Kalemegdan Disk - ROCK FROM EASTERN EUROPE

Guerilla Records Release Information

A unique recording of a concert at the Community Center in Zruč nad Sázavou on 24 June 1972 (plus two songs from a concert a week later at the ČKD Polovodiče Factory Club in Prague 4, to give a complete picture of what the band’s concerts were like at the time, and a little bit of Zappa), where the band was joined not only by trumpeter Jan Jílek and singer Paul Wilson, but also by guitarist Jiří Števich and drummer Pavel Eman Zeman. Eight original compositions and two by Frank Zappa, whose songs were part of the Plastic People’s “entertainment” repertoire at the time. The recording lay in Pavel Prokeš’s archive for over 50 years, but it finally saw the light of day. And so may you.

From the Plastic People chronicle (where the authentic photos on the cover are taken from): “A large group of fans tried by all means to get to their destination. There were about 140 people from Prague at the venue. The start was delayed by about an hour and a half due to the organizers, who turned off the power shortly before the start of the performance and turned it back on, burning out the main amplifier. Pepíček Janíček had to make a great effort to repair the amplifier so that the concert could take place. The repertoire included songs by Velvet Underground, Fugs, Zappa, and their own compositions. The concert was filmed and recorded. The entire concert ended with great success.”

However, the author of an article in the Sázavan employee newspaper had a completely different opinion: “It is hard to believe that our Community Center was made available to dubious individuals who, dressed inappropriately and behaving vulgarly, are damaging the good name of our youth.”

At the end of the year, drummer Pavel Zeman left to form Bílé Světlo (White Light), followed by Jiří Števich, who joined Extempore and later played in Abraam (he emigrated in 1980), trumpeter Jílek disappeared, and Paul Wilson realized that his involvement as a foreigner was problematic in a band that now wanted to sing mainly in Czech, even though, as he himself said, “he understood and supported” it:

The band suspended its activities for a year, and this recording is therefore the only complete record of how the Plastic People played before the arrival of the saxophonist Vratislav Brabenec and their encounter with the poetry of Egon Bondy... but that’s a completely different story.

Tracklist

1. Magor uvádí koncert 2:14
2. Indian Hay 9:01
3. Fuddle duddle osh kosh 7:27
4. Never Seek to Tell Thy Love 2:48
5. Růže a mrtví 9:32
6. The Tyger 9:27
7. Magorův incident s příslušníkem PS VB 0:43
8. Na sosnové větvi 7:19
9. The Fairy Queen 8:25
10. Crematorium Smoke 5:52
11. Trouble every Day 4:13
12. Part Two 2:41
13. Take Your Clothes off when You Dance 8:12