Niemen - Ode to Venus. 1973 Poland

Ode to Venus is in effect the SBB 0 (zero) album, predating that great band while providing the instrumental tour de force behind legendary Polish singer Niemen. Skrzek's trademark fuzz bass blasts away, contested only by Apostolis' shredding on guitar. Meanwhile Niemen puts in his usual impassioned bluesy vocal performance. His vocals are emotionally charged throughout, and can only be considered an addition to the great music behind him. Perhaps English isn't the best choice here as I'm sure Niemen singing in his native Polish would have been even more powerful, but we'll take what we can get. Generally Eastern European bands during Communist rule had to tone down the rhetoric, and let the music do the talking. But Niemen was given special privilege, and he took full advantage. This is an essential work.

CD: 2003 CityStudio Media Production / Green Tree (Germany)

CMP was a legit label in the early part of the 2000 decade who had licensed most of the Bellaphon catalog as well as many titles from Sony (like this one). But they're old school late 80s / early 90s styled bare bones reissues, with nothing more than lineup info and lyrics. This CD remains the only legit one on the market.