HOBO

HOBO's eponymous debut, the only official release of the band, belongs to the category of "lost Yugoslavian gems" of the 1970s!

A group of ambitious musicians assembled around the leader Mato Dosen in Croatian capital Zagreb sometime in 1972. After appearing at Boom Pop Festival Ljubljana 1974 and as a support to DEEP PURPLE concert 1975, they recorded this album.

- "Druzenje" (A Company) is an opening short instrumental led by electric keyboards in the vein of Keith Emerson.

- "Prijatelju" (The Friend) introduces quite a few novelty instruments for the then Yugo- prog scene, namely electric violin, assorted synths and keyboards and effective percussion (congas). The vocal is sometimes trying to emulate that of the late Davorin Popovic, ex-INDEXI singer.

- "Dijete" (The Child) is a remarkable mini-prog suite with excellent violin solo, strong rhythm section, piano and some additional fine fuzzed guitar effects in the background. Lead vocal is much better here than on the previous track and overall song is perfect. The first comparison that comes to mind is of course CURVED AIR with some jazzy flavour.

- "Sretan kraj" (Happy Ending) starts with piano and adds some more fine wah-wah guitar licks. Vocals are strong while again there is a hint of Davorin-style (I don't know who is responsible for singing among the members here who share vocal responsibilities). The track is done in a jazz-soul style like that of TRAFFIC (compare with "Feelin' Alright").

- "Raskrsce" (Crossroads) brings some synth atmospheric sounds coupled with violin. The vocal is the same as in "Dijete". Very rhythmic groove with harmony vocals ends abruptly.

- "Postajem lud" (I'm Getting Mad) is another highlight with characteristic strange rhythm (almost reggae-like, in a twisted way). Vocals are amazing, duelling between channels, the right one being a somewhat funny but very expressive, almost operatic, falsetto. Very bass and percussion oriented with solo violin.

- "Srebro" (Silver) starts with gentle violin and piano then enter the drums and bass, followed by some electronic noise. Tempo goes faster with violin forefront, with hints of David Cross of KING CRIMSON. Rhythm then slows again, going into slightly psychedelic territory with whispering voices. Moog continues solo briefly, and then the FLOYD-esque organ develops eastern-tinged melody. A wonderful piece of music!

- "Ha-re-ho" is another vocal track with catchy hippie-like "let's everybody sing" chorus, followed by violin solo. It almost had a hit potential, but instrumentally is a minor effort.

- The closer "Cuj me" (Listen To Me) is a piano-led ballad, with additional synthesisers in the background. Nice and easy for the end.

The CD re-issue of the album (legality of the label issue YU POP ARCHIVE 016 YUPR, cannot however be confirmed) contains a bonus track "Zena" (The Woman) which sounds like an outtake from the album. Justifiably so!

You are well advised to search for this album because it represents a very good and artistically inspired attempt to create an innovative prog-rock or art rock record in the former Yugoslavian scene of the 1970s. If you like electric violin, jazzy rhythm section and loads of keyboards, enough said!

PERSONAL RATING: 4,5/5

P.A. RATING: 5/5

The only album of Croatian band Hobo is interesting example of progressive Yugo-rock from mid 70-s. Possibly, this music is difficult to compare with European/US progressive of the same period. Yugo-rock , melodic rock music with strong Balkan pop-folk element and some German pop music influences, was very popular around former Yugoslavian countries in 70-s and 80-s.

Hobo plays that music, but with serious accent on r'n'b , blues and early jazz rock. Sound is not complex, but some arrangements (plenty of violin and unusual drumming) and few compositions structure is really progressive. Possibly, such music, recorded in late 60-s in Europe or States, could be tagged as proto-prog. But as in whole Eastern Europe, in Croatia it came some years later. So -expect melodic pop-rock from early 70-s with some prog elements, not complex, but pleasant songs, light fusion scent, violin and specific Yu-rock atmosphere.

