The album presented here is his fourth, and last, recorded for CBS International. Unlike the first two, ("Strange Is This World" and "Ode To Venus", presented here recently), which were recorded with his group NIEMEN, or his third ("Russiche Lieder", which will come later in this cycle), which was recorded by himself alone, this album was recorded with an impressive assembly of international musicians. The names include Jan Hammer and Rick Laird of the Machavishnu Orchestra fame as well as internationally known jazz musicians Michal Urbaniak and John Abercrombie.
However, just like all other Niemen's "foreign" albums, this one was no exception to the Polish authorities ruling at that time. It was not publish in Poland and remained virtually unknown in the artist's own country....
This album was recorded in 1974, when his group NIEMEN was already a history (and the group SBB already started making some waves), but before the new group NIEMEN AEROLIT was formed. It was released in UK in 1975, shortly before the death of his friend Piotr Dziemski and the resulting recording of his Polish album "Katharsis".
The title track "Mourner's Rhapsody" is an excellent reworking of his great song "Bema Pamieci Zalobny - Rapsod", first recorded on his Polish album "Enigmatic" in 1969.
Track list:
1. Lilacs And Champagne
2. I've Got No One Who Needs Me
3. I Search For Love
4. Baby M
5. Inside I'm Dying
6. Mourner's Rhapsody
Personnel:
Czeslaw Niemen - vocals, piano, Fender Piano, Moog, mellotron, organ, chimes, timpani;
Jan Hammer - drums;
Rick Laird - bass;
Michal Urbaniak - electric violin (on tracks 1, 3, 5);
John Abercrombie - lead electric guitar (on tracks 5 and 6);
Dave Johnson - percussion (on tracks 1, 3, 5);
Seldon Powell - flute on track 2;
Steve Khan - guitar on track 3;
Don Grolnick - Fender Piano on tracks 3 and 5, piano on track 6;
Carl Rabinowitz - acoustic guitar on track 4;
Erin Dickins, Gail Kantor, Tasha Thomas - backing vocals (on tracks 1, 3, 5);
Choir directed by Howard Roberts on track 6.
|
