TAKO

Mix Animals-era Floyd with a harder, Finch-like edge.

Quite enjoyable instrumental symphonic progressive. In what must have been a joke the first track nearly plagiarizes the opening of Shine On You Crazy Diamond before the album finds its own sound. I can hear influences of Floyd and similar 70s acts and perhaps an early moment in the neo-prog sound. Tako eventually differentiates from the Floyd by having much more blazing lead guitar than the mellow beauty of Gilmour's playing. Tako's guitarist perhaps is more like Finch in places, or even approaches metalish sounding leads when he's on a roll.

After the little Shine On opening, the drums and flutes kick in and we begin. The overall speed of songs ranges from slow and dreamy to breakneck rock. Miroslav Dukic is able to play like Gilmour when he chooses to as in "In the Sleeping Bag" but I think he prefers more flash. One thing that might annoy some of you is that Tako seems to like the "fade out" over the definitive ending with every track ending in a fade-out. "Shadows of the Past" features a battle of heavy riffing and wild keyboards until a break in the middle where the guitar falls away and the bass soldiers on. "Hords of Peace" is another guitar-fest with layered leads in places and more nice keys. The 10-minute long "Stories About Lena" was not interesting enough to warrant all the time in my opinion. "Valley of Butterflies" fares better with booming bass and inspired lead guitar. "Nothing Lost" begins and ends in a driving flurry that would make Rush proud with a calm eye in the middle of the storm.

Tako is somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. While I enjoy the guitar I have to round down because I believe there is not enough variety in the composition. Too many of the songs sound of similar pace and emotional level.

The Rock Symphony reissued cd sounds great and features a band bio. Interestingly they place the two bonus tracks in with the rest of the album tracks rather than tagging them at the end. The album was recorded in Belgrade in 1980.

Should you seek out Tako? Well, I think if you like Finch's "Galleons of Passion" or the thought of a harder edged instrumental "Wish You Were Here" then you just might like this. They do most definitely rock.and seem to enjoy it!

The second and surely the best effort of Tako from Yugoslavia. Sometimes reminds a little bit Wish-You-Were-Here-era Pink Floyd or John-Etheridge-era Soft machine. But musical developments are not very adventurous. On the other hand we can listen qiute beautiful melodies here with using flute sometimes. Nothing very special but quite nice listening.

Another Yu-prog masterpiece,together with Indexi's "Modra rijeka",Tako's self-titled debut bore almost same uncompromised non-commercial characteristics as Sarajevo's veterans,only difference being somewhat undeveloped sound,due to very short time in the studio,mere 24 hours!? Still,very strong effort for this Belgrade outfit,raw sounding,with almost gothic feel driven by vintage keyboards including tons of analogue synthesisers and fiery guitar.Basic style here is symhonic with dash of jazz- fusion,mostly instumental and structuraly not overly complex,but very captivating with some beautiful flute an synth melodies.On the other side of spectrum electric guitar riffs are almost hard-rock sounding,while rhythm section is thunderous.Having said all above,there are some weaknesses,mainly with production,but I cannot help myself to get shivers down my spine every time I hear this record.Few years back,when this album was re-released on CD by Brazilian label Rock symphony,Eurock stated in their press release that this is the best ever album to come from eastern Europe.I won't go that far,but certainly it is the one of the best.Masterpiece of progressive rock music. Five stars!

"U vreci za spavanje" (Eng. "In The Sleeping Bag") is the second and the last album of TAKO, released in 1980 by PGP RTB label. It is an all-instrumental work, done with more ambition and seemingly more serious planning.

