PRÚDY: ZVOňTE, ZVONKY

This crowning jewel is the best pop-rock album with classical and progressive leanings out of Czechoslovakia from the 60's! It documents a moment of time when young but already extremely ambitious Slovak artists were hoping for things in the country and their lives to improve and the future seemed to be brighter for a moment (not after 1969). Still, in the lyrics, metaphores had to be used to get approval to release the album.

The two major creative forces behind the album are the singer and rhythm guitar player, Pavol Hammer, and the keyboard aficionado Marian Varga, who contributed all songs to the original album edition. Varga showed a major talent at young age and managed to absorp classical music while remaining interested in the current classical-rock leanings of the 60's. The dominant instrument is, by no surprise, the key-based instruments such as piano, organs and harpsichord. It's amazing how the young Varga accompanies and arranges the songs with ease. Hammel has a unique voice colour and layered vocals are inspired by the contemporary psychedelic 60's bands. Busy drums, walking bass a la McCartney by the gifted Fedor Freso and psychedelic guitar add additional flavour to the music.

"Zvonte, Zvonky" was a major commercial hit in Czechoslovakia reminding people of hopes of a better future. It features a nice guitar solo and memorable instrumental moments by all instruments. "Pred vykladom s hrackami" is a lighter track and the only one with a hidden hard-rock leaning. Listen to harmony vocals in the chorus section. The next track is a psychedellic ballad about a young male who chose lie instead of truth. Musically, it is the simplest track on the album, albeit with the memorable oboe solo. "Jesenne Litanie" is a pleasant pop track with harmony vocal staccatos. "Ked odchadza kapela" is one of the higlights on the album and another track played commonly on the radio. It is also one of the most ambitious compositions by Varga on this album. This 20's pastiche, probably inspired by "When I'm 64" has a pleasant brass section. Varga contributes great piano lines, Freso old-fashioned contrabass and mandoline. The surprising end changes the mood to an American psychedelic soul territory.

"Pod so mnou" is a clear nod to British psychedelia, the drums, bass and guitar dominate for most of the time. The romantic symphonic interlude violin-led interlude is a great contrast to the rock-sounding main song motive. Varga displays another clever use of piano fill-ins. "Mozno, ze ma rada mas" in the 3/4 rhythm and especially "S rukami vo vreckach" are two memorable ballad tracks. The latter one is using church organ dueled by vocals, the atractive combination that will be heard in "Collegium Musicum" legendary Konvergencie again. "Mozno" is a less important track but again, the baroque piano accolados by Varga bring it to the next level. The album ends on a high note with "Cierna ruza" that combines psychedelic, classical and pop influence together.

Overall, this is an excellent addition for proggers who are interested in the proto-prog or want to see the beginnings of Fedor Freso and Marian Varga, the two major creative forces of Collegium Musicum.