Cry Cry Christmas

Not only is Cry Cry Christmas by The Sweptaways featuring Magnus Carlson & The Gray Brigade my favourite Christmas song that hardly anyone knows, it may even be my favourite original festive song of the 21st century. And not just because for the most part they don't write them like they used to. This is simply brilliant.

New LP from The Sweptaways

Everyone's favourite Swedish all-female a cappella choir The Sweptaways release their third long player, Framtiden (The Future), on December 2nd. I've been waiting for this one for ages so couldn't be more thrilled that the big day is almost upon us.

The album represents something of a departure for the group as - rather than recording collaborations and cover versions of already famous songs as on their first two albums - they've written the lyrics themselves this time round, with original music by Swedish composers such as Sara Wilson, Sara Groves and Fredrik Gran.

Rather thrillingly, the gals have already put up a You Tube playlist of some of the tracks from Framtiden. I've only played it through once so far but The Future's already sounding distinctly bright to me.

Buy the mp3 album (from Monday 2nd onwards) HERE

The Sweptaways Video Show

Longer-term readers may recall me raving (on & on) about The Sweptaways Show a couple of years ago. Well, did you know that ver Sweptaways made videos for all twelve tracks on the album (which featured guest appearances from the likes of Jens Lekman, Robyn & Pelle Almqvist from The Hives)? Because they did. And you can watch all twelve right here. Go on, treat yerself! It is Sunday, after all.



Download The Sweptaways Show

The Orange Juice

Hello again! I trust you had an at least bearable Christmas and New Year. Mine was so diverting I managed to forget I had a blog to run. Speaking of which, let's get this thing cranked into life again, shall we?

The Sweptaways returned last month with their own inimitable take on Oh My Darling Clementine "supported by" Swedish fruit juice purveyors Brämhults, who it seems have a tradition of getting different acts to interpret the song on their behalf at this time every year (well, they've done it for the past two years at least). Here is that Sweptaways version in its entirety. As you might expect, it's rather good.




The Sweptaways - Oh My Darling Clementine mp3

Three of a Kind #108

One great song, three superior versions. But which is your favourite? I'll probably get lynched for this but I'm quite partial to the Tracey Ullman version myself. Probably only because that's the one I grew up with, mind. *dives for cover anyway*





Mildly Interesting Pop Fact (courtesy of Davy in this guestbook entry): Stiff Records overdubbed Tracey Ullman's vocal onto Kirsty MacColl's original backing track for this record. The hi-pitched 'Baby!' half way through is Kirsty (uncredited).



I love the Sweptaways and so should you, especially if all-girl Swedish A cappella choirs are your 'bag' (and I've no reason to suspect they wouldn't be). You can buy their entire back catalogue, including the superb albums Ooh Aah and last year's The Sweptaways Show, featuring guest vocals from Jens Lekman, Robyn, Asha Ali et al, from the Klicktrack shop. (The Sweptaways Christmas EPs featuring Marit Bergman and Magnus Carlsson are not to be missed either.)

The Sweptaways & Moneybrother - They Don't Know mp3

Christmas Sweptaways style

Bit of a Christmas treat for you today, with what are probably my favourite two festive songs from the past decade. Absolute gems the pair of them. If you hear any better Christmas-themed numbers in the next couple of weeks, then please do let me know. (I shan't believe you but let me know anyway!)



The Sweptaways and Marit Bergman - Christmas Party mp3

The Sweptaways and Magnus Carlson - Cry Cry Christmas mp3

The Sweptaways & Jens Lekman - Happiness Will Be My Revenge

The Sweptaways Show is out now! Download it here for a piffling £8.00. Or, if you're a bit strapped for cash, you can always download Happiness Will Be My Revenge on its own for 80p. Really, though, I'd get the whole album if I were you. It is bloomin' ace.

Sweeping The Nation

With the release of their new album just a couple of weeks away, The Sweptaways have unleashed another single on an unsuspecting world. It's a cover of girly-haired ex-boxing G.I. Terence Trent D'Arby's 1988 hit Sign Your Name, it features guest vocals from someone called Nina Ramsby and the mp3 can be downloaded absolutely gratis here. Coo!

