Pražský výběr: Straka v hrsti - CD

Music that couldn't be played before '89.
Music that became a symbol of 1989.

A sonically remastered re-release of a cult Czech rock album!

It's quite difficult to find a recording with a more turbulent history: Straka v hrsti (A Magpie in the Hand) became a testament to the great talent of the musicians and the stupidity of the communist system.
The 1982 recording, like the band which was banned at the same time, had to wait a long time for an official release during the harsh period of normalisation.
Although we enjoyed the unmistakably Czech new wave onslaught from these highly experienced musicians on illegal cassettes, the real opportunity didn't come until 1988 in the form of an LP from the Panton label.

Was it just ironic recession or non-committal fun? Add to that the extraordinary instrumental skills of musicians with primarily jazz-rock experience. Michael Kocáb (vocals, keyboards), Michal Pavlíček (guitar, bass guitar, vocals), Vilém Čok (bass guitar, vocals), and Jiří Hrubeš (drums) were not unchained teens. Their compositions, arrangements, and stage performances were therefore deliberately Dada-esque, but also musically brilliant. Combined with F. R. Čech's seamlessly fitting and welcome nonsensical themes and rhymes, a rock phenomenon was born, to which Bolshevik obstructionism added an anti-regime flavour.

Despite the considerable number of various stories surrounding its enormous success, subsequent restrictions, and even baton interventions by members of the VB (Public Security) at their highly eccentric concerts, the music of Straka is certainly still the most essential thing. Undoubtedly influenced by many new wave elements, it is primarily based on surprising ideas, considerable compositional and instrumental prowess, and lyrics with an unexpectedly Dadaist impact.
Hrabě X, Na václavským Václaváku, Pražákům je hej, Zubatá, Proč jen já, or Tango Ropotámo, and in fact all the songs that were played to death by the nation on cassettes, are still an excellent testimony to those (hard) times.