PREDMESTJE — Brez Naslova (review)

Album · 1977 · Post-Fusion Contemporary

3.5/5 · 2025-03-28
FunkFreak75

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 shit 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.

5 days ago
Permalink
Report #574334

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer

Please login to post a shout

No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Member Zone

Username:

Password:

Stay signed in

Not Yet Registered?

Forgotten Your Password?

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
V.A.

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more

A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE

Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS

Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE

My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE

TOP 25 and more filters

New Jazz Artists

DATADYR Jazz Related Rock
SUSANNE ALT Fusion
GILI LOPES World Fusion
RUSS SPIEGEL Fusion
ARTTURI RÖNKÄ Fusion
DANIEL SOMMER 21st Century Modern
KIM MYHR Jazz Related Improv/Composition
ZHENGTAO PAN Progressive Big Band
VINCENT MEISSNER 21st Century Modern
ISOTOPE ENSEMBLE Jazz Related Improv/Composition
RICHARD NELSON Progressive Big Band
MINA CHO World Fusion
UNITY QUARTET (HELIO ALVES - GUILHERME MONTEIRO - GILI LOPES - ALEX KAUTZ) Latin Jazz
ZOO TOO TRIO (MICHAEL CAIN - KEITH PRICE - PHEEROAN AKLAFF) Fusion
TONY JONES Avant-Garde Jazz
RON HORTON Post Bop
MICHELLE NICOLLE Vocal Jazz
ELAINE DAME Vocal Jazz
ANDREW RICHARDS Vocal Jazz
ACCIDENTAL TOURISTS Post Bop

New Jazz Releases

Natural Information Society and Bitchin Bajas : Totality Jazz Related Improv/Composition
NATURAL INFORMATION SOCIETY (JOSHUA ABRAMS NATURAL INFORMATION SOCIETY)