TESKA INDUSTRIJA

The second eponymous album of TESKA INDUSTRIJA was released at the end of 1976. In the meantime there were major changes in line-up when only the leader and organist Lendjel and guitarist Hadziabdic remained from original group. They got new drummer, bassist and additional keyboardist, but the main difference is absence of Vajta's agressive, unpolished vocal. Goran Kovacevic was brought in as a replacement and, while an excellent singer alone, after Vajta he sounded too "pop".

Further to that, it seems that Lendjel was not very confident to continue with progressive and experimental compositions, and decided to introduce more "accessible" stuff. But we all know what happens in that case - loss of devoted old fans while not gaining enough new mainstream audience.

"Ala imam ruznu curu" ("Oh, What an Ugly Girl I've Got") promises fresh new start, even though it is quite a funky hit, with wonderful Clavinet and Moog. It is very catchy tune and apparentl rumours that its melody was a copycat from an obscure Hungarian band SCORPION (Gabor Lendjel is himself an ethnic Hungarian from what is now Vojvodina region of northern Serbia), did not seem to harm its hit potentials. "Prva bol" ("The First Pain") is much less strong and the chorus is dangerously close to cheap pop, while "Sirano" is a poorly done heavy rock. "Moja draga" ("My Darling") is a pleasant progressive ballad with "wheeping" sound of solo guitar - one of better Hadziabdic's works.

B side opener "Polozi ruke u travu" ("Lay Your Hands On The Grass", no! - not that "grass" you silly!) follows as a fine easy semi-proggy tune with solo guitar again in the forefront, backed by organ melody and chorus with harmony vocals. The song is spoiled by unnecessary fade-out/fade-in effects at the end. "Stefanija" is a discardable pop ballad, interesting only because of Lendjel's lead vocal, sung in both Hungarian and Serbo-Croatian. The highlight of the album is certainly an epic ballad "Nikola Tesla", dedicated to ... well guess who! Musically, the song is very good with typical sympho/prog manner, including Mellotron, piano and bombastic arrangement. Heavy guitar riffs, Moog solos, strong drumming and good vocal performance, changes of tempo - slow/fast; it all keeps "Nikola Tesla" as one of the best compositions done in that style in Yugoslavia. Again, nothing groundbreaking is here present, but you would surely want to give it a few listens. "Sve je ovo istinita prica" ("This Is All a True Story") brings this album to an end, with pleasant piano-led instrumental.

This album is much less interesting than debut "Ho-ruk" and it indicates that leading Yugoslavian prog artists did not, at the time, have enough courage to remain loyal to experimentation and expansion of their ideas. Still, it has several nice moments worth to investigate.