PROVISORIUM

In 1970 the band Provisorium broke up, but they already had a recording contract with Supraphon so Ursiny's manager decided to get half of the already disbanded Flamengo to back up Ursiny and his long time collaborator Jaro Filip. This album's vision sure was quite ambitious at the time it was recorded (1972), and we have one lengthy piece taking up the first side of the original vynil. Only the seed of Ursiny's later more original work is heard here. The album's sound straddles the line between English influences, especially early King Crimson and perhaps early VDGG, Ursiny's original approach to songwriting, with slight influences from dated 60s "bigbeat" music. Now, the songwriting on "Provisorium" was already quite accomplished although nowhere near his more mature work of the late 70s and early 80s. The performance on the album is not the best, as it sometimes sounds that it was recorded in haste, as if the ex-Flamengo members didn't have enough time to properly rehearse the material with direction from Ursiny. Furthermore there are some very outdated production/arranging methods used here. There is a section of the first track that's completely drenched with reverb, and the backing vocals sometimes sound like the Beach Boys or 60s BeeGees, which wasn't exactly novel in 1972.

"Christmas Summer" is an epic in the typical early 70s fashion, to be compared with "In the Court of the Crimson King" or "A Plague of Light Keepers" in that it doesn't rely on virtuostic showcase (a la "Tarkus"), but rather emotional delivery and mood changes. The main stylistic feature to tie this album to KC is Ursiny's voice, who already has a similar natural timbre to Greg Lake, but he obviously also tries to copy his vibrato and delivery. Another highlight from the album is the ballad "Apple Tree In Winter" a very pleasant slow tune with a melody that is similar to known jazz standards. The other two tunes are a bit weaker but still not bad. "I Have Found" is a very energetic song propelled by the drummer Jaroslav Sedivý, although he also also plays a tedious solo towards the end, but well, drum solos were popular in those days. Altogether this is a very good addition to any prog collection, especially for those interested to hear an "eastern" twist on that classic British sound. This was really the only album by this artist to have that English aesthetic to it, so it's very unique.