PAVOL HAMMEL & MARIÁN VARGA: ‎ZELENÁ POSTA

"Zelena Posta" was not truly a Collegium Musicum album but rather a collaborative album between Varga, Hammel and Hladik, although Hladik only played on a handful of tracks. The rhythm section was Collegium's one though, and both Vacho and Hammel had already made appearances on "Collegium Musicum" and "Konvergencie" so this can easily qualify as a honorary Collegium Musicum album. However the music is much more focused than on most CM albums, as it is a collection of compact songs, rather than a collection of lengthy jams with frequent quotations from classics.

"Domaca uloha" is a short orchestral piece written by Varga when he was just 15 years old, already showing great inclination towards ironic composition. "Z datelin" is an understated and gorgeous ballad. "Smutna ranna electricka" is a gloomy swinging number in 6/8 with memorable melodies. On the merrier side of things we have "Tenis" and "Krajina bielych dievcat", both with a joyful major-key feel, similar to Caravan's "In a Land of Grey and Pink". And then we have the demented "Cesty blaznou", with a frantic theme in 9/8 and a very rough guitar solo.

"Zelena posta" remains a very well balanced album, and should not be overlooked in favor of the more bombastic works like "Konvergencie", because it is just as good, and shows a different side of Collegium Musicum.