Milva

Writing about Mina inspired me to look back on another italian singer I loved for many years and who belongs to same category of "sacred 1960s" music legends. There are three of them: Mina,Milva and Ornella Vanoni - italians love to discuss and argue which one is better but for me its all orange and apples, each of them is special in her own way.

Milva - affectionally called "Goro panther" - belongs to same generation as Mina but her music path was completely different. Though both ladies performed on San Remo festivals and occasionally even sung same song (as it was tradition at the time that same song was performed in two versions) Milva was a true bel canto belter with a huge voice and her weapon were thunderous ballads where she would unleash that volcanic sound - she rarely sounded subdued and most of the time when you hear Milva its full-blast, fasten-your-seatbels kind of roar. Claudio Villa who is italian God of romantic music would be her only male counterpart and in fact they actually recorded for the same recording company "Cetra records". Her music idol was Edith Piaf and not surprisingly Milva covered Piaf a lot, even recorded the whole tribute album with her songs titled "Canzoni di Edith Piaf".

My favorite Milva period were 1960s - there is so much beautiful music recorded during that period that it looks like never-ending adventure just to browse that huge discography, albums, singles, festival performances, movie soundtracks, you name it, Milva was there. If at the same time Mina was doing twist and singing "Tintarella di Luna", Milva was singing highly dramatical bombastic repertoire like "Flamenco Rock", "Il mare nel cassetto" and "Tango italiano" that sound excellent even today, don't know how anybody can resist such powerful, theatrical interpretations - Ennio Morricone apparently admired her so much that he composed galloping "Quattro vestiti" for her and later even dedicated the complete album to her ("Dedicato A Milva Da Ennio Morricone"). 

Usual comparisons with Mina are truly unnecessary - if you ask me,Milva had much better, stronger voice colored with particular, recognizable sound of old red wine, wonderful and sensuous deep alto that knocks me off my feet every time I hear it. Strangely enough it seems that this particular kind of singing actually fell out of fashion at certain point because italians started to look up to US rock music and suddenly they all sounded hoarse, what Milva does is a particulary old-fashioned art of bel canto singing that not many people can follow unless they are trained.Not surprisingly in 1970s she branched into theater and Brecht repertoire, than moved to Germany where she achieved great success, got herself new audience and works in Italy only sporadically. There are interesting album collaborations with composers like Mikis Theodorakis, Enzo Jannacci, Vangelis, Franco Battiato, Thanos Mikroutsikos, Shinji Tanimura and Giovanni Nuti that shows how serious pop composers hold her in a high esteem - however the most successful collaboration is probably the one with accordion wizard Astor Piazzolla because her passionate style of singing is really best suited to Tango. 

I am enjoying her 1960s work so much that I am basically still stuck there - eventually I might move forward and hear some recent albums but so far I am perfectly happy with that spectacular music legacy. Strangely enough, in italian music shops her work is not easy to find, for some reason there is always just occasional compilation or two (usually always 1960s) but in fact lady has around 70 albums in her discography - Mina and Ornella are far better presented because their albums are carefully re-released while Milva (who is the most powerful singer of the trio) seems to have fell out of fashion. Not for me though, I think she has one of the best voices I have ever heard.

Mina

For some time I wanted to write a little essay about Mina - who is celebrating 70th birthday this year, so I might as well do it now.

Mina is italian pop goddess - there is no other word to describe this enigmatic and enormously talented & influential singer who had left huge mark on italian culture for five decades now. At first, she was a young rocker who brought new rebellious music into tradition known for sedate bel canto voices - if rockers were known as "screamers" Mina was the Queen of screamers - than in late 1960s she was the biggest star of TV variety shows, eclectic and versatile enough to spread her wings into more serious music. During 1970s Mina recorded some of the most beautiful LPs of her career and italian music in general , changed her image into icy,distant and elegant lady and suddenly decided to stop performing live concerts - from 1978 she creates music from her own studio in Switzerland, refuses live performances and releases albums annually that almost always top italian music charts. There is a whole industry of songwriters and album cover designers waiting at her door because Mina is also known as a talent scout and can recognize new potentials - she had recorded so many albums that they usually fill the wall of CD shops in Italy and it can be intimidating not knowing where to start.

Her 1960s period is the young,upbeat and cheerful one - "Tintarella di Luna" was her first rock hit and she had recorded a lot of bouncy, peppy music during this time. Together with Adriano Celentano, she was the symbol of glorious time in italian culture when italian music, movies,fashion and art were recognized internationally - italian actors were winning "Oscars", italian fashion became a big deal, italian music was IN. There were some long forgotten scandals (she got pregnant by a married man, got banned from TV, audience insisted she should come back) and some old black & white TV clips from that time showing Mina as full-fledged star singing everything from bossa nova to Puccini to current pop covers. If 1960s were frantic, they were good for her.

