DRUGI NAčIN

This is the legendary first album of DRUGI NACIN and one of the classics of 1970s prog in exYugoslavia! It was highly popular too and went on to become "gold" record, meaning it sold more than 100 000 copies across the country, which few rock bands achieved. It is characterized by a loose concept of loneliness and lost love, with quasi-poetic lyrics in a post-hippie vein. Even the song titles could be interconnected making a sentence in English roughly "Again the empire of loneliness on the palm of my hand, it kept raining on the yellow leaf and the old town". Cover sleeve was one of the first gatefold designs at the time so allegedly it convinced an executive producer of the record company to release the album in the first place! Music style ranges between hard rock of the first two tracks to more mellow improvised jams with solo parts of the flutes and guitars to power ballads like "Lile su kise" and "Stari grad" which were concert favorites. It can be described as hard prog with touch of psych jams, like early URIAH HEEP (hard rock ballads with high pitched vocals of Kurtovic a la David Byron) or JETHRO TULL (solo flute with strong guitar riffs). Even during the punk/new wave era of the early 1980s DRUGI NACIN played regularly on tours across fromer YU countries and were warmly welcomed everywhere especially when they played the entire set of this album, which they did frequently along with their famous DEEP PURPLE covers. Highly recommended album to every prog rock listener, however it is a bit below the masterpiece level due to weak production and sometimes not too convincing performance.

Heavy, heavy, heavy, prog rock! In a very first second the opening Opet (means Again, not OPETH) you'll hear a scream similar to a Ian's in Highway Star..we're on a ride!!

And we have a damn good rockers here, great riffing, great flute. That's what this albums is all about. And beauty. Great melodies. Catchy guitar riffs. And cheesy production (some hilarious amounts of reverb here and there).

When the opening riff of Carstvo Samoće (Empire Of Loneliness) starts I'm able to forgive this band everything! Heavy prog as it should be.

Na Mom Dlanu (On My Palm) is a PURPLE/HEEP - type ballad, and a decent one at that. Maybe a bit dissappointing, conseidering it's a 11 minute piece, I was expecting it to be a heavy prog epic. Elements of ballad and bluesy culmination, more or less.

Lile Su Kise (The Rains Were Lashing) was a big success. This is the most typical example of 70's Yu-rock, and it's a good one. 7/8 rhythm, overdubbed ambiental sounds of rain, lovely Mellotron pads, vocal harmonies. Approach, URIAH HEEP fans!

Great autumn instrumental, Zuti List (Yellow Leaf). Utilizing funky groove and a band's trademark, two-layered flute melody overdubbed in fifths. A hippie-trippie jamming, straight from the Hair musical. How could I dislike it?

Finally, there's 7 minute Stari Grad (Old Town). Misty, mystical. Intro executed with spoken words and bell sounds - this is a song about, love, genesis, revelation, religious experience, what? Lyrics are mentioning an old cathedral, the bell sounds, the dance of light. Pozgajec is singing how he instantly forgot about Bach when he saw a shadow in the eye. Brrr. Perhaps it was just a love song, but there are so many religious connotations I'm quite surprised the song was published back in the day (we had our censorship).

One hell of an album. Excuse me, angel. One angelic album. Debut. The one and the only band's worth worshiping.

Drugi Nacin are one of the heavy hitters from the 1970s Yugo rock scene. Often described as sounding like Tull or Deep Purple I think they do from a rock view but perhaps not as much from the prog viewpoint. They certainly rock in the vein that Purple and Tull will rock with murky keys/guitar and wild flute respectively but they are more hard rock than prog, not going as far into experimentations as Tull or Purple might. You're not going to find anything like "Passion Play" here. But you will find some 70s hard rock with proggy influences and good atmosphere. Drugi Nacin reminds me of listening to LebiSol a bit in that you have a prog rock whose sound is highlighted by the regional music influences. I don't think Drugi is to the level of LebiSol but it's not a complete bust, there are some worthwhile moments. Just not enough of them. It is written that this album was recorded in 22 hours, a testament to the way rock bands used to be able to work.

The album begins on a shaky note with "Opet" and "Carstvo Samoce" which sound like a pair of early Foghat demos. But the third track "Na Mom Dlanu" clocks in at nearly 10 minutes and it is here where Drugi Nacin come to life from a prog fan perspective. Beginning slowly with somber and reflective mood this sounds, as others have mentioned, like the Yugo version of "Child in Time." The vocalist has a throat like Gillan and wails like the dude in New Trolls. The rhythm holds slow and deliberate until the guitar leads begin and then pick up just a bit in finesse. The mood of the notes and bends suggest sadness and longing. They play with much feeling but are simply not as accomplished as some of the virtuosic talent that other groups possess. This falls under enjoyable but average 70s rock which I enjoyed hearing because it comes from another country and I like hearing new things from faraway places, but honestly if these guys were just another American band from my own backyard I wouldn't have much interest. "Lile Su Kise" begins with a thunderstorm and acoustic folk music with flute. The very light drumming and organ compliment the wistful vocal and flute in this mellow track, one of the albums best moments. "Zuti List" begins with flute and bass laying down some nice melody to a simple drum beat. The bass player is actually my favorite link in Drugi Nacin, he plays in an animated lead instrument fashion that I love rather than just background. Some nice distortion laden guitar breaks in here and there but again only the average is achieved. "Stari Grad" is last beginning with ringing bells and a nice bass line and flute. This track is the album's best with heartfelt vocals, some acoustic textures, and again excellent bass lines. The flute pops in and out again add to the beauty. The high pitched wails chime in at the end to annoy me one last time. (I wish this were an instrumental album!)

Drugi Nacin is a decent hard rock experience that many of you may like much more than I. I enjoy the bass lines and the Yugo-rock flavors but besides that I am not overwhelmed by the material as some are. I can appreciate that the album was important in its time and place but it has not held up all that well. "Lile Su" and "Stari Grad" rise to 3 stars or perhaps 3 ½, but the balance of the tracks are 2 stars. Not awful but nothing necessary either. 2 ½ stars.