SMAR SW Review - Awareness On Not Only Rock

SMAR SW - "Awareness" (1995)

After the release of the first album entitled "W jedności sił" (In Unity Strength), SMAR SW became recognizable throughout Poland.

With the next album ("Let's Fight for Our Rights"), the punks from Rzeszów not only confirmed their belief that they deserve a strong position in the punk community, but also definitely strengthened this position.

That is why in 1995, when their third studio album entitled "Awareness" was released, they surprised most of the previous listeners.

The reason for this surprise was a sudden change in sound.

Why did they decide to take this step, despite the fact that the previous releases were warmly received by the audience?

I'll quote here the words of the band's guitarist, "Yogurth": "In the beginning we played simple songs, because we didn't know how to do it any other way. Over time, the music developed. I wouldn't be able to self-realize myself by recording more albums like "W jedności siła". Punk is an attitude and breaking patterns also in the so-called punk music."

The change itself can be noticed in the length of the composed pieces.

While on the bestselling predecessor "Let's Fight for Our Rights", most of the compositions last over two minutes, on "Awareness" the time of extending the songs is significant (the longest composition on the album is "Howl", which lasts over eight (!) minutes).

However, the length of the songs and the melodic lines are the only change in the band - the lyrics of the guys still adhere to freedom, individualism and rebellion against the surrounding reality.

In "I Am Strong", the lyrical subject assures us of his individuality in the surrounding world:

"I'm not trying to be strong - I'm strong - because I have 100 percent faith in myself.

I know who I am, I know where I'm going, I don't swallow shit - the food of the people."

A similar theme can be observed in "My Life":

"My life represents the highest value for me and only I have the right to lose it or exchange it for anything."

As befits punk rockers, we also have contempt for the military on the album in the form of the song "When":

"The time must come when people refuse to participate in the carnage called war.

They will stop accepting the profession of a killer, i.e. a soldier.

Just as they do not accept the killing of children, the rape of women and the poisoning of drinking water."

On the other hand, "Punx" would have a real chance of becoming the anthem of rebellious youth:

"Punk is destruction, the destruction of schemes, rules and forms in destruction and action.

It is the removal of boundaries between people.

Our "no future" is the rejection of a normal life devoid of prospects.

The so-called "normal work", "normal society".

It is saying "no" to the state, the church, public opinion and fascism."

In 1993, on the album "Let's Fight for Our Rights", SMAR SW warned that: "escaping into drugs will not give freedom", while two years later, already on "Awareness", the guys decided to continue this thread in the form of the song "Narkotyka":

"The illusion of shelter, the stop of nightmares, your brain has frozen like jelly, the time is coming for your end - drugs kill? You kill yourself."

"Civilization" - one of my favorites on the album, deals with "improving":

"Tired, washed of feelings. Rotten, lepers.

Hollowed-out organisms, destroyed by a disease conventionally called civilization.

(…)

Elimination of colors, gray instead of warmth.

Steel and concrete instead of green.

(…)

We obediently open our cracked mouths, and the steel hand of civilization slowly tears out our hearts."

"TV" tells the story of people who passionately follow what is happening in TV sets and the effects that such behavior causes.

The result?

Thoughtlessness, stagnation in feelings...

"The illusion of life, the murder of feelings, indifference.

Like a butcher of animals made of skin - television robs us of our feelings."

The motto of the Polish Army "God, Honor, Homeland" in the song entitled "Do not kill" was condemned and accused of "putting on" shackles with the inscription "patriotism".

According to the lyrical subject, patriotism also inhibits the individual and forbids independent thinking.

"Do not kill and die for God, Honor and Homeland.

We have been taught at school and at home, on TV and in newspapers, to accept violence.

Rape and killing as natural components of life, which they are not."

And, as is traditionally the case in punk, politicians are also slammed, thanks to the song "Paranoja":

"Don't you see the hypocrisy on the faces of politicians when they babble about the common interest?"

The oppressors of the conscious "I" are also various institutions in the state, which we can see by listening to the song (whose name also honored the album cover) "Awareness":

"You look at the world through the eyes of institutions that have been kneading your mind since childhood.

You perceive reality in one dimension, a dimension that has been imposed on you.

But all is not lost yet, as long as there is a chance that you realize what they are doing to you, what they have already done to you.

You blindly follow the path of cognition, the perception of phenomena according to established rules.

You think you're thinking, you only think - they think for you, they think in your head."

I must admit that I didn't like "Awareness" right away.

Having listened to the band's earlier achievements, their work from twenty-two years ago seemed to me "hard to digest" at first, too dark for a punk band.

However, after a few listenings, I found this album to be sensational.

The SMAR SW has moved in the right direction.

My conclusion after the hearing of "Awareness" is obvious:

Be a conscious recipient and "don't trade reason for paranoia".

Track listing:

1. Freedom

2. Drugs

3. Punx

4. Civilization

5. I'm strong

6. Yelp

7. Do not kill

8. Poem

9. TV

10. Maybe Life

11. When

12. Paranoia

13. Hate

14. Awareness

Ingredients:

- Paweł "Sezon" - vocals

- Grzegorz "Kaktus" - bass guitar

- Robert "Yogurth" - guitar

- Wacek - "Sikor" - drums

Rating: 10/10

• 4 comments

  › M 2017-02-21 20:01:44 - PL

  Sorry za offtop - o co chodzi z ankietą na stronie głównej? Czy reedycja 'Samobójstwa w ogóle? Czy może pytanie jest o to, czy wydawać w oryginale czy po remasteringu?

  Jaki jest w ogóle status reedycji 'Samobójstwa'? Będzie/nie będzie/może będzie jak będzie zainteresowanie? Ja co jakiś czas zerkam na Allegro czy ktoś nie wystawił CD 'Samobójstwa' z pierwszego wydania ale podejrzewam, że się nie doczekam.

  Pozdrowienia, M.

  › yogi 2017-02-21 20:14:24 - PL

  Pytanie jest czy wydawać z masteringiem czy bez. Zdecydowana większość chce z masteringiem. Więc tak będzie :)

  Status jest taki: na dniach/tygodniach płyty idą do remasteringu, potem okładka, tłocznia itd. Myślę, że wyrobię się przed wakacjami

  Pozdrawiam

  › M 2017-02-24 19:29:04 - PL

  Dzięki za info. Sam z reguły kupuję wydania 'oryginalne', jeżeli mogę, bo kilka razy się zawiodłem na remasteringach. Mam nadzieję, że tu będzie ok i fantazja nikogo nie poniesie :]. Tak czy inaczej czekam z niecierpliwością.

  › yogi 2017-02-25 11:54:03 - PL

  Bez obaw, remastering zrobi ten sam człowiek, z którym nagrywaliśmy świadomość.
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