NASZ NIEMEN

Niemen started as very first Polish jazz-rock singer (strongly influenced by soul and folklore though). His very early supporting band became later possibly most well-known Eastern European prog rock ever (S.B.B.). Niemen himself passed few stylistic periods during his musical career, and his early jazz-rock and symphonic prog works quite soon became more pop-oriented soul. I really like his earlier songs, and some of mid-period as well. He was not only a musician, but really a great artist.

Unhappily, this compilation was made with accent on his more accessible songs (even if few early great compositions are included as well). So - absolutely biggest part of this double album is pop-rock, pop-soul and some ballads. Niemen had unique voice, so even pop-songs sound quite original, but for prog fans this compilation generally is quite uninteresting release. Few early great songs you can find here were included on all possible previous compilations, and all other material is targeted for different kind of listener. So - even if you never heard Niemen's songs, this compilation is wrong place to start. Better find one of his studio album from late 60-s or early 70-s.

My rating is 2+.