It seems that Croatian pop band “More” (The Sea) served as apprentice school for every talented musician who later become big star: the list of people who played and sung in the band reads like who’s who of some really incredible talents. The group had huge hit single in early 1970s but suffered from usual temptations of solo careers - had this people actually stayed with the group, there might be much bigger discography but on the other hand they all achieved respectable success on their own and their replacements always brought something new and distinctive.
That first LP album from early 1970s still stands as wonderful memento of particular moment in time when everybody was young and hopeful, it sounds great because there were absolutely no compromises to commercial aspects of the business and it shows in inspired music. A good decade later, band is back on track with completely different line-up and fresh, much lighthearted sound: this time around its soft, irresistible pop-funk played and produced with perfection, new members bringing their own magic with them. Composer and leader Slobodan M.Kovačević managed to create completely new, bright sound that was modern and funky, a perfect background to colorful coffee terraces of Split buzzing with life. At he very start of the album we hear a guy yawning and the girl seductively purring her invitation to cuddle up (title of the album) which of course was a wonderful little gimmick and the carefully prepared stage set up for new girl singer Doris Dragović who shines like a diamond in this surroundings, she is young, playful, talented and charming, her energy really lifts the band in completely different sphere than previous Meri Cetinić who was excellent in her own way, but more melancholic. In fact, although comparisons are inevitable, they are two completely different personalities and this is specially pronounced than in remake of the old song “Kad bi znao ti” that unwisely puts much younger singer in shoes that don’t fit: at this point she is simply too young and happy to sound convincing in song that Cetinić already owned to perfection. After first two songs album perhaps loses initial energy and becomes nice, soft background but on positive note its all quietly mellow and summery vibe. Of added interest is presence of singer Tedi Spalato with recognizable, seductive voice who is unfortunately completely underused here and its a pity that Kovačević didn’t simply divide LP sides between these two talented singers.
In retrospective, this album shines exactly because its vision shows music that was modern and urban - although Split always had sensational amount of talented musicians, it seems to me that its probably very hard for them to preserve original music integrity because the pull of much more prominent commercial pop is stronger and they all tend to desert their beginnings for completely different path. What composer Kovačević did here is therefore specially worth compliments because he consciously focused on modern, urban sound instead of usual schlager weepies. Both Dragović and Spalato will eventually leave for solo careers - while she quickly and easily adjusted to other composers, it took far more time for Spalato to find his voice.
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