Radojka Šverko debut LP (1973)

When she arrived, some time in late 1960s Radojka Šverko was almost too much - stunningly beautiful woman who also happened to have been gifted with excellent voice and regal, aristocratic bearing, she was one of the kind performer seemingly destined for bigger things. The atmosphere in pop music back than suited her as there were several girl singers with deep contralto voices very popular back than - Italian Mina, Milva and Iva Zannichi enjoyed great success - Šverko was equally good as any of them, except that accident of her birthplace placed her in perhaps lesser pond but as this, her first LP album shows, its all matter of perception because neither singer nor her collaborators suffered from any inferiority complex, they carefully followed footsteps of big international stars and even without help of managements or producers behind someone like Shirley Bassey, they created magic.

Šverko also had a good luck to immediately get attention of some of the most talented and inspired Croatian composers who delighted in her charisma and proudly invited her to perform on international pop festivals where she regularly won awards - with one of this international awarded gems (“Svijet je moj”) starts this interesting debut album that finds young but self-assured singer still at the beginning of career. It is pop music but of very serious nature, everything is grandly orchestrated and theatrical, from lyrics to performance that suggest fire under the ice. Today we are used that albums always have some obvious hit but we won’t find these here - even though there are some very well-known composers involved (Hrvoje Hegedušić, Nikita Kalogjera, Zvonko Špišić and Đorđe Novaković) album is more of lesson in grand singing that rewards with each listening. Her covers of “Close To You” by Burt Bacharach and “Something” by George Harrison suggest that Šverko had different vision and saw herself as Croatian equal of any big international stars (its interesting to note that for “Close To You” she wrote Croatian lyrics herself). Although arrangements here are typical of early 1970s pop, poetic lyrics suggest almost chanson which in itself places Šverko in different league from her colleagues who pursued light entertainment - here perhaps lies the explanation why although she was blessed with both talent and looks, she never achieved mass commercial appeal or big sales. You can’t help but wonder how would her life turn had she been born elsewhere and had support of show business machinery that would properly promote, nurture and support such talent. It is really a thin line between someone like Shirley Bassey and Šverko, they are in the same league.