R.I.P. Radim Hladík

[spacefreak]

One of the great prog guitarists!

[zravkapt]

RIP

I'm not even sure who's still alive at this point.

[Kai]

Bugger. And of IPF to boot.

R.I.P.

[Joe F.]

RIP

I enjoy most of those M. Efekt albums.

[Bake 1]

Drag, glad he did what he did...that album in the 1st post is %^&**GREAT!!

[Scrotum Scissor]

Damn sad. I knew of his illness, but his passing is still untimely and totally undeserved. Hladik was one of my fave European electric guitarists, the "Peter Green of Prog rock" as I once had his playing introduced. His work with Matadors, Blue Effect, Modry Éfekt and M. Éfekt - four rather distinct phases - is all good. As was his wide array of studio and guest appearances with famed countrymen like Pavol Hamel and -women like Iva Bittova.

This guy had a lot more to offer. The very nerve of his tone in many of those performances was almost unprecedented in this kind of rock music. Luckily he reached some substantial acclaim back in the day, prolonging his status and giving him a name with general rock audiences not only in the Czech/Slovak but also in Poland, Russia and more. He'll be missed.

[Progbear]

[ashratom]

One of the great prog guitarists!

Indisputable. What a wonderful legacy he left behind.

[Scrotum Scissor]

What a wonderful legacy he left behind.

And what an effin' token to the state-of-the-art of "prog" how 12 hours of announcement manage to conjure up seven thread inputs.

[Trane]

Rip Radim

Thanks for everything.

[spacefreak]

Damn sad. I knew of his illness, but his passing is still untimely and totally undeserved. Hladik was one of my fave European electric guitarists, the "Peter Green of Prog rock" as I once had his playing introduced. His work with Matadors, Blue Effect, Modry Éfekt and M. Éfekt - four rather distinct phases - is all good.

Yeah, Matadors... what a great band they were. Their 1968 album for supraphon was the pinnacle of Czech freakbeat (if such a style ever existed).

[Scrotum Scissor]

the pinnacle of Czech freakbeat (if such a style ever existed).

I suppose it did to some extent. Later bands of (relative) fame like Framus Five and the stupendously great Flamengo started around '66 playing idiosyncratic fusions of beat and embryonic jazz-rock, many musicians at the time being formally trained as this was the accepted deal when forming 'beat groups' in the Eastern bloc; often because party cultural committees usually seemed to trust the notion that "scholarly" implied "well disciplined" and as such also the belief that these juveniles weren't likely to cause much trouble. Of course, by mid-'67 the buildup to the Prague Spring was already in session, seeing many of these youngsters freak out by definition and try new and different things. The ensuing music of the Matadors, Blue Effect, Flamengo (their classic sole album), Jazz Q and not least the Plastic People were consequently as radically daring as anything from the west at the time.

There was just so much fantastic and boldly adventurous rock to come out of Czech during the 70s and 80s, and to some degree there still is.

[spacefreak]

There was just so much fantastic and boldly adventurous rock to come out of Czech during the 70s and 80s, and to some degree there still is.

Yes, though based on the large atheist tradition (Czech Republic has one of the highest rates of atheism worldwide http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a6946291.html), the attention of many musicians in the 80s swifted towards black metal. And they had groundbreakingly innovative bands for that specific genre, such as ROOT or MASTER'S HAMMER, though this is subject to a different analysis.

[Buddhabreath]

So sad to hear this - what a wonderful musician he was. Thanks Radim.

[Progbear]

♥♥♥ that song so f%&$ing much. That album is so underrated.

[Progmatic]

Wow...RIP Radim

[JeffCarney]

Just an amazing player.

A real loss for music.

[Progmatic]

one more of his famous live performances

[TCC]

One of the great prog guitarists!

Agree!.
RIP!.

[Digital_Man]

I enjoyed the clip very much. Sad news. RIP. Of course this is now overshadowed by Greg Lake's passing.

[nosebone]

Great 1976 clip, thx Scrotes!

[Scrotum Scissor]

Of course this is now overshadowed by Greg Lake's passing.

No, it isn't - and if it had been, there wouldn't be a single thing "of course" about it.

It isn't as if people were swarming towards this thread before the passing of Lake, and then suddenly stopped. And as mindboggling it may seem, it is fully possible for ardent music enthusiasts to actually deem an overall lesser known artist's achievements of somewhat higher total valor than that of a more well known one.

After all, we'll all pass in the end. But mostly in our own end.

[spacefreak]

I enjoyed the clip very much. Sad news. RIP. Of course this is now overshadowed by Greg Lake's passing.

Well, yesterday I played Svitanie back-to-back with Trilogy. Equally satisfying experience.

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ After hearing eight of their albums these past few days and contemplating my own listening history with them, I've actually come to the conclusion that I somehow seem to enjoy their very last studio album (33) the most. The lineup (guitars, synths/vocals, drums) might appear thin on paper, but with players as apt and immensely creative as these there's no challenge whatsoever to stick it. Although pop-cultural discourse obviously was different in the Eastern bloc and thus sans the "punk revolution" dogma/stigma, it's still rather fascinating how fairly big names in Eastern European rock continued to produce such refined and demanding stuff way into the 80s. It certainly beats the shit out of what any "bigs" were doing in the west at the time - and that very atmosphere of almost ecstatic euphoria and deep melancholy throughout is plain unbeatable.

Hladik's solo halfway through the third track (which starts at around 21 mins.) captures the man's intensity and sensitivity quite brilliantly.

[Svetonio]

RIP Radim Hladík