KORNELYANS: NOT AN ORDINARY LIFE

Kornelije Kovac was obviously quite dissapointed by both a poor result of a smash hit "Moja generacija" at the Eurovision contest of 1974 and a lack of success to hit the Western market with this prog album so that he decided to disband KORNI GRUPA at the end of 1974. "Not an Ordinary Life" was recorded and released in Italy by Ricordi label, the lyrics were sung in English, while Island Records took responsability for the English- speaking market. However, album reportedly sold only some 10 000 copies due to poor advertising. Looking from distance, it was underrated at the time and neglected by domestic public but surely it is worth listening. This album was made under clear influence from YES and GENESIS style prog, especially noticeable in the first two songs - instrumental "Rising" and the title track. Then we have two re-recorded songs - "Generation 42" is an English version of the Eurovision hit "Moja generacija", slightly extended and slowed down here, and "Fall Off the Land of Women" which appeared on the first album as "Bezglave ja-ha horde". They are not so bad but the originals were better, for me as a non-English native the translation did not make it. "Temporary Parting" is a piano/organ based instrumental with some nice Chris Squire-like bass lines, while the final "Man With the White Flag" is a not much inspired lengthy piece with some good Bocek guitar solo. This song would re-surface in a live version on the farewell album "Mrtvo more" the following year. Finally this is a good and well-produced effort (the first Yugoslavian rock album to be recorded in the West!) from the legendary prog-rockers and is recommended to English-speaking listeners, although English singing is weaker segment of the album.

KORNI GRUPA did it again, this time under the different name: they made excellent record. "Not An Ordinary Life" was aimed for the Western market; all the titles and lyrics are in English, and the band changed it's name (temporarily) from KORNI GRUPA to KORNELYANS. It wasn't huge success, though. However, album do not contain any bad tracks. Overall, band moved towards the symphonic sound, compared to its predecessor, but jazz-fusion influences are still evident, as well as almost funky bass lines. Highlights of this record are synths (used more often then on "Korni Grupa") and excellent guitar work, both electric and acoustic, where electric guitar solos are pushing the boundaries in a same vein as PFM did it in their finest moments. Vocals are more than good, and English pronunciation is...not that bad, at least not for the band from behind the Iron Curtain in early seventies.

A little bit of trivia: I swear that in "Not An Ordinary Life" track you can hear something that could easily be vinyl scratching, somewhere among all that peculiar Moog sounds. In 1974? Well, you never know.

Again, I won't give 5 stars to this lovely album because of (how typical) inconsistencies, for example, the track "Man With The White Flag" is a little bit too protracted. But don't let this discourage you; this is well worth giving it a try. Well-deserved four stars.

Kornelyans are really 'not ordinary' in the best meaning of SYMPHONIC AND adventurous prog rock sense (*see last paragraph). WOW what an incredible PROG quite original and tasteful. I had the chance to listen the earlier Korni Grupa, I guess it's another music proposal, an important record ( they were pioneers ) with very good music; some song, prog, rock, bluesy and jazzier elements. In this seminal record the predominant keyboards are piano and Fender Rhodes, while in Kornelyans 'not an ordinary life' synth, moog, piano and mellotron are the masters (the entire prog keyboards arsenal is used). Kornelyans is totally prog, very different of Korni Grupa that is not symphonic.

In Kornelyans 'not an ordinary.' the super skilled performance reminds me Italians of CHERRY FIVE plus Latin complex flavor by PFM and MAXOPHONE - vocals are great as the last. The rockier creativity and freshness remind me Gentle Giant (around 'in a glass house' or 'free hand'). The uplifting humor and mood brings to mind also GRACIOUS. But these are only references as Kornelyas sounds its own. It's a record for international market ala Banco 1975 and PFM 'photos of ghosts' sung in English, a rich 1974 era record.

Do you remember the pioneer (for being open to everyone) prog reviews site PROGNET? I guess it got closed around year 2002. I used to put many reviews there (I had free time, no son and my health was ok) and made many friends. One of these friends taped me Kornelyans. I remember I could not believe my ears: All ingredients for an outstanding masterpiece were there!! Thanking my friend I wrote 'when you think you already know most important records a friend amazes you with a pearl'.in fact there are so many unknown prog records from iron curtain, Asia, etc. out there, that a rule for a good fan is to know that we are always learning.

