POD NIEBEM CZAS / THE TIME BENEATH THE SKY

The ultimate recognition for Quidam comes in 1999.The Polish group passes the Atlantic to perform among the headliners of the Baja Prog Festival, a live that was captured the same year on CD both by Rock Serwis and Musea.The links with Camel remained strong.Colin Bass invited Quidam to support him during the European promotional tour of ''An outcast of the islands''.Come 2000 and the band focused on writing and recording the third album with only sporadic live appearances.Third work becomes reality in March 2002, first comes the Polish title of ''Pod niebem czas'' on Rock Serwis and a few months later the same album was released on Musea as ''The time beneath the sky''.

With a mix of Polish and English vocal tracks, Quidam appear to somewhat abandon their 70's influences in order to propose a modern-sounding effort, closer to the likes of Neo Prog but retaining the evident Folk flavors of English groups such as IONA and MOSTLY AUTUMN.Symphonic arrangements become a minority and the focus here is on atmospheric soundscapes with sensitive guitar solos in the vein of PINK FLOYD and CAMEL, while the omnipresent flute parts have a now some discreet JETHRO TULL acoustics.Despite the clean production and the contemporary style, the vintage references come and go through the presence of organ and piano.On the other side, the more rhythmic guitar parts are more powerful and emphatic, showcasing a need by the band to rise a bit the volume, while the English tracks are well-worked but with less character than the Polish ones.Ambiental soundscapes start to become a trademark of the band, evolving slowly into heavier moves with guitars and orchestral synthesizers in evidence.The flute work of Jacek Zasada is among the album's highlights: Delicate, touching but also pretty hard-driving in some moments.Quidam had become a master of combining emotional and more energetic textures.

The presence of English lyrics somewhat lowers the value of this album compared to the previous releases, but the musicianship remains at a professional level and the creation of imaginery sounds has been established as the hot point of the band.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.