Surprisingly strong debut album by Belgrade-born rock singer released back in 1979, just at the start of her long career.
Slađana Milošević had never struck me as specially interesting vocalist and to be honest, back in the day she seems to have been manipulating media interest mainly trough outrageous image and Nina Hagen-kind of outfits. Ask anybody who was listening local pop music than and chances are Milošević was remembered somewhere on the fringes of the business as rebellious outsider whose artistic expressions (interesting as they might have been) were way above heads of mainstream audience. By all accounts interesting artist with a background in classical music, lady has never really been top star and even though female rock singers were hard to count on fingers of one hand, in this case cellophane overshadowed the substance. Where Josipa Lisac and Baby Doll (two equally visually eccentric singers) always legitimized their photo sessions with outstanding vocals, Milošević simply wasn't such sensational singer.
This is why it comes as such surprise to re-discover her 1979 album which is actually very strong pop/rock collection.
Sure, Milošević can't do much besides occasional nasty (but effective) snarl and vampy croon, but music is surely good - as it should have been, since some very strong musicians were involved here (Ipe Ivandić, Laza Ristovski, Dragan Jovanović) and its energetic, uncompromising, fun album with no filler at all. In fact, guitar wizardry on "Amsterdam" is enough to save her place in any anthology. Every single song is a great fun - in spite of lack of vocal virtuosity, lady holds her own quite well - and it still sounds very strong, even after all these years. The closing finale "Kontroliši se" is a disco celebration that brings album a little bit outside of its rock roots, but this sidestep is actually welcome surprise. Perhaps I should go back and re-visit her discography, after all.
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