In early 1970s Mina hooked up with some of the best songwriters in Italian music ever - cheerful little ditties were long gone and from now on Mina focused on serious,melancholic ballads reinventing herself totally as a different artist: voice became much deeper, music and lyrics more demanding (poetic), her image glamourous and     refined. Clearly she grew up and luckily the audience grew up with her, rewarding her with huge million-selling hits like "Parole,parole", "Grande,grande,grande", "Amor mio" and my own favorite "Insieme"- this is just a top of an iceberg, because she really build a brilliant discography during this time.

From 1980s onwards Mina worked exclusively from her own recording studio. That means avalanche of studio albums, released every year and eagerly awaited. The best modern production and always new songwriters - it also means a certain music meandering because now Mina did what she wanted, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Sometimes (quite often actually) these double LP albums could probably have been edited to make one good LP instead but the lady had such a loyal fan base that she could really do as she pleased, so she recorded whatever came to her mind, including tributes to The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, sacred music, jazz, traditional neapolitan folk and a multitude of covers that shows musical curiosity - she would cover Michael Jackson,Madonna or Patsy Cline on the same album, always avoiding to fall into category of nostalgia - where other 1960s artists have long stopped to be relevant, Mina continued in big style. Her son Massimiliano Pani became her producer during this time and for better or worse he is responsible for the way music sounds, some says maybe she would be better with somebody else - to me he appears as passionate about music as his mother and brave enough to experiment with unexpected.

If you ask me, for the last 20 years Mina has not really recorded anything spectacular - "Bula Bula" (2005.) was excellent  return to form but almost everything else was really kind of disappointing. I got already used to discover great Mina album and than several mildly interesting to follow - a curse of huge discography - the lady works hard all her life and its wonderful that she still wants to do it but sometimes I wonder why does she bother. Than I realize that she had long lost the interest in pop music as such and what she does is select music that sounds somehow deeper, poetic, more serious - the more you listen, the more beautiful it sounds. Her last album "Piccolino" is a perfect example - it sounds depressing at first and than slowly it starts to show all the nuances with each repeated listening. She is elderly lady now and of course the voice has changed with time, we can't expect the same sound as in 1970s - most of the time she sounds world-weary, heart broken and dead serious - but every now and than the old magic is back again and I marvel how good she sounds when she gets inspired. Give her a good song and she can still do wonders.

I salute you,Mina. Happy 70th birthday. There are not many people in your profession who continued to work with a passion, full heart and constant need for something new,like you do. I will continue to buy your albums because it's a never ending adventure and pleasure, sometimes it takes me longer to appreciate what you do, but it works,how it works. You are one of my all-time favorite music artists.

"Sorelle Lumiere" by Mina (1992)

Magnificent album cover that shows italian pop goddess profile as a part of cinema projector - her album covers had long became state of the art examples of perfect visual design but I am not so convinced with the music. The tradition of releasing double albums annually occasionally backfires because material is bound the be highly eclectic and experimental - if we skip her bouncy,happy 1960s period, Mina had actually achieved her artistic peak during 1970s with a series of beautiful, classy albums but if you ask me, almost everything of 1980s and 1990s is very spotty - double albums with no apparent focus and too much meandering.

Typical of her 1990s output, "Sorelle Lumiere" (Lumier's sisters) is another double album that could have easily been edited into strong single LP. It has 50 + old singer collaborating with younger musicians (something she was always good at) and there are some strong points here - her voice is still expressive and magical to listen to - but overall the atmosphere of the album is very dark,moody and somehow icy. Because Mina does not write her own material and depends on strong songwriters, her albums are very unpredictable - she might select some seductive, slow burning gems or strong hooks like "Figlio Unico" that sound current and modern but the very next song might be completely unnecessary off-the-wall cover of "Cry me a river" and such - obviously this is a strong willed lady and does as she pleases, which in itself is part of her eccentric charm but it does make one long and never ending album.

Highlights are some unexpected medleys: "Un Nuovo Amico/E Poi ..." merges a new song with a classic old one and it works perfectly, same for medley of "I'll Fly For You/Oye Como Va/Black Magic Woman" where Spandau Ballet somehow makes natural fit with Carlos Santana. There is also a wonderful jazzy "I Ricordi Della Sera" that first got my attention years ago and made me buy the whole album - seductive and tender Mina is backed here with a vocal chorus that creates nocturnal, nostalgic 1940s atmosphere and its truly film noir experience. My suggestion : edit double album into favorites and you get much better program.

Mina & Celentano (1998)

One-off and long overdue collaboration of two giants who probably know each other for decades.

Celetano's street smart charm and Mina's icy glamour are not an obvious fit but they create magic together and it works so well that it makes one wonder why it took them so long to get in the studio. Both started at the early dawn of 1960s as young punks ready to shake the world and endured long years in business to the point that they became living legends. If somebody had put them together in way back than, who knows what explosion that might have been, with young Celentano roaring and Mina answering in her energetic style - however at this point they are middle-aged people comfortable with slow-to-medium funky ballads. 

