SAMO JEDNOM

At the beginning of 1977, after a successful winter Yugoslav tour with pop singer Zdravko Colic, Indexi recorded a new single, which is associated with two fun facts. First, Indexi returned to the Zagreb record label Jugoton. The details of this transfer are not known, but it is interesting that with this move they did not leave Sarajevo's Diskoton, so that during the next few years (until 1981) they would record in parallel for both labels. In addition, although this is unverified information from the Internet, it seems that Ivo Mojzer, a multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter from Maribor, a member of several Slovenian groups, the most famous of which are Kameleoni and Pepel in kri, participated in the recording sessions of this single as a guest drummer. Namely, after the departure of Milic Vukasinovic Mica in October 1976, Indexi were without a permanent drummer for the next few months, so this position was filled as needed by Perica Stojanovic, Mojzer (he also went on a Soviet tour with them at the end of 1976), and veteran Djordje Kisic. The latter settled in the lineup during the spring of 1977, and would remain with the group until its very end in 2001. This situation is also reflected on the cover of the new single, on which Indexi are presented as a quartet, without a drummer. The photograph comes from a photo session by Dragan S. Stefanovic from the previous year and shows the members of the group in glittering, glamorous suits. Although Mica was a member of the band at the time, his figure was omitted so that the cover would represent the current line-up, and since Mojzer was not a full member, he is not in the picture either. The songs for the single were recorded, again according to unverified information, in Zagreb, probably in the Jugoton studio, and the matrix for the record was cut on March 24, 1977. "Samo jednom" (Only Once) is Indexi's 18th release in the 7" format (7th release on the Jugoton label), and the 14th single overall (not counting EPs).

The main song "Samo jednom" is composed by Bodo Kovacevic with lyrics by Miso Maric, which poetically describes the romantic longing for the return of an old love. After a short introductory solo on electric guitar, the composition is taken over by acoustic guitar, with a slow tempo and synthesizer accompaniment by Nenad Jurin. The chorus is catchy, somewhat in the style of ABBA, and Mojzer, in addition to drums, proves himself on high backing vocals. In the bridge, Fadil extracts impressive high notes from his bass guitar during a short solo, and then the song returns to the basic gentle melody with guitar and high vocals, and ends with a fade-out. It is a solid ballad stylistically positioned somewhere between progressive pop and soft rock.

The B-side is again occupied by a song in the folk-rock manner, although this time such a fusion is somewhat weaker compared to "Kad se hoce sve se moze" (When There's a Will, There's a Way) from the previous single. Fadil provided both music and lyrics for "Kupala se cura jedna u potoku pod planinom" (A Girl Was Bathing in a Stream Under the Mountain), which brings a somewhat humorous erotic story about a young man who secretly takes clothes from a girl who is bathing, so that he can watch her naked. The melody of the folklore atmosphere produced by Jurin's synthesizer sounds quite cheesy and banal, and almost foreshadows the manner in which this instrument will be misused during the eighties in "newly composed folk" music in Yugoslavia. This agony is, fortunately, interrupted by an aggressive, almost heavy intrusion of electric guitar and bass, employing an abrasive sound with fuzz or similar effects. The song musically and topically relies on the style of the so-called "shepherd's rock" of Bijelo dugme, but also sounding like a rock version of the folk-pop of Kamen na kamen. Davor, in the process, once again shows that he can sing in the folk manner as well, although this is a mediocre song, which deservedly did not catch on with the audience.

Although "Samo jednom" has almost fallen into oblivion over time, it should be recalled that after the release of the single it was a minor hit, which remained at the first position of the Top-10 domestic singles chart of "Politikin zabavnik's Hit-strana" magazine from April 15 to May 6, 1977, and spent a total of 14 weeks on the chart from March to June of the same year. This single is not one of Indexi's more significant achievements, but it is worth listening to.

Personal rating: 3/5 PA rating: 2/5