TRINAEST

The tenth studio album of GALIJA is misleadingly called "Thirteen" and there are no other connections whatsoever with the album title (i.e. song name, number of tracks etc.). Unless this "13" in this case means bad luck!

It is bad luck for a listener eager to check where GALIJA was up to in 1996, because the music present on this disc is pretty dull. It's a pity because I am usually fond of acoustic pop and rock music with folksy flavour, played in an "unplugged" fashion. As the cover image suggests, the album is filled with nicely arranged and produced acoustic guitars with occasional melodic leads of fretless bass and harmonica sparks. The problem is that the song writing is bad with most of the album containing boring tracks and uninspired chords. Even the help of outside poets did not make the lyrics meaningful.

The only stand-out track is the opening "Imali smo krila" (We Had the Wings) with catchy melody and the laid-back rhythmic structure resembling the better moments of DIRE STRAITS. "Ona jos ne zna" (She Still Doesn't Know) shows that Milosavljević Bro's had invested a lot of listening to "Led Zeppelin III". Pathetic gypsy-folk moments done in a Balkanian "pub folk" ("kafanska" - a bad music indeed!) sensation just watered down already weak material.

PERSONAL RATING: 1,5/5

P.A. RATING: 2/5