Both artists have huge following so it was natural that this album soared to the top of italian charts, as it should have - modern production,nothing nostalgic here, strong melodies and voices blending naturally. It's kind of mild funk one might hear in italian coffee bars graced with top-notch than-current production and first few songs are truly classy pop that shows everything was taken seriously and nobody thought about artists as being old or over the hill. Most of the music here are duets but both artists have also a solo spot - Mina does her usual slow-burning rock ballad on "Io Ho Te" while Celentano raps on "Dolly". There is even a comical "Che T'Aggia Dì" acted as argument between husband and wife who demands more bedroom attention or else she won't cook anymore. (It's almost a parody on Mina famous "Parole parole") 

Nice pop album that shows old foxes still having power, however it does make one wonder how they might have sounded together some 30 years ago.

Josipa Lisac "Live" (2001)

At the time of this release, one journalist called it "triumph of swelled narcism" (or something like that) and obviously Josipa Lisac has always been acquired taste, even more so as with time she consciously focused even more on her trademark vocal mannerisms - it is a brave decision and probably natural artistic growth but I have always wondered is it actually a hindrance, since it cost her certain commercial appeal. After all, artists need the audience and sometime it seems as Lisac pushes it just a little too much for her own good. But she is still selling out the concerts at the age of sixty eight, so who am I to say.

"Live" finds this indestructible veteran revisiting highlights from her very impressive and respectable songbook, mostly written specifically for her by late Karlo Metikoš who was her Pygmalion and who encouraged her unrepentant style that in the later days sometimes seems too excessive. Judging by this recordings taped trough several evenings in Zagreb, Ljubljana and Maribor, audience welcome is heartfelt and sincere, though personally I have problem with her live renditions that too often stretch listeners patience - most of these old pop classics are now transformed into dirges and when taken too seriously, seems they lost the joy of their original incarnations. At this stage Lisac is determined to give master classes in singing and though she is surrounded with brilliant young musicians, I suspect things might work better if she tones it down slightly just a notch, instead of twisting each song beyond recognition. To me it sounds like Al Jarreau and although lady would probably take it as compliment, I have this gnawing feeling people would accept her more if only restrain herself a little. 

"Memphis Monday Blues" by Bobby Bland (1998)

Bland was 69 at the time of this release but boy,he had recorded album full of swagger - the very opening "Im Bobby B" could easily come from Bo Didley songbook and it just gets better from there. Sure he is much older than in the golden days and the voice is thinner but the spirit is still here - definitely - what is surprising is that after a several slow-burning blues albums he had kicked with something so lively and uplifting, its almost a party album. Snort is still here but if you have ever heard Bland before, this is what you came to expect and perhaps even anticipate - is he going to snort again? - ah yes, he does. Music is fine - typical good time blues even when lyrics can be downbeat but its finely moving towards centerpiece "Memphis Monday Morning" that comes along like some giant, slow wave of the blues. Bland spreads tender magic around what is basically worn-out cliché (my baby has left me) and the world stops during these 9 minutes - truly unexpected wonder from an old fox who plays around the cracks in that worn-out voice, really wonderful. 

"You Left Me With The Blues" has Bland surrounded with modern production and some vaguely echo-sound effects which is all fine, good to hear Bland still sounding contemporary though his roots go back in the days when these producers were probably not even born. And than for finale, he snarls (and snorts) his way trough "Lookin' For Some Tush"  rocking and leaving years in the dust behind him. It does wonders for me to hear this old man swaggering like a peacock and its truly uplifting - makes me feel good to hear my old favorite still getting it up and roaring. I love Bobby Bland.

Josipa Lisac

The very first person I wrote about on this blog was the big idol of my childhood and a huge influence/inspiration during my formative years, croatian rock queen Josipa Lisac. 

Today I will write a little more about her as I recently saw her live in concert after almost 17 years and memories started flooding back. 

When I was a kid growing up in than-Yugoslavia,music scene was huge according to the size of the country - we had music,genres and stars coming from different parts of the country, big competition and variety of sounds, things that were mainstream and things that were cool. Josipa was always cool. I remember little me collecting newspaper clips about her, being totally fascinated with this strange witch-like siren with seductive, deep and sensual voice that didn't belong to our reality - while other pop stars were smiling,relatively ordinary people that one might meet in the street, Josipa epitomized glamour and other life - trough the years she had changed like chameleon but always kept her unmistakable and recognizable sound (kind of mannered vocal stylings that irritated a lot of people and attracted the others) and the very first I saw her on TV she had just returned from living in USA, looking totally fashionable,modern and "american" while her colleagues were still obviously singers from East-European territory.

At the age of 12-13 I did my homework research and found out that Lisac actually was already a big star long before I had discovered her. She belonged to 1960s beat generation, left a pop band to go solo at the age of 18. and was shocking sedate festival audience with her looks, clothes, hair and music for many years until around 1973. she was finally established as a first croatian female rock singer with a stunning debut LP where she was backed by all-star band. Because rock music was always associated with all kinds of scandals, Lisac herself had a bad reputation and lots of gossips always going on around her but it was basically based on provincial opinions of the people who never even met her. As a teenager I loved everything about her - she was a vegetarian who dressed up like a creature from another planet, was opinionated and open in the interviews, was singing everything from jazz to classical and back, her concerts were sensational and her voice usually put everybody else to shame. I still believe had she been born elsewhere, she would have international career because she is that good.

