BLUE EFFECT - Meditace - CZE Supraphon Press - LISTEN

"In April 1969 at the Supraphon studios the band began recording a full-length record, but only one track was recorded (but what a track!) - the last with Svoboda in the line-up. The vast majority of the work was done only between June and August, and in autumn the very successful single Fenix/Stroj na nic, released in an ordinary company sleeve, reached the shops as a teaser. Both tracks also appeared on the excellent LP Meditace, released only in June 1970. Getting slightly ahead of ourselves, it is worth knowing that the lyrics of the first four tracks (that is, almost the whole of the first side) making up the conceptual suite 'Meditace', inspired by the political events of 1968 (the Prague Spring and then the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Eastern Bloc troops), were challenged by the censorship then raging in the country, and the album was held back until new versions were made. So another lyricist hastily produced new words, stripped of ideological overtones, which, however, according to those who heard the original version, lost forever, no longer had the same power of expression. Strangely, the title of the record remained unchanged! Made in mono (with a light cream Supraphon label) and in stereo (with the supposedly elliptical, silver label logo on a dark blue background) and in a very delicate, thin single sleeve, very prone to creasing and wear (almost entirely composed by the leader), the album was an excellent compilation of what was best in new European rock in 1969! The band was able to assimilate perfectly into its style the influences of groups such as Cream, Ten Years After, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull and of course The Beatles. Incidentally, it should be added that at the same time no money was spared on arrangements, so juicy string or brass parts kept appearing in the key passages of most of the compositions. The record opened with the mysterious and strongly psychedelic sounds of the sitar (strangely cut from probably all later editions - including the most recent ones...), that is Paměť Lásky - in my humble opinion the most beautiful part of the album and one of my (many, admittedly) definitive moments in the history of recorded sound! Recorded back in April 1969 and sung by Miloš Svoboda, who was soon pushed out of the band, it was in my opinion a great cry of despair and grief, enclosed in those sounds, of Czechs and Slovaks crushed by the 'fraternal nations'. Enriched with a fervent recitation, based on a very catchy melody, brilliant in its simplicity, recalling the choral singing of medieval knights, arranged with the help of strings and brass, played at a medium, gently swaying, march-like tempo, the passage simply grips the heart and does not want to let go. Polish listeners will of course probably be amused by words such as 'láska je věčná' ('love never ends'), but I assure you that our southern neighbours probably also smile to themselves at the most moving poetic lines sung by Czesław Niemen or Marek Grechuta. Such are our languages... In a completely different, decidedly more cheerful mood was the decidedly rock Blue Effect Street, adorned with the magical sounds of the sitar - composed by Mišík and based on a very catchy guitar riff and a slightly swaying rhythm, a superb, hippie number with a short but very effective guitar solo from Hladík. Released a few months earlier on the A-side of a single, Fénix was a slowly building and emotion-filled rock ballad sung in a slightly 'festival' (Sopot, Opole etc.) style, but the final effect turned out exquisite! The next one on the record, lasting only 2 and a half minutes, the decidedly rock Stroj Na Nic was a passage built on dense drumming, recalling the guitar work of Led Zeppelin and the melodics of Fire by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The first side of the vinyl record, sung entirely in Czech and lasting a mere 17 minutes, was closed by a short, instrumental version of the single Sluneční Hrob, delicately arranged for acoustic guitar, oboe and string quartet. The second part, sung exclusively in English by Mišík, opened in spectacular style with Little Girl - a superb, very much of-the-moment blues-progressive piece with a part for a shepherd's pipe and a jazzy guitar solo, a combination of the style of Jethro Tull and Ten Years After. Somewhat more subdued in character was the pleasantly swaying Deserted Alley - an almost hypnotic but catchy number based on the interplay of acoustic and electric guitars and a great, very busy rhythm section. The next 8 minutes were filled by the excellent Blues About Stone, written exceptionally by the whole band, that is, er, a bluesy, veeery slowly developing passage recalling the work of bands such as Ten Years After, Led Zeppelin and the Keef Hartley Band. The penultimate track on the record, Rainy Day, alluded a little to the gentler, slightly funky, at times almost jazzy side of Jimi Hendrix's work, although in the choruses the band could also hit hard and juicily and suddenly change the rhythm so that the leader could strike the listener with yet another excellent solo! The album, lasting less than 40 minutes, was closed by the rather hard-to-classify, heavily broken-rhythmed and mood-changing Where Is My Star - a rather unique combination of boogie and heavy rock with another effective guitar solo. What a varied and at the same time wonderful record! Today very few well-preserved copies (especially in an uncreased and unworn sleeve) fetch 200 euros. Unfortunately this title, adored for years by fans of classic rock, turned out at the time of release to be only a very moderate success. Worse still, the band blamed this state of affairs mainly on the vocalist (who behaved like a rock star) and his unbridled tendency to sing English lyrics." A REVIEW BY JACEK LEŚNIEWSKI FROM A BOOK ABOUT ROCK IN THE FORMER EASTERN BLOC, BEGUN BUT ABANDONED HALF A YEAR LATER (2021). 2017 edition, sealed.