Post Description

Quidam - halfPLUGGED
Progressive Rock | 2006 | MP3@256kbps | 103 MB | covers

In May 2006 Quidam played an acoustic gig in Inowroclaw (Poland), which they recorded to multi-track for their own personal collections. Upon playing the material they discovered they liked the recordings so much that they just had to share it with the rest of the world. And rightfully so because this CD is a worthy addition to the Quidam catalogue.


There's no electric guitars in these songs and most of the keyboards are set to acoustic piano sounds. As a result the flute plays an even more important role in creating the melodies than it normally does, giving these renditions a nice pastoral feel. As one would expect, the focus of the album lies on Quidam's latest studio album SurREvival, with 4 tracks taken from that CD. The only other Quidam track present is a wonderful version of Sanktuarium from their debut album. Although (some sections of) the originals of these songs sometimes have a harder edge and you would expect them to fall apart when played acoustic, they work remarkably well in these unplugged versions.

Especially the mentioned Sanktuarium deserves a special mentioning since the powerful original has been turned into a sensitive, emotional ballad for its acoustic rendition. Most of the song is a vocal-piano duet with the flute providing solos. Only at the end of the song, during the final flute solo, do the drums and guitar join in. A splendid version. Queen of Moulin Rouge maintains its 'bite' in the second half of the song thanks to the chunky bass and, as on the live DVD The Fifth Season, the live version of Not So Close is combined with Joe South's Hush.

The band also play three covers, being Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, The Beatles' Blackbird and Moody Blues' Nights In White Satin. All of these covers are played very well and make for a nice variety in the setlist.

The CD also contains three AVI movies that can be played on your PC. The first one, Próba, is a rather hilarious attempt to play some salsa, after most musicians have switched instruments during rehearsals. Always good to see that these guys don't take themselves as serious as we all might think. The other two, SurREvival and Wish You Were Here, seem to be footage from the actual acoustic concert and contain some nice editing, black and white shots and different camera angles. The video quality of the footage leaves a lot to be desired (most of it is very blurred and out of focus) but they make for nice-to-have bonus material nevertheless.

All in all a wonderful informal live album that has found its way back to my CD player very often in the last couple of weeks. Besides being a wonderful album in its own right this unplugged album also proves that Quidam's material stands up very well in a stripped down setup and that the new singer Bartek has found its place within the band, being comfortable with both old and new songs as well as cover versions. Highly recommended to Quidam fans and people that like unplugged albums.



TRACKLIST:
1. surREvival 6:07
2. queen of moulin rouge 6:42
3. sanktuarium (sanctuary) 5:49
4. blackbird 2:06
5. wish you were here 4:16
6. the fifth season 9:18
7. nights in white satin 5:25
8. not so close (including excerpts form 'hush") 11:37