There are many talented Norwegians whose work I've admired over the years: Edvard Munch, Liv Ullmann, Roald Dahl (Norwegian parentage), Roald Amundsen, the 2004 Women's World Curling Championship silver-medal winning team of Dordy Nordby, Linn Githmark, Marianne Haslum and Camilla Holth, Kings of Convenience, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (even though he played for the dreaded Man U), Jan Aage-Fjortoft and Arne Hansen and the Guitarspellers, to name but quite a few. (I dare say I'd add Henrik Ibsen and Edvard Grieg to that list as well if I wasn't such a philistine.)
Anyway, as you'll doubtless have deduced by now, today's Three of a kind features songs by a clutch of Norwegian artists: the very famous a-ha, and the not-quite-so-famous but equally melodic Harmonica and The Ethnobabes.
I know precious little about the latter two bands - other than the fact that the two tracks included here are both absolutely brilliant pop songs - but a-ha are an old favourite who'll always hold a special place in my affections because they came along right at the high-point of my Smash Hits-reading days in the mid-80s and proceeded to release a string of the most memorable chart-bothering pop singles of the time. Hunting High and Low always reminds me of my first ever teenage infatuation, with a girl called Nicola Ling, back in the summer of 1986. (I never did get to snog her, but then adolescence never was all that kind to me!)
a-ha - Hunting High and Low mp3 (left click)
The Ethnobabes - Make Some Sound mp3 (right click)
Harmonica - Rocking Girl mp3 (left click)
Buy music by today's featured bands here and here.
8 comments:
Ethnobabes are/were Oslo-based and the members were heavily involved in the Perfect Pop label, which released most of their stuff. They're pretty good.
Other Norwegian bands you should check out include Professor Pez, Soda Fountain Rag, The April Skies (all from Bergen) and Oslo's legendary The Tables.
Thanks, Martijn - I'll have check those bands out sometime. I'm already familiar with Professor Pez and The April Skies, but rather lazily assumed they were both from Sweden.
Martijn's right - Soda Fountain Rag and The April Skies are very good (I'll have to check the others out as well).
Love that Harmonica one! Ethnobabes are brilliant, too!
We should resurrect T.E.N.C.O.
:D We definitely should!
I'd been meaning to put that Harmonica song up for absolutely yonks. Fantastic, isn't it?
one of the greatest things about all this blogging lark is the morning troll around my faves and the regular gasps of amazement at what genius stuff people have come up with next. i never expected norway.
excellent
x
*blush* Thanks ally. The cheque's in the post! ;)
and for a second there i thought it was a clip from misery guts alan hansen. how awfulwould that've been first thing in a morning. 'terrible gary, shocking..'
Yeah, I know he's a national treasure and all these days, but to me Hansen's like one of those talking dolls who come out with one of a handful of stock phrases every time you pull the string in their backs. Mildly diverting the first few times but increasingly annoying the more they go on.
Still, though, could be (a lot) worse: he could be Andy Gray. I actually have to mute the telly when he starts droning on!
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