DEZO URSINY & IVAN STRPKA: ZELENÁ

Ursiny´s long time collaborator Jaroslav Filip returned. And there is another return as well. Ursiny started doing long compositions. again. Personally my favourite of his albums. The melody is unified wth the mood and the tracks sound quite alike, yet in a way different.

Stav vecí 5 Starts off with a rather mechanic sound of drums. The melody itself is gorgeous, very atmospheric and hypnotizing. Richard Kroczek gets a violin solo, and the dramatic chorus comes in with bells ringing in the background. The scheme repeats and in the dramatic section, Ursiny gets a fine, longer guitar solo, after which the track comes back to the slower, relaxed prart and the scheme repeats again, concluding with a saxophone solo.

Tisíc izieb 5 A synth driven ballad with a wonderful melody and vocal performance of Ursiny and lovely violin solos by Kroczek. The primitive percussion sound evokes falling drops of water, perfectly underlining the melancholy of the song.

Ranní vtáci 5 Very similar to the opening parts of Stav vecí, the track has a similar style and also a mood to the quieter and reflexive parts of Stav vecí, but it is even more hypnotic, with high emphasis on Ursiny´s flegmatic vocals and s hisuperb guitar playing.

Tretia vlna 3.5 Somewhat faster than the previous one, with nice, basslines and fine, spare keyboards by Jaroslav Filip, who even gets a solo. Still, the track is weaker than the ones preceeding it and Uesiny´sa vocals are rather monotonous as well.

Radar sa krúti (venované J. Lennonovi) 5 Although just midtempo, this is thfastest track on the album with a very good melody based on the same, repetitive rhytms, and Ursiny pulls off a perfect guitar solo, followed by a long , great saxophone solo.

Overall:5 STARS

ESSENTIAL, A MASTERPIECE OF PROGRESSIVE MUSIC.

Ursiny contrasted several things on "Zelena": typical mid 80's electronic pop drums, experimental singing and lyrics and jazzy guitar (his most distinctive until now). You could call it free pop or experimental pop.

The first song is his longest one "Stav veci" - reaching over 15 minutes. Yes it has a catchy motive and features nice laid-back solos by saxophone and guitar but 10 minutes would have been more than enough.

The second song is also quite well constructed - a reflective one.

"Ranni vtaci" is a weaker one with less contents and atmospherical surface. After that we are confronted with the weakest Ursiny song so far - the terrible "Tretia vlna". It has the lyrics about snow (acceptable) however Ursiny

(speaking rather singing) completely contradicts the music rhythm. Filip is trying to save the song with his Hammond strummling but these 7 minutes drag on.

The song devoted to John Lennon does not evoke the songwriting master at all and is another mediocre constructed song - however Ursiny guitar playing is a standout.

2 stars for a 70's Ursiny more demanding fan, 2.5 stars if you like experimental pop in general.