The missing tracklist. With some great dance tracks
Dejan Dozic | Malmoe, Sweden | 05/17/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"CD 1:
01. Money - Elin Lanto
02. Anything But You - Andersson & Gibson
03. Samba Sambero - Anna Book
04. Clubbin - Addis Black Widow
05. Move - Andreas Lundstedt
06. Jag tror på människan - Tommy Nilsson
07. Hypnotized - Sofia
08. God morgon - Uno & Irma
09. Rainbow Star - Regina Lund
10. Trying To Recall - Marie Lindberg
11. Amanda - Jimmy Jansson
12. What's Your Name - Cosmo4
13. Allt vi en gång trodde på - Lustans Lakejer
14. Kom - Jessica Andersson
15. Första gången - Svante Thuresson & Anne-Lie Rydé
16. Worrying Kind - The Ark "
Review
Edward Bashford | ny | 09/12/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"very interesting cd as it has a wide variety of types of music on it"
A Swedish cultural phenomenon
Ashtar Command | Stockholm, Sweden | 03/12/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Melodifestivalen is a Swedish music contest, organized almost every year since 1959. Most Swedes literally grew up with the contest, making it a cultural phenomenon of major proportions. I also grew up with it, since I lived in Sweden most of my life!
During the 1970's, the contest was politically controversial, since it was considered "commercial" by left-wing activists. One year, the contest was even cancelled. Today, by contrast, it's easily the most popular Swedish TV show. In 2007, the finale was seen by about 4 million people. Note that the total population of Sweden is just 9 million! Thus, almost half the population was watching. My brother, who worked at a pub at the time, told me that almost all pubs, restaurants and night clubs were desterted at the night of the finale, most people preferring to stay at home, watching Melodifestivalen rather than going out. And this was in Stockholm, the national capital!
For decades, the contest was very old-fashioned, with quaint songs, often badly out of sync with contemporary fashions in music, at least among younger people. About six years ago, the contest was substantially re-organized, introducing semi-finales and a better mix of musical styles, complete with a double-CD containing all participating songs, including those voted out during the semi-finales. The annual Melodifestivalen CD is probably one of the best-selling albums in Sweden. Many people take the contest very seriously, perhaps too seriously, betting on the songs, discussing them at chatrooms, uploading them on Youtube (which makes Swedish television go mad), etc. The contest is decided by a phone vote, and sometimes up to one million people (!) have participated in the voting.
To be honest, about half of the songs in the contest are still lousy or just weird, and some people suspect it's deliberate, making it possible for the other half (the good songs) to advance easier. Also, Swedish television makes sure that the songs considered most commercially viable get the best starting slots in the finale. It took me a couple of years to figure this out, but what the heck, the final say-so is still in the hand of the viewers.
I can't say that the 2007 edition of Melodifestivalen is the best one, but it seems to be the only one available through Amazon. If you buy it, please see it as cultural studies... :-)
The 2007 edition include one song performed by an American singer, Sarah Dawn Finer, one of the better songs in the contest. There is also a sexually explicit song featuring the drag queens After Dark, but fortunately it's in Swedish, so you don't have to blush. There is also a weird punk ballad by Caroline af Ugglas, who just happens to be the daughter of a Swedish conservative politician, and a song by Nanne, who is married to Peter Grönwall, the son of Benny Andersson (the guy from ABBA). Obviously, the inevitable "revival camp fire song" is here too, this year featuring Tommy Nilsson, a former heavy metal singer turned good guy. And yes, there is the gay rock band The Ark, who won the contest hands-down. Incidentally, many of the most hard-core Melodifestivalen fans are gay, giving the contest a strange gay image, despite the fact that almost every Swede watches it. For a couple of years, the moderators were openly gay, and so is the main organizer, Christer Björkman, who incidentally won the contest himself back in 1992.
Nominally, the purpose of Melodifestivalen is to select the Swedish entry to the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), an international music contest with participants from all over Europe and southwest Asia. However, the last five or six years, the ESC have been dominated by the East European nations, making it virtually impossible for the Swedish song to win (yes, Swedes are really upset about this!). For this reason, Melodifestivalen has become a more in-house Swedish affair, esentially an annual get-together of the Swedish music industry. Since almost everyone is watching it, anyone who reaches the finale is guaranteed a lot of media coverage and record sales.
Personally, I think Melodifestivalen 2004, 2005 and 2006 are better than 2007, but they don't seem to be available from Amazon at the present time. So buy the 2007 edition, but don't say I didn't warn you...
:D
"
