ROCK @ ROLL (AS JURICA PADJEN & AERODROM)

The seventh studio album by AERODROM is much more consistent effort than its predecessor "Na travi". This time around Jura Padjen remained the only member from the original line-up hence the album "Rock At Roll" was billed under the tag JURICA PADJEN & AERODROM. Besides the bassist T. Sojat, who appeared also on the previous album, Slavko Pintaric-Pista (known for his work with teen-pop mega-sellers SREBRNA KRILA in the 1980s) now also joined on drums.

Unlike the previous album, "Rock At Roll" brings a collection of 12 shorter songs in a kind of radio-friendly pop format. Most of them sport a "good ol' time" rock drive though, sometimes reminiscent of a refreshed version of their New Wave-contextualized "power pop" of the second album "Tango Bango", with occasional hints of Americana/country rock and "adult alternative" guitar-based sound. The closer "Fait Accompli" is a re-recorded version of an old song that Padjen composed for his former collaborator from AZRA, Branimir Stulic Johnny, for his solo album "Balkanska Rapsodija" in 1989.

Listening of this album runs smoothly due to surprisingly well-produced material with a very compact sound, where none of the tracks stand out particularly but most are well-crafted. Some lyrics try to offer a kind of social commentary that is not always effective (a humorist pun on 9/11 attacks in "Osama" may sound a bit banal), but the album overall presents a solid effort, although slightly less engaging than the previous album. Still, this is a good, unpretentious rock for occasional background or car drive listening. Personal rating: 2,75/5.