The title track is sort of "new age" ambient easy piece with nice flute/recorder solo, carrying the atmosphere of certain Andreas Vollenweider's albums of the 1980s. "Senke proslosti" starts with furious MAHAVISHNU-like guitar frenzy, melting slowly into a dark and eerie bass/synth section. "Na putu ka sebi" is another fusion-style composition with nice solo parts of guitar, piano and synths. "Price o Leni" is the longest track on the album, running at almost 10 minutes, but it seems that "Lena", whoever she was, is not a good inspiration for TAKO. After the so-so namesake song on the first album, here we have at times brilliant moments with some folksy melodies, but often some dull and repetitive themes played more with technical virtuosity than with heart. "Dolina leptira" is a nice odd- time track with chimes, piano and acoustic and electric guitars, somewhat reminiscent of CAMEL. "Igra devojcice" is a short closing number similar to previous "Minijatura" from the debut in that it reminds again of JETHRO TULL due to a flute solo, but there is also a harmonica part added here. Given that the only two vocal songs from the debut were in my opinion among the best, it seems to me that the all-instrumental concept on this one was not the best solution - some nicely composed vocal parts would add a bit of variety.

In time of its release in autumn 1980, Yugoslavia saw the outbreak of New Wave music movement, which did not welcome the "old-fashioned" progressive rockers. I remember some negative reviews in the renowned music magazine "Dzuboks" that, modelled on the NME trend setting, denounced TAKO as "lost in space and time" or something like that. I never saw this album in reality on the market and I imagine it was printed in very small circulation copies. TAKO disbanded soon after this commercial failure. In spite of this, "U vreci za spavanje" is a worthy prog album that should be listened and perhaps the foreign (non-South Slavic) prog fans would not mind lacking of vocal parts like I do, because this way there is no language barrier.

TAKO (Eng. "That Way") was one of those rare ex-Yugoslavian symphonic prog bands that did not engage in mainstream pop-rock and were truly devoted to play "non- commercial" music. They formed in 1975 and recorded several demos in the studio of Belgrade Radio station. Since 1977 they established the line-up consisting of: Dusan Cucuz-bass, Djordje Ilijin-keyboards and flute, Miroslav Dukic-guitar and Slobodan Felekatovic-drums. In August 1977 TAKO played as support to mega-sellers BIJELO DUGME at their famous "Hajducka cesma" open-air concert in front of some 100 000 fans. At this period they experimented with quadrophenia sound system during joint live gigs with S VREMENA NA VREME, another popular progressive folk rock band. Recording companies were reluctant to sign them up due to their alleged "non- commercial" potentials, but finally RTV Ljubljana label decided to give them opportunity and they recorded the eponymous debut in 1978.

Songwriting is co-authored by Cucuz, Ilijin and Dukic, while the album carries six uneven compositions with obvious influences from the classic symphonic prog and jazz-rock standards. The opener "Probudi se" is excellent vocal track sounding a bit like PINK FLOYD or ELOY. "Sinteza" is more into jazz-rock with nice piano parts and there is a strange blues-like section with harmonica. "Utapanje sunceve svetlosti u pescanu memoriju" is also quite interesting piece with several different parts and chilling closing vocal section where the lyrics are influenced by Eastern philosophy (Buddhist?). "Lena" is an easy piece with flute but here the band starts loosing direction, which will continue in the extended suite-like "Druga strana mene" - a 16-minutes improvisation that offers zero really interesting ideas and above all is a very boring listen. The closing number "Minijatura" is a sort of homage to JETHRO TULL, and here you can listen to wonderful double-flute solo, in a manner similar to Ian Anderson's.

This album is quite interesting ex-Yugoslavian prog rock although its compositions are under-developed and sometimes not fully realised. I can still recommend it to prog lovers, especially to the fans of JETHRO TULL, CAMEL or FOCUS, but I would not call it an essential work. Still, closer to 4 than to 3 stars.

Ok, first track is a little bit morbid (boring) despite the title "wake up" but a good track. From the second track things will get. hot, "synthesis" is an excellent jazz oriented song with electric piano, organ, guitar solo, time change and even gaita,( I always try to be coherent an short on my reviews), all the record will have this great prog quality, mixing jazz and rock in a perfect way, sometimes remembering Atoll's style (second and third song), sometimes remembering an improved Focus or the usual Jethro Tull (fourth and fifth song), And the last track before the bonus, a 16 minutes excellent song "Second side of me", Tako means " this way" and personality was one of the marks of prog rock when computer didn't exist, and things were harder.not a three star but five I guess it would be a bit overkill.

