SBB - 1978 - Follow My Dream

SBB

1978

Follow My Dream

Going Away: (24:09)
01. Freedom With Us (8:12)
02. 3rd Reanimation (6:13)
03. Going Away (6:36)
04. (Zywiec) Mountain Melody (3:08)
Follow My Dream: (22:16)
05. Wake Up (5:02)
06. In The Cradle of Your Hands (2:46)
07. Growin' (6:18)
08. Follow My Dream (8:10)

Bonus tracks (CD):
9. Królewskie marzenie (6:41)
10. Wiosenne chimery (15:54)
11. Dla przyjaciól (7:09)

- Józef Skrzek / keyboards, harmonica, vocals
- Antymos Apostolis / guitar
- Jerzy Piotrowski / drums

On the Follow my Dream album of Polish symphonic/space/fusion act SBB the band acquired a new sound. With modern, professional equipment (perhaps influenced by '75 Pink Floyd) the band re-invents itself after a career that already gave rise to three major progressive releases. The production of the album is very good, which I can't always say about their earlier releases.

Follow my Dream was aimed at the western part of Europe, which of course had the biggest market for progressive music. Applying the Manticore-tactic, SBB started singing in English and Józef Skrzek does an acceptable job. The accent is however always disturbing and I myself had no problems at all with the Polish lyrics.

Though equipped with a new sound a fresh new market to be explored I must admit I think the band didn't have too much inspiration for this record. The opening section 'Freedom With Us' (they shouldn't have re-used the title of the powerful epic of New Horyzont) is utterly boring. Luckily '3rd Reanimation' is an exciting fusion jam with great slightly distorted synthesizer sounds and a remarkable bombastic ending section. 'Going Away' has again a boring intro and couplet theme but a compensating instrumental refrain that is highly rewarding. Somehow I always get the feeling of relieve listening to this song. The song evolves into the electronic sound-scape Mountain Melody, which is also very rewarding and well recorded. On side two Wake Up is an atmospheric opener. The English version of the Pamieç masterpiece 'In the Cradle of your Hands' is a strong effort, but I prefer the more mysterious sound of the Pamieç version. Still this is track that shows the best of compositional genius that SBB has to offer, and perhaps even the progressive genre itself. The adventerious section after the opening section is one of my favorite moments of progressive rock. The title track 'Follow my Dream' is a boring fusion track like the opening of side one. Luckily the instrumental ending section is highly rewarding. A good ending for the album.

Conclusion. This album showcases an important phase of SBB that would eventually lead to their later major progressive rock releases. The Follow My Dream album falls short to be mentioned in the list of SBB greatest records, but it does have some really amazing moments like '3rd Reanimation', the instrumental sections of 'Going Away' and the ending section of the title track.