For many years Lisac was my all-time favorite but as it usually happens my musical tastes expanded and with all my travels and living abroad I checked her out only sporadically, from a distance. 

Usually I was glad and delighted to find out she is still active (basically the only one from her generation), had survived ups & downs, got widowed but honored the memory of her late partner with traditional concert homages to him and finally achieved status of living legend showered with awards. Because she is over 60 now and still active in rock music there is not much understanding for the artist of this age and sometimes I was afraid would she turned into "crazy lady from the attic" caricature of her younger self but it seems that people realize she is doing this because she honestly loves music,its her life and purpose. The ones who don't get it I don't even want to discuss this. Pop scene is full of young,half-naked wannabes who fall sideways every day and Lisac is still here some 40 years later. She is a legend.

Recently I saw her live. She actually sounded better than ever before - that huge,massive voice floating above the crowd who obviously dug and loved her. I mean kids were dancing with their hands in the air and middle-aged people were listening with eyes clothes. The backing musicians were excellent, all of them young punks full of energy who twisted each of the classic gems into another dimension and everything sounded somehow fresh and different - not one song was similar to original recorded version and that was good as well,because it showed Lisac is still artist who loves to play around with her repertoire instead of just repeating herself. To be honest,I actually love the original versions because I listened to them for almost all my life but I understand it must be agony for somebody to play same notes night after night so Lisac chose different path. She does Bossa Nova here, latino there and it all somehow makes new and unexpected listening. 

I don't know how long she will continue doing this because there are many odds against her (age being one) but long might she rule and for me she will always be nr.1.

Jasna Benedek

Jasna Benedek belongs to very early generation of croatian pop singers from 1950s - after Ivo Robić paved a way with his example (but he started even before WW2) others followed, notably Zvonimir Krkljuš, Bruno Petrali and Rajka Vali. Sometime in late 1950s completely new generation of new singers came along ready to take their place on the stage, usually starting in amateur contests at the than-famous "Variete" and if somebody spotted them there, they would hopefully proceed to famous pop festivals that were covered nationally. 

The very first time I heard her name was during interview with Zdenka Vučković who mentioned her with great affection - in the late 1950s Vučković was just a kid and a few years short of her big break but she clearly modelled herself somehow on Benedek's example, following similar innocent voiced approach. Not much is known about Jasna Benedek and she appears to had just a short little twinkle of career, long forgotten now - most of the people would probably not remember her now because later it became norm that stars would have long careers - only occasionally colleagues would lovingly mentioned her name so it seems she did left a warm spot in many hearts.

This cute little four-song EP recorded in 1959. is a historical document now of a time long passed. Just as the cover photo shows a young girl fresh from a school, her voice is a sweet, tender and sentimental but with a personality. Ubiquitous Mario Kinel wrote lyrics for two covers and other two songs are originals - its all light swing with a romantic touch and Benedek sounds like a darling, probably inspired by movies with Doris Day. "Srcem svim" is her croatian version of than-famous pop hit "Gondolier" that Petula Clark recorded as "With all my heart" and "Bezimena ljubav" surprisingly sombre version of the theme from a movie "Barefoot contessa" that might be a highlight of the whole recording. Two croatian originals are sweet but somehow clumsy compared to international hits - "Susret pod kišobranom" has a story about meeting in the rain where two protagonists fall in love under the umbrella (how innocent and appropriate for times,but it does sound a bit strange today) while "To je moj ples" has Benedek singing from a point of the girl who is ignored on a dance. The latter song was written by somebody with name Korbar and I have to do some research here because the song actually surfaced many decades later on the album of another croatian singer, Višnja Korbar who might have remember it for sentimental reasons. 

Sweet little recording with fresh-voiced singer who fell in obscurity soon afterwards - Benedek might be found on several pop festival LPs of the early 1960s and than every trace of her disappears. Every information about her is welcome.

Mother's Day (2010)

Who could ever forget Rebecca De Mornay in a movie classic "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle"? 

A truly scary psychological thriller with excellent story and of course De Mornay was brilliant - but than, we never heard from her. She got married to Leonard Cohen and if she worked at all, it did not make big waves internationally because we would find out about it. It almost became one of those forgotten names, you know, whatever happened to her?

Well, she is back in a truly scary movie called "The Mother's Day" - watched it with the biggest pleasure last night.

One can clearly tell that the whole movie is built around her character because she is the main focus of everything - the movie even fails to get our full attention until De Mornay appears. And its strange why exactly she is so spooky because she still is a very beautiful woman with expressive face, aged but beautiful. And for the most of the movie she is soft spoken and well behaved but we KNOW she is extremely dangerous so its thrilling to simply watch.

