INNER FLOW

Former Yugoslavian act, strictly connected with the Kraut Rock tradition, formed in 1976 in Beograd by old school friends Zoran Lakic (keyboards) Vojkan Rakic (guitar), and Predrag Vukovic (percussion).Named after Hermann Hesse''s novel ''The Glass Bead Game'', the trio was followed soon by bassist Drasko Nikodijevic and, with the addition of Dragan Soc on drums in 1977, they started performing live.Previously unreleased material from these early days of the group was released on vinyl in 1992 as ''Inner flow'' by the German label Kalemegdan Disk, specialized in 60's/70's Psych/Prog from East Europe.Most of the band members used pseudonyms, as shown in the back cover of the LP, and all tracks were studio recordings except the eponymous one, which was captured live in 1978 at SKC in Beograd.

This archival album kick off quite strongly with the rhythmic pair of ''Flow access'' and ''Hotel wave'', heavily based on the dynamic organ and the nice electric guitars, soon the album will adapt a cosmic atmosphere with ''Magic machine'', in the vein of CAN and ASH RA TEMPEL, with long electronic introductions, distorted vocals, throbbing bass and repetitive percussions.''Lake of Lily'' is a long groovy tune with marching bass and drums, supported by psych guitars and Hammond organ, quite interesting to say the least.The second side is definitely weaker with an even rawer sound and a pretty repetitive style.''Drakula's Dance'' is another long improvised piece, completely atonal, with electronic fanfares and abstract guitar lines and the very long live track is rather hypnotic with overstretched themes, lacking variations and energy, strongly led by percussions, organ and synthesizers.The closing part, featuring Rakic'es decent guitar texture, is maybe its best offering, somewhere between early FLOYD and HAWKWIND.The short closer ''Balkan IV'' sounds more than an intro than an outro, wrongly placed at the end of the album, with spacey use of guitars and synths in a piece that sounds incomplete as presented.

This early document of Igra Staklenih Perli's first period is propably a cool purchase for fans of the band and dedicated Kraut/Space/Electronic Rock fans.This is not music for everybody with stretched psychedelic soundscapes and few variations throughout...2.5 stars.