense. The long solo section with multiple themes and inventive ideas is very strong. The song- parts of this track are original. A great nine minute mini-epic.

Z których krwi krew moja (From Whose Blood, My Blood) has a form similar to the first track of the album, but it is more dense. There are even more ideas. The song-part of the track is memorable. Great song-writing with intelligent chord-progressions and nice long notes of guitar and bass. The solo's and instrumental themes are all very exciting and typical of the eclectic genre. Yet another masterfull track

Pamięć w kamień wrasta (Memory Grows Into Stone). On this 20 minute epic SBB takes the concept of the first two songs and stretches it to the limit. With yet some more jazz/classical song-writing, more eclectic prog instrumental parts and an even more impressive atmospheric opening section. The compositional skill of SBB has now become a fact after forty minutes of pure inventive, atmospheric progressive rock. The ending section of this must-have-heard epic is amongst the most beautiful I've ever heard. It almost made me cry when I first heard it.

Conclusion. This album deserves a place in the holy section of my record collection, among Van der Graaf Generator, King Crimson, Gentle Giant and Magma. This album struck me as being pure magic, a perfect combination of quality song-writing, innovation and atmosphere. And the good thing is - it's also relaxing! Something I could not say about lot of high-quality prog. The production is also very good (when listening to the lp). Five stars for sure, and I would like to add this is PA top 20 material. Recommended to fans of all sub-genres of prog.

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