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.

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.