"I CHING" (Zbigniew Hołdys + various artists, 1984)

Largely recorded during the Polish martial law, with armed soldiers controlling the studios, this album is the photography of one of the harshest moments in the history of the nation. Despite that, it contains some courageous lyrics, mostly written by Bogdan Olewicz, which subtlely criticized the regime.

The project was directed by Perfect's Zbigniew Hołdys (composer and singer in most of the tracks), with the help of some great local musicians, such as Wojciech Morawski (drums on twelve tracks out of fourteen), Wojciech Waglewski from Osjan (mandolin on "Wojna chudych z grubymi", lead vocals on "Ja płonę", lead guitar in nine tracks), and Andrzej Nowicki (treated piano on "Nie będzie nas", bass guitar in eight tracks). Two songs are written and sung by blues-rock legend Martyna Jakubowicz.

The musical content is really eclectic, ranging from atmospheric new wave songs ("Heksagram sześćdziesiąty piąty") to frantic punk rhythms ("Nie będzie nas"), from folk music ("Różne rozmowy z życiem") to hard rock ("Człowiek mafii"). Last but not least, here you can find "Wojna chudych z grubymi", an anti-war poem and a wonderful piece of music (try to image Police with a virtuoso mandolin player in place of Andy Summers). 

"I Ching" did not receive any support from local radio or television, but it was still able to sell 50.000 copies in the year of its release, opening the way to the supergroup Morawski Waglewski Nowicki Hołdys, and subsequently to the long lived art-rock formation Voo Voo.

Tracklist:
1. Heksagram sześćdziesiąty piąty (vocals: Zbigniew Hołdys)
2. Miss Propagandiss (vocals: Zbigniew Hołdys & Joanna Posmyk)
3. Dyktator (vocals: Zbigniew Hołdys)
4. Nie będzie nas (vocals: Zbigniew Hołdys)
5. Ja płonę (vocals: Wojciech Waglewski)
6. Wojna chudych z grubymi (vocals: Zbigniew Hołdys)
7. Gazeta (vocals: Zbigniew Hołdys)
8. Człowiek mafii (vocals: Zbigniew Hołdys)
9. Różne rozmowy z życiem (vocals: Zbigniew Hołdys)
10. Super Ego (vocals: Zbigniew Hołdys)
11. Milo (sung in chorus on Wojciech Waglewski's fictitious lyrics)
12. Słuchaj Man (vocals: Martyna Jakubowicz)
13. Kołysanka dla misiaków (vocals: Martyna Jakubowicz)
14. I Ching (instrumental, composed by Zbigniew Hołdys)

p.s. If you are a Polish reader and you want to try, please post a translation of "Wojna chudych z grubymi" in the comments section. I used Google Translate to understand the meaning of the song, but there are lots of grammar mistakes :)

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