KORNI GRUPA

Very popular band from ex-Yugoslavia.They were formed in Belgrade in 1968 by former Indexi keyboardist Kornelije Kovac.The band had a rather stable branch of guitars,bass and drums with Bojan Hreljac, Josip Bocek and Vladimir Furduj respectively,but suffered from numerous changes on the vocal post.Initially they played in a Pop-Rock style with female singers,by the 70's they transformed into a Hard Prog band with Jazz influences and male vocals (even Time's singer Dado Topic was a member in 1971).After they recorded the musical poem ''1941'',Korni Grupa headed for their first full-length self-titled work with Zlatko Pejakovic on vocals and eventually released it on the big Serbian label PGP RTB.

A rather dated work by today's standards,''Korni Grupa'' opens with ''Glas sa obale boje'',a mediocre Hard/Blues track with little to offer and vocal lines being the most interesting moments.The 14-min. four-part epic ''Put na istok'' is also rather inconsistent,standard Blues/Hard Rock on the lyrical parts,but Kovac delivers some nice organ soloing after the middle with a decent jazzy rhythm section,while the strong end is also pretty good.Another long track,the 10-min. ''Moj bol'' will open in a pure Jazz manner with Kovac'es piano on the front all the way,but again very cliche work on guitar solos,certainly an overstretched piece of music.''Bezglave ja-ha horde'' holds the rhythm section's best performance with some good vocals throughout and fantastic electric piano by Kovac,definitely the most adventurous cut of the album.The short closer ''Tata Ko i mama Spo'' sees the band in a commercial Blues Rock style,again the fine vocals end up to be the most interesting part in here along with the electric piano performance of Kovac,while the guitars are deeped already in a very pale and forgettable style.

The album might have been a great release in ex-Yugoslavia,but it will not blow your mind by any means.It is a rather cliche Hard/Jazz/Prog album with some fine passages but also plenty of average parts,which reminds at moments Swedish bands of the time like KEBNEKAISE,RAG I RYGGEN or TRETTIOARIGA KRIGET.Far from a trully interesting release,hardly recommended,but of some interest for fans of the style...2.5 stars.