The Forrest Magic

 

"Do not ask from your children to strive" by William Martin

 

"Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" by B.J. Thomas (1969)

Sad news - B.J. Thomas have just passed away from the lung cancer and this really makes me sad because he was one of my all-time favourite singers and the voice I kept returning again and again. He would forever be associated with this particular song and a special moment in the late 1960s/early 1970s when country and pop music somehow merged - maybe later he fell a little bit under the radar but in fact he continued to record and perform long after initial success and has quite a nice and rewarding discography. I have no idea how and where I came to discover him but it was a love at first hearing and to this day I genuinely love his style, his recognisable voice and the honesty about it. 

B.J. Thomas already had some big hits under his belt ("The Eyes of a New York Woman", "Hooked on a Feeling") when he was offered to perform two songs in the upcoming movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" that turned massive hit - it was quite sharp choice from Burt Bacharach who was at the top of the world back than and could have any singer he wanted and it certainly opened all the doors to the young guy from Oklahoma who was recording for relatively small recording company. By this point "Scepter Records" was really treating him with respect and long gone were the early days when he was kind of orphaned country boy with pop potential - from the start, it was obvious that he was extremely versatile and it was just a matter of the right producer and the material to catapult him into charts.

"Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" was a culmination of the path young singer took with two previous albums ("On My Way" and "Young And In Love") where he was branching more and more into the pop waters, with just a slight tinge of country. To my ears he is a quintessential "Rhythm Country And Blues"  and if you remember that beautiful 1994. album where soul and country singers duet together, well B.J. Thomas was that kind of artist. On his very first studio album he was equally good in covers by Hank Williams, Tom Jones AND Wilson Pickett - basically, he could do everything. But it was a unforgettable, lilting little song that placed him into pop Olympus and the whole planet will know him ever since. No less than four producers worked on this album (Chips Moman one of them) and not only it had a huge crossover appeal, it had songs by Jimmy Webb, Joe South, a latest Jack Jones cover and a brand new song by fellow Scepter songwriter Mark James called "Suspicious Minds". Even though Elvis had much bigger hit with it, he always kept an eye on Thomas and later covered his ""I Just Can't Help Believing". Everything that B.J. Thomas recorded during that first decade of his studio work is highly recommended and there is a lot to discover.  

"A Beautiful Thing" by Cleo Laine (1974)

The beginning of a fruitful collaboration with RCA Victor that went on for two decades and gave British singer a really wide exposure - she had released around 19 albums with them and even won a Grammy as the only British Jazz singer to do so. 

The main difference between now and her previous work was in the repertoire - like so many of singers raised on jazz as a popular music, Cleo Laine had to adopt the times and embrace current songs of the day. For the majority of her peers this was problem - people like Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae or Mel Tormé bravely gave it a try - to be honest it is a bit of stretch to go from American Songbook to Donovan but Laine was a good sport. I am not completely sure what this strategy really meant, because crossover albums like these usually just annoy both sides - its neither pop nor jazz, though production, arrangements and performance are very polished. Perhaps the most interesting number here is funky update on 1966. original "Life Is A Wheel". If you look closely, it was quite accepted practice at the time that singers often recorded hits already known by other artists, where later somehow it became rule to perform originals. So you would have Helen Reddy, Shirley Bassey and Johnny Mathis singing songs associated with Barbra Streisand, curious mixture of styles and genres connected by radio friendly sheen but not exactly exciting. My CD reissue has a bonus track "A Time For Farewell" recorded much later with flute virtuoso James Galway.  

"Me" by Elton John (2019)

High on the entertainment (read: gossip) and very low on any discussion about music or songwriting (“I can’t explain it and I don’t want to explain it.”) this might be THE ultimate celebrity autobiography - its compulsively readable, with almost every page bursting with anecdotes and hilariously self-deprecatory. Elton John was never a shrinking violet, in fact, if anything he was always a unapologetic extrovert and attention grabbing, scene-stealing, larger-than-life superstar so the book about his life is exactly what you expect it to be - and more.