One of the best groups from Yugoslavia! Because of the heavy guitar and flute they are often compared to SOLARIS but they started erlier than this Hungarian band and maybe they influenced them. Both of their albums were reissued on CD. This is the second one and completely instrumental.

- "U vreci za spavanje" is a peaceful floydian track with Mellotron (or string synth?) and a nice flute theme.

- "Senke proslosti" has heavy metal riffs in odd time signature (ethnic influence). Electric guitar is shredding and also some analog synth. In the middle of the track there is an unexpected calmer part.

- "Na putu ka sebi" also starts similar as previous track and then slows down.

- "Horde mira" (bonus track) starts with a classically influenced symphonic part and continues with fast guitar solos.

- "Price o Leni" reminds me a little of OZRIC TENTACLES and IGRA STAKLENIH PERLI (another Yugoslavian group) because of the eastern grooves.

- "Dolina leptira" is a beautful track with a nice eastern guitar melody, majestic riffs, synth jamming and a piano solo in odd time signature.

- "Izgubljeno nista" (bonus track) is alternating between fast heavy passages and spacey parts like in "Na putu ka sebi"

- "Igra devojcice" is a more classic symphonic track again with trademark riffing and a bluesy harmonica solo in the middle.

TAKO is a very unique symphonic space group. The powerful riffing and guitar soloing is ahead of its time. There could be some similarity with SOLARIS, ELOY and RUSH but TAKO sound different. The sound quality of "U vreci za spavanje" is not the best but the music is perfect. Excellent listening experience!

As it turns out Yugoslavia had their share of prog acts. SMAK, KORNI GRUPA, LEB I SOL, and this particular band, TAKO are some examples. TAKO managed only two albums, in which this self-entitled album was their debut. The band consisted of bassist/vocalist Dusan Æuæuz, keyboardist/flautist/harmonical player Ðorde Illijan, guitarist/vocalist Miroslav Dukiæ, and drummer Slobodan Felekatoviæ. Ðorde Illijan tends to use a lot of Elka Rhapsody string synth, as well as electric piano.

Some of the music tends to have a bit of a fusion influence. A couple of songs have vocals, including the opening cut "Probudi Se". It's in Serbo-Croation, so it's nice to hear the language in a prog setting. This song tends to be dominated by Illijan's Elka. "Sinteza" shows the more fusion-end of the band, especially when Illijan uses the Fender Rhodes electric piano. Perhaps my favorite is "Utapanje Sunèeve Sveltlosi U Pesèanu Memoriju", where the band goes through several changes. Again the vocals appear here. I especially like the guitar work of Miroslav Dukiæ found here. "Lena" is a short, flute-dominated piece that bears more than a passing resemblance to Hungary's SOLARIS (making me believe SOLARIS was influenced by TAKO, since SOLARIS' debut did not appear until the 1980s). "Minijatura" is another flute-dominated piece, that brings to mind JETHRO TULL. Then the album closes with the 16 minute epic "Druga Strana Mene". The CD reissue comes with a bonus cut, "Put Na Jug", which is a nice addition, this one also has vocals. I don't exactly call this album essential. For one thing, the production isn't all that great (but then I expect that, coming from a communist country), but by Eastern European standards, this is definately one of the better albums.

My rating: 3 1/2 stars

First album from this extra talented but unknown band ,there is no bad song on this album,its powerfull with great guitar riffs followed by fine and atmospheric keyboards and flutes.This album is not completely instrumental as it is for the second one,but the voices are calm and smoothy with good intelectual and dreamy lyrics(in Serbian) ,give them a chance to be heard!You wouldn't be disapointed, its a masterpiece!

This is the most outstanding progressive album from my country(and maybe the only great one) and even from this part of the world ,its a melange of pure balkan folkloric instrumental with english symph prog.Its very imaginative and inspirative,with some majestic mellodies which will bring you to pastoral landscapes and visions.Each track is fantasticly created and there is no bothering moments.Flutes and keyboards are wonderful with punchy nostalgic themes .Its the best what Camel could do!