IZLOG JFTINIH SATKISA

This is BULDOZER's third proper studio album and it was recorded in early 1980 under this title, which means "Cheap Candies Shopwindow". The previous year saw the departure of lead singer and main author of their songs, Marko Brecelj, who embarked on a solo career. Rhythm guitarist and vocalist Boris Bele now jumped in as a new leader and together with keyboardist Borut Cinc wrote most of the material for this LP. The original bass player A. Veble returned, while they recruited new lead guitarist, Davor Slamnig. The main concept of this album was conceived back in 1978 during Brecelj period and some of the themes were already presented on their soundtrack EP "Zivi bili pa vidjeli". Bele and Cinc, however, decided to make a slick production with a collection of diverse, shorter, radio-friendly and seemingly more "conventional" pop-rock numbers. A usual comparison with Zappa & the Mothers (including Bele's physical bearded resemblance of FZ!) comes to mind especially what he did on his "Sheik Yerbouti" album.

Well, speaking of "conventional", if you look at the cover design it is obvious that BULDOZER did not simply "sell-out" to wider audience. They were rather lucky enough to take opportunity of the New Wave boom in former Yugoslavia, which happened that year, so all kinds of twisted, outrageous, revolutionary and artistically innovative things were more than welcome.

In terms of music style, "Izlog" is an amalgam of pure punk energy ("Higijena"/"Hygiene", "Novo vrijeme"/"New Era", "Slovinjak punk"/"Slovene Punk"); pseudo-boogie ("Boogie za prijatelja"/"Boogie For A Friend"); reggae ("Zene i muskarci"/"Women And Men"); psychedelia ("Okrutni bogovi istoka"/"Cruel Gods Of The East"); polka ("Hvala ti za krv"/"Thank You For The Blood"); and pop ("Jeftini slatkisi"/"Cheap Candies", "Karlo")! The song "Zene i muskarci" was a smash hit in the whole of Yugoslavia and it helped this album to remain their best seller to date.

Although the listeners of the classical prog rock sound may find it hard to appreciate this album, given only one track ("Okrutni bogovi istoka") can be described as such, those with a broader interests and particularly Zappa and avant-rock fans would be advised to investigate this interesting effort. Again, because the lyrics are an important aspect of BULDOZER achievements, the language barrier may severe the appreciation of non-South Slav languages speakers.