”Stikke”, April 2003. POINTBLANK Blue Deal (Own produced 2001) That the Former Yugoslavia is producing exceptional blues should not come as a surprise for the readers of ”Stikke”. And that a band from Beograd, Serbia has more than enough material for both making and singing blues is also beyond doubt. Therefore, it is no surprise that a band form those parts of the world has made such a good blues album as Point Blank has made with their Blue Deal. The band was first time loosely established in 1983 when an American (Timothy Davis) and an Australian (Michael Sulc), was hired by Dragoljub Crncevic (Baki). These three together with Dragan Markovic, decided to create a band that would play Chicago- and bottleneck-blues. They recorded a couple of records but it didn’t take long before the foreigners became homesick and went home. The others however managed to stick together and completed a tour of central Europe in ’86, a tour that ended with Dragan Markovic quiting and establishing his own band. As the internal problems where not enough, in 91 the political changes (read conflicts) happen in Yugoslavia, and as a result also this band collapsed for so to re-emerge as a trio in 1995. This crew released a relative disappointing third CD in 1995 called Southern Comfort. The members came and went, and a new album was produced in 1997, but first two years later the band stabilised around the current crew of 4 members. Following a lot of rehearsal, the founder Dragoljub and his key-board player Darko Grujic, plus Zoran Milenkovic on double bass and drummer Jovan Pejcinovic, were yet again ready to enter the studio. The name of the new band is Point Blank, and their first album is Blue Deal. Recorded in December 2000, they have with them a special guest, the British harmonica player John O'Leary (ex- Savoy Brown). Of the 13 tracks, 12 are composed by the boss himself Dragoljub, the last is composed together with Darko Grujic. To be written by somebody that doesn’t use English daily, these are good and well written tunes. There are a good mix of styles and sounds. The key-board player Darko does a really good job. Already during the first tune, "I'm Alright" (one located on “the middle of the three” when it comes to tempo), it becomes clear what the band can produce. Then "I'll Be Your Loving Man," follows with yet again a good Darko, this time on electrical piano. And a great gitarsound from Dragoljub (or just Dr., as he is happily called). The three instrumentals; "Behind The Curtain," "We're Just About To Leave" and "Hear Me Knocking", are splendid. “Behind The Curtain" really gets the ”rock foot” / rock mood going. Pointblank's next record, Eight Blue Balls, will according to plan be released next year. And both these (and it is a good idea to do so) can be bought from the band’s web-site: www.pointblank.co.yu, to the extremely low price of 10 Euro each. Way to little for such good blues, if you ask me... bw