Strangely enough - or perhaps not - I have always find him so ubiquitous that somehow I managed to go trough five decades without any desire to explore his music, besides of what was constantly playing on the radio. So I was aware of his biggest hits and thanks to tabloids, vaguely informed about the scandals but never dwelt on it because frankly there comes a point when we get overwhelmed with too much constant barrage - on a closer look he is a curious amalgam of sensitive singer-songwriter and exuberant old-fashioned flashy entertainer like Liberace (although he himself would point at another source of inspiration, 1950s pianist Winifred Atwell) - the point could be made that he created a stage persona of a showman to escape doom & gloom of reality, which was all explained in a very good biopic "Rocketman". In this, he was not so unusual because popular music is full of artificial characters created for the stage - almost everyone you could think of has done it and its interesting to analyse where one stops and another begins. 

It strikes me very interesting that biopic and the autobiography have two completely different angles - they are both authorised by its subject, by the way - although they discuss same person, its like completely different story. The movie focused exclusively on excess, while the book actually talks about his AIDS charity work that was not mentioned in a movie at all. "By then, I had started the Elton John AIDS Foundation. I had kept doing charity work, but the more I did, the more I realized I needed to do. The thing that shook me the most was volunteering for a charity called Operation Open Hand that delivered meals to AIDS patients all over Atlanta. I did it together with my new boyfriend John. At some houses we delivered to, the person inside would only open the door a crack when we knocked. They were covered in lesions and didn’t want to be seen, because the stigma attached to AIDS was so great. Sometimes they wouldn’t open the door at all. You would leave the meal on the step, and as you walked away you would hear the door open, the meal would be snatched in and the door would slam shut again. These people were dying horribly, but worse, it seemed as if they were dying in shame, alone, cut off from the world. It was horrendous, like something you read about happening in the Middle Ages – sick people being cast out of society because of fear and ignorance – but it was happening in the 1990s, in America."

What makes this autobiography so successful and different from others is that its subject had decided to write it while it still matters: he talks about contemporaries who are either still with us or closely remembered. This is not Gloria Swanson musing about some long-forgotten silent movie director that nobody remembers or cares for anymore, but a huge rock superstar disclosing his often hilarious memories about the top of rock aristocracy. Anybody who matters in included here and he is merciless in his vivisection - the stories are without exception incredibly funny, sharp and quite unforgettable but at one point I started to wonder does he actually have anything nice to say about anybody? Another thing is that he spent years on therapies so he is actually genuinely aware of himself and his own personality - if he is merciless towards others, he is also poking fun of himself. It is very enjoyable read (and how can it not be?) but than, it is also an incredible life that bears no resemblance to any normality so its quite impossible to judge him from our own perspective. None of us was sniffing Cocaine with John Lennon or having dinner with Michael Jackson or dancing the twist with Queen Elizabeth. It is quite miraculous not only that he is still alive but that he also remembers it all. 

The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 - Grand Finale

Well, that was fun! 

First of all, there were several of us watching it together and everybody came from another country - we had Greece, Spain, Argentina, Morocco, Lebanon and Croatia - for some, it was a very first Eurovision so we had to explain how it works, why things are done the certain way, what it all means and how come non-European countries participate in this gargantuan spectacle. And talking about gargantuan, there as of course food, food, food and drink, drink, drink to such degree that at one point we actually have to move it away because it became too distracting. What was actually the best was that we all came from such different backgrounds that we all had completely different tastes and favourites - and it didn't create any bad blood between us but just a lots of laughter. 

I had in the meantime checked (accidentally!) the contestants from 2020 when Eurovision was cancelled and found out that quite a few artists were exactly the ones chosen to perform this year as well. I still don't understand why they didn't just allow the chosen programme for 2020 to go on as planned this year, instead of going trough another selection and making these artists go with inferior songs. In total, 24 countries decided to send exactly the same performers, just with different songs. I do must say that the hosts really did their best to organise a spectacular show with breathtaking visual designs, dancers, backgrounds, you name it - things were constantly happening above, around, behind and bellow the performers (the floor itself was a part of the light show) so much that occasionally this would almost eclipse the music itself. 

