I MI I NAS DVOJE

In November 1976, Indexi released their seventh single for Diskoton (not counting the EP "Moja Hana"). The B-side matrix was cut on October 20th, and the A-side on November 2nd. The cover design was not very inventive. They used a photo of the band that was already on the back cover of their previous release, the EP "Moja Hana", which was done for that occasion by Dragan S. Stefanovic. Only the earlier dark blue background was replaced with red.

After the Adriatic tour that lasted from July 11th to August 15th, during which they accompanied the rising pop star Zdravko Colic, Indexi once again took the opportunity to perform at the Zagreb '76 music festival, held from October 25th to 30th. At the festival, they performed the composition "I mi i nas dvoje" (Both We and Both of Us) without much success. After that, they went on their third tour of the Soviet Union. In the meantime, even before the Zagreb performance, drummer Milic Vukasinovic left the band, as the offer to join Bijelo dugme and go to London to record their new album "Eto, ba? hoću!" was more attractive to him than Soviet fees, and this single is the last Indexi record he participated in recording. During October, he was replaced by Perica Stojanovic (ex- Ambasadori, who had played with Indexi in 1971 for a short period), who also performed with the band at Zagreb '76.

On the lead, A-side of the record, there is a song from the Zagreb festival, for which Fadil Redzic wrote the music and arrangement to the lyrics of Maja Perfiljeva. His bass guitar sets a strong rock rhythm with solid drum parts, while Bodo Kovacevic's solo guitar unobtrusively follows and occasionally introduces short heavy riffs and solos. The verses and choruses have complex rhythmic structures and are not clearly defined. Nenad Jurin's organ underlines the atmosphere and occasionally decorates Davorin Popovic's vocals with short synth passages. Although the vocal melody with the lyrics about a failed love brings this song closer to the schlager formula, the overall sound is too rocky, and it's no wonder that "I mi i nas dvoje" was not accepted by the festival audience. However, its strange structure, in addition to its undeniable qualities, was not attractive to the rock audience either, so the song was soon forgotten.

The composition on the B-side, "Kad se hoće, sve se mo?e" (Where There's a Will There's a Way), is somewhat more interesting. Bodo is the author of the music and arrangement, and Ranko Boban wrote the lyrics about a guy who, because of unfulfilled love, "drinks and messes around day and night". In a style atypical for Indexi, the song seems to contain their answer to the then-current "shepherd rock" direction of Bijelo dugme, and thematically it somehow connects to Dugme's "Bekrija" from 1975. In the introductory phrase, sounds taken from traditional music dominate - Bodo plays the saz or ?argija (long-necked lute), Davor's vocals resemble folk "ojkanje", and in the background, you can hear a sound similar to a folk flute (pipes). Soon, the song transitions into an odd-time hard/boogie rock, while in the bridge, the vocals are harmonized in a Beatles fashion. The guitar solo is very heavy with strong cymbal and drum accompaniment. It's a kind of "heavy folk" number, which is fiercely rock, witty, and entertaining, so it's a shame that it also remained less known in Indexi's opus.

Although both songs on this single are quite solid and contain a number of interesting musical solutions, and Sarajevo Television even filmed video clips in its studio for both songs (with Perica on drums), it didn't help much, and this single hardly even made it to the contemporary music press charts. From today's perspective, this is another Indexi release that needs to be "rediscovered".