Igra Staklenih Perli - Igra Staklenih Perli (1979/2007 Remastered Expanded Edition)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Album: Igra Staklenih Perli - Igra Staklenih Perli (Remastered Expanded Edition)
Released: 1979 (2007)
Genre: Psych-Prog, Space-, Kraut-, Avant-Rock
Second Harvest 416
Reissue on digipack CD of debut LP by Yugoslavian PSYCHEDELIC band from the early 70's. Execellent album with a very PINK FLOYDIAN sound, one of the CLASSIC 70s album from the Balkan. - Record Heaven
Igra Staklenih Perlih could be considered as Yugoslavia's answer to PINK FLOYD, with a strong dose of HAWKWIND and close to Krautrock. These comparisons are immediately noticeable - for the curious, listen to the mp3 here of 'Pecurka' - totally spaced-out with a mysterious Farfisa Organ driven intro (recalling Rick Wright's early days with Floyd) and stoned vocals/whispers ( I noticed that the words sung here are nicked from the CAN track 'Mushroom' off Tago Mago) and morphs into a heavy and intense, ascending riff which builds to an amazing climax and jams out Hawkwind style. Being totally struck by this track, I managed to get a re-issue vinyl from Greg W's Syn-Phonic site, and I can say that the whole album is a brilliant example of psychedelic space-rock with some dreamy atmospheres. Opening track 'Gusterov Trg' sounds like psychedelic punk-rock. Regarding the rhythm section, the drum sound is a bit compressed, and the bass has a 'woody' tone to it, but suits the music perfectly. ISP may not be the most original sounding band, but operating in this mode from behind the 'iron curtain' is most certainly impressive. The downside to this album, it clocks in at under half an hour and leaves you wanting more. Superb !! - Tom Ozric, ProgArchives.com
Igra Staklenih Perli (79) is a real collectors item here in Europe, and you have to pay some $100 if you find a mint copy of it. But it's worth that! They made some Psych-Prog stuff, maybe like Hawkwind, but much more intense and with better vocals (somewhere i read they have trippy guitars and a spacy organ!). There is also a bit of Pink Floyd (Meddle) in this music, but nevertheless they are quite unique. Highly recommended!! - New Gibraltar Encyclopedia Of Progressive Rock
This very short debut album (two master tracks were destroyed before the pressing of the vinyl) is of an impressive quality, but it must’ve sound quite dated back then since this album could be the Yugo twin brother of Floyd’s Saucerful Of Secrets, or Ummagumma’s live disc with a wee bit of Hawkwind-chromosomes in the rhythm guitars. Recorded in Belgrade at a time where such things were now openly allowed (although Yugoslavia was still communist, it had chosen to never join the Soviet block, and was frequented by western tourists), even compared to other groups in the country, this record sounded a bit dated and borrowed.
This album is a pure joy for anyone who enjoys psych-laced prog, and we have here a superb example of a lost gem in the genre even if it is hardly groundbreaking. The album is actually very even with every track of a very high calibre if you can forget the very derivative songwriting/improvisation. - Hugues Chantraine
Igra Staklenih Perli were a Yugoslavian psychedelic/space rock group from the late 70s who named themselves after Herman Hesse's book The Game of Glass Pearls. They were unique in that they began their explorations into the style of music in an era where popular opinion was changing from progressive and arena rock to punk and new wave, aspects that began to affect their music by the end of their career.
While the band had been around since the mid 70s, it wasn't until 1978 that the group released their first album. Featuring five tracks in just under 30 minutes, this was the sort of release that would be considered an EP in the modern age. The band's influences were quite obvious. "Putoavanje u Plavo" is so redolent of Ummagumma-era live Pink Floyd that it's practically a cover. "Pecurka" means "Mushroom," and could be a variant cover of the Can piece from Tago Mago. Even the original compositions bear these two groups as influences, and if you throw Hawkwind into the pile you can almost vividly imagine the Igra Staklenih Perli sound. Loads of effects, lots of minor second intervals and a heavy psychedelic swirl all make for a fantastic space rock album, albeit an extremely derivative one. Perhaps it's the origins of the album that make this such the hyped collector's item, but I'd like to believe that its mostly the spirit and competency. It's easily one of the best albums from the country and decade...