At this point I was familiar with most of the competitors except so called Big Five (Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) who have the privilege to skip the competition and go straight into the grand finale. Apparently it has to do with the fact that Eurovision originally started with these countries + they are traditionally the biggest financial backers of the show, but its still highly questionable why they should have any privileged status and it seems that it annoys a lots of people - famously, Turkey pulled out from Eurovision because of this. 

As the performers started rolling in and out of the stage, I wrote down exactly who were my favourites - being oldest in the group, I was all for music, while my younger friends were dazzled by choreography and mini dresses - judging from the music point of view, I was sure that Portugal, Iceland, Belgium and perhaps off-the-wall Ukraine had the best chances to win. My company was all for uptempo party dance numbers like Malta, Moldova, San Marino and Cyprus - in my opinion indistinguishable but hey, I let them enjoy and argue. What was actually a genuinely excellent change of the rules is that for the first time  during the voting the countries did not go trough tiresome each single vote, but only presented whom they give maximum 12 points. (Until now, every single country was counting vote by vote by vote and it took forever). Just when it looked like serious fight between France and Switzerland (neither of whom I cared about), we came to second part of the voting which I wasn't aware of - apparently, there is a official jury that votes from each country but also a public vote. And boy, the public vote matters much, much, more because it can turn everything on its head. For example, out of the blue Ukraine suddenly came to the first place, just to be topped by hard rock Italy and it left previous favourites in the dust (Malta was clearly a sore loser). What was particularly funny is that UK got 0 points from countries jury and from public vote so this must have been really low point for Brits (who always claim as they don't care for Eurovision but participate anyway) - until you realise this is exactly the same spot they already had last time in 2019. 

The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 - nr.2

I got prepared for Semi final nr.2 much better and listened all the songs on Spotify to make sure I am familiar with them. As a result, I already had some idea who could be my favourites and for which songs I didn't care much - this was a little bit tricky because some of them actually sound better in real live performance and vice versa. I got so deeply involved in this listening during my walk that I forgot to turn the right corner on my way home and ended up in a completely different part of town, literary lost in music. 

The Second evening was much better, or I just got more excited. As opening act, there was a spectacular dancing performance by break dancer Redo who was so brilliant that I wouldn't even notice he was handicapped if friends didn't point at it - the guy was actually genuinely brilliant.

Than, of course, contestants started performing and strutting their stuff. I think this was just sensational, what fun to watch them all dressed up in costumes, trying their best to leave some mark in three minutes, watched by millions around the world. Contrary to my friends I didn't care for thumping dance anthems like "Adrenalina" (San Marino) even though they have special cameo by some famous DJ and it meant nothing to me. But its fine because we were all in good spirits and voting on our papers anyway. Estonia was fine, but it left no particular impression - maybe it one of those songs that slowly grows on you with time. Czech representative had absolutely nothing with Czech Republic, being half-black South African with a bleached blond hair - whatever - his song was silly, thumping pop fluff that I initially disliked but somehow later found better in live performance - its actually perfectly fine for jogging, for example. The Greek girl was beautiful but could not either sing nor dance, so WTF was she doing here. On the other hand, I love bombastic Austrian ballad "Amen" (that naturally had absolutely nothing to do with Austria, was sung by Asian man in English). For some reason my friends had high expectations for Poland, but I had not. Natalia Gordienko (Moldova) was another Kylie Mynogie clone and she was very effective as such - less vocally impressive in live performance than in a studio recording - although why would she continue and exactly same Croatian blonde not, I can't say. 

My favourite Iceland was wonderfully goofy and I cheered for them. For me they are absolute favourites but I still must admit that The Black Mamba (Portugal) had a better overall song. What to say about the next several women from Balkan - both Albania and Serbia had representatives apparently looking as what they find very attractive back home. It is a particular idea of a very aggressive femininity that for some reason Eastern Europeans like, but I find it such a cliché that its almost laughable. Its always big hair, décolletage, heavy make up and wind machines all over the place - simultaneously playing on their sex appeal for all what is worth but in a songs claiming they are actually not like that. To me it all looks and sounds like Shakira all over again, therefore nothing new. 

