1969-1989

There are enough reviews for studio albums so I will only cover the bonus tracks here.

This album, the 9th album in the album collection, consists of 4 logical parts: 1.) Rock and blues-rock tracks sung in Czech and English from the end of 60's. 2.) Pop-leaning sung tracks from the 70's. 3.) A couple of 80's tracks highly supported by keyboards and electronic drums. 4.) 3 live tracks.

I like the second and fourth part most.

The first six tracks are catchy, infectious and inspired by British psychedelia, mersey-beat but also blues-rock, a nice testament of that period in Czechoslovakia.

The 70's tracks have a distinct emotional and competent vocals by Oldrich Novotny. Another element is the rising power of synthesizers. On some tracks, like "Nezna", they nicely create atmosphere, not unlike on Banks' compositions. "El Dorado" is the most commercial of the tracks. Hladik shows that even in the pop-rock outfit, he can showcase his guitar playing abilities.

The 80's tracks are less developed and distinctive only thanks to electronic drums and keyboards, they don't bring much artistic quality, though with an exception of quality guitar. The re-edition of "Cajovna" sounds mechanical and therefore even more sorrowful than usual.

For the progheads, the emotional climax arrives in the end on the two last live tracks that were never release on regular studio albums. The guitar-bass storm by Freso and Hladik create a perfectly dramatic composition with the support of organ and solo guitar. "Prosim" is an excellent testimony of late 70's band abilities with a missing bass player and two keyboardists, a.ka. 1979. A bit reminiscent of SBB. The tight keyboard duo, guitar and drums are exceptional. Keyboards build up mulitple layers. The passionate vocal brings anxiety and nostalgy typical for the late Blue Effect.

This is an excellent addition to all the studio albums and highly recommended to all proggers.