ENIGMATIC

This album is from 1969, the year of Woodstock where Joe Cocker performed With A Little Bit Help From My Friends. Listening to Niemen his music on Enigmatic I have the idea that the aformentioned song by Joe Cocker was a main inspiration, during the entire album I notice a bluesy atmosphere, layered with the powerfull and distinctive sound of the Hammond organ by Niemen (who also sings). But in the first song Bema Pamieci Zalobny- Rapsod (15 minutes) Niemen delivers not only organ but also choir, church bells and his six piece band includes a wide variety of instruments like saxophone, guitar and flute. A fine album with very emotional Polish vocals and Eric Clapton inspired bluesy gitar.

A milestone in Niemen's career and definitely one of the most significant albums in Polish rock music history!

"Enigmatic" caused many controversies in the time of its release due to using in the first track - "Bema pamięci żałobny - rapsod" - the text of a poem by a great Polish romantic poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid. That was something unusual back then.

This track, to which the cover refers, is an over sixteen minutes long suite which you can divide in two parts. The first part is sort of a long intro (almost a half of the song!) in which Niemen creates a solemn atmosphere with a help of church bells and a heavy, expressive sound of his Hammond organs whilst the choir sings the motto of the poem (a quote from Hannibal - " Iusiurandum patri datum usque ad hanc diem ita servavi") and repeats it a couple of times. With the first words of the poem - "Czemu, Cieniu, odjeżdżasz..." - Niemen finally comes in after eight minutes and from this moment the music changes. The Hammond organs are drawn back in the background. The choir comes back after a while but doesn't advance to the foreground also. Here and there a bluesy guitar drops in. All this is emphasized by a distinct rhythm played on the percussion and warm bass play. Niemen's singing is very emotional (his main inspiration in this matter, as he admited himself, were soul singers, like James Brown e. g. to whom he was compared).

You can find the poem "Bema pamięci żałobny - rapsod" in every Polish textbook and therefore Niemen's composition used to be played in schools during Polish language classes.

The remaining three songs are nice jazzy compositions, also based on poems by important Polish poets, in which Niemen is supported in his singing by a female vocal group Alibabki (with a very good effect, especially in choruses of the second track, "Jednego serca", where their combined voices sound really powerful). What is also noticeable is the presence of two saxophonists, young Michał Urbaniak being one of them (he plays also the flute).

All in all it's a very good effort and I'm giving it 4 stars (but for Polish prog fans it's a must!).

My thoughts on this album are preceded with an apology up front that I’m sure they will not do justice to this album, which is clearly held in high regard by Niemen’s countrymen. I own it simply because I found it in a record store many years ago after picking up the 1974 record Mourner’s Rhapsody and being impressed by Niemen’s voice and his jazzy yet soulful compositions. I also have Ode to Venus, but find that one a bit more difficult to get into.

In some ways this album reminds me of Mourner's Rhapsody. On both albums there is a central, extended work that consumes half the record, filled with chamber choral arrangements and heavy celestial organs and stern strings. In the case of this album that song is “Bema pamięci żałobny rapsod”. In both cases the almost church-like music is broken up with Niemen’s emotional voice and more traditional jazz instruments – guitar, piano, saxophones, drums, plus flute in this case. In both cases my understanding is the works are based on traditional Polish poetry with some social significance. And in both cases the remainder of the album consists of a handful of shorter, lighter fusion numbers. On this album there are three additional tracks, “Jednego serca”, “Kwiaty ojczyste”, and “Mów do mnie jeszcze”. The latter two are well-done but fairly unremarkable jazzy tunes, while “Jednego serca” has some kick to it with strong vocals (complete with a female choral backing) and lively instrumentation, particularly in the multiple saxophones.

The vocals are what I assume to be Polish, so I do not have the advantage of having any idea what Niemen is singing about, but it really doesn’t matter. My interest in him is largely in his very intriguing voice, which I can’t help but compare to Joe Cocker in his prime, although Niemen has more range than did Cocker, and his voice is noticeably more melodic.

This is probably closer to folk rock in the strictest sense of the term, but the instrumental arrangements are very well-developed, and the musicians are all clearly among the best in the business at their various instruments. The saxophones (three of them at least) are especially strong, at times improvisational but rooted in clearly defined arrangements. I get the impression Niemen encourages contributions but has a specific outcome in mind with his compositions.

This artist is probably too far on the ethnic fringe for most music fans, but for those who have a healthy interest in world music, multi-textured jazz fusion from the late 60s, and very accessible soulful vocals, this album is definitely worth a few spins.

Here again our rating system is a bit restrictive, as I would say this is not strictly an essential progressive album, but it is much better than simply good. 3.5 stars would seem appropriate, but I’ll round up in favor of the quality keyboards, brass, and vocals and give this four stars.

peace