S VREMENA NA VREME

Eponymous debut album of this band was surprisingly a mature and strong work.

Surprisingly only if you are not familiar with the fact that these musicians were already established veterans of the Belgrade acoustic music scene in the early 1970s. Additionally they gained skills through frequent composing and performing for various theatre and TV plays and shows, as well as guest appearances on many other albums as studio players.

Although this album is, first and formost, a collection of excellent individual songs where practically all of them could have been hits, the overall arrangement of this release gives a feel of a unifying idea. Seamless flow from one song to another is perfectly done, in a manner that some later BEATLES albums can surely be evoked as a model. Excellent harmony vocals, nice acoustic but also occasional electric guitars and flute, melodic bass lines, organ and some electronic devices, plus several traditional instruments like "prim" and "sargija" (both akin to mandolin or lute), all that make of this album a true masterpiece. It is hard to pinpoint a single track as best example, but the sample provided here, "Tema za sargiju" ("Theme for a Sargija") is an excellent choice. It is instrumental including sargija, acoustic guitars, percussion and later an electric guitar fuzzed solo. All of that can remind of some JETHRO TULL moments. Prog purists may find "S vremena na vreme" too accessible and song-oriented instead of complexity or experimentation. But, perfection sometimes lies in simplicity, harmony and beauty, of what this album is plentiful.

Pioneers of Yugoslavian Rock and Folk, found in 1972 in Beograd by brothers Miomir Dukic and Vojislav Dukic, Asim Sarvan and Ljubomir Ninkovic with all of them playing guitars and singing.Their name (''From time to time'') reflected on the band's hard times to rehearse together due to the military service and actually any possible core left behind had to collaborate with outside musicians.They rarely performed live during their early years and focused on composing music for theatre plays.First single comes in 1973 and several ones would follow, before the first eponymous album would be launched by the Slovenian ZKP label in 1975, featuring among others future drummer of the band Nikola Jager and Pop Masina's Robert Nemecek on bass.

S Vremena Na Vreme played an unusual and innovative Folk Rock, based on the typical electroacoustic changes but often coloring the sound with interesting jams and even more surprisigly with proggy synthesizers.The tracks are short and usually very lyrical with a poetic atmosphere and strong presence of acoustic guitars, but the limited length of the songs would not prevent the band from delivering some clever hints of Psych and Progressive Rock.The album features the constant presence of sargija, an acoustic instrument of the Balkan countries pretty similar to the Turkish baglama, showcasing the deep, traditional roots of S Vremena Na Vreme.But do not expect something close to Eastern Folk from this work.Some pieces are supported by floating synthesizers, heading for a pretty proggy enviroment, other ones contains echoes of the Hammond organ in a more old-styled, psychedelic mood.On the top of these comes the good use of electric guitars and some mellow interplays to produce a slightly adventurous style.The vocals are mostly great and the album has a great sense of melody in most of its pieces, sometimes flirting with Pop Rock, but always maintaining an artistic flavor.

A second album from 1979, ''Paviljon G'', is said to be more electric but also quite poppy.The band dissolved for the first time the same year due to Vojislav Dukic'es army service and reunited in early-90's, producing the album ''Posle kraja'', before disbanding again in 1997.Several shorter reunions for live purposes took place from 2010 and on.

Warm, sensitive and pretty challenging Folk Rock from the 70's.Highly recommended to all fans of the genre and a good proposal for anyone looking for smooth yet intricate musicianship...3.5 stars.