On the other hand, I was intrigued with contestant from Georgia. There was something about this guy (Tornike Kipiani) who was already selected for Eurovision 2020 - that made me feel protective about him - he was obviously completely out of his element in this circus with his sensitive, simplistic ballad and naturally he won no votes from anybody, but I kind of feel bad for him. I mean, with all these Balkan Amazons shaking all they got and other contestants being so attention grabbing, poor Kipiani just had no chance. Bulgarian representative clearly followed Billie Eilish and to me this is extremely annoying navel-gazing so I was a bit upset that she even qualified to go on in finale, but apparently young audience likes this kind of "poor me" stuff. The guys from Finland were anti-establishment rockers with aggressive sound and flipping a middle finger all the time, OK, we are so cool, look at us, we don't care for Eurovision. Like no one has ever done that before. Audience wild.

Towards the end, I was getting a bit tired. This is where Latvia had bad luck to perform when most of the audience was probably exhausted with so much ass wiggling and wind machines - there was nothing specifically wrong with neither the wailing blonde singer nor with her backing trio, but hearing for the hundred times lyrics like "I am woman, I am ruler" made me suddenly look for the snacks and drinks. 

There is just so much domination I can take for one evening. A singer representing Switzerland was some very interesting young person with a magnificent, angelic voice - apparently Albanian background  - it was very unusual, soaring ballad sung in French (thanks God, finally!) and he was genuinely great. 

The last contestants were two colourful guys from Denmark who had completely reconstructed the sound, the look and the stage moves from 1980s so that was cute but naturally déjà vu for me, as I remember 1980s still very well.

Ten of these performers have passed the test and will perform tomorrow in a big finale.

I do must mention the interval act which had some spectacular dancing by classical ballet dancer, Ahmad Joudeh, and BMX rider Dez Maarsen. That was really, very, very good. 

The Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Yay, its back! 

2020 was the only year in the 65 years of Eurovision that the festival did not happen - everything was ready, contestants and songs were selected but it was not time for celebration, entertainment and definitely not for the large crowds. Apparently they did something online instead but it wasn't the real thing and I did not follow. This time, the spectacle returned live as it should be, in front of the extremely enthusiastic crowd in Rotterdam (since the last winner was from the Netherlands) and I almost felt a trace of sadness for not being there because it was probably one-in-a-lifetime chance to be so close to the real Eurovision - in the normal circumstances I would have gone there, but that was int he pre-Corona days. I wouldn't mind taking a train and travelling to Rotterdam with friends. Right now I am not even able to go to ordinary cinema, not to mention something so crowded as Eurovision.

True, I had some difficulties in switching from Claude Debussy as performed by Daniel Barenboim ("La Mer") to this newest pop fluff and initially I was slightly annoyed with myself for not being prepared and checking out all the contestants previously - they are all available online - but as usual, I dived in it wholeheartedly and watched everything to the very end. This was just the first part - there are zillion contestants so the only way to arrange Eurovision these days is to divide it in two semi finals and than grand finale, so whoever survived this first evening has the right to compete in finale.

Here I must say that watching Eurovision is not just watching anymore - it has ceased to be many years ago, when families would sit comfortably in front of TV and hear songs for the first time. Ever since the music became available online, we are able to check it out first and get familiar with songs, not to mention that if you are in a company (or in a bar) it became a communal fun with voting for the best choreography, costumes, hair, etc. So the way it works for me is to listen the contestants a bit before the competition itself and than on the big evening I know what I am hearing - the live spectacle can only enhance the music. 

Last night, while I was watching Eurovision (with Debussy still in my ears) I didn't care for any of this at all - but today, while I arranged a Spotify playlist with all of them - I am listening it all over again and its a genuinely fun, uplifting and mostly cheerful music, something quite perfect for the car drive or a walk.

Obviously it was made with radio play in mind - it works in itself even without all the fuss, choreography or lasers - it is a perfect radio fodder and this is exactly what it is. Naturally, some contestants have lost and fallen sideways - it created usual stir online and avalanche of complains that its all about politics, but hey, sometimes this is just the way the dice rolls. Its like people take this entertainment TV show too seriously and complain about it not being high art - no, it never was. It was always a spectacle and now more than ever resembles a gladiators arena.

