"Darkness
is here, thou' shall not fear, we're on this trip together"
We
haven't offered this previously, outside a couple of
expensive imports… Not sure why as we did release
their self-titled debut earlier this year …perhaps
we had hoped to release "Together In Darkness" officially
someday. Heck, we still do! Here's the import version
at an extremely decent price, especially if you order
in the next 7 days…
"Together In The Darkness" was the swansong 2001
full-length release by the esteemed duo of Martin Hederos
(The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Nymphet Noodlers) & Mattias
Hellberg (Hellacopters, Nymphet Noodlers) finds
the brothers-in-arms offering their own originals alongside
some splendidly rendered covers. Christmas can be a
melancholy season (especially around the Artic Circle)
and the three releases by Hederos and Hellberg do effectively
enshrine that supremely Nordic mood. After their debut
album of covers this release includes the bands first
(brilliant)
original compositions plus their trademark heartbreaking
cover versions: Neil Young's "Mellow My Mind," Tim
Hardin's Hang On To A Dream," Bob Marley's "Concrete
Jungle", Kris Kristofferson's "Epitaph (Black & Blue)",
and the two best renditions of their short but sweet
career: The Rolling Stone's "Shine A Light" and
The Stooges' "No Fun". Like on their self-titled
debut once again we are treated to an exercise in simplicity,
Martin on piano and Mattias on vocals, but the instrumentation
gets fleshed out a wee bit as well, Martin added organ,
glockenspiel, and horn arrangements, while Mattias
added harmonica, melodica, and guitar.
L.A.
WEEKLY: "The only song that made me cry this
year was a cover of the Stooges’ “No Fun.” There’s
something cruel about stripping the classic rock song
of its menace and symbolism — this was, remember,
the last tune the Sex Pistols mangled together onstage
before imploding in ’78 — and killing it
softly, only to resurrect it anew as a small and beautiful
ballad. And there’s something sweet in that this
act of heresy is accomplished with only a piano, a harmonica,
and gravelly vocals by two Swedish guys, Martin Hederos
and Mattias Hellberg, who during the past three years
have put out two records and an EP reworking the saddest
songs Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and the Rolling Stones ever
wrote." (Sorina Diaconescu)
The
L.A. Weekly excerpt above was taken from a very
nice article, worth reading: M.
Hederos & M. Hellberg
Take Care EP
Silence Records
CD5 $5.31 15%
off 
Before the duo split up in early 2002 (Martin to focus
on The Soundtrack of Our Lives and Mattias to begin writing
his solo
album) they also released a lovely farewell
EP, entitled "Take Care", which features four
previously unreleased tracks including two originals,
the title track "Take Care" and the closer "Be
With Me", plus Merle Haggard's "I Can't Hold
Myself In Line" and Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me
Babe", a duet with Marit Bergman. Just as highly
recommended and limited availability so get yours in
a hurry…
And lest ye forget, Hidden Agenda released Mattias & Martin's debut album (AHA!066) earlier
this year.
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