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Welcome to volume 157 of TDATS. As promised at the beginning of this year, here is part 2 of Hungarian heavy rock of the '60s–'70s. The full set of Eastern European volumes is now:
41: Eastern Roc | 101: Poland | 120: Serbia | 134: Macedonia | 153: Hungary 1 | 157: Hungary 2
I set the scene in the introduction to my first Hungarian collection, and you read that in detail in volume 153 (link). In summary:
– The 1973 Miskolc Diósgyőr Pop Festival was "Hungary's Woodstock" and some of the names appearing here were involved in it.
– The communist government of Hungary did not seemingly have quite as much detrimental affect on rock music as authorities in other communist states, but the state-owned record label Magyar Hanglemezgyártó Vállalat (M.H.V.) did have complete record-publishing control, and occasionally used it to stifle bands which they took stylistic or ethical dislike to. For instance, one of the most successful bands, Illés, was banned from performing or releasing records for a while after saying unfavorable things to "the enemy" in a BBC TV interview in London.
This volume brings five new artists to TDATS, brooding blues rock from Gemini, fantastic funky prog from Juventus, Kex and Korong, and a groovy psych stomper from the pairing of Koncz Zsuzsa & Illés. The quality of musicianship from Hungary is stunning, everything presented here can easily stand up to the best rock from the UK, USA, Germany or anywhere else. Music seems to be in the bones of Eastern Europe and I look forward to visiting this part of the world again in future volumes!
The cover art for this volume is inspired by Busójárás, a festival where Šokci inhabitants in the town of Mohács, Hungary, parade in horned monster disguises, celebrating a time when it is said that ancestors used the same tactic to scare-off scouts of the Ottoman Empire, looking for new conquests...
TRACKS
01. Sarolta Zalatnay & Skorpió - The Freak (1975)
from album Sarolta Zalatnay
02. Hungária - Harom Szeplany Ejszakaja (1971)
from album Hungaria
03. Piramis - Rocket (Short And Sweet) (1979)
single
04. Korál - Válaszra Várva (1978 version) (1978)
from album Korál IV
05. Juventus - Akit Feikapott A Szél (1972)
single
06. Kex Együttes - Elszállt Egy Hajó A Szélben (1970)
single
07. Kati Kovács & Juventus - Add Már Uram Az Esőt! (1972)
single
08. Skorpió - Előre Nézz! (1979)
single
09. Korong Együttes - Magyarország 1945 [I. Rész] (1975)
single
10. Omega - One Man Land (1975)
from album The Hall Of Floaters In The Sky
11. Corvina - A Tűz (1974)
from album Corvina
12. Hungária - Doktor Schizofrén (1971)
single
13. Koncz Zsuzsa & Illés - Visz A Vonat (1970)
from album Szerelem
14. Tolcsvayék És A Trió - Reggel (1972)
from album T&T
15. Taurus Ex-T 25-75-82 - A Kõfalak Leomlanak (1973)
single
16. Gemini - Nem Nyugszik A Szívem (1972)
single
Sarolta Zalatnay LP (1975) |
Here's an original song from the pairing of Sarolta Zalatnay & Skorpió. Sarolta is one of Hungary's famous pop singers, and her material included a number of psychedelic songs of interest to TDATS. This track appeared in its original form on her 1973 album "Hadd Mondjam El" sung in Hungarian, and then again on her 1975 self-titled LP, in English. Discerning readers will be interested to know that the backing group on both these albums was no less than the awesomely fun and quirky rockers Skorpió, (see vols 13 & 41) who are close to a TDATS institution by this point.
I really like their sound! They definitely drew influence from The Beatles, in terms of production and vocal style at least, but much of their second album verges on hard rock, with warm, over-driven bluesy guitar. This melding of pop and heaviness is instantly likable, and if you dig "Harom Szeplany Ejszakaja" included here, the album it's from is equally good and consistent. Later in this set is another Hungária song, the fantastic psych blues "Doktor Schizofrén" from 1971, which was only on a single.
Self-Titled LP 1971 |
Early '80s Hungária |
At this point Hungária became very successful, breaking records in terms of sales and popularity, but broke-up in 1983 for the first time, due to internal disagreements. They have re-formed at various times since then, and last year it was announced that in this year (2024) the band will reunite for a concert in the Puskás Arena, with the four surviving members of the most successful line-up. Further info: Wikipedia (link), beatkorszak.hu (link). There is a huge article that goes into details of their post-'70s career at recorder.hu (link).
According to Wikipedia, one contributing factor to the demise of Piramis in 1982 was the conviction and prison time for Lajos Som, for gold smuggling! Apparently, members of communist area bands that were internationally popular sometimes took advantage of their travel permissions to smuggle gold out of the Soviet Union, which must have been an attractively lucrative pursuit. More Piramis info at Facebook (link), Wikipedia (link).
Here's one of the heavier tracks in the set that begins with an abrasive hammond organ attack, clearly a preference of heavy Hungarian bands in the seventies. This 1978 single b-side is a re-recording from the second incarnation of the band, of what was originally the a-side on a 1975 single from the original band.
All the Korál biographies state that the band first came into existence to serve popular performer Zsuzsa Koncz when she was looking for a new backing band. Ex-Taurus members; singer/keys Ferenc Baláz and drummer Brunner Győző, were joined by Pál Makrai (guitar, also of Apostol & Atlas) and András Kozma (bass - also of Apostol) in 1974. While working with Zsuzsa they also released a few singles of their own. This formation of the band was very brief, and broke up within two years or so.
