VOZRALEJ JAK SLÍVA

The album’s title means “Drunk as a Plum”. This is one of the easier Plastic People albums to find, although it wasn’t commercially released until a couple decades after the tracks were recorded. These are live recordings from the early seventies when the band was performing as a largely ‘unofficial’ music group around Prague. Their ‘concerts’ were usually loosely organized music festivals and family or community celebrations like weddings and birthday parties. This was a time of pretty severe suppression under the Soviet regime in Czechoslovakia, and shortly after the last of these recordings most of the band was rounded up during or shortly after the Bojanovice raid. Several band members including founder Milan Hlavsa went on trial the following spring. Hlavsa and most of the rest of the band were eventually released, but Vratislav Brabenec and Ivan Jirous were among several musicians sentenced to jail terms for “disturbing the peace”. The international attention garnered from this incident and playwright Vaclav Havel’s Charter 77 manifesto were key elements in the eventual release of these musicians. Havel would go on to serve several years in prison under the Communists himself, but would eventually invite the Plastic People to perform in Prague in his capacity as the Czech president after the fall of the Soviet Union. The recordings from that concert would form the wonderful “1997” Plastic People album.

Several of the songs from that concert originated during the time of these 1973-1975 recordings. The quality of these recordings is surprisingly good, although a bit uneven. There was undoubtedly a lot of work that went into making them presentable for this release.

The Plastic People of the Universe are a fascinating band, and a bit of an enigma. Their sound evolved behind the Iron Curtain in relative seclusion from the rest of modern music from the late sixties through the eighties, but the band had access to many modern recordings and clearly took inspiration from several Western artists, most notably Frank Zappa and the Velvet Underground. But there are Slavic inflections to this music as well, primarily in the abundant use of dissonant brass and almost psychedelic, jazzy instrumental passages that border on other-worldly at times. The rhythms are relatively simple, and the arrangements seem to be heavily reliant on improvisation. Vocals are mostly Czech, but occasionally some English creeps in. While I don’t speak or understand Czech, I get the strong impression from listening to many of their albums and reading about the band that they have a fairly wry sense of humor.

These guys aren’t spectacular musicians in any technical sense, but they sure as hell are fun to listen to. There is an intensity to this music that is very addictive, and I am constantly finding myself drawn back to them in recent years since I have been able to get my hands on some of their recordings. I first read about the band during a phase of international exposure due to many human rights activists and other musicians trying to bring awareness to their plight in the early eighties. Their presence on the ProgArchives is long overdue.

A few standout tracks include “Komu je dnes dvacet” with its simple but catchy bass rhythm and strident brass; the Deep Purple-like “Jaro léto podzim zima”; the very funky and danceable “NF 811”; and the almost ‘Several Species of Small Furry Animals…’ Pink Floydian “My Guitar”. “Prší, prší” appears on this and several other Plastic People albums, and features some intense violin and saxophone.

Like I said, this is really addictive stuff, and is well worth seeking out. Once these guys get under your skin, they’re likely to stay there. This is a pretty good place to start with the band since it’s probably the easiest to find and has an extensive sampling of their music. A four star offering, probably even 4.5.

peace

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