INDEXI

One of the most pleasant facts in music is how one can listen to a new album without major expectatives and discover how amazing it is.

When I read about this album I thought that it couldn't be anything exceptional: it was, for me, an unknown band, coming from a country that isn't especially known because of its prog rock tradition. But, for the same reason, I was also curious about how would it sound. And to my surprise, I found a superb album.

Over an omnipresent keyboard layer giving a melodic atmosphere, the instruments develop through the songs in a balanced way: the interpretations flee from any pointless virtuosism, in order to play perfect-built songs. A predominant acoustic guitar (did I say that melody is the word when talking about the album?) sets the arpeggiated base to the voice, which is also (guess what?) melodic, without agressivness except some concrete points. Then, the great bass work, and its duels with the electric guitar. All that in a work whose major flaw is it's relatively short duration, but full of all that elements that a prog fan could expect to find in an album.

I'll never doubt of an album because it's procedency again. I swear.

3.5 stars.There's no doubt from reading the other reviews that i'm missing something by not understanding the lyrics.Apparently it's a concept album and there are two tracks that consist of spoken words only.INDEXI were a very popular pop band in Yugoslavia,so popular that the record company didn't mind that they veered off into prog territory on this release in 1978.To my ears this is Symphonic-Prog with lots of keybords,acoustic guitar and deep bass lines.For some reason i think "Italian" when i hear the vocals. "Modra Rijeka" is the intro consisting of spoken words only. "Blago" is uptempo with chunky bass and drums leading the way.Synths come in as it settles some.Almost spoken vocals 2 minutes in.Organ follows then it kicks back in. "Brod" is the first song i like although the aggressive vocals take a while to get used to.It opens with water sounds as acoustic guitar and vocals come in.Vocal melodies follow.Drums 1 1/2 minutes in followed by organ then those harsh vocals.It settles before 3 minutes as themes are repeated. "More" is the over 11 minute epic.Synths to open as the song builds.It kicks in before 1 1/2 minutes with vocals.Guitar and bass take over before 3 minutes then it settles with intricate acoustic guitar melodies.Solo piano melodies follow.It kicks back in with some bombast after 6 minutes.Organ 7 1/2 minutes.Acoustic guitar,bass and vocals are back 9 1/2 minutes in. "Zapis O Zemlji" is another brief spoken word track. "Slovo O Covjeku" is a song i just can't get into at all.Ballad-like with fragile vocals and piano to open.The vocals do get passionate and the guitar comes and goes.The tempo picks up 2 1/2 minutes in then back to earlier sound 4 minutes in. "Pustinja" is pretty good.I like the mellower parts of it more than the fuller sounding sections.I don't like the guitar later though. "More II" is my favourite song on here.It's almost like an instrumental reprise of "More" but a lot shorter.I'm reminded of a few different bands during this track. "Modra Rijeka II" is pastoral to open.Reserved vocals a minute in.Strings follow.A full sound 3 minutes in.Chunky bass before 6 minutes. These guys sure know how to create a melody, i'll give them that.And that's the strength of this album and what i like about it.I wish i could give this 4 stars but there's too many things(almost in every song) that i just don't enjoy.

This album is most probably the best album ever released in ex-Yugoslavia, as far as we're talking about progressive rock music. I assume (I wasn't born back then) this album came as big surprise after that much time spent by the group for creating pop music for large masses.

I red other reviews here and there are not many things left to say. Great music, lyrics, atmosphere, production. INDEXI at its best. This album, in my opinion, has only one minus - year of the release (1978). But, if we are here to judge the value of music, this is a masterpiece.

Best tracks here: epilogue Modra rijeka, More (if I have to choose).

5 stars!

— First review of this album —

This is yet another unnecessary best of compilation of INDEXI. This time it was City Records from Belgrade, otherwise specialising in the contemporary mainstream pop, that wants to grab a few dollars more from the legacy of the pioneers of Yugoslav rock 'n' roll.

Of the 16 tracks all were (and still are) available on other, more comprehensive and better compilations. But, if you are a complete novice to the world of INDEXI, here you can find some of their prog gems, like Plima, Balada, Da sam ja netko or Modra rijeka. The Platinum Collection is not of interest even for completists, but may be useful as an introduction to the band.

PERSONAL RATING: 1/5

P.A. RATING: 2/5

Modra Rijeka is album based poetry of Mak Dizdar, one of the greatest Bosnian (and Yugoslav) poets of the of the twentieth century. But poetry is not the only thing on this album, so if you don't understand language don't worry. Except 2 spoken word tracks there are 7 tracks of great music. The mayor problem if you live outside of ex-Yugoslavia is that it is difficult to find it in Music Shop, but you can find in somewhere on internet for sure.