About the movie: a group of dangerous bank robbers escapes the police and seeks refugee in their own family house. They are all brothers and one of them is lethally wounded. The problem is, they were in prison so long that they have no idea that house is not theirs anymore - it has been sold and new owners are in there with their friends, celebrating and having a nice friendly evening with dinner and music. When sadistic brothers burst in the house everything gets very dangerous and brutal - things get out of control and the only person who can solve this terrible mess is "mother" who is arriving soon. From the moment De Mornay walks in the house we are aware that her boys are nothing compared to mother who is truly dangerous mind - she manipulates everybody in truly Machiavellian way to make them do what she wants to and there is excellent line where she says "It's important to know where you stand - and than to make people go in that direction" (or something like that). Nobody in the house is match for her and she is truly scary. At certain point things get a little bit predictable - we kind of know what will happen at the end and that all kinds of gruesome killings will take place. As much as I love De Mornay and understand this is kind of homage to her earlier role, I still wish she an escapes one-dimensional roles like this because it does put her in a certain box, I know for sure she is far more talented than to be forever remember as psychotic. Unfortunately this is what movie industry has to offer her. I can easily imagine her in kind of all-covering roles Meryl Streep plays, from nuns to comedienne to serious drama. Imagine De Mornay in "Bridges of Madison County" or "Doubt"!

Ruth Jacott "Simply The Best" (2012)

CD + DVD souvenir from a spectacular one-woman show where Ruth Jacott lovingly acknowledges the ladies who were her inspiration and shows off her amazing versatility.

The evening is planned as a look back at singers that Jacott loved and respected - with her musical theatre experience, she is obviously at home on a big stage acting a bit, assuming the roles of characters from different eras and occasionally telling little stories about them. 

Jacott starts the evening with her heartfelt homage to Diana Ross who apparently was her childhood idol - interesting to hear, since Jacott's voice is far more powerful and full-bloodied than Ross. From here she moves on into energetic Supremes medley, re-visits songbook by Roberta Flack, Josephine Baker, Lena Horne, Shirley Bassey, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone and many others. The actress she is, Jacott can't help by acting a bit and makes note-perfect imitation of Eartha Kitt or - even better - fierce Dinah Washington whose "Mad about the boy" she does spookily brilliant, explaining along the way Washington's life story and what she meant to her.

The second part of the evening is all about upbeat,party music - Chaka Khan, Donna Summer, Gladys Knight and others. Swept away in excitement of Rotterdam audience, Jacott sounds a bit hoarse here so this is probably better enjoyed on DVD as the concert is definitely recommended as visual experience. At the moment when she finally reaches the encore (Tina Turner, of course) Jacott and the audience must have been thrilled and excited and it shows. Jacott is excellent live performer and I am really looking forward to hear her show about Billie Holiday as she is equally at home in different music genres and knows how to act the part.

The Best of Ruth Jacott (2004.)

During my "Amsterdam years" 1999-2004 I often enjoyed bar-hopping with friends and it was not in trendy places but in humpty-dumpty local pubs that I learned my dutch pop music repertoire. You see,foreign visitors often end up in trendy places with international clientele and these places prefer to build up a new agey, trance ambience as they think this would give them "cool" atmosphere - same everywhere,I believe - young crowd always looks down upon local music as unhip. But the real spirit of Amsterdam lies in a small local pubs, often on the street corners and decorated with intentionally kitschy displays of royal family photos, portraits of celebrities and such - these places are great fun,attract local people who have no pretensions and simply want to share a beer with friends. Here they would play old disco hits, singalong to "Abba" and old Eurovision songs, dance to 1970s and 1980s hits and everybody gets completely swept away in drunken excitement - once I remember a middle-aged man enjoying himself so much that he jumped on a bar chair and danced to Doris Day's "Que sera,sera" - typical night out in a local pub. It was in these pubs that I learned about dutch pop music - its mostly "schlager" music that basically balances between sentimental and high-energy dance so beloved locally. Once you get over the guttural sound of the language, some of the stuff is quite entertaining though there is only one name that I really love and its Ruth Jacott.

Ruth Jacott was born in Suriname and moved to The Netherlands when she was 17 - made herself a well-known name in musical theatre work ( I actually have recording of the show called "A Night At The Cotton Club" that was a tribute to Jazz age of 1920s and 1930s) before successfully moving to big-time pop with some incredibly catchy hits and well-produced albums that easily stand next to current international production without sounding dated or provincial - along with strong and memorable melodies her music is graced with strong vocals as she possesses one of the best voices in dutch pop music, deep soulful alto that comes straight from the heart and is apparently versatile in any music genre you can possibly think of. I mean,this woman can sing "Stormy Weather" and Billie Holiday Jazz classics and than turn to Bossa Nova, Nina Simone, Supremes or Tina Turner without missing a beat (in addition to her pop hit songbook) and she does sound excellent in the studio recordings - it must have been thrilling to hear her live because from experience I know that many singers can't successfully transfer the magic of live performances into cold studio surroundings.

