XANTIPA

One of the earlier, if not the earliest, rock bands from Czech Republic, formed as Synkopy 61 in 1960 in Brno by Petr Smeja (guitars), Jiri Rybar (drums), Pavel Pokorny (violin, guitar, vocals), Petr Fischer (clarinet), Milos Orsag (accordion), joined a year later by Jan Canvas (bass) and Pavel Smilek (keyboards).However it wasn't until 1969 and after some line-up changes when the band appeared in discography with several singles to follow.A short LP was recorded in 1974 for the Panton label under the title ''Xantipa''.

By the time Smeja, Rybar, Pokorny and Canvas were joined by Michal Polak on acoustic guitars and tambourine with some guest musician on wind instruments.As Synkopy 61 had already incorporated a Western style of rock music since late-60's their sound was heavily based on organs and strong guitars along with some West-Coast alike vocal lines and their style was very unoriginal with heavy DEEP PURPLE and URIAH HEEP leanings.They even covered the ''Easy livin'' track of the later with Czech lyrics, while the original material had strong elements from both these bands.Groovy organ parts and some jamming sections, melodic singing, a powerful rhythm section and hard guitar riffs.Some tracks offer also orchestral string arrangements, flute drives and brass sections, rather dated for today's standards but nevertheless nicely arranged.

''Xantipa'' remains a collectable LP in its original form, fortunately a CD reissue along with two more Synkopy albums appeared recently from FT Records, making this album recommended, especially if you are a fan of organ-driven Heavy Rock of the 70's.