Miki Jevremović

"Samson" (1962)

When listening to these early 1960s recordings, one would easily assume that people listened children's songs back than - everything sounded so peppy, happy and cheerful - which is probably the reason why I enjoy digging trough this music archaeology so much, because it reflects certain youthful enthusiasm and spark that was the main motivation behind these recordings, even when results were occasionally clumsy, they had beauty of the first bloom, energy and honesty - this is why I love recordings from 1955-1965 because it seems to me those were golden years of pop music in Ex Yu: those first steps in the recording studios were made not from financial calculation but from true, honest joy of music and the hearts of those young people were full of pride of having accomplished a record that might be played on the radio. The climate slowly changed later and motivation for this business changed as well.

Take young Miki Jevremović who did not take himself seriously as a singer. Yes, he had a pleasant, young voice and was probably a jewel that needed polishing and a guidance, but he was actually a student back than and music was just a hobby - so much, that he wouldn't even take payment for his first gigs because he had his college stipend and it didn't feel right to take money for something so enjoyable as singing. This, his first recording, came as result of Zagreb's recording company "Jugoton" initiative - they had snatched him out of Belgrade's PGP RTB contract (promises that had not materialised up to this point) and gave young singer a chance for a showcase. It was all covers, naturally, as original material was rare and two of the lyrics were written by Jevremović himself. Interesting point here is that on one song lyrics were written by a guy later built in media as his main competitor - in fact, Đorđe Marjanović always was and still is a dear friend.

"San Remo 1964"

The fashion for all things Italian in the early 1960s did not cover just clothes and vespa, but movies and music as well - so much that it was not unusual for local singers to record hits from famous San Remo festivals in cover versions. Here young Miki Jevremović gives his best shot at emoting trough Italian originals performed that year and does decent job with songs by Domenico Modugno, Pino Donaggio and others. These were of course only first steps and searching for a right music identity - like with many other singers of his generation, Jevremović will eventually find his voice once he matured and finds a right support in home-grown songwriters.

"18 Žutih ruža" (1964)

First really big hit for Miki Jevremović - still covers of international hits, as everybody did back than - for Bobby Darin he wrote lyrics himself and it paid off handsomely, with a sales above 200 000 (not bad for a country that officially did not have so many record players!) and established him as a hit signer of the first order. For the most of the songs here, Jevremović was backed by a beat band "Zlatni dečaci" (Golden boys) and on the finale he got himself a nice treat, vocal quartet (Vokalni kvartet Predraga Ivanovića) that fitted him like a glove - this fabulous jazz quartet was often used for pop recordings and perhaps its a pity that they did not steer young singer in swing direction, because at this point he was capable of singing absolutely everything. His early recordings are still fresh and very interesting as they caught him in the first flush of the youthful enthusiasm that was later naturally replaced with different perspective and he metamorphosed into completely different artist.

"Ja želim samo malo mira" (1973)

It is a perhaps little it forgotten now that at the dawn of 1970s Miki Jevremović was amongst the most popular singers in the country - and beyond, as phenomenally successful tours in Soviet Union attested. He sailed trough 1960s with ease, quickly learning to give the audience what they wanted - and they wanted the tears, pathos, sentimental melodramas about divorced parents and motherless children, unrequited loves and all sorts of heartbreak. It is easy to be cynical about this from today's perspective but check almost any singles from that time and you'll find the similar stories, this was played on the radio and tug at people's heartstrings. I honestly don't think Jevremović was calculating or dishonest in all of this - he had a good, strong, heroic tenor voice and burned in his performances with passion that showed that he believed in this material. 

For his first LP album, he got royal treatment from Zagreb's "Jugoton" recording company that provided him with quite impressive team of songwriters: no less than Stjepan Mihaljinec, Zdenko Runjić, Arsen Dedić and Kemal Monteno were invited to provide king of heartbreak with tailored material (Monteno outshines them all, he seems incapable of writing anything less than first-rate) though title song goes to young composer Boris Bizetić who would later write many more hits for Jevremović. There are some good lyrics writers involved as well, perhaps not really necessary since singer could easily write lyric himself ("Neću više da se sećam"). It is surprisingly solid album and when judged with than-current recordings of early 1970s, this was surely one of the strongest mainstream pop releases around.

"Miki" (1974)
In the early 1970s, as local market finally opened to LP format, there was a strong competition between two major recording companies - both Zagreb's "Jugoton" and Belgrade's PGP RTB had a list of exclusive artists, but they also had archive recordings worth re-issuing, so where "Jugoton" published albums with new material, PGP RTB matched them simultaneously with compilation albums of the very same artists. If "Jugoton" now had Arsen Dedić, Gabi Novak and Tereza Kesovija, PGP RTB promptly came out with LP compilations of their earlier singles recorded during previous decade.

