''Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned'' is an album by Czech underground band

the Plastic People of the Universe The Plastic People of the Universe (PPU) is a Czech rock band from Prague. They are considered the foremost representatives of Prague's underground culture (1968–1989), which defied Czechoslovakia's Communist regime. Members of the band o ...

. It was recorded in 1974/75, mainly at Houska Castle, enabled by the castle's then warden Svatopluk Karásek, with some songs being recorded in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. The album could not be officially released and distributed under the former Communist regime in Czechoslovakia; instead fans duplicated tapes with one another, often resulting in poor technical quality. After the band members' arrest and trial in 1976 Ivan Hartl, a Czech living in London, attempted to get the album released in the west. It was released in 1978 in France by SCOPA Invisible Production and in England by Boží Mlýn, a label founded by the former Plastic People member Paul Wilson. In the Czech Republic a remastered version was published in 2001 by Globus Music. The album title is a reference to

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' album ''

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (often referred to simply as ''Sgt. Pepper'') is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept ...

''. Ivan Hartl supplied the pun on "banned/band". Most of the songs on the record are settings of poems by

Egon Bondy Egon Bondy, born Zbyněk Fišer (20 January 1930 in Prague – 9 April 2007 in Bratislava), was a Czech writer, with prolific and distinctive output in poetry, prose and philosophy, one of the leading personalities of the Prague underground wit ...

Critical reception

Music critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

named the album one of the few import-only records he loved yet omitted from '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981). ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' wrote: "They clearly define a heavy bass-drums bottom over which the soloists duel wonderfully with these incredibly sinister riffs. It's a sort of musique noir, evoking images out of Carol Reed's ''The Third Man'', Welles' ''The Trial'' and the dark doings and damp streets of Fritz Lang's films noirs of the late 1940s. The album's opening cut, '20', typically sounds like eccentric Procol Harum, though in place of one of Robin Trower's guitar solos Brabanec lays out a devastating sax solo in the manner of Coltrane." The ''

Spin Alternative Record Guide The ''Spin Alternative Record Guide'' is a music reference book compiled by the American music magazine ''Spin (magazine), Spin'' and published in 1995 by Vintage Books. It was editing, edited by the rock music, rock critic Eric Weisbard and Crai ...

'' praised the album's "sardonic pleasures."

Track listing

All music composed by

Milan Hlavsa Milan "Mejla" Hlavsa (Prague, 6 March 1951 – 5 January 2001) was the founder, chief songwriter, and original bassist of the Czechoslovakia, Czech band the Plastic People of the Universe, which was part of the inspiration for the anti-establish ...

; texts are listed. #"Dvacet" (lyrics: Egon Bondy) #"Zácpa" (lyrics: Egon Bondy) #"Toxika" (lyrics: Egon Bondy) #"Magické noci" (lyrics: Egon Bondy) #"M.G.M." (instrumental) #"Okolo okna" (lyrics: Egon Bondy) #"Elegie" (lyrics: Egon Bondy) #"Podivuhodný mandarin" (lyrics: Egon Bondy) #"Nikdo" (lyrics: Egon Bondy) #"Jó-to se ti to spí" (lyrics: Egon Bondy) #"Já a Mike" (lyrics:

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

; translated to Czech by

Jaroslav Kořán Jaroslav Kořán (17 January 1940 – 2 June 2017) was a Czech translator, actor, writer, screenwriter, and politician. A dissident and signatory of Charter 77 during Czechoslovakia's Communist era, Kořán translated over seven dozen books, most ...

) #"Ranní ptáče" (lyrics: Egon Bondy) #"Francovka" (lyrics: Egon Bondy) #"Jednou nohou" (instrumental) #"Spofa blues" (lyrics: Egon Bondy) #"Apokalyptickej pták" (lyrics: Pavel Zajíček) #"Píseň brance" (lyrics: František Pánek)

Personnel

– bass guitar, vocals *

Josef Janíček Josef Janíček (born 28 December 1947 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic) is a Czech rock keyboardist, singer, accordion and guitar player. He was a former guitarist of The Primitives Group; from 1969 he played with The Plastic People ...

– claviphone, guitar, vibraphone, vocals *

Jiří Kabeš Jiří Kabeš, alias ''Kába'' (* 26 March 1946 in Křemín, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech rock singer, violist, violinist, guitarist, and songwriter. He was a longtime member of the Plastic People of the Universe where he played on viola and violi ...

– violin, vocals * Vratislav Brabenec – alt saxophone *Jiří Šula – drums *

Jaroslav Vožniak Jaroslav Vožniak (26 April 1933 Suchodol - 12 May 2005 Prague) was a Czech painter and printmaker, member of the ''Šmidra group'' of artists. Biography Jaroslav Vožniak trained as a reproduction lithographer between 1949 and 1951. He gradua ...

– drums *Vasil Šnajdr – flute *Zdeněk Fišer – theremin

References

The Plastic People of the Universe albums 1978 albums 2001 albums {{1970s-rock-album-stub