SBB [AKA: SBB 1]

Before releasing their debut album, Silesian Blues Band already gained much popularity due to two years of playing with Czesław Niemen. In 1973 Józef Skrzek, Apostolis Anthimos and Jerzy Piotrowski left Niemen to play their own music, under their own name. In the early 1974 they met Franciszek Walicki who took care of band's concerts organization, promotion and helped to record their debut album. He also suggested to shorten band's name to three letters: SBB.

Band's eponymous debut LP, is not a studio album. It contains fragments of two completely sold out concerts that took place in Warsaw on 18 and 19 April 1974. Original LP contained 2 tracks and about 38 minutes of music (I Need You Babe and Odlot were merged as one track, Wizje was the second one), the CD version contains another three tracks from those concerts (Zostało we mnie, Wicher w polu dmie and Figo-Fago) and one studio track - Toczy się koło historii. The whole concert from 19 April 1974 was released in 2007 on double CD album Complete Tapes 1974.

- Good evening, we would like to present you... the music... - Józef Skrzek introduces the band and the music emerges. The opening track, I Need You, Babe is a simple (not to say: banal) blues ballad. Next track, Odlot starts with a short drum solo and then turns into a more lyrical part - a song Odlecieć z Wami, which turns into a noisy and lengthy guitar solo. Next track, nearly 19-minutes Wizje is in my opinion the best track on this album. It starts with a guitar solo and then another lyrical part - song Erotyk - comes. The rest of Wizje suite is a long and impressive keyboard solo. The synthesizer used by Józef Skrzek was Davolisint, which - as the CD booklet says - was a simple and primitive device, but had really an unique sound. Wizje, and the original LP, ends up with the riff 'borrowed' from The Noonward Race by The Mahavishnu Orchestra.

The other three live tracks on CD re-release (not as bonus tracks) are: Zostało we Mnie (beautiful ballad), Wicher w polu dmie (rough and noisy jazz-rock improvisation) and Figo-Fago (crazy blues-rock improvisation which was previously played in Niemen Band). The bonus track is the only studio one on this release. It's Toczy się koło historii, recorded in 1974, which riff was used later on SBB's album Follow My Dream (Track Going Away) while lyrics were used on Józef Skrzek's solo album Ojciec Chrzestny Dominika.

Released in 1974, SBB quickly became a rock classic in Poland and it is still sort of a cult album. I think it's a good start for the band but it's not as good as their following studio releases. It has some great moments, but also some less inspired - overall it's inconsistent in quality. Anyway, I think it may appeal to the fans of guitar improvisations and jazz-rock in general; I can recommend this album to the fans of Mahavishnu Orchestra and Jimi Hendrix.

Overall, good but uneven album, 3.5 stars.

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