CRNA DAMA [AKA: BLACK LADY]

Love at first listen my friends. SMAK were a band from Yugoslavia who boasted an amazing guitarist but the key on this album for me are the incredible songs. I really like the vocalist too, in fact everything about this recording just does it for me.

"Crna Dama" is a top three song for me,and check out the intro here. It then kicks in with vocals and it's quite catchy too. Good contrasts here between the laid back sections and the uptempo passages. A nice guitar solo before 2 1/2 minutes. "Stvar Ljubavi" is a touching and meaningful track.This guy can sing and he has that RPI style of singing too. Love the instrumental section after 2 1/2 minutes as the guitar solos tastefully and the synths, drums, piano and bass continue.The vocals are back before 4 minutes. "Domaci Zadatak" kicks in fairly quickly to an uptempo soundscape.This really reminds me of KRAAN and is the most JRF tune on here. Some nice bass before 2 1/2 minutes then the synths lead. Drums are up next leading the way until after 5 1/2 minutes when the song kicks back in. Lots of piano here.The organ then leads before synths come in to end it.

"Alo" has a good heavy rhythm with vocals melodies.Guitar joins in as well on this fun tune. "Tegoba" opens with piano before drums,guitar and organ join in. What an incredible sound here. Gorgeous ! Synths come to the fore 3 1/2 minutes in and the drumming is excellent. So is the guitar 6 minutes in. A top three track for sure. "Daire" features keyboards and vocals as some heavy drums, bass and guitar join in. "Plava Pesma" has this classical sounding intro and outro. In between it starts first with some steller guitar followed by the vocals. Man he sings so well. The guitar is back after 2 minutes. So good. Some nice drumming late. A moving track.

The best album i've heard so far from Yugoslavia.This will be hard to top with that emotional element that is important to me coming into play throughout.