COLLEGIUM MUSICUM 1st LP N MINT psych prog jazz rock Czech LP progressive sympho

	£		51
	$		67

Collegium Musicum "Collegium Musicum" (LP)
with Marian Varga, Fedor Freso, Rastislav Vacho, Dusan Hajek
Original Czechoslovakian pressing from 1971 (Supraphon  1 13 1018). The record is in NM condition and the fragile laminated gatefold sleeve is in EX+ condition. Recorded 26-28 October, 1970, in Prague.

Extremely rare debut fom the band that became known as Slovakian EGG or Nice. But arguably even more revolutionary, One of the most desirable prog item from ex-Czechoslovakia, the first album of a long string album by Marian Vagra's Collegium Musicum, and their only album on Supraphon, offered here in its original form: the dark blue label and the unipak-stylegatefold cover. Musically, this is directly inspired by the mid-period Nice and EGG. This is also their only album that deals with jazz, probably due to the presence of guitarist Rastislav Vacho, who later went to form Fermata.

From progarchives:
This band is an historical band in Czechoslovakia. They was active from 1971 until 1981 with 6 releases plus one live lp. Their style is like ELP with Wakeman, The NICE and clear classical influences. The band was composed by vocals, guitars (Ludovít Nosko); keyboards (Marián Varga); guitars (Karel Witz); bass (Fedor Freso) and drums (Dusan Hájek).

The lp always contain long tracks all composed by Varga that give to compositions solid classical inspirations an example is "Hommage a J.S. Bach" or "Concerto in D" and other tracks, the guitar have much space supported by superb keyboards (hammond, minimoog, piano, spinetta) base and solos. I support people who think this is one of the best east Europe bands of ever.

Here is another review by Salviaal from progarchives.com:
Strongly influenced by the Nice, Collegium Musicum's debut fits nicely into the genre of proto-prog, with simple Cream-like riffs married with ambitious brass and string arrangements that were such an important part of this prototypical style. But surprisingly Marian Varga & Co. were not a bit behind western bands in that same year, with seminal bands still releasing proto-proggish albums like "Time and a Word" and "Atom Heart Mother" - basically similar to this, in that they combined a classical ensemble with late 60s blues-rock riffs. This is the only CM album to feature English lead vocals by Fedor Freso, their bassist. His voice is pretty strained and he has a slight accent, but it doesn't bother me personally, and his voice is not a big part of the album anyways. It is also notable that this album has a very good and dynamic production considering that studios in Czechoslovakia weren't so well equipped.
There are three songs averaging 13 minutes in length. "If You Want to Fall" has a typical blues rock riff, with an excellent psychedelic middle section, and good solos by all the members. "Strange Theme" comes closer to ELP with a classical chord progression, but also a typical 60s flower power chorus. The song first dissipates into some excellent solo hammond organ by Marian Varga, before going into the same rhythm as "21st Century Schizoid Man" at roughly the same tempo, with some free sax playing as well. Crimson might have been the inspiration here. We get a lengthy solo from guitar player Rasto Vacho, who wasn't nearly as good as his successor, being rather limited to 60s cliches, with weak intonation and control. The last track is an arrangement of Haydn's Concerto in D. It is a very harmless arrangement by modern standards, with a straight forward rock beat under straightforward orchestra under Varga's unusually faithful interpretation. Nevertheless, the album was ambitious for its time and environment, and even 37 years after its release it's still listenable.

A word about Varga's hammond playing: there are not so many similarities between him and Emerson when it comes to playing style, aside from the fact that both have a rather forceful touch. What makes Varga unique is his slavonic sense of timing, also coming in that milisecond early or late, similarly to traditional folk music. We can draw a similar comparison between guitarists Al di Meola and Allan Holdsworth, the former playing constrained phrases, and the other freely weaving from one measure to next with utmost ease. Personally I prefer Varga and Holdsworth.

TrackListing:
1. If You Want To Fall
2. Strange Theme Part I
3. Strange Theme Part II
4. Concerto in D

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