KISELINA

I got this album as a promo while working for Dutch progrock magazine iO Pages. The label presented thisseven piece band as 'Early Seventies Yugoslavian Progressive Hardrock'. Well, in my opinion the amount of hardrock is reduced to some heavy riffs in the vein of Black Sabbath but in general Pop Masina plays pleasant rock with progressive tendencies like the alternating We'll Change The World (varied instrumentation, from organ and piano to acoust cguitar, flute and tablas). The strong point on this CD is the powerful guitarplay, obviously rooted in the tradition of all great guitar heroes in the Sixties and Seventies. A fine Yugoslavian record on a label from Poland.

POP MASINA's debut album "Kiselina" (Eng. "Acid") belongs to the category of long-forgotten, rare gems of Yugoslav rock scene. Recorded and released in late 1973, at the dawn of rock album discography in the former Yugoslavia, the band gained recognition as a pioneering heavy "acid" rock trio influenced by both British blues-based hard rock and early progressive rock. It was the second full-fledged rock album issued by Belgrade-based PGP RTB label (the first was phenomenal KORNI GRUPA's self-titled debut of 1972), which contained none of the then dominant vocal/orchestral pop sound of light jazzy/ Schlager/San Remo mainstream crooner music in Yugoslavia (generally known as "zabavna muzika" ? literally: "entertainment/good time music"). Instead, it was a mind-blowing attack to the record industry too.

As urban legend has it, the whole process of recording went under irregular circumstances. The PGP label assigned incompetent producer and sound engineer who never before worked with a rock 'n' roll group; studio time was limited (10 days only!) because their resources were reserved for more popular and commercial neo-traditional folk ensembles and singers ("narodnjaci"), and the technical capabilities of studio were poor, so the LP was recorded almost as "live" record, without much taking or dubbing or even tracking. Finally, the printing house complained that the original sleeve design was too expensive and offered them instead a cheaper version, the one you can see here presented. Moreover, to the astonishment of the company executives somebody first gave them a hint as to what the album title actually meant (yes, that "acid"!) and second they had to cope with the reality of the entire first circulation being sold out! Decision was made however not to reprint "Kiselina" but to offer instead a possibility to some other rock bands in Belgrade to record their debut LP vinyls. Therefore, "Kiselina" remained one of the rarest LP titles issued in Yugoslavia and remained a collector's item up until Austrian independent label Atlantide RIP reissued it on vinyl in 2005. The original vinyl can be recognized by the red PGP label and may be occasionally available at web shops at not so cheap price. In the meantime, two CD versions also appeared (a Serbian and a Polish one), both containing bonus tracks from singles.

So, behind all of that fame, what's in the grooves? It sounds like a mixed bag of early heavy (metal) rock, post-psychedelic balladry and some ambitious progressive rock attempts. Poor sound quality notwithstanding, the performance is often inconsistent, jumping from wild heavy rocking to acoustic mellow passages to some instrumental ideas that were obviously not fully developed. The best example of this is the title track "Kiselina". Perhaps the one closest to prog at least in form, it contains several different instrumental sections with excellent electric piano and drums, but with poor vocals and subdued guitar work. And just when you expect the track to develop into a more elaborated jazz rock jamming, it fades out... too bad.

Still, there are more than a handful of very good songs. On the heavy side, "Pesma srecne noci" ("Song of the Happy Night") with wonderful solo organ work by guest player Slobodan Markovic and amazing Hendrix-like wah-wah guitar by Bozinovic bursts out of energy and powerful groove, while "Svemirska prica" ("Tale of the Universe") is perhaps one of the earliest (if not the earliest!) pure style heavy metal tracks in ex-Yugoslavia. It is almost a copycat of BLACK SABBATH grinding riffs and only the vocal will remind you that this ain't the Ozzy and Co. On the easier side, "Mir" ("The Peace") and "Povratak zvezdama" ("Return to the Stars") present the acoustic psychedelia in a more soothing manner, with very nice Bozinovic's guitar leads that invoke PINK FLOYD's "Meddle" era. The latter also contains a gentle piano part by Markovic. Finally, the end brings the best moment of this uneven record - very nice Nemecek's acoustic/electric jam with slight folksy feel "Slika iz proslih dana" ("Picture From the Past"), including tasteful flute by Branimir Malkoc. This one segues into a short "Jark" outro consisting of reversed tape sound effects ("Jark" is actually a reversed reading of "Kraj" - meaning: "The End").

So, despite obvious weaknesses I would encourage you to listen to this record. Even if flawed, it still captures the moment of creative potential, raw energy, adolescent naivety and pioneering prog/psychedelic exploration in the rock scene of ex-Yugoslavia. This is what actually appeared on vinyl in 1973. But, if you are still not convinced, you may want to check what was the original idea behind recording of this album. Nemecek's remastered edition "Originalna Kiselina - 35 godina kasnije" testifies what should have been recorded and released but was not meant to be.

PERSONAL RATING: 3,5/5

P.A. RATING: 4/5