Kiselina

Kiselina (trans. Acid) is the 1973 debut album by Yugoslav progressive rock band Pop Mašina.

The album was polled in 1998 as the 60th on the list of 100 Greatest Yugoslav Rock and Pop Albums in the book YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike (YU 100: The Best Albums of Yugoslav Rock and Pop Music).

Background, concept and recording
Formed in 1972 in Belgrade, Pop Mašina was one of the first Yugoslav bands to move towards a heavier rock sound. Pop Mašina gained a large amount of popularity with their live performances, which gave the members of the band, Robert Nemeček (bass guitar, vocals), Zoran Božinović (guitar, vocals) and Mihajlo "Bata" Popović (drums), an opportunity to record and release their debut album through the state-owned PGP-RTB record label. Kiselina was recorded from September 19 to 30, 1973 in PGP-RTB's studio X and produced by band themselves. The album was recorded in only 20 hours. The recording featured numerous guest musicians: former Pop Mašina member Ratislav "Raša" Đelmaš on drums, a former Porodična Manufaktura Crnog Hleba member (Branimir Malkoč) on flute, Sloba Marković on keyboards, SOS member Miša Aleksić on bass guitar, and singer-songwriter Drago Mlinarec, S Vremena Na Vreme members Ljuba Ninković and Vojislav Đukić and the members of the trio DAG on backing vocals. Pop Mašina and S Vremena Na Vreme would continue to cooperate in studio and on live appearances: in 1975 Nemeček would appear as a guest on S Vremena Na Vreme self-titled debut album and Ljuba Ninković would once again appear as a guest on a Pop Mašina album, on Na izvoru svetlosti (At the Spring of Light).

Kiselina featured a hard rock sound with psychedelic and acid rock elements, but also featured acoustic sections in tracks like "Mir" ("Peace") and "Povratak zvezdama" ("Return to the Stars"). The album's main theme was a psychedelic experience; originally, the opening track should have been "Tražim put" ("I'm Searching for a Road"), allegorically describing narrator's attempts to find a drug dealer. In a 2011 interview Nemeček stated that he wrote the original lyrics for the album after some notes he made while being under the influence of LSD. However, the band realized PGP-RTB censors might refuse to approve the release of the album and decided to cover up the album concept. They made numerous changes to the songs and altered the original track listing. The original album cover, designed by cartoonist and graphic designer Jugoslav Vlahović, who was aware of the album concept, featured psychedelic artwork inspired by the psychedelic portraits of The Beatles. However, upon realizing that the artwork might reveal the album's theme to PGP-RTB censors and editors, both band and Vlahović decided to use a simple band photograph on the cover instead. The photograph was made only several days before printing of the cover and the album release. Despite the band's efforts to cover up the album theme, after its release a journalist for the Ilustrovana Politika magazine who spent some time in the United States revealed the true meaning of the album title to the PGP-RTB editors.

Personnel

 * Robert Nemeček – bass guitar, vocals, acoustic guitar
 * Zoran Božinović – guitar, vocals
 * Mihajlo Popović – drums, congas

Additional personnel

 * Sloba Marković – organ (on "Pesma srećne noći"), electric piano (on "Kiselina" and "Povratak zvezdama")
 * Miša Aleksić – bass guitar (on "Povratak zvezdama" and "Slika iz prošlih dana")
 * Raša Đelmaš – drums (on "Sjaj u očima")
 * Branimir Malkoč – flute
 * Drago Mlinarec – backing vocals (on "Na putu za haos")
 * Ljuba Ninković – backing vocals (on "Na putu za haos")
 * Vojislav Đukić – backing vocals (on "Na putu za haos")
 * DAG – backing vocals (on "Na putu za haos")
 * Dragan Popović
 * Grujica Milanović
 * Aleksandar Milanović
 * Slobodan Petrović – engineer
 * Jugoslav Vlahović – album cover

Reissues
In 1994, a remastered version of Kiselina was released on CD by Serbian record label ITVMM. The release featured the songs "Put ka Suncu" and "Sjaj u očima" ("Glowing Eyes"), originally released on Pop Mašina's first 7-inch single, as bonus track. In 2000, the album was reissued on CD by Polish record label Wydawnictwo 21, in a limited number of 500 copies and featuring four bonus tracks. In 2005, the album was reissued on vinyl by Austrian record label Atlantide.

In 2007, to celebrate thirty-five years since the release of the album, Nemeček, in cooperation with Serbian label MCG records, released the CD Originalna Kiselina – 35 godina kasnije (Original Acid – 35 Years Later) in a limited number of 999 copies. The release featured original track listing and different song mixes. Nemeček stated that the release "is not a reissue of Kiselina. It is basically what Kiselina should have looked like."

Legacy
The album was polled in 1998 as the 60th on the list of 100 Greatest Yugoslav Rock and Pop Albums in the book YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike (YU 100: The Best Albums of Yugoslav Rock and Pop Music).

Serbian film critic Dimitrije Vojnov named Kiselina one of ten most important albums in the history of Yugoslav rock music, stating that "Pop Mašina is a band you can always name when talking how Yugoslav rock before Yugoslav New Wave wasn't negligible". He also stated that "Kiselina was the beginning of a genre that was never groomed to the end here [in Yugoslavia]". Serbian critic Nenad Pejović called Kiselina a "pivot album in the history of Serbian rock", stating that "even today Kiselina can be an example of a modern rock album".