Interesting album for researchers and Yugo-rock collectors, for all others - listenable, but not very special.

Another one-and-done band, a curse that afflicted many prog related acts who only blessed us with a single lonely album, Yugoslavian band Hobo, despite supporting the likes of Deep Purple, disappeared soon after releasing their one self-titled disc, and a strong collection of melodic 70's rock it was too. Despite the album being released in 1975, it had more in common with the proto-prog bands rather than offering full-blown progressive workouts, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to appreciate and enjoy with it's mix of jazz, blues and R&B with soft proggy touches. Perhaps the band were a little hesitant to fully commit to playing in an extended progressive rock style, but more likely it's that they were an adventurous rock band who simply wanted to tick as many boxes as possible, or were trying to actually work out what direction to head in while they were going along.

Musician Mato Dosan in particular, on keyboards and guitar, is a real standout on the album, offering a variety of progressive flourishes throughout. The frantic tempo of `Druzenje' is highlighted by his repetitive electric piano and spacey Moog runs with Sasa Cavric's thick murky bass bringing an almost Zeuhl intensity to this brief instrumental introduction that doesn't even run two minutes. `Prijatelju' opens as a mellow piano-led ballad over Boris Trubic's gentle congas, soothing yet confident lead vocals (no idea who is singing here, as four of the five members are all credited to vocals on the LP sleeve) before bursting to life in a furious up-tempo blast with searing Kansas/FM-styled electric violin from Josip Belamaric and phasing synth panning between the speakers within snappy time-changes. `Dijete' begins as a gradually building piano/violin duel that could have come from an early Curved Air album before settling into a gently jazzy vocal groover with a smoothly improvised middle that lets Mato's guitars take flight with some tasteful soloing. `Sretan Kraj' is a pleasing short mid-tempo pop/rocker that teases a jazzy piano send-off at the end only to rapidly fade out.

Conga and scratchy violin surges around `Raskrsce', a furious panning Moog race reprised several times and takes the place of a vocal chorus, with Mladin Garasic's attacking drumming holding it all together. Sadly what instrumentally holds promise through `Postajem Lud' - disorientating synth quirkiness and slinky bass grooves from Sasa Cavric - is ruined by some awful comical call-and-response female vocals from one of the fellas in the band! `Srebo' picks the quality up again and provides the strongest progressive rock moment on the disc, an eastern flavoured droning instrumental with downbeat piano, moody wah/wah guitars, a pounding staccato drumbeat that gradually builds in hypnotic urgency, humming synths with a lovely brief trilling Moog solo in the middle and moody wordless group sighs. Despite nice piano and violin throughout, `Ha-Re-Ho' is a somewhat annoying commercial piece with a repetitive and almost cringe-worthy gospel- like singalong chorus, but thankfully `Cuj Me' closes the album in a more somber and dramatically satisfying manner, a downbeat and gloomy piano/vocal ballad.

Several lost Yugloslavian prog-related albums have recently been given a series of reissues on both CD and LP, and with artists such as Oko, Kornelyans, Yu Grupa, Korni Grupa and more, there's really been some hidden gems to rediscover, this one no exception.`Hobo' makes for a very respectable addition to the collection of easy-going fans who are perfectly happy to unwind to well played, lightly-prog influenced rock, and the band should be proud of this fine little effort.

Three stars.

Hobo , this unknown band from ex Yugoslavia, formed around 1972 and lasted until late 1975, released only one album self titled in 1975 and gone into oblivion. While the music is quite competent type of heavy prog combined with symphonic overtones and jazzy parts, the album gone unnoticed to wider public, Hobo even opened for Deep Purple in Zagreb 1975.

The head of the band the keybordist Mato Dosen, done a great job here, pieces like Druzenje or Raskrsce are the highliths with nice duelings keys/guitar and nice musicianship all through out.

All in all a nice forgotten album, fans of the genre can take some spins, worth it, specially those who prefere east Europe prog 3.5 stars for sure.