Blue Effect
Blue Effect is a Czech band founded in 1968 (originally under the name Special Blue Effect ) . After the communist regime in Czechoslovakia forced several bands to discard English names and take on Czech names in the 1970s , the group was temporarily called Modrý efekt (translation of Blue Effect), M. Efekt or Modrý Efekt & Radim Hladík .
History and style
Blue Effect was created in 1968 when the Prague music scene was experiencing one of its high points. At the end of September the musicians Mišík, Kozel and Čech decided to start a new band; Radim Hladík , known at the time as the best guitarist in Prague, left the then leading band Matadors and joined the group. On December 22nd, Blue Effect performed at the 2nd Czechoslovak Beat Festival in the Lucerna Hall and achieved great success: she was voted Discovery of the Year, Hladík Musician of the Season and her song Slunečný hrob the hit of the season.
The group developed a stylistic openness, as shown by two early collaboration albums. On the album Coniunctio did the collaboration with the jazz quartet Jazz Q . The result was an "encounter between free jazz and free rock - a mixture that had never existed anywhere in the world in such a style." The musicians, inspired by Ornette Coleman's album Free Jazz (1961), the concept of a double rhythm section, which they supplemented with guitar (Radim Hladík), saxophone or flute ( Jiří Stivín ) and keyboards ( Martin Kratochvíl ) in the front group. The result was a "mixture of free sound improvisations, hard rock riffs, wild guitar solos and expressive saxophone lines" in a sound aesthetic that was "bold and liberating European despite the occasional blues harmonies". Hladík's game was similar to that of John McLaughlin .
On the following album, Nová syntéza , Blue Effect worked with the Czech Radio Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Kamil Hála. More records by the band followed. When Mišík left the band, Hladík became its leader.
In the 1970s the group was successful across Europe (concerts in Poland, GDR, Hungary, Romania and others). In 1979, Hladik recorded the song Šaty z šátků with Lešek Semelka and drummer Vlado Čech , with which they won the Bratislava lyre . In 1990 the band stopped performing.
In 2004, the demand for concerts and for new recordings made Hladík to continue playing. Over 30 concerts were planned for the first months of 2010. With several line-up changes, Hladík played in the band until September 2016.
The band pursues a style that is difficult to classify, which is based on a blues foundation, but lives mainly from Radim Hladík's guitar interpretations and jazzy influences. Generally their style is called progressive rock or fusion .
In 2001 and 2003 the piece Má Hra from 1971 was used as a sample source by the French hip-hop / house project One-T for its singles The Magic Key and Music Is The One-T ODC .
Members
All the members who have appeared in the history of the band:
Radim Hladík (guitar, since 1968), Vladimír Mišík (vocals, flute, 1968–70), Miloš Svoboda (guitar, 1968–69), Jiří Kozel (bass guitar, 1968–72), Vlado Čech (drums, 1968–81, 1984–85), Lešek Semelka (keyboards, vocals, 1970–75, 1977–81), Josef Kůstka (bass guitar, electric violin, 1972–75), Fedor Frešo (bass guitar, 1975–77), Oldřich Veselý (keyboards, Singing, 1975–79), Oldřich Kellner (guitar, vocals, 1981–90), Radek Křemenák (bass guitar, 1982–85), Josef Havlíček (drums, 1982–84), Luboš Manda (keyboards, 1985–90), Luboš Pospíšil (vocals, 1988–90), David Koller (drums, 1988–90), Jan Křížek (guitar, since 2004), Pavel Bohatý (keyboards, 2004–06), Vojtěch Říha (bass guitar, 2004–06), Václav Zima (Drums, since 2004), Wojttech (bass guitar, since 2006)
Discography
Albums
- 1970: Meditace (Supraphon 1 13 0689)
- 1970: Coniunctio (together with Jazz Q ) (Supraphon 1 13 0845)
- 1971: Kingdom of Life (export version of Meditace ) (Supraphon 1 13 1023)
- 1971: Nová syntéza (together with JOČR ) (: Panton 11 0288)
- 1974: Nová syntéza 2 (together with JOČR) (: Panton 11 0489 H)
- 1974: A Benefit Of Radim Hladík (export version of Modrý efekt a Radim Hladík ) (Supraphon 1 13 1586)
- 1975: Modrý efekt & Radim Hladík (: Supraphon 1 13 1777)
- 1977: Svitanie (Opus 91 9116 0541)
- 1979: Svět hledačů (Panton 8113 0068)
- 1981: 33 (Supraphon 1 13 2897)
- 1991: Comeback: Legendy českého rocku se vracejí (live album)
- 2004: Beatová síň slávy - Blue Effect (compilation)
- 2008: Live (Live album)
- 2008: Live & Life 1966-2008 (DVD)
EP
- 1969: Snakes / Sen není věčný / Sun Is So Bright / Blue Taxi
Singles
- 1969: Slunečný hrob / I've Got My Mojo Working
- 1983: Něžná / Záhada jmelí
- 1987: Doctor / Čajovna
- 1989: Kampa / Úhel pohledu
literature
- HP Hofmann: Beat Lexicon. Performers, authors, technical terms . VEB Lied der Zeit Musikverlag, Berlin (East) 1977.
Web links
- Homepage of the group
- Blue Effect na Progarchives.com (English)
- Blue Effect na Rateyourmusic.com (English)
- Blue Effect at ostbeat.de ( Memento from June 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Mathias Bäumel Prague guitarist Radim Hladík died , jazz newspaper
- ↑ blueeffect.cz/koncerty ( memento of the original from February 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b rateyourmusic.com/ Blue Effect on rateyourmusic.com
- ↑ www.progarchives.com
