Thursday, July 19, 2018

PIERRE STRÖM, OSCAR NORRMAN & ANDERS GRANELL – Joe Hill lever!!! (Mudist, 1979)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Little did Joel Hägglund know that upon emigrating from Sweden to America in 1902, he would become folk singer hero and member of trade union Industrial Workers of the World Joe Hill before getting executed for murder in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1915. While not quite as widely known and legendary as the legendary Woody Guthrie he inspired, Hill's songs have been recorded by numerous artists over the decades including Pete Seeger and Billy Bragg. There are also several Swedish Joe Hill albums, such as this one by troubadour Pierre Ström and actors Anders Granell and Oscar Norrman on the Mudist label in co-operation with YTF and Riksteatern. The album is a spin-off project to a 1979 stage play about Joe Hill.

Unfortunately, ”Joe Hill lever!!!” fails to instill much fighting spirit in the listener. The interpretations are soft to the point of wimpy.. I have a hard time finding anything memorable here. Why this album's wanted by some is a mystery to me. There must be at least a few die-hard Joe Hill nuts out there.

"Rebellflickan"
"Svarta präster"

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