Most of what I have seen last night in the first semi finale was a lot of ass-wiggling, carefully arranged choreography and computer animation bursting during the (supposedly) big refrain. In other words, all of this might appear very exciting to the young audience who thinks that adding a big gospel chorus means something special, but some of us heard it before, just not as bombastic as today. There was a lot of focus on messages, love-yourself and everyone-is-beautiful kind of lyrics which I find tiresome for a pop songs. So I was looking for something different, something that was standing out from the crowd - that was not any of the ass-wiggling beauties (including Croatia whom I thought will be a winner and she did not even pass the first semi finale, so much about my understanding of what might work) but haunting combination of folk and rave by curiously left-field, artsy Ukraine or dark, elegant and haunting Belgian entry that was a welcome change from so much ass wiggling - this was probably the best song of the evening but so far, the lot of attention is focused on Malta who just happened to push all the right buttons of the moment - interestingly I think this has nothing to do with the music but with the atmosphere of the times. Its kind of "It's Raining Men" all over again but the kids think its something new. 

 

(To be continued) 

"A Život Teče Dalje ..." by Đorđe Marjanović (1975)

 

Probably the all-time biggest Serbian pop pioneer Đorđe Marjanović just died from Corona virus at the age of 89. It is fair to say that at the time of his death he was already a little forgotten, considering that his peak of popularity happened back in the 1960s. Marjanović was the first post-WW2 pop star in Ex Yu and apparently he was important because he broke with tradition of standing like a statue in front of the microphone - whatever he lacked as a vocalist (he was really, just average singer) he substituted with showmanship and was enormously popular in his time. When in the 1960s Yugoslavia started sending music artists on the tours in Soviet Union, Marjanović left a huge impression on Russian audiences and indeed he was a genuine superstar of the first order there. 

The reader must forgive me if I thought that Marjanović had already died - he really belongs to some other time and important as he was, he is always mentioned in the context of birth of pop music in Ex Yu. His first LP album was also a very first album released by than-young recording company PGP RTB and the adulation and frenzy on his 1960s concerts matches later Beatlemania. Tried as I might, I have never warmed to Marjanović as a singer - here I belong to the group that criticised him at the start as not a particularly gifted or individual vocalist - there was apparently a big public discussion about it and two opposite opinions polarised the public. Although I understand he was a showman, I have always find his voice far less interesting than some of his contemporaries and the stories about how he rolled on the floor, would fall on his knees and throwing the jacket in the audience make me shiver with embarrassment - clearly, he knew how to work the audience but this does not appeal to me.

"A Život Teče Dalje ..." was late in the game LP album released curiously not by PGP RTB but by Zagreb-based Jugoton. Like so many artists of his generation, Marjanović was used to sing international covers so the majority of the material here were already hits for other people - the overall effect is of someone covering anything on the current pop chart, without giving much thought to logic or reason. It might have worked well on Soviet Union tours where he would introduce international hits to audience starving for all things foreign but since I never cared much for him as a singer, I would rather go for originals. Amongst other, here are covers by Hot Chocolate, Bryan Ferry (covering Bob Dylan), Demis Roussos, Mino Reitano, Nicola Di Bari. Here I do must mention that I had occasionally met middle aged Russians who would ask me where I am from and than starry-eyed proclaimed their everlasting love for Đorđe Marjanović, so obviously he had left a big impression on them.

Old Amsterdam 1910.

 

I just found a very interesting photo of the Amsterdam's main square (Dam) in 1910 - these old photos are so far the closest we have to time machine - it is really interesting to notice how in many ways the place is still recognisable but than again, completely different. This is where the city of Amsterdam officially began, as the bridge connected two opposite roads situated on a river - on this photo river Amstel was already covered and the streetcar was running here. In the old times, there were obviously some farms and fishermen around, than trough the century there was enough wealth, political and religious importance to turn this into a glorious city.