In the 90s, a German-born label that specialized in Yugoslavian 70s psychedelic and progressive rock, Kalemegdan, made Igra Staklenih Perli their initial focus, in all releasing three archive albums of their music from the band's early years. These were largely overlooked at the time, due to the releases all being LPs in an era where the CD had already supplanted the LP as the primary media form. Thus, despite the incredible artwork and, at times, excellent music, the three Igra Staklenih Perli archives quickly disappeared into obscurity.
The first of these was entitled Soft Explosion Live which consisted of a live show recorded at Medical College, Belgrade University in 1978. The recordings mostly consist of free-form experimentation on the early Pink Floyd space rock style, with the bass fluttering amidst minor second intervals as the guitars and keys trip out on top. Much of the album is quiet and spacious, covering music from their debut album and more, capturing a strange ocurrence where the psychedelic music of the late 60s intersects with sounds of a decade later. Lots of analog effects spiral from the synthesizers to make for a heavily atmospheric music, maybe not enough to make up for the lack of interesting ideas, but a healthy dose of mind candy nonetheless.
Inner Flow was more of an archive collection than the previous release, covering music from 1976-79. The sound quality here is variable, naturally, but generally this collection catches the band in decent form and in their true psychedelic mode. Gloomy organ and lavishly effected guitar, delayed, flanged and echoed beyond convention, play over long droning psychedelic jams that know no Pink Floyd album after Meddle. The improvisational nature of the music does not lend itself, generally, to much that is memorable, but as a release documenting such a rare scene it's an interesting listen. Effects before chops really, all the reverb and echo in the world can't cover up the lack of original ideas.
Drives was the final archive release by Kalemegdan discs and surely an impressive one to end the series. Featuring two side-long pieces from the band's earliest recordings, this actually might be the best sounding archive album of the three. Here, Igra Staklenih Perli were in full-blown space rock land, with gigantic atmospheric sections full of echoing and reverbed voices, guitars, and well, everything! It's impossible yet again not to mention Pink Floyd in the same breath, as the live portion of Ummagumma, "Echoes," and Live in Pompeii all seem to portray the type of sounds the band was imitating. Perhaps it's the longer stretched-out tracks that makes this collection succeed where Inner Flow arguably didn't, as it's much easier to see the spirit of hallucination when the trances are allowed to develop longer. These long suites also include early snippets of music that would make their first album, so it's also a valuable peak into the music's evolution. Of the three archive releases, this one stands as the most impressive both sonically and musically. - Mike McLatchey, Gnosis Ratings
IGRA STAKLENIH PERLI, the ultimate ex-Yugoslavian space/psychedelic rock band, was formed in 1976 in Belgrade, Serbia, having been named after the famous novel by Hermann Hesse - "Das Glasperlenspiel" (The Glass Beads Game). The original line-up consisted of: Zoran Lakic (keyboards), Vojkan Rakic (guitar), Predrag Vukovic (percussions) and Drasko Nikodijevic (bass & vocals). In late 1977 Dragan Soc joined the band as drummer while they played live concerts at Belgrade clubs, preparing to start recording their first album, which they did in mid 1978. Upon its release the next year, the band gained reputation for elaborated visual stage effects and light show directed by their friend Goran Cvetic. Nikodijevic was replaced by rock journalist Slobodan Trbojevic on bass prior to recording the second album in late 1979. After its release in 1980 the guitarist Ivan Pajevic replaced Rakic and Nikodijevic was back on bass, but shortly the band ceased to exist. Nikodijevic and Rakic later formed post-punk/neo-psych White Rabbit Band but in late 1980s moved to USA where they continued under the name White Rabbit Cult. The remaining members together with German publisher Thomas Werner released at the beginning of 1990s three albums of ISP old live material and album outtakes for the German-based label Kalemegdan Disk.
