BREZ NASLOVA

Debut album of Ljubljana-based PREDMESTJE (Eng. "Suburbs"), along with their countrymen SEPTEMBER's "Zadnja avantura" (1976) are quite representative of the mid- 1970s jazz rock wave in ex Yugoslavia. At this time Slovenia was a hotbed for this style of music and they were to influence other parts of Yugoslavia, notably Serbia and Macedonia. Although jazz elements had been occasionally present since the earliest albums of Yugo prog rock, such as eponymous debuts of KORNI GRUPA and TIME (both released in 1972) or some famous INDEXI compositions around the turn of the decade, only after 1976-77 we can trace the immediate influnce of international pioneers of the genre.

"Brez naslova" ("Untitled") is a solid album of largely instrumental jazz rock. There are several vocal parts courtesy of guitarist P. Gruden who did a nice job, so his singing does not stand out of the overall picture and it is rather a part of the whole instrumental concept. This album is actually still closer to rock than to jazz. One can hear extremely confident and flawless instrumentation. There are parts of music that envoke not only the early CAMEL, but also THE DOORS in their most jazzy improvisations, as well as early prog- oriented CHICAGO (especially excellent saxophone parts). It is hard to single out any particular track; the whole album is enjoyable to listen throughout and once it's finished I had an urge to play it again. So, I guess it is sort of recommendation to lovers of this music style.

At the time of release this album was largely unnoticed (it could be partly due to a self- contained Slovene market within the Yugoslav federation), but the style these Slovene guys were developing later influenced many other Yugoslavian bands to follow the suit. For example, the most successful fusion works like SMAK's "Crna dama" or the first two LEB I SOL albums appeared after this release of PREDMESTJE. In that context, "Brez naslova" deserves to be mentioned as an influential record.

This rare collector album was introduced to me as a jazz rock album in the vein of RTF and billy Cobham. Obviously it is not the case : we're here between Lonnie Liston Smith pre 80's period, sometimes poor disco-funk sections, and The Doors light my fire and riders on the storm small jazz solos. All this melting is submitted to balkanic melodies (and bass lines!!) sometimes...

The four first track are pleasing : short, efficient, simple and really rock. The vintage sound is really interesting too. The disapointment comes with brez besed : a poor grooveless disco-jazz piece with small balkan harmonies, this track is too long and the musicians have nothing to say on it (except an interesting but short solo piano). The two last tracks are in the same kind. Svit is unsignificant : it sounds like a ridiculous tv series music. Sled Zonca begins more interestingly (camel influences) but there are too much repetition of the principal section.

As a conclusion, I would say that this album is too poor to be filed under jazz rock bacause there are only poor jazz harmonies in it. RTF fans and complex rock listeners (from Mahavishnu to Santana) should be warned that this album is really soft. Catchy 70's rock song lovers could appreciate the first four tracks. However there are really better stuff to listen to!

A good work for this ExYougoslavia band. Seventies decade it's important all over the world for music and progressive world and East Europe it's not exception. In this work lirics are in Yougoslavian but the great music of this work have some Doors influencies in music context and in singer voice but we find other's. I think that this album it's not in Jazz fusion vein but in Psichedelic space rock in most of tracks, and some synphinic context in other's. We don't find improvisations but a very nice music construction. Some sax it's very calm in Arsenal vein and we listen different influencies in all tracks. I like this album and i give 4 stars because we can find some beautiful music and it's a very good adiction for all that like seventies music and sound

The debut album from this band from the former Yugoslavia. It's very melodic and ear-candy filled--not unlike the Easy Listening "Yacht Rock" that is becoming popular back in the States at this same time.

Side A: 1. "Dez" (3:55) opening with a driving jazz-rock infused palette, the song is quickly given over to some solo and group vocals rendered in a style akin to Western artists like Spencer Davis Band, Chicago, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Lighthouse, and Santana. The music is slightly simple and rudimentary, as if it might have been one of the band's early works, but it's polished and the solos (guitar) are quite refined. (8.875/10)

2. "Sprehod" (4:45) set up almost like a light, airy song carrying a little bit of mystery in it--just like something from The Zombies ("She's Not There") or The Association. This is, however, an instrumental. It contains some nice melodic electric guitar soloing from Peter Gruden, using a kind of Gregg Allman tone on his guitar, with that hypnotic "She's Not There" groove going on beneath. Nice! Not really jazz-rock or even close to Jazz-Rock Fusion, but it's nice in a Santana kind of way. (8.875/10)

3. "Razmisljanje" (4:40) melodic instrumental lounge jazz-rock (sounding very much like an instrumental cover of some more famous song or melody) with Andrej Pompe's "dirty" electric piano claiming lead position over the smooth and solid bass and drum rhythm track. At 2:45 Andrej takes a background support position behind Peter Gruden's equally- dirty electric guitar--which goes on to perform a pleasing and dextrous HIRAM BULLOCK-like guitar solo. A very pleasing song with some impressive performances (I really like the cohesive, easy-going parity and skills presented by drummer Janez Hvale and bass player Gabriejel Lah.) (9.125/10)

4. "Oaza" (4:45) sax, electric piano and bass open this before the band shifts into gear with a jazz-rock motif over which distorted and gritty saxophone and electric piano solo before Peter Gruden steps in with some pop singing. The klezmer-like chorus melody then gets picked up by the horns and guitar and repeated a few times before shifting back to the motif for the second verse. The instrumental passage after the second chorus has the dirty electric piano carrying the chorus melody forward before pausing to let Aleksander Malahovsky step in with his sonorous saxophone to play out on the top to the song's end. Like a jazzy-pop song from the live band in The Unbearable Lightness of Being film. (8.75/10)

Side B: 1. "Brez besed" (7:20) the guitar tone and sound in the opening seconds sounds more like a Dobro playing some Americana music, but then the full band shifts into gear and we have a pretty nice Jazz-Rock groove that is grounded by some excellent flamboyant funk bass and solid rock drumming. Sax, electric piano and prominent rhythm guitar fall into line with the compelling tracks put up by the rhythmatists, sax and electric piano taking the first two blues-rock solos before guitarist Peter Gruden takes over at 3:45. His John Tropea-like solo is quite nice--quite expressive--and definitely could have gone on longer, but the band feels that it has to stop at a traffic light, wait for permission to move forward, and then decide which direction it wants to go from there. (13.5/15) 2. "Svit" (5:10) long Mellotron intro with percussion incidentals for 90 seconds before rhythm guitar and rest of the band fall into a nice third-gear two-chord groove so that Peter and Andrej can express themselves in solo guitar and solo Mellotron (! Yes: I [&*!#] you not!) Electric piano solo follows in the fourth minute. Overall, the song is fairly simple: about as demanding on the rest of the band as a Zombies song. Pure ear-candy. (8.875/10)

3. "Sled sonca" (5:10) more melodic jazz-rock--here picking up a kind of hypnotic LARRY CORYELL sound playing something CHRIS REA-like that could easily be considered Yacht Rock. The main rhythm track with its own melody is like an island theme from Gilligan's Island. (8.875/10)

Total Time: 35:45

B/four stars; an excellent display of jazzy rock music founded on iconic songs and styles of the British and American hit makers of the late 1960s.