The main outline of the old city is still very much present - several canals that follow the shape of the horseshoe are still there, its just that lot of construction, re-construction, elimination and replacement took place. For example, looking at this picture, Dam square is of course still here but it looks completely different today - the monument of "Nation" (bastardised into "Natje" that would make her affectionately called something like "Nelly") is long gone, the majority of the buildings are not on this spot anymore, the road naturally leads towards Central Station but empty corner on the right is where elegant and legendary department store De Bijenkorf came much later. The interesting building with the church tower int he distance is actually a stock exchange building that used to be one of the most important spots in town but is completely eclipsed by department store ever since. 

Maybe even more fascinating is the photo taken a little earlier from a different perspective - the second photo covers the right side of Dam square and it shows the houses that were standing on the spot where Bijenkorf was later built. There is almost nothing left from this picture, except the beginning of the street that today we recognise as Warmoestraat, but the houses are not here anymore. They are all replaced with modern buildings or hotels. The strangest of all is the impressive building right in the middle of the square that no one remembers anymore but it used to be called Commandantshuis. If somebody drop me off in this spot at the time when these photos were made, I would understand where I was but would feel a strange unsettling sensation like everything is in a wrong place.

Long walks and discoveries: Kadijkenplein

Most of the visitors attention here is mainly focused on Amsterdam's central part called Red Light District - while this might be understandable, it is neither pretty nor inspirational but rather a nasty, sleazy part of old town where cheap, gimmicky shop windows fight for naive customers to buy sex toys, aphrodisiacs, T-shirts and plastic souvenirs made elsewhere. If this is what you came for, good for you, but there is so much more to this beautiful city. I was stuck in this area since I lived here for a while, but eventually my natural curiosity inspired me to see what is over there so I moved to the left - still historical part, just far less visitors and not commercial at all - first I discovered the old Jewish neighbourhood, than I moved further left to Kadijken.

Kadijken is the area just across the famous Het Scheepvaartmuseum - originally it was a shipyard area and even today there are houses here built for the seamen, like Zeemanshuis (The Seamen's House)

or on the opposite side there is a beautiful building in the style of Central Station and eventually I found out it used to be The Nautical School - also, because there used to be all sorts of gates around, people who worked around them lived here. So this was all about seamen, shipyards, gates, naval academies, warehouses and the smell of fish everywhere. The part that particularly delights me is called Kadijksplein and it is a charming square right opposite of Het Scheepvaartmuseum.

Because of Corona, the place is deserted, of course, but my impression is that this was never  crowded place anyway - it really looks as one of those forgotten corners known only to locals who live here. After all, the tourists usually crowd elsewhere and Kadijken seems genuinely as a perfect biking or walking route, very quiet, very serene and just a little bit out of center. There are several extremely charming bistros and terraces here, along with a super attractive bakery and some art shops, but the best of all is the sight of my favourite house in Amsterdam. 

I don't know how to explain it or put it in the words but my heart beat faster when I saw this little beauty. There are two cutest little houses leaning on each other and mine is the one of the left. Apparently they are here for quite some time and the old photos show the both little houses being some sorts of local shops (Tobacco?) - it was always a very pleasant little neighbourhood and these two sister houses are just the cutest little sights for me - I always smile when I see the house on the left, number 15. Apparently not so long ago, both of them were seriously neglected and it is heartbreaking to see how bad they looked - whoever lived there, just didn't give a damn or did not appreciate what a fantastic place this is. Fortunately, both houses got extremely nice makeover and new owners, so now when I walk here, I see young families with small kids playing outside and it just feels so right to see the little house bursting with a new life, it always makes me happy - it doesn't matter that myself I don't live there, in fact this new young family with kids belongs there perfectly, its almost like some Disney movie, the beautiful little house with a young family inside. I do have a soft spot for little houses and they always catch my attention as I enjoy my walks, this little beauty definitely warms my heart. 

"Black Diamond Queens: African American Women and Rock and Roll" by Maureen Mahon (2020)

This was by far one of the best books dealing with female African American musicians - not only it discussed their sound, influence and importance analytically and seriously, but it places them in a socio-cultural perspective, explains why they mattered, how come they were for such a long time mostly ignored in Rock histories (or relegated into the background) and it also references a tons of interesting literature for future reading.

