LEB I SOL — Sledovanje (review)

LEB I SOL — Sledovanje album cover Album · 1982 · Jazz Related Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
seyo
If on the fourth album "(Infinity)" LEB I SOL knew how to process New Wave influence into a nice post-fusion sound, here on the fifth album they were much less successful.

Tavitijan left the band in the meantime and the new percussionist was Dragoljub Djuricic, a straight rock'n'roll drummer coming from the famous classic/hard rock YU GRUPA. He added a firm rhythm and the beat but he lacked Tavitijan's refinement of jazz drumming and sometimes his playing is too basic and dull. Stefanovski and Arsovski played well but songwriting is much less strong on this LP. And there we have that terrible early 1980s synthetic production: some songs contain rhythm machine, electronic drums, voice echo and awful hand clap! Altogether totally unneeded accessories if you ask me.

There are 50:50 vocal vs. instrumental tracks and this was up to the time of its release the most vocal album of LEB I SOL. "Nosim tvoj zig" ("I Bear Your Sign") was a minor hit and still sounds good, while a slower ballad "Hvala na svemu" (Thanks for Everything) was an appropriate choice to end concerts in those times since it was openly dedicated to the fans and rock audience in general. Minor key ballad "Njena sena" ("Her Shadow") has a wonderful guitar solo by Stefanovski and is the closest they came to fusion sound. Having excellent Stefanovski vocals and a slight drunken/psych feel, it is perhaps the strongest track on the LP.

Of the instrumental tracks only the opener "Lokomobila" is anywhere near the best moments from their earlier efforts, with amazing bass lead melody (Arsovski is the composer). "Mirko" and "Mile Pop Jordanov" are interesting attempts to merge some hard rock with folksy/traditional melodies (although neither was credited as trad. arr.) and only here Djuricic has an appropriate place with his drumsticks. The rest of the album is pretty much negligible and lame including unnecessary kids choir in the final "Oda ladosti" (deliberately mistaken spelling - should be "Oda radosti" as translation of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy", obviously adding a childish utterance of L instead of R).

"Sledovanje" (Eng. Ration) is one of the underrated albums of LEB I SOL and it mostly deserves such a mark. It was an obvious sign of the creative crisis in the band notwithstanding a few very good moments, particularly interesting guitar chord progressions and soli reminiscent sometimes of Andy Summers, Robert Fripp or Mark Knopfler. A decent effort by LEB I SOL but we expected more...
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