SVIJET PO KOJEM GAZIM

I remember the first time I heard this album, it was in the spring of 2000. I'd never heard of Nepočin before, but I knew of Drugi Način. Nepočin was the brainchild of the Drugi Način founder Ismet Kurtović, who was the undisputed creative force behind that legendary group.

Music of Nepočin is arguably more prog-oriented, although the opening number, "Rock Pajac/Rock Clown" is pure rock, with some nice guitar riffing. It is a satire on the popularity that rock frontmen enjoy in the modern world. The title track is the first taste of prog we get here, with a typical prog intro which works well as well as the closing solo. "Stopa za stopom/Step by Step" is one of the highlights of the album with some terrific instrumental parts, specially at the end. "Novi dan/New Day" and "Čekati moj hit" are the only songs which Halil Mekić contributed to, co-writing the music to the first with Kurtovic and the second all by himself. Both are good, but the second is longer and more prog-like, with a very nice and long flute solo which finishes the song. I wonder what became of this guy. He certainly displayed a sense for writing meaningful and melodic music here. Therefore these songs, as well as the entire album, count as his swan song.

The lovely ballad "Beskrajna tama noći" also counts among the highlights here, while the two last songs are average. But overall, this is a truly satisfying and intriguing work by Kurtović, Mekić and co. What keeps it from being an absolute classic are the vocals, they are too high and pretentious-sounding. Lyrics also tend to be over-ambitious, but the whole project was meant to be very ambitious. Anyway, this is a treasure for any devoted Kurtovic/Drugi Način fan and collector, while people who are not acquainted to pompous and ambitious prog rock will not appreciate it much.