UZ SME DOMA
In The Middle Of Words (Skoda)
Reviewed by John Sekerka

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The influence of Frank Zappa on the musical state of the Czech Republic is immeasurable. The long standing tradition of free-form wack jazz and psychedelic pop was first dispensed by The Plastic People of the Universe back when the Ruskies were throwing their communist manifesto around and musicians wound up jail more often than not. With democracy comes a new flag bearer of the wild and the woolly in all things that are considered music. Uz Sme Doma (now we are home) play a mind boggling mix of styles (folk, jazz, rock, baroque ... you name it), and they do it well. As an intro to their crazy world you couldn't do much better than this double live beast. Disc one was recorded way back in '90, just before the Velvet Revolution kicked in, while disc two jumps to a Vancouver show in '97. Introduced as "a soundtrack to an epileptic porno", the more recent recording is even more frenetic than it's older brother, showing the band swinging onward, not only keeping their vitality, but expanding on it. This thing rocks, in a quirky way of course.

© 2000 - John Sekerka