IGRA STAKLENIH PERLI labelled their music style as "stream of consciousness music". Their both studio albums, the first eponymous "Igra Staklenih Perli" from 1979 and the second "Vrt Svetlosti" from 1980, are pretty similar in sound and resemble the style from early PINK FLOYD and HAWKWIND psychedelia, to German kraut-rock (notably CAN and TANGERINE DREAM), to HILLAGE-era GONG among many. Interesting music effort especially considering the fact it was the new wave boom period when they tried to pursue a quite different music philosophy.
Recommended listen to any devoted prog fan. Since all their albums were issued on vinyl format it might be difficult task to find them, but Kalemegdan Disk may be a good starting address. - Sead S. Fetahagic, ProgArchives.com
Igra Staklenih Perli were a Serbian group formed in the late 70's prior to Zoran Lakic's, return from Germany. The groups name is inspired from Lakic's impressions of the book "The Glass Bead Game" by Hermann Hesse. After meeting guitar player Vojkan Rakic and percussionist Pedrag Vukovic, the first recordings of the Igra Staklenih Perli were made. The band cultivated the music style of groups like Can and Pink Floyd, but also of Tangerine Dream and Holgar Czukay. The first public success came at the Belgrade Student Center and the band soon became very popular throughout cultural centers of former Yugoslavia. Promoting an esoteric musical expression, the ISP (as they were commonly called) was strikingly different from other show-business entertainers. This resulted in a pioneer break and a battle within the music scene.
Two bass players performed with ISP - Drasko Nikodijevic, from 1976/79, and Slobodan Trbojevic, from 1979/85. Trbojevic was rock journalist and jazz editor in music magazine Dzubox and he previously played with Belgarde's jazz band PTICA (the Bird). The talented Montenegrian drummer Dragan Šoc soon joined the band as well.
ISP published two albums: Igra Staklenih Perli and The Garden of Light. The groups last public concert was in 1985, in the well known concert hall of Belgrade, The Sava Center. The occasion of the concert was dedicated to the anniversary of the music magazine ITD.
Members of the band continued their careers with other musicians or solo. At the beginning of the 90's, Thomas Werner came to Belgrade withan interest in publishing older material of ISP. These demo tapes and recorded local concerts of the group in Belgrade have acquired the status of bootleg albums because of their non-studio sound quality. ("Soft Explosion Live", "Inner Flow" and "Drives").
Many Belgrade musicians of that time played in this band. Outside of the regular team, the following musicians also took part in the group: guitar players Goran Vejvoda (now in Paris), Ivan Pajevic (presently in Brussels), Alek7scaron;andar Zikic (a well-known Yugoslav rock critic),and the guitar player and poet Boyan Kveder. Other members included keyboard player Zoran Zagorcic (El Orgazam), and drummer Ivica Vdovic Vd (Charlo the Acrobat) both of whom have past away in the 90's. One should additionally highlight the only female vocalist on the second ISP album "The Garden of Light", vocal artist Dragana Saric, later known as Bejbi Dol. It was her first recorded vinyl record and the beginning of her recording career. - Sleeve Notes
1 Gušterov Trg (Lizzard Square) (04:26)
2 Solarni Modus (04:07)
3 Putovanje U Plavo (Voyage Into Blue) (06:53)
4 Pecurka (Mushroom) (07:05)
5 Majestetski Kraj (05:19)
Bonus Tracks:
6 Flow Access (01:45)
7 Hotel Wave (04:57)
8 Magic Machine (07:58)
9 Lake Of Lily (06:40)
10 Dracula's Dance (06:57)
11 Inner Flow (12:02)
12 Balkan IV (04:05)
13 Gušterov Trg (Lizzard Square) (Live) (05:30)
Joshua N'Goma (Vojislav Rakic) - guitars
Pedja S. Vukovic - drums, percussions
Drakula (Drasko Nikodijevic) - bass, vocals
Svaba the Kraut (Zoran Lakic) - keyboards, vocals
|
