Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned

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Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned
Studio album by
the Plastic People of the Universe
Released1978
Recorded1974–1975
GenreRock
Length52:54
LabelGlobus Music
The Plastic People of the Universe chronology
Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned
(1978) 		Pašijové hry velikonoční
(1978)

Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned is an album by Czech underground band the Plastic People of the Universe.[1] It was recorded in 1974/75, mainly at Houska Castle, enabled by the castle's then warden Svatopluk Karásek, with some songs being recorded in Prague.[2] The album could not be officially released and distributed under the former Communist regime in Czechoslovakia; instead fans duplicated tapes with one another, often resulting in poor technical quality. It was released in 1978 in France by SCOPA Invisible Production.[3] In the Czech Republic a remastered version was published in 2001 by Globus Music. The album title is a parody of the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Most of the songs on the record are settings of poems by Egon Bondy.[4] The author of the album title is Ivan Hartl, a Czechoslovak emigrant living in London.[citation needed]

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Spin Alternative Record Guide9/10[6]

Music critic Robert Christgau named the album one of the few import-only records he loved yet omitted from Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).[7] The Globe and Mail wrote: "They clearly define a heavy bass-drums bottom over which the soloists duel wonderfully with these incredibly sinister riffs. It's a sort of musique noir, evoking images out of Carol Reed's The Third Man, Welles' The Trial and the dark doings and damp streets of Fritz Lang's films noirs of the late 1940s. The album's opening cut, '20', typically sounds like eccentric Procol Harum, though in place of one of Robin Trower's guitar solos Brabanec lays out a devastating sax solo in the manner of Coltrane."[8] The Spin Alternative Record Guide praised the album's "sardonic pleasures."[6]

Track listing[edit]

All music composed by Milan Hlavsa; texts are listed.

  1. "Dvacet" (lyrics: Egon Bondy)
  2. "Zácpa" (lyrics: Egon Bondy)
  3. "Toxika" (lyrics: Egon Bondy)
  4. "Magické noci" (lyrics: Egon Bondy)
  5. "M.G.M." (instrumental)
  6. "Okolo okna" (lyrics: Egon Bondy)
  7. "Elegie" (lyrics: Egon Bondy)
  8. "Podivuhodný mandarin" (lyrics: Egon Bondy)
  9. "Nikdo" (lyrics: Egon Bondy)
  10. "Jó-to se ti to spí" (lyrics: Egon Bondy)
  11. "Já a Mike" (lyrics: Kurt Vonnegut; translated to Czech by Jaroslav Kořán)
  12. "Ranní ptáče" (lyrics: Egon Bondy)
  13. "Francovka" (lyrics: Egon Bondy)
  14. "Jednou nohou" (instrumental)
  15. "Spofa blues" (lyrics: Egon Bondy)
  16. "Apokalyptickej pták" (lyrics: Pavel Zajíček)
  17. "Píseň brance" (lyrics: František Pánek)

Personnel[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Jenkins, Mark (26 Feb 1999). "Power to the Plastic People". Newsday. p. N17.
  2. ^ "Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned". PlasticPeople.eu. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  3. ^ "Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned". Progboard.com. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  4. ^ Pareles, Jon (24 Apr 1989). "Czechoslovak Band That Suffered for Its Art". The New York Times. p. C13.
  5. ^ Dougan, John. "Egon Bondy's Happy Heart Club Banned". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  6. ^ a b Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. p. 302.
  7. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "The Guide". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 0899190251. Retrieved 30 March 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  8. ^ Testa, Bart (17 Feb 1979). "Red Rule, Black Market". The Globe and Mail. p. F8.


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