Mildly Interesting Pop Fact: Terence Trent D'Arby changed his name to Sananda Maitreya in 2001, following a series of dreams. He proclaimed in an interview that "Terence Trent D'Arby was dead...he watched his suffering as he died a noble death... After intense pain I meditated for a new spirit, a new will, a new identity."

Terence Trent D'Arby, there. What a pretentious wazzock.

Pre-order The Sweptaways Show here. Here's what you'll be getting for your krona:

1. Democracy – The Sweptaways and Sir Eric Beyond
2. Sign Your Name – The Sweptaways and Nina Ramsby
3. They Don’t Know – The Sweptaways and Anders Wendin
4. Electric – The Sweptaways
5. Time of The Season – The Sweptaways and Pelle Almqvist
6. Happiness Will Be My Revenge – The Sweptaways and Jens Lekman
7. I’ve Got Your Man – The Sweptaways and Robyn
8. With Every Heartbeat – The Sweptaways and Simone Rubi
9. Vintersaga – The Sweptaways and Uje Brandelius
10. The World’s Greatest – The Sweptaways
11. Something Special – The Sweptaways and Asha Ali

The Sweptaways Show Up Again

It's been a while since we've heard anything new from them (Christmas 2007, to be precise. Not that I've been counting the days or anything. Much), but finally The Sweptaways have a new single out. It's a cover of The Zombies classic Time Of The Season, it features guest vocals from Howlin' Pelle of The Hives, and it's out today! Here's the vid:



I've only heard it a couple of times so far (the video's only just gone up) and it's going to take a while to get used to, what with the Zombies version being so definitive and all, but whatever, it's great to have the ladies back. (We went to a Zombies gig last year funnily enough, and by crikey they were terrific. They're on tour again in the UK this spring actually, when they'll be playing Odessey & Oracle for the very last time. Ahh.)

Back to the Sweptaways, this new single isn't all we're going to be hearing from them this year - they also have a brand new album, their second, coming out on April 15th. The Sweptaways Show features yet more collaborations, with, among others, Jens Lekman, Asha Ali, Robyn, Moneybrother and Sir Eric Beyond, and you can pre-order it here.

If their previous album and Christmas EPs are anything to go by then The Sweptaways Show should be an absolute corker. Can't wait!

EDIT: The Sweptaways' label, Hybris, have made an mp3 of Time Of The Season available for free download here. Ace!

Wooden it be good

Blimey o riley missus! Jenny Wilson, the Swedish singer-songwriter with the English-sounding name who used to front First Floor Power, has only gone and released her second solo album. What's she like? Hardships! (for that's the album's title) was unleashed yesterday and is available from (among other places. And formats - it's also out on vinyl and CD) the Klicktrack mp3 shop.

Here's Jenny (and chums) performing a live version of the album's first single The Wooden Chair - in a carpenter's workshop. (Do you see what they did there?) This video's more Discovery Home & Leisure than MTV, but that's a good thing, right?



On a not entirely unrelated note, here are the Sweptaways (who also have a new album on the way this year) with their stupendously good version of the Jenny Wilson song Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward. (Sweptaways stuff is also readily available from Klicktrack BTW.)

The Sweptaways - Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward mp3

Christmas Party On!

One of the undoubted highlights of the past couple of Christmases for me has (and indeed have) been the Christmas EPs released by all-female a cappella choir The Sweptaways. The songs on these releases have been, without exception, absolutely top-notch. But alas it seems that this year we won't be getting an EP from them. (not unless they're keeping extremely quiet about it anyway.) Boo!

Ah well, like the market trader stuck with a job lot of old calendars, we'll always have 2006 and 2007. Speaking of which, here's the lead track from last year's seasonal Sweptaways spectacular, the frankly wondrous Christmas Party, featuring guest vocals from the equally fab Marit Bergman. If this doesn't fill your heart with (admittedly slightly premature) Christmas joy then you employ an underpaid clerk named Bob Cratchit and I claim my five pounds!

The Sweptaways with Marit Bergman - Christmas Party mp3

You can buy the four-track Sweptaways Christmas Party EP as a download for a snipsome £3.20 here.

