SBB's Roskilde '78 Available This Month

November 17, 2008, 15 years ago

sbb news rarities

Metal Mind Productions reports:

SBB is with no doubt a legend of Polish music scene. By 1980, Józef Skrzek, Apostolis Anthimos and Jerzy Piotrowski had recorded dozens of albums in Poland and abroad and played hundreds of concerts all around Europe, sharing stages with Soft Machine, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Charles Mingus Dynasty, Jack Bruce Group, Thin Lizzy, Canned Heat, Omega, and Klaus Szultze.

SBB started as a blues band but, fascinated with Mahavishnu Orchestra, soon began to search for new means of expression. Gradually, their music became more and more lyrical, and the band started to join wild, Hendrix-line energy with gentle, calm moments. The band soon worked out their own model of prog-rock, in which they skillfully mixed elements of classical music with jazz-rock instrumental frenzy. The albums that followed showed the band's evolution, bringing grand and marvelous music.

In March 2006 SBB headlined Baja Prog Festival, one of the most important progressive festivals in the world. Year 2007 brought the release of SBB's latest album - The Rock. The follow up to the New Century album from 2005 was recorded in early autumn in a refreshed line-up: Józef Skrzek, Apostolis Anthimos, Gabor Nemethis. Gabor is a very skilled drummer, known from his work with Hungarian bands Scorpió and P. Mobil.

With the new album, the band surely got back to their roots. One can find on The Rock perfect catchy melodies, wonderful distorted walking bass, and the whole music draws from the years of SBB's greatest popularity while, at the same time, bravely reaching into the future. Soon after premiere of The Rock album the band hit the road to play several gigs in Poland. The highlight of the tour took place at Wyspianski Theatre in Katowice, where SBB recorded their show for the Four Decades DVD.

Today Metal Mind Productions presents the album Roskilde ‘78, previously available only as part of the box Lost Tapes, Vol.1 from 2005. It features the material recorded live at the famous festival in Roskilde (Denmark).

In 1978 Roskilde was headlined by Elvis Costello and Bob Marley. SBB's concert was scheduled to take place right after Marley’s, at the main orange stage. However, the band had to overcome several “technical” problems to play that concert... During the load-out after Marley’s show, his crew almost collected Józef’s Polymoog, because its case was exactly the same as theirs. They were immensely surprised that someone from Europe already used Polymoog and, moreover, that the band came from Poland and that they were to play after Bob Marley. SBB’s festival performances were usually a bit shorter and more compact than their club shows. So was their Roskilde concert. This time, 'Going Away' suite was shortened. The rest of the set list was quite similar to their standard show and the concert ended with 'Follow My Dream' and 'Wiosenne Chimery' played on two drums and synthesizers. The audience gave a very warm welcome to the band from Poland. The musicians remember that in the very beginning of their show people started to move towards their tents: after all, the festival’s headliner had just finished his show. However, after 'Walkin’...' they came back and stayed till the end of the show.

The new digipack edition of Roskilde ‘78 is limited to 1,000 copies, digitally remastered using 24-Bit process. Metal Mind Productions set the release date for November 24th in Europe and January 20th in the US (via MVD).

Roskilde ‘78 tracklist: 'Walkin’ Around The Stormy Bay', 'Going Away: Going Away / (?ywiec) Mountain Melody / Loneliness Theme', 'Deszcz kroplisty, deszcz ulewny', 'Ze s?owem biegn? do ciebie', 'Follow My Dream incl. Wiosenne Chimery'.


Latest Reviews