Kalemegdan Disk - ROCK FROM EASTERN EUROPE

Supraphon Release Information

The second part of the best of compilation, a treat for the ear and the eye!

After a well-received collection of ballads (CD “Královský vecer” (A Royal Evening), 2014) comes a compilation of songs with a variety of sprightly moments. But don’t expect an ordinary selection with no tune. The singer, author and guitarist in one person Vladimír Mišík has chosen the songs and arranged them in order not chronologically, but according to his relationship to recordings from the last forty years and his feeling for listening to them collectively. Thus you will find here songs from seven of Mišík’s albums from 1976 to 2010.

Apart from the title song, there are “Taxuvka” (Taxi Driver), “Bazar” (Bazaar), “Jednohubky” (One Legged), “Šmajdák” (Stumpy), “Jam Session” or “Cajun”, i.e. rock songs with a flamenco flair, the nation’s beloved classic semi-acoustic Mišík, typical bittersweet blues and entertainingly functional almost reggae or almost jigs. The lyrics are undoubtedly important to the music: often by Mišík himself, but also by Jirí Dedecek, Václav Hrabe, Jirí Suchý, Vladimír Merta or Josef Kainar.

The packaging of the fourteen tracks also follows the successful unconventional look of the previous “slow” compilation. The duo Karel Haloun and Ludek Kubík offer a dévée box in paper, a booklet of 52 pages with all Czech texts and their English translations, and as a significant added value also Haloun’s graphics, perfectly harmonising with Mšík’s tones and words. The result is a superb continuation of a musical and artistic, but also largely human, generational testimony.

Tracklist

1. Taxuvku jsme chytli / Taking a Cab – ? 1980 2:58
2. Životní režim / Run of the Mill – ? 1990 2:59
3. Bazarem promen / The Bazaar of Changes – ? 1976 3:02
4. Ty II. / You II. – ? 1980 4:35
5. Jednohubky / Cookie Time – ? 1976 3:42
6. Mesto z perin / Cotton Clouds City – ? 1996 4:17
7. Jen se smej / So Keep Laughing – ? 1993 4:08
8. Šero v kavárne / Darkness in the Café – ? 1993 3:21
9. Šmajdák a ploužáky / Sway Step & Slow Dance – ? 1990 3:37
10. Ta láska / That Love – ? 2010 4:19
11. Relativistický zádrhel / Relativity Catch – ? 1993 3:53
12. Jam session / Jam Session – ? 1990 3:19
13. Pátecní cajun / Friday’s Cajun – ? 1999 2:48
14. Sladké je žít / Life Is Sweet – ? 1980 4:45