Dezo Ursiny Provisorium - same (1972, CzechoSlovakia, Progrockpsych, Supraphon vinyl rip, single flac + cue, DR12, artwork)

~ Happy  Holidays ~

  *** Reviewed by great fellow Adamus67 ***

My southern neighbors actually produced a few gems ... and here we have before us another interesting album actually two groups - DEZO Ursiny and Provisorium that arose in the late sixties and recorded a few interesting albums. Stylistically, the album refers to the achievements of the British progresiv groups such as Van der Graff Generator and King Crimson, from time to time with added of Slovak music

Dežo Ursiny was born as Dezider Ursiny on October the fourth 1947 in Bratislava, Slovakia, then Czechoslovakia. He started playing guitar in his early teens. In 1963 he played in his first group Fontana and at the end of the year 1964 he founded the group The Beatmen. Ursiny was the lead guitarist, lead singer and also composed own songs for the band, which was influenced by the Beatles.

The group was immensely popular in Czechoslovakia and they released two singles in 1965. In 1966 they played in Munich, beeing the first rock group from behind the iron curtain to play in the west. Ursiny, however, grew unsatisfied with the group in the same year. In 1967, Ursiny founds the trio The Soulmen, which played covers of bands like Cream and also performed own material in that style. in December, the group won the first Czechoslovak beat festival in Praguie in the band category. in 1968, soon after the recording of their EP, Thew Soulmen split up. Ursiny creates the progressive rock band New Soulmen. The group records three songs and disbands in 1969. In 1970, Ursiny founds another progressive rock band called Provisorium and they disband after only two concerts in 1971.

Part of the material Ursiny played with the group gets recorded in 1972 for Ursiny´s first LP, released in 1973 under the title "Provisorium". After problems with communist estasblishment and writing music mostly for film documents, ursiny finally releases his second LP in 1978 and he would never quit recording for such a long time again until his death. All of his albums from that time on are sung in Slovak and the lyrics are written by Slovak poet Ivan Štrpka. In 1978, Ursiny also creates the band Buriak, with which he would record his next two albums. From 1983 he performed with what what would be his most stable band, called again Provisorium, although in different line up than the one from 1970. In 1992, his group, under the same name, underwent major changes. The nucleus of this group would work with Ursiny until his untimely death on May, the second 1995 in Bratislava from cancer.

In 1970 the band Provisorium broke up, but they already had a recording contract with Supraphon so Ursiny's manager decided to get half of the already disbanded Flamengo to back up Ursiny and his long time collaborator Jaro Filip. This album's vision sure was quite ambitious at the time it was recorded (1972), and we have one lengthy piece taking up the first side of the original vynil. Only the seed of Ursiny's later more original work is heard here. The album's sound straddles the line between English influences, especially early King Crimson and perhaps early VDGG, Ursiny's original approach to songwriting, with slight influences from dated 60s "bigbeat" music. Now, the songwriting on "Provisorium" was already quite accomplished although nowhere near his more mature work of the late 70s and early 80s. The performance on the album is not the best, as it sometimes sounds that it was recorded in haste, as if the ex-Flamengo members didn't have enough time to properly rehearse the material with direction from Ursiny. Furthermore there are some very outdated production/arranging methods used here. There is a section of the first track that's completely drenched with reverb, and the backing vocals sometimes sound like the Beach Boys or 60s BeeGees, which wasn't exactly novel in 1972.

"Christmas Summer" is an epic in the typical early 70s fashion, to be compared with "In the Court of the Crimson King" or "A Plague of Light Keepers" in that it doesn't rely on virtuostic showcase (a la "Tarkus"), but rather emotional delivery and mood changes. The main stylistic feature to tie this album to KC is Ursiny's voice, who already has a similar natural timbre to Greg Lake, but he obviously also tries to copy his vibrato and delivery. Another highlight from the album is the ballad "Apple Tree In Winter" a very pleasant slow tune with a melody that is similar to known jazz standards. The other two tunes are a bit weaker but still not bad. "I Have Found" is a very energetic song propelled by the drummer Jaroslav Šedivý, although he also also plays a tedious solo towards the end, but well, drum solos were popular in those days. Altogether this is a very good addition to any prog collection, especially for those interested to hear an "eastern" twist on that classic British sound.

    Thank you so much Adam for that effort  
gigic2255

Dežo Ursiny was a veteran from the Bratislava beat scene of the sixties, playing in groups such as The Beatmen and The Soulmen. The latter released a 4-track EP on Panton in 1967.

The backing group Provisorium Was formed in 1972 and included the rhythm section of recently disbanded Flamengo (Kulhánek and Šedivý). The 1973 album is quite remarkable, a mature classical pop attempt resembling David Bowie at the time of  Space Oddity, but with more jazzy sophistication than this. Even more remarkable was the use of English lyrics, which at the time usually meant being banned by the authorities. The orchestration on this album is really beautiful on the 20-minute track "Christmas Time". This album tends to be overlooked by collectors of CzechoSlovakian progressive rock, but truely belongs among the best and most integrated works.

(~ScentedGardensofMind)

Tracks:

side one

A1. Christmas Time                19:36

side two

B1. Looking For The Place To Spend Next Summer    6:05

B2. Apple Tree In Winter            4:53

B3. I Have Found                8:05

Dežo Ursiny - Christmas Time

Provisorium:
Dežo Ursiny /guitar, vocals
Jaroslav Filip /piano, organ, bells, tympany
Vladimír Kulhánek / bass guitar
Jaroslav Šedivý /drums
Jaroslav Kubík /flute, saxophone

additional musicians:
Jiří Kaniak /oboe

[Rip and Scans by gigic2255]

Link:   229 mb/file

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