''Mourner's Rhapsody'' is an English-language album by

Czesław Niemen Czesław Niemen (; February 16, 1939 – January 17, 2004), born Czesław Juliusz Wydrzycki, and often credited as just Niemen, was one of the most important and original Polish singer-songwriters and rock balladeers of the 20th century, singing ...

, recorded in 1974 in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Michał Urbaniak Michał Urbaniak (born January 22, 1943) is a Polish jazz musician who plays violin, lyricon, and saxophone. His music includes elements of folk music, rhythm and blues, hip hop, and symphonic music. History He was born in Warsaw, Poland. U ...

invited his friends (also some members of the famous Mahavishnu Orchestra) to support Niemen after his earlier band left to re-initialise their own band SBB (''Silesian Blues Band''), which now became short for ''Search, Breakup and Build'', ''Sound Beyond Borders'' and similar. The album was released in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

(1974), the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

(1975) and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

(1976). It was re-released on CD in 1993. The main title ''

Mourner's Rhapsody ''Mourner's Rhapsody'' is an English-language album by Czesław Niemen, recorded in 1974 in New York city, New York, United States of America, USA. Michał Urbaniak invited his friends (also some members of the famous Mahavishnu Orchestra) to sup ...

'' is a remake of Niemen's cult status initial version issued in 1970 on '' Enigmatic'' on which

also participated. Despite the top class cast and progressive music the album didn't sell as good as the initial Polish '' Enigmatic'', which reached a cult status, or even the earlier albums recorded for CBS Records International with SBB (grupa Niemen), e.g. '' Strange Is This World'' and '' Ode to Venus'' (between 1972 and 1974 SBB participated on 5 albums of Niemen and were called Grupa Niemen at this most creative period).NIEMEN - Mourner's Rhapsody (the CBS Records International version, incl. discography overview)
/ref> In 1974 SBB released their very own first live album ''SBB (1)'', which immediately reached cult status in all

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

and

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

(where it was distributed illegally in underground) and also across the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

presenting a new vital direction in progressive rock music already present in some form on their 5 albums recorded with Niemen. Ufortunately ''

'' didn't present this kind of freshness and vitality (also present in Mahavishnu Orchestra) and in 1975 Niemen cast a new Polish band. His new band presented on '' Niemen Aerolit'' included a phenomenal guitarist

Sławomir Piwowar Sławomir () is an Old Polish male given name of Slavic origin consists of two parts: "sława/slava" - glory, fame and "mir" - world, peace, prestige. Cognates include Slavomir, Slavomír. Feminine form is: Sławomira/Slavomira. Nicknames: Sławek ...

, who eventually joined SBB in 1978. After Niemen passed in 2004

joined SBB in 2016 recording with the band 2 albums.

Track listing

# "Lilacs And Champagne" - 4:05 (lyrics

Norman Simon Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

) # "I've Got No One Who Needs Me" - 4:14 (lyrics Norman Simon) # "I Search For Love" - 4:51 (lyrics Norman Simon) # "Baby M" - 5:17 (lyrics Norman Simon) # "Inside I'm Dying" - 5:34 (lyrics Norman Simon) # "Mourner's Rhapsody" - 15:00 (lyrics Cyprian Kamil Norwid, translation Norman Simon)

Extended version (1993 CD reissue)

# "Prelude" - 3:19 (intro from divided track ''"Mourner's Rhapsody"'') # "Mourner's Rhapsody" - 12:35 # "Lilacs And Champagne" - 4:05 # "I Search For Love" - 4:55 # "I've Got No One Who Needs Me" - 4:14 # "Baby M" - 5:18 # "Inside I'm Dying" - 5:35 # "Half Way Around the World" - 4:21 (new track, lyrics

) # "I'm Reaching Out To The People" - 3:48 (new track, lyrics Norman Simon)

Personnel

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Fender piano Fender may refer to: Transport * Fender (boating), a bumper used to keep boats from banging into docks or each other * Fender (vehicle) or wing, a part of a motor vehicle that frames a wheel well * Fender, a "cow catcher" on a tram, see Pilot (l ...

mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

, moog *

Jan Hammer Jan Hammer () (born 17 April 1948) is a Czech-American musician, composer, and record producer. He first gained his most visible audience while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra during the early 1970s, as well as his film scores fo ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

Rick Laird Richard Quentin Laird (February 5, 1941 – July 4, 2021) was an Irish musician, photographer, teacher, and author best known as the bassist and a founding member of the jazz fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra, with which he performed from 1971 to ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Don Grolnick - piano * Dave Johnson -

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

* Seldon Powell -

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

* John Abercrombie -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Steve Khan - guitar * Carl Rabinowitz - guitar * Erin Dickins - vocal * Gail Cantor - vocal *

Tasha Thomas Tasha Thomas ( – November 8, 1984) was an American singer and actress, known for her role as Aunt Em in the original Broadway production of ''The Wiz''. Thomas also had a hit single, "Shoot Me (With Your Love)", from her 1979 album, ''Midni ...

- vocal *

Choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

under direction of Howard Roberts

References

{{Authority control Czesław Niemen albums 1974 albums