SOME DEATHS TAKE FOREVER

TRACKLISTING


A1. Bernard Szajner - Welcome To Death Ro w
A2. Bernard Szajner - Ritual
A3. Bernard Szajner - Execute
B1. Bernar d Szajner - Ressurector
B2. Bernard Szajner - Terms Of Reality (Radio Phase)< br>B3. Bernard Szajner - The Memory
B4. Bernard Szajner - New Body Form (Radi o Phase)
B5. Bernard Szajner - Suspended Animation
B6. Bernard Szajner - T he Difference Is Not All That Great (Radio Phase)
B7. Bernard Szajner - A Kin d Of Freedom

C1. Bernard Szajner - A Single Broken Wing
C2. Bernard Sz ajner - And Executed
C3. Bernard Szajner - Thol Onsia
D1. Bernard Szajner - Warden Plays
D2. Bernard Szajner - Er Aera





INFO


Recording an album about the feelings of two prisoners waiting on death row. As a statement against capital punishment. It was (and even still is nowadays) a delicate and ambitious plan. Bernard Szajner did it, in 1980, after watching an Amnesty International documentary.

And stakes were high: at that point in his life Szajner has spent the majority of the 70's doing light and visuals for bands as Magma, Gong, Pink Floyd and The Who. In the meantime h e created his own instrument, the 'Syringe', aka the first laser harp, and made his debut as a musician under the Z moniker with 'Visions of Dune'.

W hen listening to 'Some Deaths Take Forever' in 2020 it's hard to believe it was recorded already four decades ago: the melancholic piano theme and the metallic synth riffs of opener 'Welcome to Death Row' set the tone for a mind blowing aud io journey which at one moment echoes the vibe of early 80's gloom funk and dera iled krautrock drenching into pulsating proto Detroit techno and on the other ha nd sounds like the blueprint for a futuristic electronic music scene in the year s to come.

The influence and the impact of 'Some Deaths Take Forever' is also still vibrating: Carl Craig mentioned it as his all time favorite album in Future Mag, the signature sound of Oneohtrix Point Never feels almost like a not so hidden tribute and the killer sci fi electronics of tracks 'Ressurector' or 'A Kind Of Freedom' resonates through the discography of Air and Daft Punk, to name a few.

Excerpt liner notes John Olson:

"Szajner's album here sounds different with each listen, a new unnoticed corner blaring alo ud to be (re)discovered within any of the ten tracks: strongest mark of a classi c if there was any. So buckle in, spray yourself with this electric insecticide and let your shadowy sentence ring out with a "loud clanging noise that turned o ut be an electronic gavel."

Excerpt liner notes Karel Beer:

Now 40 years later when listening to "Some Deaths..." in spite of the uncompro mising subject matter and knowing that the written word is his most influential source of inspiration I am struck by the unexpected references that can be heard on the tracks. There's Shaft, Jeff Beck, Morricone, Weather Report and even Tim my Thomas. A truly eclectic bunch that somehow makes sense of an era. It's almos t as if Szajner is applying these accidental or intentional influences just as a n artist would use inks, oils or found forms to a canvas.