VECITA PLOVIDBA

An excellent compilation - all Galija's finest works are here. The prog phase is present in only a handful of songs. Nevertheless, all songs are great and very fun to listen to. Some of the early works of Galija are Decimen (though notably edited, excluding the other half of the song), Avanturista and probably their greatest hit, Jos uvek sanjam. Then we come across the hard rock of Digni ruku. Great riff on this one. The album trilogy Korak do slobode, Daleko je sunce and Istorija ti i ja is presented here with most tracks. There are both great ballads and rock tunes, but all of them are known for their excellent lyrics as well. Like I said, an excellent retrospective of a legendary band (for Yugoslavian standards), probably the greatest one from the town of Nis, along with Kerber.

I wonder who were the guys responsible for the selection of songs for this compilation album! Since several songs were edited from original tracks and over-dubbed, I suspect the GALIJA themselves (Milosavljević brothers?) had their part in this tricky business. What a mistake!

"The Eternal Sail", as the title suggests, should have been a selection of timeless classics of GALIJA, the best of the best. Unfortunately, a mere look at the selection of the albums represented casts a doubt. If the absence of songs from unessential albums "Bez naglih skokova" and "Trinaest" is largely justified, why on earth have some decent albums like "Druga plovidba" and "Karavan" been omitted? And why so many, even 10 tracks, have been taken from the so-called "Trilogy albums" (including 4 tracks from the lousy "Daleko je sunce" and 3 tracks each from "Korak do slobode" and "Istorija ti i ja"), while there was already the special compilation "Ni rat ni mir" dedicated exclusively to the Trilogy?

Another big problem is the editing of the several key prog-oriented tracks, mainly taken from the debut album and from the third "Ipak verujem u sebe". "Decimen", "Gospi" and "Jos uvek sanjam" sound slightly better in technical terms but they have been mutilated by overdubbing and re-recordings and substantially shorter than originals. "Put" is even more bastardised product including a section from "Posrednik" (excellent song from the debut, but not included here), making it a sort of an awful medley.

"Večita plovidba" finally includes a single-only track "Pravo slavlje" from 1991. The title can be read as "A True Celebration", but also as "Orthodoxy" (that is - Serbian Orthodoxy religion). Given the extreme religious-nationalist hysteria in Serbia and ex-Yugoslavia in this period, I cannot justify this kind of artists' messing up with the totalitarian mass political culture. The song is, by the way, a pathetic and pretty negligible pop ballad.

I would say "Večita plovidba" is interesting only for those GALIJA fans who would like to possess these several overdubbed old tracks as well as "Pravo slavlje" in their collection. Otherwise, the prog listeners would do better to get the first three original albums. The only possible merit of this collection is that it presents an overview (if mutilated) of GALIJA in a CD format, which may be easier and cheaper to obtain nowadays than the old vinyl LP records.

PERSONAL RATING: 1/5

P.A. RATING: 2/5