NOBODY TO DREAM

Pretty much all of Sigmund Snopek's albums seem to have unusual histories and difficult- to-classify sounds and themes. 'Nobody to Dream' is no exception. According to the liner notes this piece was first composed by Snopek back in the late sixties and was first performed by his then-band the Bloomsbury People in a Milwaukee, Wisconsin church in December 1970. This would have been just a few months, Snopek writes in the liner notes, after his band Bloomsbury People appeared at the 2nd Atlanta Pop Festival "in front of 500,000 naked, stoned people." Snopek and Bloomsbury People aren't mentioned on the famous Atlanta Pop posters or any of the many websites dedicated to that legendary concert, falling I suppose somewhere on the billing list below the "Symposium of Awareness" and "giant fireworks". So goes the struggle of the obscure regional musician.

Anyway, this musical score, which blends orchestral and sometimes theatrically-leaning string and piano arrangements with rock rhythms and choral passages was apparently something of a life's work for Snopek, some of the pieces having their roots in early writings from when he was still a teenager. The entire score has been recorded four times, although I can only find information about a 1975 vinyl release and a 1997 recording released on CD that was recorded over the entire year of 1995, mostly by Snopek himself but with a little help from his friends (and isn't that how most music was recorded back then).

The eighteen tracks combine to form a concept album of sorts, ostensibly about reincarnation. Byron Wiemann, a former Bloomsbury People member and guitarist as part of the seventies quartet known simply as Snopek assisted with some of the lyrics that were added in 1972. Speaking of lyrics, some of them are rather naïve, possibly even bordering on cheesy although cheese is certainly considered an acceptable artistic substance in the dairy state of Wisconsin:

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a classical composition with rock touches here and there, or a progressive rock album that's heavily imbued with classical scores and instrumentation. Either way it doesn't fit well with really anything else that was considered either symphonic or progressive rock around the same period. Then again, the boundaries and rules regarding what was acceptable as far as popular music went were pretty loosely drawn in 1970, so I suppose Snopek had his admirers regardless of how poorly this music resonates with most other forms of rock from that period or since.

For fans of Sigmund Snopek III this is probably an interesting enough bit of music that wouldn't be too out-of-place alongside some of the other stuff he's recorded over the years, especially his more staid serious music from the nineties and early twentieth century. For most prog rock fans though it will mostly be considered odd and possibly even uninteresting. I'll go with two stars here in deference to Snopek fans, but will only recommend to those same people and they probably already own it.

peace