Arsen Dedić - Pjevam pjesnike (2023)

"Pjevam pjesnike" (translated as "Singing the Poets" or "The Poets Songbook") looks very much like something Arsen Dedić and his good pal Hrvoje Hegedušić cooked simultaneously - both recorded albums under the same title, Arsen's LP cover is black while Hrvoje has white.
Only three years ago, Dedić had the whole album tribute to poet Zvonimir Golob (not my favorite album, must admit) and here he decides to go the whole log and compose music for poetry that spoke to him, this time from various poets. A curious decision, since singer is a very talented and accomplished songwriter himself - where Golob album was one-dimensional, this time nature of selection means Dedić let his imagination fly and music is far more varied - from the very first introduction of dreamy "Odlazak" (Tin Ujević) to final, renaissance-like "Moljenje oproštaja" (Francois Villon) album is a marvel of dreamy poetry set in music, a true masterpiece with probably zero commercial appeal and a timeless quality for handful of followers.
The lyrics are so good and involving that the biggest surprise comes towards the end - in company of names such as literary giants Jure Kaštelan, Miroslav Krleža or Gustav Krklec, there is a song titled "Svete krave" (The holy cows) and author is no one else but singer himself - it fits perfectly with the rest of selected poetry here, the lyrics are stunning and it might be one of the best songs here. Music was completely composed and arranged by Dedić, backing musicians his usual team of friends and collaborators, Hegedušić amongst them. Excellent album.