Modra Rijeka - Spoken word track. Translation of en part of song: There is a blue river It's wide, It's deep, A hundred years it's wide, A thousand years deep, its length you cannot imagine. There is a blue river It worth us to cross the river. Blago (7/10) Brod (9/10) More (11/10) - In my opinion, and probably many others this is best track on album. Zapis O Zemlji - Spoken word track. Slovo O Covjeku (8/10) Pustinja (7/10) More II (9/10) Modra Rijeka II (8/10)

— First review of this album —

INDEXI started in 1962 as an all-instrumental combo imitating the world stars of the day such as THE SHADOWS, while around 1965 began composing their own songs with domestic lyrics upon recruitment of the singer D. Popović. In this period of the "swinging sixties" they signed with the Belgrade label PGP RTB (acronym for "Radio Television Belgrade's Gramophone Records Production") who released three EP vinyls from 1964-69. These were important records for the emerging pop rock scene in ex Yugoslavia, while the EP format was a standard because very few LP records appeared at this time and these were mostly reserved for jazz or classical music.

These 3 EPs - "Sedam veličanstvenih" ("The Magnificent Seven", 1964), "Nase doba" ("Our Time", 1967) and "Jutro će promijeniti sve" ("The Morning Changes Everything", 1968) - contained 11 tracks. In the early seventies the LP format was more or less established, so PGP RTB used to release LP compilations of artists/bands containing the songs from 7" singles or EPs from the 1960s issued by their label. Despite the fact that the author of the INDEXI biography "U inat godinama" even confirmed in a communication with the PGP executives that such an LP had been issued around 1973, I was not able to find any trace of its existence on the Web catalogues!

So, this CD "Nase doba" ("Our Time") is a sort of reminiscence to that ghostly collection, and for that fact it is a worthy release. More than that, it contains 3 additional songs. "Oko malih stvari svađamo se mi" ("We're Fighting over Small Things") is an excellent mid-60s beat with the beatlesque harmony vocals recorded in 1966. Two bonus tracks are taken from 1976 solo single by Davorin Popović and these belong to the mid-70s vocal pop/schlager phase of the band, which was backing Popović along with an orchestra on these two tracks. This CD would be even more complete had it included another song released by PGP on the festival "Vas slager sezone" compilation EP in 1968 - "Pustinjak" ("The Hermit").

The cover design is pretty awful with its pink colours and amateurishly pasted band photo from the EP "Nase doba" cover sleeve, while there are many typos in the tracks listing. Still, this is a recommended purchase for those wishing to have early INDEXI singles on one CD. As one-time member of the group Kornelije Kovač (ex KORNI GRUPA) put it in the liner notes: "The INDEXI were the most deserving group for the creation of the Yugoslavian pop and rock scene in that period, because within a short period of time they composed, recorded and performed their own songs when it was a pioneering work."

PERSONAL RATING: 3,5/5

P.A. RATING: 3/5

It is always a tricky job to evaluate each new INDEXI release containing previously released material. The band was notorious for absence of proper studio-recorded albums (only two albums in their entire 40 years career!), so the compilations of previously released songs, mostly from numerous 7" EPs and singles, were the norm for the band. Unfortunately and due to unsettled publishing and copyrights in the former Yugoslavia, many labels issued simultaneously different "best of"-type compilations with similar selection of songs and even similar CD titles, so a person not acquainted with the work of this remarkable pop and rock band is often left astray with a choice of poor anthologies and take-the-money-and-run style of certain "gold" or "platinum" collections.

"U inat godinama" ("In Spite Of the Years") is a 2CD collection that does not belong to the above category. Issued by Croatia Records, a legal successor to Jugoton who had issued the most of their prog titles, it presents perhaps the best collection of the progressive rock side of the band with literally none of the vocal pop/schlager/easy listening tunes, which were always present in different quantities on their earlier compilations. Therefore, this title is extremely important for the progressive rock community in general.

Special treat for the collectors are five tracks of previously unreleased early songs showcasing the band's strong involvement in the mid-1960s British Invasion sound. These include covers of THE BEATLES' "A Hard Day's Night" and THE ROLLING STONES' "Time Is On My Side" as well as the first vocal song of INDEXI, "Dječak iz obične ulice" ("The Boy From Ordinary Street") recorded in early 1965 with the then newcomer Davorin Popović as lead singer. Actually, almost entire Disc 1 (first 11 tracks including these 5 rarities) was already published as a single promo CD in September 2006 following the concert tribute to INDEXI in Sarajevo and promotion of the INDEXI biography by Josip Dujmović under the same title "U inat godinama". That promo CD was not widely available since it was shared free of charge with a Sarajevo magazine, so its inclusion here is more than welcome.

Dujmović is the man who deserves all credits for the selection of songs. He was brave enough not to include any of sleazy mainstream ballads (from the prog point of view of course; the musical quality of many of these is nevertheless high) and festival hits on this double disc collection, opting instead for progressive rock tracks. Arguably all essential prog moments of INDEXI are present here, with possible exception of "Dvojnik" and "Hej ti", but it is my general observation rather than a critique. The CD contains a nicely designed informative booklet with short chronological details about each of the songs and some rare photos and cover images.

"U inat godinama" is much better compilation than similarly packed 2CD Komuna release "Sve ove godine-Best of Indexi 1962-2001", so it is absolutely recommended for any prog listener.

