Whatever it takes (Lene Marlin) (LP 201 - 203)

Lene Marlin Another Day (CD - EMI, 2003) ****
Lene Marlin Lost In A Moment (CD - EMI, 2005) ****
Lene Marlin Twist The Truth (CD - EMI, 2009) ****

Genre: Scandinavian pop/rock 

Places I remember: Various music outlets in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi and Dubai  

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: What if (LIAM); Another Day (AD)







Gear costume: Everything else * because she's awesome!

Active compensatory factors:  I wrote a few blogposts back when I discovered Lene Marlin, the wonderfully talented Swedish singer/songwriter, while living in the Middle East. 

The one that mentions my reaction to Another Day stands up.  

Twist The Truth got a separate post as well.

That leaves Lost In A Moment. I love the ambiguity of that title.

It's a lovely mix of sophisticated pop (a more mature Playing My Game) with the introspection of Another Day (and before the starker Twist The Truth). 

* The remarkable thing about her records and her music is that there is not a duff song to be found anywhere. 

Four amazingly presented albums that are varied and display growth in her artistry. Lene never disappoints.

If you haven't yet been tempted to search her out by now you really don't like music and should stop reading my blogposts right now - go and do something else more worthwhile for you!

Where do they all belong? She has not released anything for the last 9 years. A real shame. We need you Lene!

Playing my game (Lene Marlin) (LP 167)

Lene Marlin Playing My Game (CD - Virgin, 1999) ***

Genre: Norwegian pop/ rock  

Places I remember: Virgin Megastore Dubai Mall.   

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Sitting Down Here




Gear costume: Unforgivable Sinner  

Active compensatory factors: I started my Lene Marlin obsession via a sampler. Sitting Down Here was a crazily effective ditty. It got into my brain and wouldn't let go. In a nice way.

Lene's whole sound is a superb mix of pop hooks, Scandinavian mystery and appropriate beats. 

It's catchy as all get out.

Taylor Swift was certainly one person who was listening and watching closely!   

I can just imagine a preteen Tay Tay picking up on what Lene was doing!

Where do they all belong? Debut album in a stellar career. Another Day is next. No difficult second album syndrome for Lene.

Money talks so listen to it (10CC)

Continuing with the first theme - the musician takes centre stage, here are my top 10 album covers using mid shots.

Art for art's sake, money for God's sake (10CC)

My recent post on record albums remade as books has made me think about some of my favourite record covers. Sadly, the art of designing a fantastic image for a record has gone the way of record shops with the advent of, first the CD, and now the download, where no image at all is required. This is not only sad but a criminal waste of talent and imagination. Album cover art deserves to be celebrated (and a quick google search will reveal that the blogosphere hasn't forgotten it as an art form).

So I have compiled my personal favourites and blown them up as big as I can get away with. Size does matter when it comes to album cover art. But the choice is subjective so keep that in mind as you view my choices.

Rather than put them all on one post, I have gone through them all and put them into loosely themed groups. Here's the first batch called The Musician Takes Centre Stage. First installment: top ten close ups of the artist. I've attached a caption only where it's not really clear who the artist is.

Lene Marlin as a Norwegian blue.





Sssshhhh - it's Alvin Lee in fractured mood. 



Grace Slick's Manhole

What if she twisted the truth to fit in (Lene Marlin)

Success already! I tracked down another Lene Marlin CD on the weekend.

This one is from 2009 called Twist The Truth. It's very different to the first one I got a few weeks back (the comparatively lush Another Day from 2003). Clearly she wasn't having a great time in 2009. She might have called it Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now if that wasn't ripping off Morrissey.

The first track is called Everything's Good and it's positive in it's outlook but that good humour steadily decreases during the next 8 songs until the last track (You Will Cry No More), which deals with the aftermath of a death; maybe a better title would have been from the second song, I'm not feeling well these days.

Along the way we have Lene dealing with her insecurities, scars and regrets. And there appear to be a lot of them. Definitely not yer standard pop fare. It's awesome stuff.

Her vocals are fantastic and the instruments are sparsely distributed - mostly acoustic guitar from Lene (talented), piano (again Lene), violin, dobro, cello and you get the idea. There is nothing cluttered.

Lene writes all the words and music as well. Impressive.

So - two great (different) CDs. I'm looking forward to finding the remaining two.

Like a hiding, like a shade (Lene Marlin)

Lene Marlin is my most recent discovery.

I love it when I chance upon someone new and they have a sizeable back catalogue for me to track down. The last one was John Mayer (see an earlier post). Now it's Lene's turn.

She came to my notice via a sampler called Divas. A double CD - it cost me 30 dirham from Carrefour and contained one amazing stand out song - Sitting Down Here. It was good enough to bear repeat listens and then to check out the credits to see who it was by. The voice is what hooked me. Her voice is so different but, paradoxically, it is also the sort of thing I'd hear on Radio 2 if I was in the UK.

Not knowing anything about her, I thought (like I initially did with John Mayer) that she was a pop oriented singer.

Not long after these repeat listens, I started to think about tracking down an album.

I managed to locate an album in the Virgin Megastore at Dubai's Mall Of The Emirates on the weekend. Called Another Day - it turns out it's her second album (she's got four out).

I was unprepared for the greatness of the whole album. Again - like John Mayer - it turns out she has hidden melodic depths and the voice that hooked me from Sitting Down Here is not found on the second album. It's even better. Weird.

I literally can't stop listening to the album. It's especially good at night - all swirly mood pieces and ethereal sounding. With only 10 songs on it I am left wanting more so I just hit play again after it ends.

Turns out Lene is from Sweden and that seems appropriate given the aural landscape she occupies on the album.

She is really unlike anything else I've heard. Usually you can trace a female singer/songwriters' DNA back to either Joni (the pop side) or Joan (folk) or Grace (the rock chick). She's not a folkie so discount Joan. She's not a confessional writer so that's a no to Joni as well. She doesn't make any of the normal rock moves so it's a third no to Grace. If anything there are hints of Aimee Mann in her vocal delivery. But they are only hints. And her songs are not similar to Aimee's in delivery or structure. Lene is one out of the box!

Exciting. A new discovery. Now I'm on a mission to track down the other three CDs.