FM
History
Acting as a long-lived backing band for its leader, Michal Prokop & Framus Five are one of the most influential acts on czech music scene to date, best known for their title track Kolej Yesterday, a story of cold-war generation in mid-life crysis. Their sound and genre direction has been fluid so far, ranging from rhythm and blues and soul, over to bigbeat, blues rock and progressive rock compositions. The same versatility applies to the band’s name and line-up. During more than four decades since its formation, a great number of excellent musicians has taken place in the band, including guitarist Luboš Andršt and violinist Jan Hrubý.
The band’s origins can be traced back to spring of 1963, when schoolmates Michal Prokop and Ivan Trnka formed a guitar-piano duo. With temporary and unstable line-ups created together with session musicians, they used to perform occasionally as an instrumental act Framus, inspired by The Shadows. Prokop’s strong interest in Ray Charles, soul and rhythm and blues music in general, together with inability to find a suiting vocalist, led to his decision to provide the vocal section on his own. In 1967, the band was already famous and estabilished well on the scene. Performing as Michal Prokop & Framus Five at that time, they released their first eponymous LP in 1969, with an export version called Blues in Soul. Subsequent tour consisted of an impresive number of concerts, including 200 shows in Poland. The first change in genre direction came with highly acclaimed progressive rock piece Město ER (R City) in 1971.
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