RSC
RSC is a Polish band
that has been active since the early 1980s. The band released 2
LPs in the very early 1980s, but then it took more than 10 years
to release new albums. In the meantime the music industry had
switched from LP to CD, so the band made a comeback in 1993 on CD
with the re-issue of their debut LP RSC. That CD was
titled Marathon rockowy and featured as well some
tracks of their 2nd album Fly rock. If you want to
start collecting RSC material, then I would highly recommend this
CD, as it contains some of the best RSC material ever recorded,
also musically this is the most interesting for
Rock/Hardrockalbums, as the remaining CDs that followed in the
years after Marathon Rockowy were less interesting.
First
a review of that 1993 CD...
RSC MARATHON ROCKOWY
The music of RSC is not really heavy, and actually has not much
to do with Hardrock. Its more a bit AOR/Sympho orientated
sometimes. Marathon rockowy is a sort of re-issue of
their 1982 debut, completed with tracks from their 2nd LP
Fly rock from 1983. I said sort of a re-issue,
because all the songs were newly recorded for this CD. Without a
doubt, this is their best record, because it is a great 80s
mixture of AOR, Hardrock, Pomprock and Sympho, with besides
guitars, also nice keyboard and violin work. The best songs are
2 (uptempo Symphonic Melodic Rocker), 3
(uptempo melodic rocker with KANSASish violin parts),
6 (poppy Sympho-AOR, very 80s keyboard orientated),
8 (great Sympho/Neo-Prog ballad a la PENDRAGON) and
9 (great catchy uptempo Sympho-AOR rocker, with very
80s keys). 10 and 11 (nice
keyboardbreak) are also great uptempo melodic rockers with slight
prog influences. The band also has a great singer by the way and
I can really recommend the CD Marathon rockowy,
although be aware that everything is sung in Polish!
(Points:
8.5 out of 10)
The
following 7 years saw the band releasing 4 more CDs, of which I
review 2 CDs below:
RSC CZAS WODNIKA
In 1995 RSC released Czas wodnika, their first real
new studio-album since 1983. The CD has a very long playing
length, close to 75 minutes! Its rockier than the previous
record and contains 14 songs. There are some really great
Neo-Prog. Melodic Rockers on the CD, such as Zbemoj,
Ana liczy cienie and LAmerica, all
reminding me of KAYAK/KANSAS/PENDRAGON/IQ. This is actually very
good stuff, not as good as the previous CD with the older songs,
but still a recommended CD that saw the band moving into a
Neo-Progressive Rockstyle.
(Points:
8.0 out of 10)
RSC PARAKLETOS
Parakletos was released in 1997 and saw a clear
change in style, because the band introduced some more
instruments in their music, of which the Trumpet and Sax are
quite annoying sometimes. The songs are also very long this time,
and are more in the Neo-Prog style. The CD is a bit
semi-Instrumental with some influences from other musicstyles
(Jazz/Reggea). A song like Madryt is pure Jazz, but
happily there are also good songs on this CD, such as
Parakletos and Piekto, both good
Semi-Progressive Rockers a la KANSAS. Still this is the least
interesting RSC album, a very popp affair with some uninspiring
tunes and also a shame about the trumpet/sax every time.
(Points:
7.0 out of 10)
The band
released 2 more CDs in 2000, Kilka piosenek o milosci
and Gold, but these CDs I have not heard yet,
although I think the Gold CD is a best of record. If
you started to get interested in RSC, then wait no more, and go
to their website at: http://www.rsc.pl
(A special thanks to Wiktor Kucaj rsc@lancut.com.pl for providing the albums
reviewed on this page)