MERGE

The first solo album of Laza Ristovski (not counting his collaboration with Ipe Ivandic on "Stizemo" in 1978) hit the Yugoslavian market in 1982 and immediately gained huge popularity and commercial success. Not without a good reason - "Merge" is the first fully developed album of instrumental keyboard electronic music, done much in the vein of international popular acts like Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis or to some extent even Rick Wakeman. Thanks to that fact, you could hardly find a TV or radio station in former Yugoslavia in the period not airing "Behind the Horizon", "Shadow Dance" or "Domina", sometimes beating the above mentioned international superstars. "Kales bre Andjo" is on the other hand a synthesized cover of a traditional Macedonian folk song. If you like an accessible, melodic, electronic "background" music performed with technical skills and using a plethora of keyboards and synths, you should definitely get this nice album. However, more demanding fans of electronic music will probably survive without this one, on the premise of being too "light" or easy listening.

PERSONAL RATING: 3,75/5