Even during the recording sessions of the "Red Album" ("Czlowiek Jan Niewdzieczny", presented in the previous part of this cycle) the broup NIEMEN ENIGMATIC began to fall apart and by mid 1971 it was a history.
With the help of his old friend, well known double bass virtuoso Helmut Nadolski, Czeslaw Niemen formed a new group in the fall of 1971. This time he engaged three young musicians who had earlier that year formed a little known group Silesian Blues Band (SBB, for short). By the end of 1971 Silesian Blues Band ceased to exist and a new group, this time simply called NIEMEN was born.
About a year later, at the end of 1972, this group, with the help of one more musician (Andrzej Przybielski) recorded a double album which is probably the most "progressive" in Niemen's career. Spanning through several musical genres, from rock, jazz, to contemporary classical and avangarde, this is definitely not an "easy listening" kind of music. So, please be warned: [b]THIS IS A HEAVY STUFF.[/b]
Originally published on two separate LPs, titled "Niemen - Volume 1" and "Niemen - Volume 2", all this material has been included on one CD, this time named "Niemen - Marionetki"
Track list:
1. Marionetki
2. Piosenka dla zmarlej
3. Z pierwszych wazniejszych odkryc
4. Ptaszek
5. Com uczynil
6. Requiem dla Van Gogha
7. Sariusz
8. Inicjaly
Lineup:
Apostolis Anthimos - guitar;
Andrzej Przybielski - trumpet;
Czeslaw Niemen - organ, piano, vocals;
Helmut Nadolski - double bass;
Jerzy Piotrowski - drums;
Jozef Skrzek - bass guitar, harmonica, organ, piano, violin, vocals.
Helmut Nadolski left the group in 1973 to pursue his solo career. At the end of 1973 the group NIEMEN dissolved completely. Apostolis Anthimos, Jerzy Piotrowski and Jozef Skrzek, eager to cash in on their fame gained during the time spent in group NIEMEN resurrected their old band SBB, this time under the name Szukaj, Burz, Buduj (Search, Break, Build).
Today SBB is regarded by some as "the best prog rock band out of Eastern Europe". Yes, since they started in 1974 they created lots of fantastic music and recorded many great albums. However, one has to wonder, how much of this would be still true if they remained as that Silesian Blues Band and never joined the goup NIEMEN...
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