Pop! A Swedish Selection

Pop! A Swedish Selection is the latest in our collection of bespoke mixtapes prepared for the Anywhere Else But Here Today project. It can be downloaded for free here, on the one condition that you tell the world about us.
Anyone familiar with the way all of this works will suspect the fondness we have for fumbling around in the dark, discovering hidden treasures more by luck than judgement. But this mixtape is a little different as we had some assistance in our Swedish explorations from the writer Andres Lokko, and he is a person who knows his pop! Andres provided a list of tracks to consider including as part of the Swedish sequences. As there’s still a lot of world left to explore, it seemed that a great way to feature a number of these songs would be to put them in a mix, together with an assortment of Swedish gems picked up along the way in our own fumblings.
There was a twinge of apprehension in all this as Andres does have a bit of a reputation for putting together compilations of his own. His Feber collections of folk and northern/modern soul are legendary and essential. The folk rock set is of particular significance given the resurgence of interest in such sounds, and I will be forever grateful to him for introducing me to Gary Farr and his song Don’t Know Why You Bother Child. Those interested in finding out more about Andres might like to check out the boxed set of his writings 1989-2009, or his blog.
This fantastic Swedish selection is very much about pop! Unashamedly it features a good chunk of contemporaneous covers (a lost art form!). There are also some familiar names, such as the Abba ladies, and Doris whom you should know from the legendary Mr Bongo's compilation of yore. Sylvia is on there too, with the sort of bossa related recording she should be more famous for. The set closes with a real beauty from the folk singer Turid, who was the subject of a recent RPM International compilation. As an aside Kieron Tyler seems to be doing a great job with that series, including a reissue of The Tages’ Studio LP and a collection from the legendary Finnish label Love.
The collection starts with a fantastic track from the beat group The Shamrocks. And amusingly it’s time to confess an opportunity magnificently missed. The Shamrocks have a great track called Oxford Street 43 which would have fitted perfectly into our London songs project The London Nobody Sings ... . Oh well, that’s life!
While you’re downloading, we’ll leave you with another of Andres’ recommendations – an excellent cartoon with an even more excellent soundtrack by Jojje Wadenius ...

Thanks again to Per-Christian Hille for another beautiful cover.