Ana Popovic – Unconditional 9.2.11

Chip Eagle | Sep 01, 2011 | Comments 27

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Ana Popovic

Unconditional

Eclecto Groove Music

BluesWax Rating: 8

Cheesy Cover, Classic Music

Okay, I’m going to get this off my chest right away. I don’t understand the cover on this CD. Go ahead, take a look, it’s right up there. It’s not that I’m prudish, I don’t even think the photo is erotic, but there’s just too many ways to interrupt the “message.” To me, it’s borrowed interest, clichéd, with too little connection to the “product” it’s selling.

I suppose it’s meant to convey enigma and suggest metaphors (Is the guitar her shield against the world?) that continue the theme of Unconditional – the title and title cut of Ana Popovic’s new CD. that was released August 16. She expounds on that theme on the liner notes.

“Unconditional is how I stand toward my music,” Popovic writes. “It’s mine, it’s sacred, and it’s with no boundaries. Absolute. Definite.” And later, “This is how I see the blues: Blues is unconditional, maybe the most conservative style of all. If you alter it too much, it will no longer be blues.”

“Unconditional”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufkqpuIfRhc

Those notes fold out to a tasty, full-color, nine-by-twelve inch poster of a guitar-slinging Popovic (thankfully clothed) and a few of the lyrics to the title song hand written over a profile of her face.

But my opinion of the cover matters about as much as the cover itself, because the music itself is excellent, at times outstanding, and positions Popovic right there with the best young blues performers working today, man or woman. She also writes most of her material – and it is real songwriting too, not just two lines and a refrain. On Unconditional, Popovic’s sixth album, and third for Delta Groove subsidiary Eclecto Groove, she writes or co-writes eight of the twelve tunes.

It’s hard to believe that Popovic has been on the American blues scene for more than a decade. Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, now Serbia, she just turned thirty-five, so there should be lots more to come. It’s been said by others that Popovic is hard to classify, and it’s true that she delivers several styles on this set.

But she fits pretty nicely into what I’d call “rockin’ boogie blues.” It’s the kind of music you go out to hear with your friends on a Friday night at your favorite club.

The confusion may be because she is equally adept at so many ways of presenting her songs, just as comfortable playing laid-back, Delta-like, acoustic slide or screaming electric riffs that might come from Jimmy Vaughan or Larry McCray. Her voice, too, exhibits a wide range of delivery, from soft and sweet to powerful and growling.

The first three cuts of Unconditional display that diversity well. The opener, “Fearless Blues,” is about as down-home blues as you can get, with Popovic on acoustic slide announcing to the world that she’s ready to face whatever it brings: I don’t fear darkest night/I was born, born to fight/I am fearless, fearless, fearless, yeah yeah/inside out.

“Fearless”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1UsR5iUvwA&feature=related

This tune and all but two on the CD are supported superbly by guest Jon Cleary on piano and/or B3 organ. In fact, without him along for the ride, many of these songs would have a big hole to fill.

Popovic changes directions fast with “Count Me In,” a foot-stomping, hand-clapping rocker that’s more shouted than sung. Here she pulls out the Strat and works through soaring guitar riffs, aided by guest Jason Ricci on harmonica, another young buck on the scene whom people have trouble pigeonholing.

The title cut isn’t really about her being or delivering anything “unconditional,” as you might suspect. It’s about a love that used to be complete, but has now become routine. Popovic is fondly recalling the past here as she sings: Do you remember the time/way back in the day/when you were right for me/and I was enough for you/Back when our love used to be/unconditional. There’s another guitar style here too, as she squeezes and bends notes that backfill her fine vocals.

“Reset Rewind” is one of the most accessible tunes on the CD, with a powerful, church-like organ part that’s reminiscent of “The Weight” by The Band. It’s a nice, easy-rolling ballad about trying to reconnect with a bygone feeling, with a solid hook that’s hard to forget: Lord let me reset cause I/I know I can’t rewind.

Slide guitar master Sonny Landreth, whom Popovic refers to as her idol, sits in for “Slideshow,” a fast, instrumental rocker that lets both players show off slide licks that scream to the heavens.

Popovic recorded this set in New Orleans with Grammy-winning producer John Porter, so her bouncy interpretation of Koko Taylor’s “Voodoo Woman” seems appropriate. She also turns in an excellent, low-down version of the classic “One Room Country Shack” that, like many of these cuts, is expertly accentuated by Cleary’s organ and piano work. Popovic also re-creates the standard “Work Song” (breaking rocks out here on the chain gang) to fit in a superb guitar solo.

Love that has ended or is ending seems to be the most prominent theme on this album and “Business As Usual,” one of two songs co-written by Mark van Meurs, is a deep blues about a relationship that’s drifting apart – “If these walls could talk/they’d have nothing to say/we’re leaving all the love on the table/each night and each day.”

Unconditional is a very good album that’s mostly blues, but it is several kinds of blues – from rocking shuffles like “Soulful Dress” to funky, Albert Collins-like raves, like “Your Love Ain’t Real.” It’s all driven along expertly by Cleary and drummer Doug Belote, who are front and center on almost every cut.

In my opinion, there isn’t a single clunker on this CD. It’s one that I’ll pull out again and again. And the wide variety of styles only serves to show off Popovic’s expressive voice and her expansive guitar prowess. She’s also a dang good songwriter. In short, she’s the perfect gal to help carry water for the next generation of blues stars.

Dan Harrell is contributing writer for BluesWax and president of The Write Answer in San Jose, CA, specializing in writing, public relations and marketing consulting. Contact him by commenting below or at dan@writeanswer.biz.

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