(*)Not that I think Kornelyans requires many repeated listenings to be full appreciated or understood, if you are familiarized with the bands I mentioned above, it can be love at first listening. I also wrote in PROGNET ' I heard it more than 10 times, as I wanted to be very sure to assume to say that Kornelyans 'not an ordinary life' is one of the best 70´s albums of prog rock !' Well now in 2009 writing to PA I guess, after listening it more than 50 times, I can keep that enthusiastic true heart opinion, I'm not exagerating!

I listeen KORNELYANS "Not an Ordinary Life" for the first time about two or three years ago, and confess, I need more of a single audition, not to enjoy the music of this Yugoslavian band, but to recognize the magnificence of their music. In this Kornelyans albun you can find a mix of countless progressive styles, from the space to jazz and touching the border of symphonic and hard prog, make with a rare perfection. The first track give to us a wrong impressiom of a main influence of Greenslade or another keyboard oriented progressive band, however in the next track the sound changes entirely with a initial swing and a strongly presence of the a conductress guitar and suddenly appears one brief moment conduct by conga drums and some vocals wich returns to the initial theme and develop in a merge of space prog and jazz rock passage full of improvisations and nervous scales and symphonic momments then returns the initial theme to a superb form. The track 2 shows beautiful acoustic guitar passages and very psychedelic themes. The track four is a fantastic jazz prog, and is one of the best momments in the disk. The track 5 is also great and in a certain passage reminds me Gentle Giant and El&Palmer in various aspects. The track 6 close the disk in the same way of the first track and reminds me again keyboard oriented progressive. The musicians are excellent. In addition I like mention the cover wich is very funny. My rate is 5 stars, without a trace of doubt !!!

A band of Yougoslavia and one of more importants and that made some of the most beautiful Progressive in this country. This album is recording in Italian from label Vynil Magic for Europe market and because of this, lyrics are in English. It's a psichedelic space rock with a strong synphonic influencies. We can listen some Yes influencies but Emerson Lake and Palmer to. It's a great album with a very good sound and very good player's. Have some Italian influencies of keiboards sounds of this time and used by Italian Progressive bands. When we listen some guitar works that made a questions answer's with keiboards, we can imagine some of few Italian important bands that were also influenced by Yes sound. The classic influecies create the Italian context. It's a great album and much better that some Yes albuns of this time. To me, it's a masterpiece of Yougoslavia Progressive and because of then I give 5 stars

This was KORNI GRUPA's second album and they recorded it in Italy with English vocals trying to break the international market. Unfortunately it didn't do very well at all.

"Rising" opens with some annoying sounding synths but then the song picks up and turns fuller. A calm with piano ends this short intro track. "Not An Ordinary Life" is much better.The vocals remind me of a Zappa recording, in fact i'm reminded of both Zappa and WIGWAM at times on this my favourite tune. The drumming is great early on. It settles with drums and almost spoken words before 2 minutes then kicks back in with guitar leading. I like the drums / synths section after 4 minutes. Guitar leads 5 1/2 minutes in. Vocals are back 9 minutes in. Excellent track.

"Generation" opens with intricate guitar which is replaced by reserved vocals a minute in. It picks up before 3 minutes with strummed guitar and synths standing out. The organ joins in. It settles then picks up as contrasts continue. "Fall Of The Land Of Woman" has a good low end rhythm with vocals.The organ joins in. Synths lead 3 minutes in and the guitar is aggressive a minute later. Nice. "Temporary Parting" features piano melodies until around 1 1/2 minutes when drums, synths and bass become prominant. Piano ends it though. "Man With A White Flag" opens with drums and floating organ as the vocals come and go.This is a pretty good uptempo tune. Not a fan of the synths though after 5 minutes. Love the section 7 minutes in that is very WIGWAM-like. Great section. Some nice drum work before 9 1/2 minutes.

A good album but not as good as the debut which I rated a low 4 stars. So 3.5 stars it is.

