Blue Effect

Best known for their Yes-like prog work in the '70s, the Czech Republic's Blue Effect were formed in the late '60s, when that nation was still tied politically and geographically to its Slovak neighbor during the Cold War. Led by the renowned guitarist Radim Hladik, Blue Effect first came to prominence as an R&B-influenced rock act with their first two albums, 1969's Meditace and 1970's Coniunctio. It was at this point that the Soviet-backed government stepped in and forced the band to alter its name to reflect a more "Czecho-Slovak" heritage. Now dubbed Modry Efekt (and, at t...