Than-current king of heartbreak, Miki Jevremović was very successful at "Jugoton" so it was just a matter of time when PGP RTB will answer with their LP compilation: there is absolutely nothing wrong with this album, except that artist had matured and changed his sound in the meantime. As a fond glance backwards, it works just fine, showing younger, gentler and softer side of Jevremović during 1960s when he was a golden boy of pop and covering foreign hits like "Sealed With A Kiss", "Nature Boy" and "Tell Me What He Said". The music is sweetly nostalgic (even at this point) and young singer in the first bloom of his youth very appealing and versatile. Hodgepodge nature of this compilation unfortunately avoids chronological order of recording- apparently nobody thought about this - otherwise it would be a perfect portrait of Jevremović during 1960s.

"Gubim Te" (1974)

This was probably singer's most famous long play album with many of his hits re-recorded again and peppered with new, strong songs by young composer Boris Bizetić - as a kid I couldn't care less for Miki Jevremović and his generation (it was a music of my parents) but now from different perspective I can easily hear why he was such a big deal at that time - excellent singer and emotional performer, Jevremović was a true star with a fine voice and his songs (judged in time frame of what was accepted and loved back than) were appealing mix of sentimental pop ballads and professional musicianship. No less than maestro Stjepan Mihaljinec and lyrics writer Drago Britvić were involved here, though greek sound of "Pijem" unwittingly pointed at gimmick that will be repeated in the future. Jevremović had a very strong mainstream appeal and was breaking all the records with his live performances and record sales, contrary to what I thought as a kid this album was very interesting re-discovery now - and to my biggest surprise I remembered most of the words since it  was the only album that my father ever cared to purchase for himself. Not only that songs by Boris Bizetić were good, but the cover of The Righteous Brothers was just fine. Makes one wish Jevremović recorded more of blue-eyed soul instead of Greek melodies that unfortunately audience craved for.

"Idemo dalje srce..." (1975)
Re-visiting and reassessing decades old pop recordings can be surprisingly gratifying experience, providing that listener has some knowledge of than-current atmosphere and circumstances. When scratching under the surface of anything that was trendy, fashionable or "cool", one might stumble upon solid work that had its appeal and followers in spite of not being specially groundbreaking. Take Miki Jevremović who was in his mid-30es at the time of this release and comfortably settled in life of tours, festivals and TV shows. Younger critics with no idea of music scene back than might easily dismiss him for his mainstream success because he was not doing anything weird or progressive, but they would miss the point completely - he was adult signer doing adult pop music for now slightly older audiences and his choice of songwriters and material was darn impeccable.
If anything, it seems that this album was even better than his previous and better care taken in not just assembling right repertoire but presenting his music identity of gentle bohemian perpetually losing the game with love.

This time around, Boris Bizetić is absent but we have Kornelije Kovač, Arsen Dedić, Stjepan Mihaljinec and Kemal Monteno so the music is solid, adult pop with thoughtful lyrics and nice hint of blue-eyed soul (Vojkan Borisavljević, who also did same wonders on albums by Leo Martin). For everyone familiar with singers big hits with Greek sound, this ultra-modern, funky dance beats come as a big surprise and he was clearly overjoyed to sink his teeth in this kind of material - just check "Ti i ja" where Jevremović whoops with pleasure. The highlight, however, must be "Uzmi sva moja sutra" that starts with acoustic guitar and suddenly descents into soul and I am almost 99% sure that "black voice" in the background towards the end of the song belongs to Boba Stefanović. Everybody who thinks that Miki Jevremović today is just another rusty oldie, should hear this album recorded at the time when he was at the peak of his creativity and powers.



Crni kofer i gitara (1977)
Though he often collaborated with famous composers (notably Boris Bizetić, Stjepan Mihaljinec, Arsen Dedić and Kemal Monteno) Jevremović was more than capable of holding his own when it came to songwriting, in fact some of his biggest hits were self-penned as huge sales and festival awards attested. Even as a young debutant on Opatija '62 he already performed his own song and trough 1960s he occasionally wrote either music or lyrics for his singles. Of course, the biggest sensation was his 1967. smash "Pijem" from festival "Pesma leta '67" that not only made singer a true national superstar but raised a huge media excitement about alleged similarity with song by Greek composer Georgios Zambetas (unfortunately for journalists, Zambetas became a good friend and godfather to singer's son).

With so many own, original material under his belt its just wonder that Jevremović waited so long to record a complete self-composed album. When he came around this idea in 1977. majority of songs were already well known, so he just re-recorded them and added five new titles that surprisingly sound equally strong when compared to previous hits: "Premlada si" for example could easily pass as anything tailored by Kemal Monteno, while "Nema te" shows that Jevremović had a complete understanding of what makes a hit. Every single song here is completely written by singer (both lyrics and music) and various arrangers helped (Kornelije Kovač just one of them).