MP3:
01 Where The Roses Never Fade (3:29)
02 Come and Follow Me (2:55)
03 Amazing Grace (3:56)
04 Change The Bombs For Bread (2:38)
05 Morning Song (2:43)
06 This Little Light of Mine (2:34)
07 Let Your Love be Alive (2:34)
08 Bengawan Solo (2:55)
09 Brighten The Corner (2:32)
10 Londonderry Air (3:36)
11 If I Had A Hammer (2:13)
12 Dakota Hymn (3:02)
I dunno if this really qualifies for the 365 days thing but it has many of the attributes necessary to do so. Bad cover. Naff music. Obscurity...
Ah! Mia Marianne and Per Filip may be too well known to be real contenders... Not that I have ever heard of them but the sleeve notes state that they had a platinum album in Sweden... Hmmmm... I have to say that's still obscure in my book ;-) ( Google doesn't show up much either )
I bought this record on the strength of the cover. As you do. (That and the 99p price tag, I ain't gonna spend even vaguely big on naff records I'm afraid. My kids were mystified enough as it is.) The cover looked seriously promising, and once I got back from holiday and actually played it, it delivered.
So, what do we have here? A collection of clean and jolly songs with a Christian message, sung by a clean and jolly Swedish couple, in English. In fact, an English language version of a Swedish album that did quite well in its Swedish incarnation, though they say it themselves. In other words, what we got here is Nordic Niceness To The Max – in English.
What's it like to listen to? Nice. Nicely Nice. Nicely, Nicely, Nice, Nice, Nice. So Nice it made my teeth itch, but in a Nice way... Did I mention it was Nice? Mia Marianne and Per Filip are so hardcore Nice they make Peter, Paul and Mary sound like The Nine Inch Nails. Their music is the aural equivalent of Crimplene. Music for those days when the Seekers are just too radical!
However, the sleeve notes are enjoyable. i.e.
"Mia Marianne has a dark, warm and well-timbered soprano voice with an unusual vocal extent."
Did she inhale a lot of sawdust at an early age or something? Maybe all those log cabins had something to do with it. I wonder what a half-timbered voice would sound like.
"Despite the volume of their voices, they yet sing simple songs with the right feeling and it is through their natural, beautiful way of singing and acting that they have got their great popularity."
Indeed. If it's too loud, you're too old. Enjoy.
- Contributed by: Jon Allen
Produced by Mia Marianne and Per Filip
Sleeve Design by Mia Marianne and Per Filip
Published 1985
Hans Edler Ltd. London
15021 Molnbo Sweden
Guys, I've gotta say, the quality of 365 Days has been dropping dramatically lately. It's gone from every entry being "LOL AWESOME! SO DOWNLOADING!" to, like, "hey, here's an album with a sort of weird cover...heh" That love letter dumpster cassette posted not too long ago was amazing. Opened you to something amazing that you would never hear otherwise, which is what 365's all about. Let's bring it back up to scratch, eh? I know there's enough in the vaults to do so :D -- art
Posted by: art | August 29, 2007 at 10:40 AM
C'mon Art don't be so mean, it's supposed to reflect varied tastes and there's some good stuff here. How about you offering up something? Give us the benefit of your collection.
I think Marianne and Filip are where it's at in a whining, Skanda Krisp-munching sort of way. Not exactly folk, not exactly Christian, but something in between. And something to listen to to while away those oh-so-long dark nights in Sweden. Change The Bombs For Bread. How pertinent is that? Are you listening Dubya!
Posted by: David | August 29, 2007 at 09:56 PM
I hear what you're saying Art. This ain't breathtakingly bad, it's just extremely naff. But if it induces a cringe from somebody somewhere i think it's worth posting. i think all contributors worry about whether what they put forwards is 'suitable' or not, it's a narrow line to walk I think.
best,
Jon
Posted by: Jon | September 02, 2007 at 03:31 PM
When I saw "The Producers" with Uma Thurman doing the role of Ulla from Sweden, I thought to myself "Funny, but I don´t think anybody pronounces english THAT bad". Listening to this album I stand corrected... Ulla does exist and her real name is Mia Marianne. Thank you!
Posted by: Berra L. | December 16, 2007 at 05:27 AM
Mia Marianne & Per Filip were quite popular with the Xian crowd here in Sweden, as proved by the tons of albums of theirs now littering every, and I mean EVERY, flea market all over the country! They've turned into a kind of joke among record hunters, and serve well as a yardstick for anything twee beyond belief.
Posted by: The Scion | July 01, 2008 at 10:30 PM
The song reminds me a little like Mary Black with keltic influences, she also has a deep rose song of love and the thorns of the rose. This song is a strong message of hope and the
beauty of roses even in another place, Heaven. It may be a little slow for some but worth listening to it for sure and hearing the words and the meaning.
Posted by: Nathan the care for roses guy | July 25, 2010 at 05:08 PM