BARNODAJ: MAUGLÍ

Late-60's in Brno, Czech Republic, and drummer Zdenek Kluka along with guitarist/singer Pavel Vane establish one of the most famous rock groups of ex-Czechoslovakia, The Progress Organization.After a Psych/Folk/Rock album in 1971 (''Barnodaj'') the band was condemned to play live in just a few occasions in a country where Totalitarianism had flooded all free expressions.However Vane and Kluka moved on to a second album in 1978, this time under the name Barnodaj.''Maugli'' was released in 1978 on Supraphone with permanent members being also keyboardist Jan Sochor and bassist Pavel Pec.

The album finds the band in a transitional period from the easy-listening Psych/Folk sound of their debut to a more adventurous Art-Rock style, where the psychedelic elements are again present.These make ''Maugli'' an uneven effort, split between demanding and more easy-listening but definitely dated tracks of little interest.About half of them have simple song structures, where Psychedlic Rock meets Blues, Jazz and Folk , and these sound a bit amateur nowadays with mediocre vocal work and dull multi-vocal parts.The rest of the album though holds plenty of challenging material.This is driven by complex synth workouts, orchestral parts, organ leads and great guitar work by Vane, not that complicated but certainly of great prog value.Jan Sochor also offers also plenty of dramatic piano passages along with a few harpsichord beats to make the album sound even more diverse.I am reminded at moments of OTA PETRINA's albums: Progressive Rock mixed with various influences like Psychedelic Pop, Symphonic Rock and Folk, and the result is an album with a deep romanticism to be found throughout.

Under some very hard political circumstances the duo of Vane and Kluka created a work, containing ground-breaking music around the time for the country and, despite some dated stuff to be met as well, ''Maugli'' has lots of intricate moments to offer to the listener.Recommended.