LAZA RISTOVSKI

Ristovski here covered several songs, mostly hits by Simon & Garfunkel, including one Mozart theme! Wait a minute! - synthesizer keyboards and "The Boxer"? Hmmm, will not do for me. These songs are fairly melodic and sweet sounding by themselves, making no big room for experiments. What you can do with them is to make them into a Muzak, and that's exactly what Ristovski did on "Quit". Ten times boring listen. Twenty times and at one point you will probably stop noticing it has been played at all. The only two songs worth hearing are "Over My Borntown" (what an English!) and "Lavori".

The former would re-surface on later CD albums as "Nebo nad Beogradom", while the idea of covering S&G repertoire would expand to the whole disc in 2006. This all gives me bad signs of lack of creativity and of making "sweet" instrumental music for "housewives".

PERSONAL RATING: 2/5

To be fair, Jelic is the leading composer/performer on this album. He played assorted percussion, harmonica, zither, piano and all vocal arrangements (no lyrics, vocals were electronically processed and used as instrument) and was a co-producer. Ristovski played his PPG synthesizers only, but used them in a way to add different sounds emulating flute, bass and even electric guitar.

At moments ("Sometimes at Nine") the music is close to avant-garde jazz and experimental ambient music such as that produced under the German ECM label or some solo works of David Sylvian ("In the Sky"). Other elements include certain Balkan traditional motifs ("Gitanes") heavily re-arranged to fit the percussion-filled ambient or even blues scheme ("Rumba Balcana"). This is very interesting album that pays back after several listening experiences.

PERSONAL RATING: 4,25/5

However, due to rather awful "Vatra" (En. "The Fire"), which terribly copies the ideas of BIJELO DUGME's "Padaju zvijezde" that was in itself a Yugoslav copycat of a cheesy VAN HALEN's arena-metal mid-80s hit "Jump", three stars is a maximum I can give to "NAOS".

PERSONAL RATING: 3/5

The spirit of the art of music is lost while the whole package sounds like a plastic toy designed to enchant the juvenile synthesizer-freaks. Take the worst of Jean Michel Jarre's electronic pop tunes and add pretty awful drum machines and cheap melodies and you'll get "Roses for a General". But to be honest, this album is still better than the preceding hit-and-miss called "Vojnicki dani". At least, the Hispanic-themed "Figueras" and the bluesy, Hammond-spiced "Old Places" can be listened now and then. But, that is hardly enough...

PERSONAL RATING: 1,5/5

Since the army in question was JNA, obvious part of the repertoire were patriot songs with revolutionary lyrics celebrating the WWII struggle of Yugoslav Partisans and their leader Tito. But Tito was already gone 4 years before this recording! No matter, He will always live - "and after Tito - there is Tito". The King is dead - long live the King!

So why not release an LP record of old Partisan songs (and some recent military marches as bonus) newly arranged and instrumentally improved with these awesome high-end synthesizer sounds instead of those old-fashioned boring choirs and symphonic orchestras? Yeah why not; and a nice title could be "The Military Days". And it was released indeed. Out of 8 tracks there is even one almost listenable - "Bilecanka"! Good job. It could have been worse. Are you sure? No, it could not have...

PERSONAL RATING: 0/5

Ristovski makes instrumental, "ambient" music close to what is generally labelled "New Age" electronic music, related to the contemporary works of Vangelis or Jean-Michel Jarre. In an interview he states that he thinks of his music as being impressionist, the music of mood and reminiscent of the nature. Along with his usual assortment of keyboards (Hammond organ, Mini Moog, Oberheim OBXA, PPG, piano), drum machines and Macintosh G4 computer, Slavica Djordjevic effectively added background female vocals as another instrument. "Gondola" is perhaps his best-crafted studio work to date, with tracks following one another in a smooth, relaxing manner.

It is overall extremely light electronic music that sometimes approaches the Muzak territory ("Dragan", "Nebo nad Beogradom"). But in other moments, Ristovski makes extremely melodic, catchy and pleasant compositions, showing his instrumental virtuosity and adding jazz tones ("Lavirint" - probably the best track on the album, "Super Nova" - a sort of "crossover symphony") or traditional folk melodies ("Bit- ola" - cover of a Macedonian traditional actually referring to the town of Bitola in Macedonia) with appealing rhythmic structures. "Nebo nad Beogradom" ("The Skies Over Belgrade") and especially the wonderful closing title track "Gondola" contain what sounds like "electronic harp", thus making a reference to the late 1980s ambient works of Andreas Vollenweider, a Swiss magician of electric harp. "Vesela pesma" ("The Merry Melody") sounds very much like Vangelis' typical synthesiser soundscapes.

"Gondola" is an easy, laid-back album that can be listened to at any time. However, it is not your typical background music that serves only to ease and support your daily activities. It contains enough interesting instrumental and composing elements to be recommended not only to the electronic freaks but also to general prog audience. I am personally not a fan of this type of Electronica and would rate it maximum ***1/2 stars.

Laza actually had an idea to record a live album, but due to poor technical results of live material, he opted for studio session instead. Only the last two tracks - "Rock 'n' Roll" and "Blues" survived from these concerts and they captured the strong audience response to Laza's keyboard acrobatics (at one moment a voice from the crowd is heard yelling "Laza, you're God!"). Despite the silly misnomer titles, both tracks contain a boogie 12-bar standard done on Hammond and assorted synthesizers. It is a decent and technically flawless Hammond organ performance but nothing very special for a connoisseur's ear.

The opener "Pulsing Star" continues the positive, light melodic Vangelis-meets-Jarre style from the previous album, and "Domina II" is a redo of the same title from the debut, with slightly deeper sound, like performed on a lower octave. The only progress on this album is found in the longest title track, which has dark overtones and drum machines similar to the works of Klaus Schulze. A funny electronic rhythm detail is heard in a simple, rather primitive high-pitched Casio synth toy-like rhythm program. Not that it particularly spoils the whole composition, but its absence would make the sound much better, for sure.

As a whole, "2/3" is somewhat weaker than conceptually much stronger "Merge". Two live tracks appear more like fillers than seriously composed pieces of music. On the other hand, this album is more diverse and it includes two excellent tracks, "Pulsing Star" and title track, so it is still closer to good 'ole 3 stars than 2.

PERSONAL RATING: 3,75/5