Lady Pank's third studio effort, the last of their new wave phase and their poppiest record up to that date.
Even though the band had three no. 1 singles in 1985, "LP3" was somehow a commercial disappointment, selling only 100.000 copies in its first year of release. A satisfying sum for an average Polish band of the time, but not for Lady Pank, who were dominating the scene. The poor reception of this album is probably the main reason of the 1988 shocking change of style, which turned the band into an arena-rock act.
The opening track, "Made in Homo", is a beautiful dark-punk number, but it is kinda misleading, because the rest of the album is marked by an absolutely brighter mood. Just think to "Ludzie z Marsa" and "Osobno", two new wave songs with a relaxed guitar sound, or to "Babilon Disco Najt", a nice pop number which featured Urszula Mogielnicka's dreamy background vocals.
To give a sequel to the most successful album of your era mustn't be easy. In fact, Lady Pank's second studio work often suffers from the comparison with its predecessor. Despite selling over 150.000 copies in one year, "Ohyda" failed to reach the massive following of "Lady Pank", nor reached the same respect among the critics. If it was released by a band without such a cumbersome debut album, probably it would have been regarded as a little classic today. I like two songs in particular, the atmospheric ballad "To jest tylko Rock and Roll" andthe post-punk anthem"Zabij to".
Second post dedicated to Lady Pank. In this anthology I collected ten songs released only as singles or compilation tracks during the new wave phase of Lady Pank's career, lasted from 1982 (the year of their debut single) to 1986.
These are ten of the best songs in Lady Pank's book and arguably in the history of Polish music.
1. Mała Lady Pank
2. Minus 10 w Rio
These two songs were released as Lady Pank's first single in summer 1982. Guitar player Jan Borysewicz is also the singer in "Mała Lady Pank", because Janusz Panisewicz was not in the band yet: he joined in for "Minus 10 w Rio", where he sing the chorus.
3. Tańcz głupia tańcz
Released as a single at the end of 1982, it is one of the band's key-songs: it was the first entirely sung by Panisewicz and it opened the historical Sopot 1985 concert.
4. Augustowskie noce
Released as a single in july 1984, this is a funny cover of Maria Koterbska's old pop-jazz hit.
5. Sztuka latania
This lyrical post-punk moment (the title means "The Theory of Flight") is possibly Lady Pank's most beautiful song. A no. 1 hit in april 1985, it also titled an important compilation album featuring Aya RL and other Nowa Fala projects.
6. Banalna rzecz, c'est la vie
Released as part of the "Sztuka latania" compilation album.
7. Raport z N.
8. Rysunkowa postać
This no. 1 single was released in the summer of 1985. "Rysunkowa postać" was the B-side, even though it was the most successful song.
9. Gwiazdkowe dzieci
Lady Pank's Christmas song, presented at the end of 1985.
10. Sly
This is not Lady Pank's first song in English, but while the others were all translations of their Polish hits, this is the first original one. It was released as a single in 1986.
Six songs out of the ten contained in Lady Pank's debut album reached the top of the Trójka chart. By the end of 1984 the album had sold 420.000 copies, and its singles a further 300.000.
Lady Pank is one the most successful bands ever in their homeland. Their first works are characterized by an angular post-punk sound, with smart pop refrains and occasional reggae structures. Anyway, they were also able to write dreamy ballads such as "Wciąż bardziej obcy", my favourite song here.
As time goes by, especially in the 90s, their sound changed into a flat rock formula, more suitable to fill arenas during their pharaonic tours. Nonetheless, their earlier stuff is still surrounded by a magic flavour, and "Lady Pank" remains an important key to understand Poland's Nowa Fala movement. It is quite simply one of the best albums released in that country.
