KUřE V HODINKÁCH

1." Kure V Hodinkach (Introdukce) / Chicken In The Watch (Introduction)" (2:30) what a warm and inviting saxophone sound and style with an equally warm hard rock sound palette to match. Organist Ivan Khunt presents an astonishingly saxophone sound. Bassist Vladimir Guma Kulhanek is so in the pocket! And Jan Kubik's used of multiple tracks for his wind instruments all help to create such a warm envelope of sonority! (4.5/5)

2. "Rám Prístích Obrazu / Frames Of Future Picture"s (4:00) reverting more into a heavy blues-rock pastiche, with Jan Kubik (or Vladimir Misik)'s rock vocals the band's music certainly takes on much more of a BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS- like blues-jazz-rock sound. Except for the drums, the instruments and voices are very well recorded and rendered. Great JC Superstar-like scream from Jan to close it out. (8.875/10)

3. "Jenom Láska Ví Kam / Only Love Knows Where" (2:55) more heavy blues-based jazz rock with some very URIAH HEEP similarities. Nice guitar work in the solo during the end of the second minute. I like this well enough though it's not the Jazz-Rock Fusion I came here for. (8.875/10)

4. "Já A Dým / Me And The Smoke" (4:55) flute and acoustic guitar paint a very plaintive folk feeling in the intro, then Jan joins in singing with a emotive performance that suddenly turns at 1:25 into JTULL territory before landing in some beautifully melodic SANTANA turf. Great fully-prog song. My favorite song on the album. (10/10)

5. "Chvíle Chvil / Moment Of The Moments" (4:20) more rock-oriented jazz-rock on which Ivan's organ is the most notable yet--despite the leadership of the saxophone and guitars. Another song that plays out more like a URIAH HEEP, Led Zeppelin, or Black Sabbath song. It is, however, pretty and memorable. I even like the use of left and right channels to compartmentalize some of the instruments. (9/10)

6. "Pár Století / Some Centuries" (6:30) pensive electric guitar chords picked and plucked open this song giving it quite a full latency of potential energy--potential that is soon revealed, in small pieces, through, first, vibraphone, then bass, spaced out tom-tom and delicate cymbal play, and "background" reverbed lead vocal. Great melodies and harmonic relations throughout! At 4:15 the band switches gears: traveling down a light, jazzier, happy-go-lucky side path for a flute-led and vibraphone-dominated motif. Then they switch back into a heavier version of one of the earlier motifs for the closing. Awesome construct! My second favorite song. (9.75/10)

7. "Doky, Vlaky, Hlad A Boty / Dockyards, Trains, Hunger And Shoes" (4:30) another jazz-rock tune: a rock form displayed with jazz clothing and accoutrements. The lyrics sung in the band's native tongue give it a familiar FERMÁTA or SBB feel though served over a kind of LIGHTHOUSE/URIAH HEEP music. I love the interplay between the lead guitar and saxophone in the final couple minutes. (8.875/10)

8. "Stále Dál / Further On" (3:15) a song that opens like some kind of cross between JTULL and CREAM. The dual ejaculation of the melodies in the chorus are examples of pure rock bliss. (9.125/10)

9. "Kure V Hodinkach / Chicken In The Watch " (5:30) the title song, in my opinion, always raises expectations. This one lives up to any expectations--especially when based on the buildup after the previous eight songs. This is a most excellent song in many aspects: sound palette, construct and performance, creative idoisyncracies, vocal and melodies, and sound engineering. This song would have received heavy radio play on the album-oriented FM stations in my hometown of Detroit back in the day. Great song. My other top three. (9.25/10)

Total time: 38:25

Not a Jazz-Rock Fusion album, more like a hard rock album with jazz-rock tendencies, whatever it is it is an example of excellent songwriting, performance, and sonic rendering.

A-/five stars; a most excellent minor masterpiece of jazz-rock-tinged heavy progressive rock. If you like Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull, Lighthouse, or the heavier rockers of the early blues--rock and progressive rock scenes, you will love this!

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