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Skaldowie - Krywan, Krywan CD (album) cover

KRYWAN, KRYWAN

Skaldowie

 

Eclectic Prog

3.88 | 111 ratings

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apps79
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
2 stars A major name of the 60's/70's Polish Pop/Rock scene, Skaldowie from Krakow were found in mid-60's by brothers Jacek Zieliński (vocals, violin) and Andrzej Zieliński (keyboards, vocals), originally as a sextet.They had a huge number of line-up changes over the next decade, but this wouldn't prevent them from winning music festivals and competitions.By 1969 they had already recorded three albums, joined a couple of years earlier by Jerzy Tarsinski on guitars, Konrad Ratynski on bass and Jan Budziaszek on drums.For the first time Skaldowie tour outside Poland, most particularly in Soviet Union and the US.Entering the 70's their highly prolific profile continues with three more works, all in their familiar Psych/Pop/Rock style.In 1972 Skaldowie make their first attempt on composing a sidelong progressive suite on their seventh studio album ''Krywan, Krywan''.The Zielinskis always had a strong folklore background and the album title refers to the mountain of the High Tatras mountain range in Slovakia.It was originally released on Polskie Nagrania Muza.

The 17-min. long ''Krywaniu, Krywaniu'' is propably the main reason to go after this album.Skaldowie was always a Psychedelic Rock band with commercial leanings and with this composition they seem to move a bit away from their familiar fields.This track is dominated by the long and folky violin fireworks of Jacek Zielinski along with the Classical-inspired organ themes of his brother Andrzej, although the later come in a quite dated performance along the lines of THE NICE.There are extended instrumental passages with jamming sessions and more melodic overtones, however the psychedelic influences are still present, especially in the vocal parts.Maybe the dullest part comes, when Andrzej Zielinski quotes the Classical movements of Johann Sebastian Bach in a rather questionable move, as questionable is the whole track in terms of structure with some tight but also lots of abstract deliveries.The highlight remains by far the violin work of Jacek Zielinski and his rural style of playing.Anyway, this was a decent effort by Skaldowie to enter the Art Rock fields and has nothing to do with the predictable and often boring flipside of the album, which contains cliche Psychedelic Rock with jazzy, bluesy and poppy overtones, but the only thing to remember are some melodic guitar lines by Tarsinski.All flipside-placed cuts have strong commercial flavors despite some good rockin' parts with rather forgettable choruses, limited organ moves and outdated brass sections.

This album might have been a good entry back in the day of its release, especially in Poland, a country definitely starving then for some artistic and less predictable music, but today it sounds so old-fashioned and dusty it wll not shock anyone after listening to it.The title-track contains a few nice moments, but the final feeling is that noone will miss this one from his collection.Recommended to die-hard Psych Rock fans.

apps79 | 2/5 |

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