In 1977 a concert occurred with Piramis and legacy performances from defunct bands Taurus & Tûzkerék. Taurus's positive reception compelled Ferenc to start up a hard rock band again, so he revived Korál along with an all-new lineup of László Fischer (guitar), Zsolt Scholler (bass) and István Pados (drums). This proved to be a good decision as Korál then became one the most successful Hungarian rock bands of the '80s, making albums until the '90s, and playing big re-union shows up until the untimely death of Ferenc from Corona virus in 2020. More Korál info at: Wikipedia (link), koral.hu (link), koralforever.hu (link) and Facebook (link).
Juventus |
Here we have a short & sweet side of funky bass and flute and some pretty wild guitar. Juventus sprang from artistic disagreements within the initial formation of the band Syrius, who appeared in my previous Hungarian TDATS. Various Syrius members split to form Juventus. As with most of the bands here, all the players were associated with other acts, examples being Péter Csomós and Péter Sipos, who were in Hungária. Juventus never made an album in their nine-year existence but made high quality singles, including some in support of the ubiquitous Kati Kovács.
Kex Együttes |
Here's another funky jazz prog side from a short-lived band that only made one single, but luckily we can hear a lot more of them on a 1999 retrospective collection called "Kex 1969-1971", the bulk of which is radio recordings. Some members of note from bands that will appear later are Földes László, better-known later as "Hobo" of the Hobo Blues Band, Tamás Somló of Omega, Locomotiv GT and Non-Stop, and Závodi János of Hobo Blues Band, Non-Stop, Piramis and '90s supergroup TRB.
Kati won TV & Radio's "Táncdalfesztivál ’72" with the song "Add Már Uram Az Esőt!" (Lord, give me the rain!), with Juventus backing her. It was released on single the same year and she was popular in East Germany where it was released in German, as were many of her songs. It became one of her perennial favourites and she performed it on stage as recently as this year 2024 (link). Later she made an English version on a curious album in 1996, which also includes interpretations of Vangelis's 1492 soundtrack. You can hear that version on my youtube (link).
Bódy Magdi |
Skorpió - Előre Nézz! 45 (1979) |
Although Skorpió's presence has often loomed on this site since it started, I have yet to write anything substantial about them. I guess a good place to start is with the review of their first album that I put on RYM recently (link): "Probably the best album from this Hungarian band, the musicianship is hard-riffing, funky, super-tight and proggy while maintaining a relentless sense of fun & exhilaration, with about half of the album rocking surprisingly hard, while somehow never becoming too much or too cheesy. You could say it has the same type of appeal as good heavy glam rock, but the music itself is more technical than most '70s glam. All this makes for a very refreshing sound that should still appeal to fans of hard rock / early metal, especially fans of bombastic, keys-heavy bands like Deep Purple."
Skorpió's debut album lineup was band-leader Károly Frenreisz (bass/sax), Szücs Antal Gábor (guitars), Papp Gyula (keyboards) and Fekete Gábor (drums). They were all experienced players, with Károly coming from Locomotiv GT, Szücs & Fekete coming from Hungária (in this volume) and Papp from Mini. They are one of the country's most successful bands with the debut album alone selling over 300,000 copies. Last year (2023) Skorpió played a 50th anniversary tour with Károly, Szücs and Papp still rocking the stage.
From a 2008 interview with Szücs (link): "- You were an active part of two of the three acts of Skorpió. How do you remember those years?
Skorpió on Wikipedia (link). Károly Frenreisz on facebook (link). More info about Károly (link).
Here's a propulsive little number that rocks as much as prime James Gang! At the time of this album, entitled "T&T", the titular "Trio" was the Tolcsvayék brothers, Béla and László, on guitars/keys, and Czipó Tibor on bass, although many other players are credited on the album, such as Németh Oszkár on drums and Móricz Mihály on guitar. On the album they also had vocal contributions from no less than three of the girls who I have featured in these Hungarian comps, Zsuzsa Koncz, Kati Kovács and Sarolta Zalatnay.
Tolcsvayék És A Trió's music often rocked in a US country rock type way and I enjoyed a lot of what I heard while making this volume. More about them at: Wikipedia (link)
Taurus |
A Kõfalak Leomlanak (Stone Walls Falling Down) opens in ethereal, stately fashion, and soon ramps things up with superb performances from the whole band over this tumultuous six minute trip, lead by Balázs Ferenc's stunning organ work. Taurus, one of the first bands in Hungary formed with the express intention of making hard rock, was started in 1972 by a bunch of guys from established bands. The full name was inspired by the Taurus constellation, combined with the phone number of drummer Brunner Győző, as he was the only member with a phone! They released only two singles in their short existence, which is a shame as both are excellent!
The band was founded by guitarist Lajos Som and singer Ferenc Balázs, who went on to success in Piramis and Korál respectively, both of which feature in this set. It is suggested in Wikipedia that one reason for the band's demise was Brunner Győző's open criticism of the communist regime, which made him a subject of surveillance by the authorities. Brunner did however also become a member of Korál later. More Taurus info at: Wikipedia (link) and Wayback Machine (link).
The Day After The Sabbath 146: HALLO Nr. 1 - DDR Rock part 1 [Rock of Communist Germany]
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