HALF PLUGGED

I have known the band quite a longtime ago through some progressive rock compilation CD as well as my prog friend's CDs. But only recently I paid a closer attention about the music they have made. This Polish band has a good talents in music especially in the vein of neo-progressive rock. The music is heavily influenced by Pallas, IQ, Pendragon and the legendary 70s bands Pink Floyd, Camel and Genesis. The name of the band, as the website quotes, originates from the Latin word quidam meaning someone, some human being and refers to the poem Quidam by Cyprian Kamil Norwid, perhaps the most intriguing of Polish romantic poets. The title hero of that poem is a man looking for his place in life, searching for goodness and truth. From this philosophy, I learn that this band was created to produce music and lyrics with deep meaning in the quest of value in life. What a nice philosophy.

This live concert has been excellently titled as 'Half Unplugged' because it represents the contents in the CD where the performance was not totally unplugged because some electric equipment were used. The opening track 'SurREvival' (6:07) taken from their last studio album before the gig with the same title is a great music. It has an energetic style with powerful basslines and drums as main rhythm section to accompany vocal. The beauty of the song lies on its excellent flute-work and the musical groove produced by the rhythm section. Flute seems like the main ingredient of this gig as the next track 'Queen of Moulin Rouge' (6:42). The third track 'Sanktuarium (Sanctuary)' (5:49) is very emotional and it flows in mellow style with great vocal and flute-work.

The Beatles cover 'Blackbird' (2:06) was performed beautifully with great acoustic guitar work, performed excellently. Pink Floyd's cover of 'Wish you were here' (4:16) is another good performance with excellent acoustic guitar work. 'The fifth season' (9:18) repeats the tradition of nice acoustic setting followed with The Moody Blues' 'Nights in white satin' (5:25). The live set is featured with 'Not so close' (including excerpts from 'Hush') (11:37) and bonus videos on their rehearsal as well as SuREvival and Wish You Were Here.

Overall, I recommend you to have this album as it has an excellent performance of the band in half plugged setting. If you have never heard the band before, this one is still enjoyable as the music is not that complex. Keep on proggin'! Bravo Quidam!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW