TAKO

The legendary Serbian act was found in 1975 in Beograd by ex-Opus bassist Dusan Cucuz.He gathered keyboardist Djordje Ilijin, guitarist Sava Bojic from Pop Masina and drummer Milan Lolic for the originaol line-up of the band.Initially Tako played covers of Jimi Hendrix Experience and Santana and soon had to face the departure of Lolic and Bojic (he went to the army).They were replaced by Slobodan Felekatovic and Miroslav Dukic respectively and Tako became a live beast the following years.With a difficult style they found it hard to sign with a label, eventually ZKP showed interest in them and released their self-titled debut in 1978.

This one is definitely among the best Classic Prog LP's to ever come out from Eastern Europe with a fantastic sound and a variety of influences.The opening ''Probudi se'' is a marvellous piece of vocal-led Space Rock with nice deep synth work, but the following ''Sinteza'' is even better with its unique Symphonic/Jazz/Space Rock sound, somewhere between the electric piano approach of RETURN TO FOREVER and the melodic delicacy of CAMEL with occasional heavy interplays and even some harmonica solo.Things will get even more heavier with ''Utapanje sunceve svetlosti u pescanu memoriju''.Fiery interplays and multiple breaks scan the territory of Heavy Italian-styled Prog in the vein of MUSEO ROSENBACH and the Canterbury Fusion style of CAMEL and NATIONAL HEALTH, fantastic performance to say the least.''Lena'' is the most emotional and dramatic track of the album.A pounding low-tempo rhythm section supports Ilijin's deep synths, piano and organ and Dukic'es FOCUS-like emotional guitar soloing, while the middle-part flute solo is among the best I've heard.The short instrumental ''Minijatura'' follows the vein of OSANNA/JETHRO TULL with flute in evidence and having strong Classical leanings.And we head for the 16-min. ''Druga strana mene'' (the other side of myself) and its perfect sound.Incorporating influences from Classical Prog, Jazz/Fusion, flute-based Prog and Space Rock, Tako manage to offer one of the better epics I've heard in a long time.The composition is extremely tight and well-built around symphonic synths, jazzy interludes, Classical breaks, driving flutes, emotional guitars and spacey floating atmospheres, resulting to a magnificent and thrilling piece of inspired music.

The end of this listening will find you simply stunned.This is the best Serbian Prog release of all times,a work of sheer beauty, deep inspiration and great complexity with all arrangements reaching the perfection.A must have for ages and, of course, extremely highly recommended.