PERSONAL RATING: 4,5/5 P.A. RATING: 5/5

— First review of this album —

This is yet another unnecessary CD compilation of INDEXI. Even the title (almost the same as of Diskoton issues from 1990) and the cover image (poorly designed copycat of the band photo taken from Diskoton 4LP box set from 1986) show the lack of serious idea about the purpose of this release, except to get a few Dinars more from the Serbian market by exploiting the famous name. The songs were selected mostly from 1973-83 period, which is a pop-vocal period of the group, largely not interesting for prog audience. Yet again, this compilation brings no added value to the discography of INDEXI: the fans and collectors of the band will not find anything they desperately miss; prog lovers of INDEXI sound will want to purchase other, more carefully compiled CDs (such as Croatia Records' 2007 2CD U inat godinama), while first-time listeners also have at their disposal more comprehensive and better collections available on CD. Avoid this!

— First review of this album —

Despite the unsignificant and misleading title (Why "vol. 2" when there was never any "vol. 1"?) and the confusing cover image that is almost identical to the one used for 4LP box compilation "Sve ove godine" of 1986, this CD is interesting for collectors because of two things:

1) this was the first INDEXI release in the then still not widely produced CD format in ex-Yugoslavia; 2) this CD contains "Zute dunje" ("The Yellow Quinces"), previously unissued song recorded in 1989 for the movie soundtrack "Kuduz", including vocals by Davorin Popović and composition by Goran Bregović (ex-BIJELO DUGME), basically a re-working of the old traditional sevdah "Voljelo se dvoje mladih", full of acoustic strings.

From the prog perspective, this CD is largely neglectable; out of 17 tracks the majority belongs to the pop-schlager phase of the group recorded between 1976-86. Although sometimes first-class vocal pop or mainstream pop-rock music, many prog fans will want to skip this part. However, there are several prog-oriented or even fully progressive rock tracks: the title track from the masterpiece LP "Modra rijeka" ("The Blue River"), heavy guitar rock "Prazne noći a beskrajni dani" ("Lonely Nights and Endless Days"), prog-psychedelic masterpiece "Ugasila je plamen" ("She Extinguished the Flame"), and two not very known and popular but very good songs with prog elements "I mi i nas dvoje" ("We and the Two of Us") and "Pogresan broj" ("The Wrong Number", this one having a powerful spacey keyboards and guitars in arena-rock sound similar to some of THE WHO memorable moments).

"The Best of Indexi Vol. 2" may occassionally be useful to hear the first official digital release of the group, but more comprehensive and better compilations on CD were to appear in the following years.

PERSONAL RATING: 2,5/5

P.A. RATING: 2/5

— First review of this album —

This is the second Jugoton compilation of INDEXI and it was released in 1981 in the cassette-tape format only. The opening track "Sve ove godine" ("All These Years"), a big hit from 1972, gave the title to this collection, but it was also to be frequently used for many subsequent compilation albums of INDEXI, making thus a huge difficulty to the fans and collectors who cannot easily follow the discography titles.

The first half (A-side of the tape) contains five well-known classics taken from the first Jugoton LP "Indexi" (1974); heavy-prog anthems "Da sam ja netko" ("If I Were The One"), "Svijet u kojem zivim" ("The World I'm Living In") and "Plima" ("The Tide"), acoustic-prog ballad with catchy popular chorus theme "Sanjam" ("I'm Dreaming") and the title track with famous lyrics penned by singer/songwriter and crooner Kemal Monteno about a young girl chasing an older guy: "She would trade all these years/For one night stand/But she will never get me/Because I have another woman waiting for me". Of course, the phrase "all these years" was later used to refer to the longevity of the band (formed in 1962) and to invoke their persistence.

B-side carries another five tracks, which present the latter-day, more vocal pop and easy listening career of the band in late 1970s. "Predaj se srce" ("Surrender My Heart") won the first prize at "Vas slager sezone '73" pop festival in Sarajevo and this song actually marked the shift in musical direction from progressive rock to soft rock and easy listening pop music. This song, along with "Pozovi me na kafu" ("Invite Me For a Cup of Coffee"), are nothing but pure schlager tunes, totally embarrassing for prog ears. Still, being excellent rock musicians even on commercial pop songs, INDEXI often included awesome instrumental pieces and unusual arrangements of guitars and keyboards, while Redzić's bass led the themes in an unexpected way. This is the case with the remaining three songs. "Pokazi mi dlan" ("Show Me Your Palm") begins with high-power heavy guitar riffs while "Samo jednom" ("Only Once") as a gentle symphonic ballad, but both transform into strong pop songs. "310 poljubaca" ("310 Kisses") is another festival-style schlager with amazing solo bass intro in the best prog tradition.

"Sve ove godine" is interesting collection representing the diverse music of INDEXI as released on Jugoton singles during the period 1971-79. This compilation was reissued on CD in 1994 with the same title and expanded to 16 tracks.

PERSONAL RATING: 3,5/5

P.A. RATING: 3/5