Grupa "MI" ("We") had a brief and important moment in the spotlight at certain point in the late 1960s/early 1970s as a croatian own soul-rock band,with impressive brass section and r&b repertoire. Some compare them with "Blood,sweat and tears", to me they sound a lot like Janis Joplin's backing band "Full tilt boogie" or contemporary "Mladi Levi" from Slovenia.What this means is - music that relied on celebrated international hits of the day (Stevie Winwood, Otis Redding),strong brass section, energetic playing from young punks who refused to play commercial "schlager" game and vocals that were reflecting enthusiasm but honestly were not so exceptional. At the time much was written about singer Neven Mijat, but in reality group was much better as a strong instrumental backing band for other "real" singers than for its own main vocal - excuse me if I am not floored with Mijat's singing but listen how the group sparks with fire playing behind somebody like rock queen Josipa Lisac in her song "Život moj" and you get my point - they were exceptional backing band.
The group had really just a short career (some five years) and not really much of recorded repertoire for "anthology" so music presented here is beefed up with some live recordings, covers and unearthed discoveries from radio archives. It clearly shows that group progressed with time and some of the later recordings really catch the fire lacking from first ones.
Somewhere towards the end they really sound excellent and interplay between guitars and brass section is admirable (again,vocals are weak,unfortunately - but it might have been something that works in live settings,who knows?) and hidden inside all of this is one classic pop single from 1970 ("Bam Bam Ba Ba Lu Bam" backed with "Ljubav ti Više Nije Važna" where both sides were equally strong) leaving listener to wonder what else this group could have accomplish have they continued - they would probably play in rock festivals in Ljubljana or record all-stars albums like Tihomir Pop Asanović.
Its really a memento of "wild youth" for a certain generation who still remembers "Mi" from their college days and surprising glimpse into strong music scene that apparently had counteract to mainstream scene.
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