Oliver Mandić - "Dođe mi da vrisnem tvoje ime" (1985)

Last in a trilogy of Mandić's 1980s albums and a disappointing letdown after his previous work.

Where earlier music of Oliver Mandić was hip, urban and decidedly professionally produced, making it light years away from typical local competition and sounding like anything from world's biggest clubs, on his third album he suddenly turns to Balkan ethno-sound which sound like a bad joke coming from someone so fashion-concious - or a eager sell-out, depends on a point of view. The main thing about Oliver Mandić as artist was not his transgender image (obviously just a provocation) or his voice (sensuous, effective and capable) but the efforts he put into mixing his basically good-natured hedonistic odes into completely modern soundscape worth anything that came from Stockholm or London. Here, on "Dođe mi da vrisnem tvoje ime" he steps back into local pop scene, playing on obvious commercial aspect (ethno-sound WTF), everything from lyrics to music sound sparse, re-hashed and recycled - even with tons of guest artists who apparently only jumped on bandwagon.

I remember this album clearly, because previously he has been a huge "cool" name and initially the hype worked well enough to help the sales of even something as lackluster as this collection. Talented as he was, perhaps Mandić should have waited for another burst of inspiration instead of releasing warmed-up, half-baked ideas and sounding like a bad copy of himself. There is absolutely nothing here that we had not hear previously and even occasional funky riff is spoiled with inane, banal lyrics. Hearing something like "Kaje,bre" or "Fato" makes me wonder what kind of audience Mandić was aiming at - where previously he used to wink provocatively, this time it all sound just silly. Back than - and even now, as I gave it chance out of curiosity - it didn't move me and it just sound like huge burn-out. It is depressing to hear great artist going trough obviously painful episode in life and rummaging trough some dark corners of the soul for inspiration, where previously he has been such unrepentant  joy. Just a few years later, Dino Dvornik will take his crown without any fight and continue using absolutely same music approach, bringing trendy, modern sounds to local clubs - but without ethno compromises.

Album cover brings interesting tributes and thanks that deserve attention.