As we all know, Rock music (or any other music genre, come to think of it) came as a hybrid of many various ingredients and the earliest influences - now reverently mentioned in rock and Roll Hall of fame - were African American musicians. While the guys were eventually grudgingly accepted as Rock architects, women were not so lucky - Mahon points why this came to be and how the image of rock music as predominantly white macho world of the guys with the guitars somehow became dominant idea - girls who were not writing their own material or playing instruments but "only singing" were perceived as not quintessential. And this went on forever, to some degree even today.

 

There is a lot of interesting thoughts and ideas around this book, some of them being  the difficulty women have gaining inclusion in the rock canon and how "white British singers borrowed African American women’s phrasing, inflection, and vocal mannerisms, using these features to develop the individual styles that came to be associated with them throughout their careers". By idolising Tina & The Ikettes, lots of white Rock guys started using backing vocal trios that eventually became a norm in Rock music - however important, this role was always in the background and perceived as ornamentation. For various reason, Afro-American women had hard time breaking into Rock music, not only because music critics constantly insisted their place should be in R&B, Soul or Funk, but also because apparently Afro-Americans themselves saw it that way - girls who dared to venture into Rock music were rare anomaly and perceived as indecent. 

I thought it was very interesting, specially when it discussed less known artists like Marsha Hunt whom I never heard of before. Perhaps the only disappointment is the final chapter, on which i carefully waited and which should have been culmination - when she approach the case of the only Afro-American woman who have actually established herself in a world of Rock music, Mahon twists herself into a pretzel trying to explain Tina Turner's success by careful strategy, this or that - no, she became Queen of Rock because she had a unique, unmatched combination of sound, looks and passion that always set her apart. It seems that Mahon has a problem simply accepting that. 

1953. Amsterdam boys read a newspaper at the canal

 

"Neosedlani" by Dado Topić (1979)

Of all the vocalists who started in rock bands in the late 1960s/early 1970s (Dalibor Brun, Zlatko Pejaković, Zdravko Čolić) the only one who later rejected commercial route and stayed firmly close to his youthful ideals is Dado Topić. It is very interesting how all of them dealt with the business differently - they are without exception gifted performers who could go either way - but where Brun & co. answered the call of Mammon, Topić stuck to his guns and never metamorphosed into middle-aged "schlager" entertainer - this strategy ultimately cost him media visibility and he was forever destined to wither somewhere in the background, almost like mythical Unicorn, more legend than current music presence but on the other hand, where audiences completely forgot the explosive starts of his contemporaries, music by this guy is still genuinely great. 

For the majority of 1970s Topić was vocalist of very interesting band "Time" so it took him longer than others to release solo album - when it came, it was quite something. Completely self-written, "Neosedlani" ("Unsaddled") is a concept album that follows a story about self-discovery and the music is excellent, kind of what Stevie Wonder did trough 1970s - personally I think that lyrics are clumsy and could have been better but as always, Topić follows his own star and had obviously poured his heart into these songs. It is (autobiographical?) a story about a young, ballsy punk who goes into the world with big dreams and learns a lesson that money comes & goes - defeated but wiser, he returns home.

While the music is thoroughly very enjoyable (specially "Milion Dolara" where he is joined by Slađana Milošević), the lyrics are perhaps too personal to resonate with wider audience - unless the listeners are the types who think that home is always the best place to be and any kind of adventurism is pointless. Interestingly enough, the lyrics are actually more interesting when Topić moves away from me-format and describes other characters, like in vignettes "Radmila" or "Jovane" that are genuinely funny and moving, but about other people. Apart from earnest lyrics, it is a surprisingly strong double LP album and I must admit that I like it more with each listening - musicianship is excellent thoroughly, there are many brilliant moments and surprises, the singer's heart is in the right place. Naive and provincial as the protagonist might be, we understand him on some visceral, intuitive level - he could be a wayward, vagabond brother who just need a helping hand. Excellent album. 

Amsterdam around 1890.