As a foreigner I find music & voice of Ruth Jacott the best and the most interesting of everything I have heard on dutch pop scene. Though she often performs as duet partner and special guest on high profile gala concerts, for me her voice and charisma by far overshadow everybody else, she is that good. This 2004. compilation collects her best work up to that point and is highly recommended to anyone interested in the best of international music scene.

Top Ten (sequel!) by Elvira Voća (1984.)

One of two "Top Ten" albums that Elvira Voća recorded in 1980s and they are so bad that it defies description, brilliant in their awfulness. 

As it became clear that Voća is not (and never was) commercially visible artist, somebody got idea to have her recording covers of current pop hits from the charts. In croatian. I only vaguely remember the first album, but lo and behold she also recorded the sequel that I recently got (to my biggest thrill) and boy is this bad or what - its actually very entertaining in its way - I mean here we have this middle-aged woman crooning current hits like they are ordinary "schlager" she was used to for decades. She can certainly hold a tune and follow some melody but where original artists had certain passion, Voća is completely out of her depth and simply chirps away because this is the only way she knows how to sing. 

Melodies are lifted straight from originals - note for note, no attempts to change or add anything - lyrics written by Mišo Doležal (father of singer Sanja Doležal) and as translations they are not bad, I mean they fit the music. Hubby is credited as arranger which is very strange as he basically copies originals and brings his pretty wife into synthesizers land where she roams in some kind of catatonic stupor, trying to be sexy or seductive but I actually laugh out loud. She does "She Bop" while obviously not getting that original was about masturbation (gasp) chirping away something like "Be-bop-a-lula" my God is this funny or what. Just to show how hip she was, she does "Kalimba de luna" but of course sounds lost in a wonderland. Elvira Voća lost in space. With echo. (I can visualize terribly cruel video clip for this one, with Elvira running into some tunnels and not knowing how to get out) Since it seems she basically covered anybody who was on 1984. pop charts (hence title of this album) without much discrimination or even sense what actually fits her Elvira Voća does "What's Love Got To Do With It" - you actually understand what an artist Tina Turner was when she brought her regal roughness, experience and vulnerability to this pop fluff - Voća fumbles around, singing about herself being just a "tender woman" apparently in a throbbing passion and unable to collect herself (its actually the best parody of the song I have ever heard).

And than the end - unbelievably awful,bombastic and totally WTF? moment when the last song explodes in Elvira Voća singing "Ghostbusters"! Oh joy,oh joy - this is something you want to share with all your friends everywhere around the world - I mean this is a buttoned up, school teacher (in reality housewife who pushed singing career for no apparent reason) being so totally out of it that its fantastic. I don't remember when was the last time I had such fun.

"Slušala sam srce" by Elvira Voća (1980)

Croatian pop singer Elvira Voća was one of the ubiquitous names of people who performed on pop festivals in 1960s, 1970s and 1980s without any visible success or purpose - you might even ask yourself why did they bother at all - kind of also-runner but never really specially interesting, outstanding or original in any way. Pleasant, mild voice without personality that could hold a tune, attractive blonde looks and in a nutshell that was all: unfortunately for Voća,there already was another blonde with far more style and personality and her name was Gabi Novak. So Voća was always perceived as a second-rate Novak and I can imagine how frustrating it must have been to be someone else's copy.

Voća happened to be married to a certain influential croatian composer and probably thanks to him she was often invited to festivals - for the life of me I can't remember one single hit of her career or why she should be remembered at all. I mean, other people made occasional splash here and there, something unusual, perhaps some brave experiment that failed but at least they were exciting - not so Voća who always played safe with her soft crooning voice that sounds like somebody who works in kindergarten, undistinguishable repertoire that sounds like anybody else around, really. 

Her 1980. LP has actually stellar list of songwriters (Arsen Dedić, Zdenko Runjić, Zrinko Tutić, Drago Britvić, Maja Perfiljeva) and its all fine,mild and mellow but there's no way around admitting that Voća sounds exactly as one would expect - a pretty housewife of composer who is pushing her. The album is actually not bad, songs are probably fine and kind of music you immediately forget after they were played on the radio - but oh,no personality whatsoever. This is your mother crooning or some nice lady next door who for some strange reasons imagines herself a singer. Voća actually covers Gabi Novak song "Ako želiš da se vratiš" (Arsen Dedić) that brings absolutely nothing new to it except pointing at the fact that she really lacks that magical something that makes a great singer. Closer inspection to a back cover shows that album was not released by giant "Jugoton" but by much smaller PGP RTB which also points that commercially this was not seen as a potential big seller. 

The rest of decade this pretty blonde spent on a local festivals - when invitation ceased, her husband basically arranged participations on smaller festival in countryside of Krapina where old-timers often performed in local dialect but this was of course far from mainstream or national level. She had also recorded two abysmal albums with covers of current 1980s hits, they are so brilliantly bad that they deserve special essay. Her story really makes one wonder why these people bothered to spend a life in music if they had nothing extraordinary to show, why even going on a stage if you are only mediocre? 

