Give the world some love today

Always being on the lookout for good scandinavian pop-music (of which there’s a lot, mind you), I recently discovered Swedish pop mistress Doris, in the form of her 1970 long player “Did you give the world some love today, baby”. Said album was fortunately re-released on Mr. Bongo in 2004 (available on Amazon and other stores). I’d describe it as a mixture of Brigitte Bardot, Joni Mitchell and a dash of “Swinging London”. To quote the original liner notes:

Doris’ album provides 36 minutes of qualified musical jou guaranteed to satisfy all tastes. Discotheques will find that two numbers in particular, “Don’t” and “Beatmaker” are good box office draws. Jazz die-hards might even start visiting discotheques after digesting “I wish I knew” and “I’m pushing you out”.

Bass playing was provided by her husband Lukas Lindholm, and the album contains a cover of Richard Manuel’s “whispering pine”. (Hint: You might want to find the extended album version that offers 9 more goodies, including a nice Curtis Mayfield cover, “Mama didn’t lie”.)

Speaking of obscure Swedish pop starlets, I can also heartily recommend Idha (not to be confused with the – also excellent – American quiet-folk combo Ida).

One of the more notable facts about her is her marriage with Andy Bell, former guitarist with Creation Records popsters Ride and now serving as bass player for, erm, Oasis. Her first album, “melody inn“, originally released on Creation, is truly an under-rated country-pop gem, not the least for its endearing naivité and romanticism, and helped by the congenial guitar and production work of her husband.

The parallels to Doris’ album don’t end there, though: Idha’s debut also includes a cover version, in this case a decent take on Gram Parson’s “Hickory Wind” (an all-time favorite song of mine). This is also one of the songs on the album where you are treated to some very nice lap-steel guitar backings.

Her second (and so far, last) offering, “Troublemaker” was somewhat more mainstream-oriented, but still very good. Unfortunately both of her albums are somewhat hard to get by these days.