*. Jutro .*

Album: Dobro Jutro (1980)
Genre: Prog Rock (Jazz Fusion/Exp.)  /  Slovenia

The title of this LP ("Good Morning") and a jovial comic strip cover design may suggest that it contains the music of some new, fresh, innovative and vigorous young band who has many interesting things on the plate to offer. The things stand a bit different, unfortunately. As was the case with many former Yugoslavian prog bands from the 1970s, this album came at least 4-5 years late. JUTRO missed the opportunity to record an album during their "Mozart period", leaving only one 7" single behind in 1976. When they re-grouped in 1978 with prominent new members coming from the jazz scene, many things had already happened in the meantime: jazz-rock witnessed its peak in Yugoslavia with SEPTEMBER, LEB I SOL and SMAK having set high standards. Even the newcomers, Jaksa and Gančev, had just recorded an excellent album with short-lived SONČNA POT a year prior to "Dobro jutro", so their effort on this album when teamed-up with original trio of Crnkovič-Tomassini- Ristič looks rather lame. Most of the tracks and particularly the vocal ones are leaning towards the "lounge/crossover" type of jazz-rock that lacks inspiration and offers a linear, laid-back sound. Some of the moments are downright bad, of the kind forcing you to skip them during play, like unsuccessful heavy blues "Glasba vzame" ("Music With Me") and awful "Boogie", both with too aggressive bass and vocals that spoil the arrangement! To be honest, this LP does contain three very good moments of pure fusion! Instrumentals "Dobro jutro" and "Cikorija" ("Chicory") have excellent saxophone lines by virtuoso L. Jaksa, nice piano backing chords by Gančev and brief but efficient guitar parts by Crnkovič. These instrumentals remind me of the better works by PASSPORT. "V moji mali sobi" ("In My Little Room") is vocal song in slower tempo while the Slovene lyrics and style of playing moves this closer to their Ljubljana neighbours SEPTEMBER. "Dvakrat" ("Twice") and "Po jezeru" ("At the Lake") are mediocre jazz-rock with pop- prog-crossover flavour of the cross between funky guitar jamming of THE ALLMAN BROS and gentle ballad instrumentals of CAMEL. "Dobro jutro" marked the end of the "old way" jazz-rock at the time when new avant-approach fuelled with New Wave energy already appeared on the scene (check also the Slovene bands BEGNAGRAD or NA LEPEM PRIJAZNI). It remains of marginal interest for fusion fans, while the selected tracks are certainly valid hearing a few times. 
Review by "Seyo" (Prog Archives).

RATING:  7.75 / 10

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