Voća was a pretty woman but I had to put here a single cover that was so incredibly bad that I can't help to think somebody in recording company sabotaged her - I mean,covers really help to sell the products but this one was chosen to stop one dead in the tracks. WTF?

Total recall (2012)

Spent a whole hot,summer day lounging around and moving from bed to sofa,sleeping,reading and drinking cool drinks. 

Than in the evening got idea to leave the house - suffocating inside - and decided to walk some 30 minutes to first local cinema which turned out to be Arena Imax - huge shopping mall with a cinema - the walk was actually more pleasurable than choice of the movies offered there,usual obnoxious blockbusters for adolescents so what to do,what to do, but see new version of "Total recall".

I clearly remember seeing the movie poster somewhere (London? Amsterdam?) and thinking "this is something bombastic,definitely not my kind of movie" and sure I was right. more than ever now i am sure this is not the type of movies I should waste any time on since I am not enjoying them at all. Its probably best described as hi-energy Sci-Fi movie with lots of special effects,car races, explosions, characters swept away in something resembling the story and one is leaving the cinema completely empty and uninspired. I mean, there is nothing to think about on your way home the way good movies inspire you to think about them and fantasize about yourself in a movie - this is just one huge special effect,visually impressive yes but it does makes me wonder where are we going and whatever happened to real art of cinema with good script and acting that shakes you deep into the bone?

I don't really remember the first "Total recall" with Schwarzenegger and its very possibly I have not seen that one as he would not be my choice of actors whose work I need to see. Here the story is newly refurnished with current special effects and current movie stars - Colin Farrel (good guy) and Kate Beckinsale (bad girl) with surprising turn of really good actor (Bill Nighy) in a usual 3 minute cameo (and probably highly paid). It's all apocalyptic and set in the grey future where lowly workers travel from one side of the world in another in specially designed tunnels and the main character (Farrel) have occasional nightmares about his other life that turns out to have been reality - he was highly skilled special agent who can help the world and save the humanity no less,if only he can remember who he was. Its all one huge special effect after the other and sure there are some adolescents who find this very exciting but I am too old for this kind of entertainment and have seen way too many movies so its nothing new for me - besides occasional good visual gimmick like unusual panoramic overview of apocalyptic city here - at the end its all one big explosion (what a surprise!) and fire everywhere, it really saddens me that this is what movie directors are doing these days and worse of all,this is what audience obviously wants. It really makes me wonder are Farrel and Beckinsale proud of the work they are doing? Its a movie equivalent of fast food and equally forgettable. I mean people,come on, check out something like "Nights of Cabiria" from 1954. that would stir up your brain and make you feel for the main characters, something you will actually remember.

Cleo Laine

Writing about Anita o'Day I got inspired to write about my other favorite Jazz singer - Cleo Laine.

Many years ago,when I still worked as journalist, croatian Jazz singer Zdenka Kovačiček recommended her to me. She was nice enough to actually lent me LP from her own collection and I still remember looking at the photo of Cleo & her husband John Dankworth thinking "this must be some famous producer pushing his sexy housewife". Talk about wrong impression!

Than I put a LP on and was thinking "hm,she is actually not bad at all" - few years later I found myself living in London and discovered that Cleo Laine is in fact far more known internationally than her saxophone-playing husband. Not really planning, I collected almost everything she had ever recorded and have more than 40 original albums in my collection.

Most of Jazz greats are from USA so its somewhat natural that their european colleagues were looked upon as pale imitation of "real thing" - after all, they grew up listening rare & imported recordings of american Jazz musicians but would eventually add their own little touch to the music. Dankworth was already famous player who led his own popular band in 1950s when he auditioned for girl singer to join his boys, when Clementine Campbell came along with her unusual deep voice and stunning looks - her name was changed into more exciting "Cleo Laine" (boys have chosen her name from the hat!) and she would eventually became star of the first order, going solo and building successful career during 1950s and 1960s in both music and theatre. Dankworth who became her husband often backed her on concerts and on records, tutoring her how to explore her natural husky voice into stratospheric heights and thanks to him she really became sensational singer with wide repertoire that went from Shakespeare, American Songbook, Carole King and Bessie Smith to musicals and anything in between.

Known locally during 1950s and 1960s, Laine was finally introduced to USA audience when she was already well in her 40s, after american tourists started to rave about her performance in successful London version of musical "Show Boat" (she was probably the first ever real mixed-blooded Julie - interesting to point because the whole story is about Julie hiding her secret and not looking obviously black) so she was finally showered with media frenzy after Carnegie Hall debut. Her voice,looks,repertoire and stylish presence were intriguing to Jazz musicians who didn't expect such talent coming from UK - she went on to became international star touring all over the world, recording best selling LPs, collecting awards and being the only singer ever to get nominated for "Grammy" in Jazz,Pop AND Classical genre.

