BEZ NAGLIH SKOKOVA

For their 4th album GALIJA recruited a new keyboardist Aleksandar Lokner and went to England for the recording sessions produced by Gordon Rowley. Alas, good production and nice cover art cannot hide the poor songwriting. Again, Milosavljević brothers tried to compensate their lack of inspiration by fetching a serious poetry - this time a Sergei Yesenin poem "Do Not Tempt Me With Your Coldness". The result - an awfully boring ballad. Actually most of the album suffers from lack of concept, ideas and arrangement skills. GALIJA re-cycles their previous template - a bit of straightforward rock'n'roll and a bit of quasi-symphonic ballads filled with neo-prog touch.

Still, there are two good songs. "Meksiko" is a strong R'n'B track with hit potentials, containing the line from the album title "Bez naglih skokova" ("Without Sudden Changes"). Lokner's piano and synthesizers are forefront instruments and he cites at one moment the Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" melody. The best track is a dark, melancholic ballad "San" ("The Dream") . Acoustic guitar, piano and keyboards provide nice atmosphere where Neso Milosavljević's vocals are utilized in full capacity. Much less convincing is the closing short ballad "Pesma" ("The Song") but it brings a relief to the listener, that this poor album has finally ended.

In spite of two or three nice songs, this album can hardly deserve three stars, therefore - only for fans.

PERSONAL RATING: 2,5/5

P.A. RATING: 2/5