The Sweptaways (and friends) invite you to a Christmas Party!

Last week I was waxing enthusiastically about the brilliance of the Sweptaways' Christmas '06 EP. What I didn't realise at the time (but learned about yesterday) was that the group have a brand new Christmas EP out for 2007. Best news I've heard all week! The lead track is the a cappella Christmas Party, which features guest vocals from Too Much Apple Pie favourite Marit Bergman, and it can be streamed on the Sweptaways' MySpace page, if you fancy a listen (which of course you should!). Splendid stuff.

Also featured on the EP are a brand new Sweptaways-only version of The Concretes' Lady December, plus the two Magnus Carlson-featured tracks from last year's EP, Cry Cry Christmas and Silver Bells. All in all an absolutely fantastic listen, and a perfect stocking filler for the Christmas music fan in your life!

Buy The Sweptaways & Friends Christmas Party EP from the Hybris webshop.

"Egg nog on your collar and a twinkle in your eye"

My favourite song from Christmas '06 probably had to be a toss-up between Hello Saferide's iPod X-mas and Cry Cry Christmas by the Sweptaways featuring Magnus Carlson. Now, still being a relatively new kid on the blogging block, I wasn't around to eulogise about either of these songs at the time but I did allude to the greatness of the Sweptaways' seasonal offering in one of my first posts on this blog. It being the middle of June, though, it would've been a bit unseasonal to have been linking to it back then! But I think we're on safe ground now; so, for a limited time only, here's the wonderful Cry Cry Christmas in all its festive glory.

The Sweptaways featuring Magnus Carlson & The Gray Brigade - Cry Cry Christmas mp3 (available for 7 days)

Like what you hear? Then why not nip over to the Klicktrack mp3 shop and buy the Sweptaways' Cry Cry Christmas EP, which also features: Silverbells (again featuring Magnus Carlson), En vintersaga (Icy Version), and a remixed version of Wuthering Heights. Best £2.40 you'll ever spend!

Three of a kind #18

A trio of cover versions by Swedish artists of other Swedish artists' songs today: all-female acapella choir The Sweptaways tackle El Perro Del Mar's Say;Acid House Kings reinterpret Loveninjas' Keep Your Love; and The Cardigans' Carnival is dramatically reworked by, umm, The Cardigans!

The Sweptaways - Say mp3

Acid House Kings - Keep Your Love mp3

The Cardigans - Carnival (Puck Version) mp3

In other news, Spike's modem's knackered so I'm afraid you're stuck with just me until she gets a new one. Come back soon, Spikey!

Buy music by today's featured artists at the Klicktrack mp3 shop.

It's so hard to fill the days without you

The Sweptaways are a 30-strong all-female acapella choir from Sweden; or "30 ladies who sing covers", as they rather succinctly put it. I know what you're thinking: the female Flying Pickets. But would that be such a bad thing, really? Well, possibly. But despite their acapella leanings and their reliance on cover versions, the Sweptaways' sound is a completely original - and refreshing - one. Their album Ooh Aah is easily my favourite release of 2007 so far; no matter how often I play it, I never get tired of any of the songs. (always a good sign, that.)

Tracks on Ooh Ahh include interpretations of classics from the likes of Kate Bush, Black Sabbath, Lesley Gore, Pet Shop Boys and Kiss, together with versions of more recent hits from Swedish artists such as El Perro Del Mar, Vapnet and the two covers I've included as MP3s here, The Embassy's It Never Entered My Mind and Jenny Wilson's Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward. For me, The Sweptaways' versions of these tracks comfortably surpass the originals, and give both songs a new lease of life.

As well as Ooh Ahh, the ladies also released a yuletide single in 2006 entitled Cry Cry Christmas, featuring guest vocals by Weeping Willows' ace crooner Magnus Carlson. This single is also highly recommended and well worth putting on your list of Christmas songs for 2007! Both releases are available to buy as downloads from the Klicktrack music store, or directly from the Hybris webshop.

The Sweptaways - Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward mp3

The Sweptaways - It Never Entered My Mind mp3

The Sweptaways' My Space page