Beautiful,beautiful voice - she always was a attractive lady but the voice really blew me away and still does after all these years. I prefer her 1960s recordings when voice was even deeper than later, though must admit she had recorded some excellent albums even during 1980s and 1990s (and beyond). Both Laine and her husband believed that music should not be boxed or categorized so they had built a music centre in their own backyard where they would give free music lessons in the summer,often inviting famous colleagues to join them. It became known as "Stables" and grew into really big deal. Recently "Stables" celebrated 40th anniversary and it was a spectacular superstars evening - at the end of the evening Laine announced how sorry she is that her husband could not be with them that evening and finally told the secret, he actually died earlier that morning in the hospital. They were married for more than 50 years,always lived & worked together and she still decided to go on with the concert because she knew that he would do the same thing for her.

Both Laine and Dankworth are awarded many times, they are the only Jazz musician couple who are bestowed title "Dame" and "Sir" by Queen Elizabeth II. They have two children who are also musicians. Now an elderly lady with still beautiful voice (I heard her on several occasions live in concert when she was deep into her 70s and she was always spectacular) she is celebrated and often performs as a extra guest in concerts. Not as big star as she once was - media usually prefers younger stars - but still loved & remembered. I love her dearly and listen her music with the biggest pleasure quite often when I want to hear really incredible voice.



(she wrote the lyrics!)

Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer (documentary)

When it comes to Jazz singers, everybody can name the big 3: Billie,Ella and Sarah.

But apparently only connoisseurs know Anita O'Day - sarcastic, hip, white Jazz chick who started in 1940s with some serious swing background, in bands by Gene Krupa and Stan Kenton, before building excellent and now classic discography for "Verve" (some 15 albums) and who performed long into her 80s. Everyone who has ever heard would probably agree she was the rare anomaly, white woman who possessed sensational sense of rhythm and was swinging harder than anybody around. Not conventionally pretty or particularly glamourous in time when those things mattered, she also had unusual voice that was smokey, whiskey-soaked and clearly reflected strong personality - outspoken, defiant and argumentative she would follow her own impulse and often do as she pleased with total disregard for what ordinary people would say or think about her.

Unfortunately - just as in case of Billie Holiday - lot of media attention was always focused on O'Day's heroin habit. But where people might "understand" Billie as a tortured soul who suffered a lot, Anita was always defiant and never apologized for her lifestyle. She did it because everybody else around her did it - smoked, drunk, took drugs and lived on a road for years. Big deal. I mean - listen what an artist she was, the moment she grabbed the microphone she would tear the place down, changing the rhythm several times during a song (that was her speciality) for me this is the most important thing about who she was, not what drugs she was taking. Notoriety became her curse - once she was arrested (and that was a set up,at that time she was not taking any drugs yet) O'Day said to herself "what the hell,I might as well do it now" and since than every single interviewer was pushing this subjects for the rest of her life, always talking about drugs and alcohol addiction but nothing ever was being said about the music. Even her exciting biography "Hard times,high times" was edited to sound more like shocking & scandalous biography than serious book about her life.

In this excellent (posthumous) documentary a lot of time was used to dwell on O'Day's notoriety - her colleagues,musicians, managers,fans all talk how difficult and eccentric she was - lady herself is very honest, entertaining and obviously enjoying in shocking her interviewers with anecdotes from a immensely rich life & career, though every now and than you can feel that she hides a lot behind the smile. She laughs about it now as she discusses how she ended up in prison for Marijuana possession (6 months!) but than she suddenly quiets down and there is a sadness in her old eyes as if she remembers the pain and wounds from this punishment that changed her life and forever marked her as "Jezebel of Jazz".Than she talks about ordinary people who would not drink or participate in what for her was normal - "That was the OTHER life,man! I mean these people drunk WATER and read BOOKS between sets!"  It's always Anita against the rest of the world, against the other life. Divorces, miscarriages - she shrugs them off with a smile. When obviously square journalist still pushes the subject, amazed with her defiance ("But how could you do all these things?") she answers frankly - "this is how things happened,man,thats how it went down." Colleagues and journalists interviewed for this documentary are all thrilled how fabulous and adventurous she was,but they admit she was "the other life" for them - most of them find her exciting but would never dare to live the way she did, always on the road, always party, no security whatsoever.

Movie also points at the fact that O'Day belonged to a certain generation that experienced professional peak during 1940s and 1950s - she was a giant vocal virtuoso among many of highly trained improvisators but than all of them got kicked out from the throne in 1960s by rock music. Luckily for her,Japan always welcomed her and she continued working deep into old age, some might even say longer than she should have - audience dwindled, voice was not longer there, Jazz music far from being popular as it once was. The best parts of the movie are old classic filmed performances of Anita O'Day in action - she always had total command and authority on stage, pushing her musicians to dare to follow her if they can. The part of the reason why she never experienced huge success as some other songbirds is that she never was a romantic ballad singer - she apparently despised sentimental approach and hers was a tough chick perspective,even in ballads. Excellent documentary and I am seriously glad she is celebrated today even if it's annoying that "the other world" is still focused on her notoriety - but maybe some newcomers might check her out from curiosity and discover what a talent she was, its the music that matters. It always was.