Ann-Louise Hanson has the record number of songs performed at Swedish national final Melodifestivalen - nobody sang as many times as she did.
After being a tremendously successful solo singer throughout the 60's, she joined the vocal ensemble Glenmarks in the early 70's. The group was assembled by her husband Bruno Glenmark and, apart from them, included his nephews Anders and Karin.
Most of their material was pretty middle-of-the-road, clean-cut schlager for the masses, with the odd piece of fine singing in between.
Therefore, their 1974 MF entry is a bit of a shocker.
It is an experiemental piece, a slow verse that turns headlong into a soulful outburst of a chorus in a surprisingly heavy arrangement, with matching, rather abstract, lyrics. Far too demanding for the juries, who were about to select a Very Commercial Winner for the first time ever, and who could not be bothered with ambitious pieces like this one.
Of course it wouldn't have stood a chance in Brighton, but it is a very good song once you get into it.
It also shows a glimpse from a parallel universe that could have been, if Ann-Louise Hanson had decided to drift from schlager into more progressive material. Judging from this, she might have pulled it off really well.
Glenmarks - I annorlunda land (Sweden 1974 national final)
It was of course impossible to beat Abba in 1974, but this is one of my greatest favourites in Melodifestivalen ever.
ReplyDeleteAnders and Karin Glenmark were to have a great careers as a background singers and also as Gemini in the middle of 1980:s. In this song you can hear that they have a perfect pitch in their voices already at a very young age.
Thank you for picking this up. Do you know if their entry from 1973 was in any way similar to this? I haven't been able to hear that anywhere, even in You tube.
Their 1973 entry is not bad but way more traditional schlager than this one. You can hear "En liten sång som alla andra" here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRhbkhf_fTM
Äh. Still prefer this one ;)
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/Mb73qZZStMM
Dear K, had a tingling feeling what song you meant and I was right. Your pick is, of course, pure art as well.
ReplyDeleteI see, the 1973 entry is quite different from 1974, but so is the composer who is responsable for the jazzy Swedish entry from 1966.
ReplyDeleteBengt-Arne Wallin and Anja Notini-Wallin composed also the Ann-Kristin Hedmark -entry from 1973 that came second. What do you think of that song? To me it is one of the greatest Melodifestivalen songs of the 1970's. Though Ring Ring was a good song, the two songs that fared better were no bad either.