Modry Efekt & Radim Hladik. 1975 Czech Republic

I wrote an expose on most of the Blue Effect / Modry Efekt catalog when I obtained the box set 3+ years ago. I purposely left this out, as I already had it separately on CD, and decided to listen to it when its day arrived. And that day has occurred. In my mind, this has been my favorite Modry Efekt album since the beginning of discovering the group. That conclusion remains the same, though maybe not at the margin I originally thought. Some of this is sublime when the compositions and melodies are strong. But there is some typical jazz fusion noodling that I conveniently forgot about, taking it down a notch. But Hladik is certainly one of the era's finest guitarists, despite being stranded behind the Iron Curtain.

Ownership: CD: 2000 Bonton. Purchased online new upon release. Even though I have the box set, I'm keeping this CD primarily for the 2 entirely unique and excellent bonus tracks that were taken from East German compilation LPs. There are liner notes, but in Czech. I originally owned the LP, but as is the case with most Eastern European albums, I ditched it in favor of the CD when it came out. No regrets there.