The Soulmen | pl

The Soulmen was a Slovak rock band formed in Bratislava (then part of Czechoslovakia), singing in English, that existed from 1967 to 1968. They were formed by Dežo Ursiny (at the time 20 years old) a year after he had left The Beatmen. The Soulmen were one of the most important slovak bigbit bands. Cream is often cited as the main influence on The Soulmen's music. The band was a power trio consisting of guitarist Dežo Ursíny, bassist Fedor Frešo and drummer Vladimir Mallý (an early lineup had Dušan Hájek on drums), all of them contributing to vocals as well. The group recorded one "EP The Soulmen" with songs "Wake Up", "A Sample Of Happines", "Baby Do Not Cry", "I Wish I Were" on label Panton. The songs of Soulmen ("Baby Do Not Cry", "I Wish I Were") was used in the movie tragy-comedy by director Ján Hřebejk about year 1968 in Czechoslovakia called "Pelíšky" and documentary serial "Slovenský bigbít" (Slovak big beat). Together with The Beatmen they were the most important slovak bigbit bands. They are often considered the successors of The Beatmen and often mentioned alongiside of them in the literature, partly because of the presence of legendary Dežo Ursiny in both bands and also of the name in the similar style, but their music was a significant shift in style - The Beatmen more or less didn't cross the borders of the Mersey sound, whereas The Soulmen's music was already more similar to the contemporary western rhytmn n blues and rock music. The band members would later become members of several popular Czechoslovak bands, such as Prúdy, Collegium Musicum and Fermata. Ursiny, after dismissing his Provisorium would go on a solo career in the seventies.
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