Korni Grupa morphed into Kornelyans somehow and made an excellent record of dynamic progressive rock. Overall, the music is characterized by piano/synth/guitar interplay with theatric, almost RPI vocals.

Looking at the cover, the song "Gereration 42" is highlighted, maybe this was a regional hit. It does begin slowly, the english lyrics nostalgic and syrupy. Great acoustics and synths about 2 and a half minutes in - ELP esqe. It's a full on prog fest from there, with haunting, fast paced guitar fed melodies leading the way. More vocals 4 and a half minutes in, still nostalgic, reflecting on childhood memories and dreams. The acoustic guitar and bright washes of synth close this fine tune.

This is solid prog. If you are starting with the genre, listen to Close to the Edge and Selling England by the Pound and ELP and In the Court of the Crimson King first. I've you need more and crave the old and obscure, seek out Not an Ordinary Life. While not a blockbuster, the record is consistently interesting, enthralling, and accessible.

4+

What a difference only a couple of years made to Yugoslavian rock band Korni Grupa. The group released one of the best prog-related works from that region with their self-titled LP in 1972, a mix of adventurous rock music with lengthy jazzy and heavily improvised instrumental passages, but two years later brought about many changes. Tweaking their name to Kornelyans and switching to English vocals to hopefully offer a more international appeal, 1974's `Not an Ordinary Life' also brought about a complete change in sound, the band adopting a keyboard heavy full-blown symphonic prog approach with interesting results that reminds of bands like Morgan, Omega and Yes, providing a crossover of tighter melodic appeal but not skimping on ravishing instrumental elements as well.

The keyboard-driven change in style is completely evident right from the short two-minute opening introduction `Rising', a lightly prancing and breezy symphonic theme full of bubbling synths and trickles of crystalline piano. But the ten-minute title track `Not an Ordinary Life' is an instant statement-of-intent, full of a ravishing selection of ideas and great playing, and there's an almost loopy Frank Zappa quality weaving in and out of the exotic percussion breaks, quirky group-vocal driftings, eerie sound-collages and dynamic instrumental runs. There's no let-up to Vladimir Furduj's rumbling drums, Josip Bocek delivers fiery electric guitar bursts, Bojan Hreljac aggressively attacks his relentless bass, and Kornelije Kovac's plentiful thick and exhilarating keyboards are often very much in the manner of Rick Wakeman's work on the early Yes albums. Zlatko Pejakovic's vocals remain as curious and challenging as ever (he's either very effective as on the first Korni Grupa album or unbearable when he falls into the screeching wails on the Grupa Dah one), but there's a jubilant energy to his charmingly accented voice here. The track probably doesn't really hold together too well, but it is admirably ambitious and never dull. `Generation 1942' keeps up the same diverse approach but attempts to graft it to a more accessible tune, with jangling acoustic passages and moody organ carrying a melancholic lyric with a soaring and hearty chorus, and listen out for the cool playful Yes-like infectious Moog solo spot!

The spirited lead vocal and battery of keyboard attack resembles Greenslade on side two's opener `Fall of the Land of Women', and instrumental `Temporary Parting' has a touch of Camel to its playful and dreamy excited keyboards and peppy Moog runs, book-ended with a sparkling piano and sombre organ reflection. The near-twelve minute `Man with a White Flag' offers plenty of infectious grooves slinking in and out of an endless selection of winning little symphonic themes jammed to the gills with an ocean of keyboard sheen and smouldering guitar embers. An extended instrumental E.L.P-like sprint in the middle and the lovely jazzy outro are especially pleasing, but the whole closer is truly a sublime showcase of the versatility and talent of the band.

The album cover boasts `Includes `Generation 42' suggesting it was a single of note, but it unfortunately didn't appear to win the band any great success or further acclaim, and they ended up splitting the same year that this album was released, with a later 1975 LP `Mrtvo More' including parts of their farewell concert performance. For those wanting to investigate the band, there's two options - if you like the early adventuresome proto-prog rock bands that stretched out with lots of jamming, go for the `Korni Grupa' debut, if you prefer terrifically performed keyboard-heavy symph-prog, grab this colourful and confident work first. Better yet, why not just track down and enjoy both?!

Four stars for a sterling effort from a great band.