ANTHOLOGY

This is an excellent retrospective of Leb i Sol's career. You get 34 songs on 2 discs, chronologically spanning the band's entire discography. There are a few songs missing in my personal opinion, yet this collection is very good.

CD 1 presents the first 4 albums and includes the best tracks Leb i Sol has ever made. You get a shorter/faster (?) version of Aber dojde Donke, a rendition of an old Macedonian song. Devetka comes in, along with other songs from their self-titled debut. There's only one thing I complain about - Kokoska appears in an edited version, without the opening drum solo! Song no. 6 (Jovano Jovanke) is another Macedonian traditional, beautifully arranged and performed and one of my favourite LiS songs. Their best release, Leb i Sol II, is almost entirely presented. My favourites include Akupunktura, Kako ti drago (Bodan's work on bass), Dikijeva igra (Garo's work on drums) and Marija - but it's really tough to choose. The band has moved to a more-jazz-than-rock sound on the album Rucni Rad. You'll find examples of this term here, through Rebus. Finally, the 4th album Beskonacno is presented with only two songs (fretless-tinged Skakavac and Ziva rana, respectively), which is a great shame! Stomacne vijuge are apparently missing more than anything else.

CD 2 presents the band's later career, more radio-friendly and rock-oriented. Already on the beginning of the disc, there is another injustice. Sledovanje was presented with only 1 track (a vocal track, even). Somehow, the excellent instrumentals Mirko and Mile pop Jordanov didn't make it here. Kalabalak and Tangenta are presented with OK songs, notably Bistra voda and Pretposlednji valcer, while the soundtrack-collection Zvuci zid is presented with Country (Jovano Jovanke from CD 1 is from this album, too). And here comes the main problem. Whoever chose the songs for this compilation apparently considered Kao kakao their most important album of the second phase. So you have quite a lot of songs from this release. While Mamurni ljudi and Cuvam noc od budnih are OK, you have Autoput with its boring chorus and completely senseless Skopje. The album's successor, Putujemo, was even worse. Thank God there's only 2 songs off of it. The collection's closer is Uci me majko, karaj me ... (yet another traditional) from their final release Live in New York. Probably the only song from the mentioned album worth hearing.

I believe Anthology is an excellent choice to get to know Leb i Sol's music. Recommended for anyone who likes jazz-rock instrumentals with a soul, as well as anyone who find ethnic influences in rock interesting.