LIVE IN NEW YORK

After the last studio album "Putujemo", drummer Garo Tavitijan again left in 1990, this time for good with ambition to pursue jazz career in the band PARAMECIUM. So for the spring 1991 US/Canadian tour his usual replacement Dragoljub Djuricic returned and with Dimusevski already in team it looked like a promising return to their fusion roots. In fact this is probably the closest ever they went back to jazz improvisations since "Infinity" album from 1981! Unfortunately this material is so inconsistent and weak with many gaping holes and errors.

I can agree with Stephen that Djuricic definitely did not have his best moments on this album, but since I already pointed out in other reviews that IMO he is not nearly as good as Tavitijan for the fusion style of LEB I SOL, I will not mention him here again. But I need to stress that out of nine songs only 3 stand out, all of them are Macedonian ethno-fusion and previously unreleased so that's why "Live in New York" can be considered a collector's item: "Si zaljubiv edno mome", "Jovano, Jovanke" (this had appeared on "Zvucni zid" soundtrack LP though) and "Uci me majko, karaj me". Together with "Bistra voda" and "Aber dojde donke" this could have been a fine set of a refreshed jazz-rock sound. However the sound of the audience in the NY CBGB club with female screams is more than annoying and "Aber dojde donke" was spoiled by terrible "c'mon altogether now" ending.

The remaining tracks are ridiculous and unneccessary fillers in the shape of outdoor street, rain and airplane sounds. "Blagoslov" is a record of the blessing performed by a priest over the band members in Toronto Macedonian Orthodox Church! For God's sake, what's the point in putting this onto the music album? Experiment? Art performance? Or simply a religious ritual? OK in 1991 religion was trendy and "cool" stuff in ex Yugoslavia, but since I witnessed what the organized religion en generale has done in the past 10-15 years in the ex-YU countries, I am sorry to sound so in opposition, but I just don't like the idea.

Too bad, a few good moments cannot convince me to rate this album higher than 2 stars, so if you are not a dedicated LEB I SOL follower, do not buy it.

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