Ana Popovic
Hush!
RUF - 2001
Visit Ana Popovic's Official Website
AMG Artist Bio/Discography/CD Reviews
Review Published July 22, 2002
Track Listing
Love Fever
Mended
Hometown
I Won't Let You Down
The Hustle Is On
Downtown
How Lonely Can A Woman Get
Walk Away
Girl Of Many Worlds
Minute 'till Dawn
Bring Your Fine Self Home
How The Mighty Have Fallen
EB Rating - 4.0+
Ana Popovic
guitar/vocals
Rob Gerboers
piano/organ
Bart Kamp
bass
Ronald Oor
drums
Bernard Allison
Guest on #11
Can a young lady from Yugoslavia really have a handle on the blues? You betcha! Popovic's mild European accent adds an interesting character to her sassy vocals, and she sings the blues with obvious comfort and confidence. Add to this the fact that Ana is also quite handy with a guitar, and you have the complete blues package.
The CD's overall feel is upbeat and spunky, but not heavy. There is a consistent presence of guitar through out the CD, but I would stop short of calling this a guitar oriented disc. Elsewhere I've read comparisons of Popovic's style to Hendrix and SRV, but this is not accurate... nor is it fair to Ana. She truly has a very individual style that is pretty much unique to her. There's a bit of bite dialed into the guitar's tone, but it's not over-stated or heavily over-driven. She plays both standard and slide guitar, and she's very capable in either mode. I like her slide work the best. She grinds out a strong, bluesy feel, often mixing in a little wah-wah... very nice. When she's fretting the guitar, there's sometimes a light, jazzy feel to her playing, and a couple of songs were obviously arranged to compliment that style.
There are an equal number of covers and originals, and there is no fall off as the CD transistions between them. There are clearly some talented songwriters in this group. I like nearly all the songs on the CD equally well, but my favorites are the ones featuring Popovic's on slide. I think it's pretty safe to say that most every blues guitar freak's favorite song will be Ana's duet with Bernard Allison, "Bring Your Fine Self Home". It's an excellent, moving, and fun redition of this popular song. The pair trade licks on slide guitar, and it's a good match up.
Hush! is an overall well balanced CD. Popovic's vocals and guitar each share equally in delivering the music. Neither outweights, nor is more significant, than the other. The backing musicians provide an interesting variety of rhythms and are solid backdrop for Ana to work from. The production and technical aspects of the disc are top notch.
Hush! doesn't really fit a typical mold for any certain style of blues. It's a rather unique and fresh blend of moods and styles, while still maintaining a strong connection with the blues. So there you have it. This young lady from Yugoslavia can definitely play the blues, and it's easy for me to recommend this CD to any blues fan.
ElectricBlues