"Spavaj cvijete moj" by Mahir Paloš

I have discovered Mahir Paloš while going trough 1970s recordings of old pop festivals, where he competed amongst other artists on Split '74 - this venerable music institution generally supported and favorited local stars, but often used to welcome guests from other corners of the country and although in this company Paloš never had a real chance to win any awards, he did intrigued me as exceptionally mellifluous voice (similar to young Mirko Cetinski) so I decided to do some research. Apparently "Jugoton" was intrigued as well, because they released the LP album soon afterwards and this is the one tailored specifically for him.

The biggest surprise is that the whole material was written by wonderful singer-songwriter Kemal Monteno who was at the peak of his powers at the time and in fact, Monteno was very busy man, serving hits for the half of Sarajevo. Not only that he wrote material for others, but he also possessed one of the most recognizable, sweetest voices in the business so naturally, it was impossible to sing the whole album written by him without sounding like him. Not sure was this good thing for Paloš, because unintentionally he ends up being carbon copy of someone else but material is sure impressive as Monteno was incapable of coming up with something half-baked - its very possible that "Jugoton" formally engaged him as songwriter for this project and he was so talented that this could easily have been released as his own solo album. From beginning to the end this is pure Monteno collection, with almost identical voice using absolutely same vocal mannerisms so although it might sound little confusing at first, its a godsend gift to any fans of this great singer-songwriter. Producer Stipica Kalogjera wrapped everything is pleasant, radio-friendly mid-1970s schlager pop cellophane and even if the singer didn't manage to step out of composer's shadow, final result is a very warm, heartfelt collection with a recognizable touch of Italian canzone that was Monteno's speciality. If you love Monteno, this is a wonderful surprise, like discovering that he had a twin brother.