Thursday, December 17, 2020

Solaris - s/t [1990]

Artist: Solaris
Title: Solaris 1990
Genre: Progressive Rock
Country: Hungary
Release date: 1990

Track List:

Disc 1

  1. A Viking Visszatér
  2. Ellenpont
  3. Óz
  4. Mickey Mouse
  5. Éden
  6. Hullámok (Bonus Track)
  7. Egészséges Optimizmus (Bonus Track)
  8. Los Angeles 2026 (Live)

Disc 2

  1. Éjszakai Tárlat
  2. Közjáték A
  3. Szabadjáték
  4. Közjáték B
  5. Éjféli Valcer
  6. Közjáték C
  7. Józsi Mátészalkára Megy
  8. Közjáték D
  9. Éjszakai Tárlat V. (1990)
  10. Közjáték E
  11. Ünnepi Koncert: E-Moll Concerto (Allegro Con Molto)
  12. Paella
  13. A Kígyó Szive
  14. Ez Nem Kán-Kán
  15. Magyar Tánc
  16. Duo
  17. Solaris 1990 

I always loved Hungarian rock for its unique cosmic sound, already prent in early classic rock bands like Omega, Lord, or Edda, and developed by later progressive rock collectives like Kolinda, VHK, and of course Solaris. Sadly they have released not too many albums beyond their "Martian Chronicles I & II" (the 1st part is certainly my favourite progressive rock album of all times), "Nostradamus: Book of Prophecies", and this self-titled album, re-released in 1996 as a 2xCD edition with a couple of bonus tracks and a lengthy live recording.

The first part of this album features instrumental progressive rock (with some spoken word parts in "Egészséges Optimizmus") played in the way we expect it from Solaris. A very decent follow-up to ""Martian Chronicles I" (especially the opening track, "A Viking Visszatér"). The second part is more experimental, significantly influenced by classical music (especially the best composition on the whole album, "Éjféli Valcer") and, at times, Hungarian folk music. The track "A Kígyó Szive" is apparently inspired by the short story "Cor Serpentis" by Ivan Efremov (nice to see another rock band taking influence from the works of my favourite sci-fi writer, the first one being Erg Noor). Overall, all albums by Solaris are fantastic and definitely deserve to be checked out by anyone who loves quality melodic progressive rock with sci-fi themes. And thanks to this great blog for posting this one!

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