KORNI GRUPA

This is a nice album. There are no weak tracks on the album, but it's not a masterpiece neither. The overall sound reminds me a little bit of BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO and the like, but it's unique in it's own, if I may say, Yugoslavian way. Nice keyboard work ( piano - played with nice dynamic ranges, organ, Rhodes, smart use of Moog),, frenetic electric guitars are giving a certain amount of flashiness. Nice acoustic guitar work. Simple but effective bass parts. The same applies for the drums.

The weak point is vocal. Vocals are excellent, but the problem is that singing is too perfect; Mr. Kovac treated vocal as another musical instrument, and every single note must be controlled under his supervision. That's the reason (I guess) why this band changed three singers (each of them started successful pop career!). Anyway, the work well done, and I'm surprised how Pejakovic obtained so ballsy, soulful performance under the Kovac's dictatorship.

However, everything is working fine. "Put na Istok" (A Road Towards East) is a nice long track containing hard rock and oriental elements blended in a perfect amalgam, and "Bezgalve Ja-Ha Horde" (The Headless Ya-Ha Hordes) is a lunatic jazzy description of the battle (or allegoric description of something else...).

My favourite track is "Tata Ko. i Mama Spo.", and most reviewers consider it as a weaker (even the weakest) track of the album, and yes, that is true to some extent because it's less progressive than other tracks, musical-wise. But, in my opinion, the good and original lyrics count as well, and this is not a song about love, war, politics, sorcery, aliens or psychedelic experience...

...this is a song of divorced man, young father who can visit his little girl only on Sundays. Beautiful and touchy. Nice going, Korni. I hope your ex wife got upset. Four stars.