DEZO URSINY & IVAN STRPKA: NOVÉ MAPY TICHA

Ursiny´s third album proves he is a distinctive prog artist. He emrges various styles together (symphonic prog, jazz rock, funky passages and even plays a few lighter pop tunes in between the more commplicated compositions) and it all sounds just like himself. By now, he also has developed his guitarplaying. He plays rather minimalistically, just a few solos on the record. His licks are "lazy" with a long, sustained tone, usually very atmospheric and he places them all perfectly. Also, one can note his love for saxophones, as the guest, Dušan Húščava is quite prominent in several tracks. Also Ursiny´s songs aremore complex and shorter (even more so on the three albums.

Nové mapy ticha 4 Interestingly, the tile track serving as the opener. It begins with a nice, funky grove by the band (great drumming), with nice vocal delivery from Ursiny. An instrumental passage follows Jaroslav Filip´s keyboards and synthetizers are very prominent. He gets a solo. After that the song calms down and the keyboards become more atmospheric, working perfectly with Ursiny´s ringing vocals. A na to myslím 3.5 A much jazzier track. Ursiny´s singing is monotonous on this one,as is the opening melody, with the brightest moment beeing a symphonic part with a guest performance from Marián Varga (of Collegium Musicum). soogreat jazzy solo,augmented by strong playing from marián Varga on organ, before the opening part comes again. Na malej stanici 5 Another funky groove in the beginning (great drumming again by Hlinenský). Soon the track slows down, and becomes more atmospheric, with a great organ passage by Marián Varga, who plays n perfect coherenece with Ursiny´s vocals. A relaxed, slower passage comes in, with grat vocals from Ursiny, before a darker section follows, driven by the piano and a marvelous guitar riff by Ursiny. A saxophone solo comes, enhancing the mysterious atmosphere, before the song returns to the relaxed atmosphere and then to the funky, fast part, before the darker passage comes in, with Ursiny´s fine understated solo fading out. Dnes v noci 5 A marvelous, faster pop song, with strong performance by Filip on keyboards and marvelous vocals from Ursiny. The melody is just as good, and Ursiny plays a great solo as well, followed after the sung part by Filip´s. Víťaz 1 A short, poppy song, with a rather weak melody. Ursiny´s vocal delivery is pretty boring on this one as well. Zelené jablko 5 After an atmospheric opening with a flute solo, the track gets in a funky groove (once again), this time with prominent saxophone playing, after which a lyrical, softer passage follows, with another guest appearance by Marián Varga and the flute playing the opening motif again. The funkier part then concludes the track. Domestic flight 5 The longest, and most atmospheric number on the album. Very dark in places, with a marvelous mystique atmosphere. Arguably Ursiny´s best vocal performance on the record.The tracks moves effortlessly from the dark passage through another one, slightly fasterpart to the fastest, mos rocking one, where Ursiny´s voice culminates and he pulls off a great guitar solo.The whole structure then repeats again. In the second fast section, the song contains another guitar solo, duelling wih Filip on keyboards. At the end of the number, after the slow passage, the dark riff that was played in background in one part of the track, gets to the forefront played by a violin and guitar. Hádanka 5 A relaxed, lovely acoustic number (with guest appearance from Peter Smolinský on acoustic guitar. with a gorgeous melody,and lyrical mood. A fine album closer.

Overall rating: 4 STARS

EXCELLENT ADDITION TO ANY PROG MUSIC COLLECTION