The quartet from Warsaw, founded in 1969, celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, an ideal opportunity to re-release a number of older albums and to bring them to the attention with, in addition to Mrowisko, also Senne wędrówki (Polish for “sleepwalking”). This is a compilation that was originally released in 1971 and reissued in 2011 with music from Klan, commissioned by the PKF, as mentioned. The material now returns in a new form.
“Klan, one of the first true rock bands from Poland, almost immediately became a legend right from the start. However, they did not intend to sing about love exclusively. Instead, they experimented with musical forms and were pioneers in the use of stroboscopic lights and artificial fog during performances. The group from Warsaw recorded their first album in 1970. A year later they released the album Mrowisko, with music from the eponymous ballet performance. Unfortunately, Klan was at the time too subversive a group to be accepted by the authorities thereby blocking any opportunities for further development. In August 1971 the band no longer existed, at least not in the original line-up.”
In February 1971 Klan was at the top of their creative abilities. It was at that time that they recorded a dozen songs that were intended as a soundtrack for the Polish Film Chronicle (PKF), a newsreel in Polish cinemas. The band combined elements of jazz, rock and psychedelia with great ease and these recordings have survived the test of time in decent quality. They have been transferred from the original tapes and carefully remastered by Andrzej Poniatowski, Klan’s original drummer and an avid and valued sound engineer. Once again accompanied by a booklet full of often unpublished photos and an extensive description of the creation of the album. At least I think so: it is written entirely in Polish, apparently they did not think for one moment that music fans outside their national borders would also show an interest.
The thirteen songs are somewhat in line with the music on the aforementioned Mrowisko, the band’s magnum opus. Some songs are new versions of previously released material, there are quite a few doubles. But also completely unknown recordings (although some have the same name as previous titles – extremely confusing!).
Nice as a period piece and curio, no more no less.
TRACKLISTING
01. Automaty (2:46)
02. Taniec głodnego (3:24)
03. Z brzytwą na poziomki (2:23)
04. Sen (3:27)
05. Rajd Safari (1:43)
06. Epidemia Euforii (2:38)
07. Trzeba było mnie nie budzić (3:33)
08. Szkoła (2:39)
09. Nie stało się nic (2:37)
10. Pociągi (3:09)
11. Senne wędrówki (2:28)
12. Gdzie jest człowiek (2:46)
13. Kuszenie (3:45)
Total Time – 37:18
MUSICIANS
Marek Ałaszewski – Guitars, Flute, Kazoo
Maciej Głuszkiewicz – Keyboards
Roman Pawelski – Bass
Andrzej Poniatowski – Drums, Percussion
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Gad Records
Catalogue#: GAD CD 098
Country of Origin: Poland
Date of Release: 2019 (originally 1971)
DISCOGRAPHY
– Chmura nad miastem (2017)
– Nerwy miast (2014)
– Marek Ałaszewski & Klan: Laufer (2012)
– Po Co Mi Ten Raj (1992)
– Live Finland (1972)
– Senne Wędrówki (1971)
– Mrowisko (1971)
LINKS
KLAN – Facebook