Håkan Hellström "Det kommer aldrig va över för mig" (2013)

Det kommer aldrig va över för mig
release date: Apr. 17, 2013
format: cd (EKO 158 CD)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,05]
producer: Håkan Hellström, Johan Forsman, Björn Olsson, Måns Lundberg
label: Stranded Rekords / Universal Music - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 2. "Det kommer aldrig va över för mig" - 5. "Pistol" (4 / 5) - 6. "Valborg"

7th studio album by Håkan Hellström, which is very much like his 'usual' albums, one might add. He doesn't change what's working it seems, although this album has a more synth pop and chamber pop feel, which makes a small change. Other than that it's still good songwriting with chorus-based tracks and as usual, thematically, about lost and unrequited love.

Håkan Hellström "2 steg från paradise" (2010)

2 steg från paradise
release date: Oct. 13, 2010
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,28]

Track highlights: 1. "Det här är min tid" - 2. "Saknade te havs" [live] - 4. "River en vacker dröm" - 5. "2 steg från paradise" - 6. "Jag vet vilken dy hon varit i" (4 / 5) - 8. "Det dom aldrig nämner" - 11. "Du är snart där"

6th studio album by Håkan Hellström. This is a return to form, and it appears to be a more mature album by Hellström. The album had its release almost on the date of his 10 year old solo debut. Stylistically, it's a continued journey from his 2008 release För sent för edelweiss into singer / songwriter folk pop area with less party music, and although, I'm quite fond of his uptempo tracks, I think he succeeds much better on this with better and stronger songwriting. Also, the overall impression is that the songs are more of his own than strongly influenced by other artists.

Håkan Hellström "För sent för edelweiss" (2008)

För sent för edelweiss
release date: Mar. 26, 2008
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]

Track highlights: 2. "För en lång lång tid" (4 / 5) - 5. "Jag vet inte vem jag är men jag vet att jag är din" - 6. "För sent för Edelweiss" - 7. "Kär i en ängel"

5th studio album by Håkon Hellström released 2½ years after his last studio album, which only had a few new songs, and I don't think this is of his better ones. The tracks are more or less what you would have come to expect, only it doesn't contain several really good songs.

Håkan Hellström "Nåt gammalt, nåt nytt, nåt lånat, nåt blått" (2005)

Nåt gammalt, nåt nytt, nåt lånat, nåt blått (compilation)
release date: Dec. 28, 2005
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,33]
producer: Håkan Hellström, Daniel Gilbert
label: Dolores Recordings / EMI Music Sweden - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "13" (4 / 5) [Big Star cover] - 2. "Klubbland" - 3. "Så länge du är med mig" - 5. "Precis som Romeo" - 7. "Jag hatar att jag älskar dig och jag älskar dig så mycket att jag hatar mig" (4 / 5) - 8. "Evert Taube" - 11. "Gatan fram (live)" [Eldkvarn cover]

4th album release by Håkan Hellström is his second album in the same year. Like the title suggest: 'Some old, some new, some borrowed, and some blue', this is however, not a normal studio album of brand new material but rather a compilation with previously unreleased tracks, cover-versions, a few new songs, and two live recordings. Despite the variety of song material, I think it's a fine album, maybe because what Håkan is so very good at, is to lend (some would say: 'steal'), and make his own personal interpretations of existing music, whether it's his own or other artists' compositions. The album is dedicated the Swedish boy Måns Jenninger, who at 13 took his own life as a consequence of long time bullying.

Håkan Hellström "Ett kolikbarns bekännelser" (2005)

Ett kolikbarns bekännelser
release date: Feb. 16, 2005
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,45]

Track highlights: 1. "Jag har varit i alla städer" - 2. "Brännö serenad" (4 / 5) - 4. "Dom kommer kliva på dig igen" - 5. "Bara dårar rusar in" - 6. "Hurricane Gilbert" - 8. "Magasinsgatan" (4 / 5)

3rd studio album release by Håkan Hellström is music with more focus on the singer / songwriter, folk pop and chamber pop (not unlike The Divine Comedy) element, and it's a more personal and intimate Hellström with acoustic guitar and more ballads, and even though I think his best tracks are the uptempo party songs, I consider this, one of his best. "Brännö serenad" and "Magasinsgatan" are some of his very best songs, and are actually fine examples of his ability to write beautiful ballads (the first) and strong party songs (the latter).

Håkan Hellström "Det är så jag säger det" (2002)

Det är så jag säger det
release date: Oct. 28, 2002
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,60]

Track highlights: 1. "Mitt Gullbergs Kaj Paradis" - 2. "Förhoppningar och regnbågar" - 3. "Den fulaste flickan i världen" (4 / 5) - 4. "Kom igen Lena!" (4 / 5) - 5. "Här kommer lyckan för hundar som oss"

2nd studio album by Håkan Hellström, and I think this one betters his debut. The music is more pop soul and party-minded with less focus on the jangle pop style, and I think this suits him better. The album starts out with the fine party-song "Mitt Gullbergs Kaj Paradis", and as many of the other songs it has a calypso feel with samba rhythm and percussion as well as lots of horns and a broader, more complex production. Beside the aforementioned track, the best tracks are the single releases, the ballad "Den fulaste flickan i världen" and the pop soul party track "Kom igen Lena!", which is somewhat copied from The Jam's "A Town Called Malice" (1982) and "Come on Eileen" (1982) by Dexys Midnight Runners. "Kom igen, Lena!" was the first song I ever heard with Håkan Hellström, and is therefore the song that made me look into his music.

Håkan Hellström "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg" (2000)

Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg [debut]
release date: Oct. 16, 2000
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]

Track highlights: 1. "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg" (4 / 5) - 2. "En vän med en bil" - 3. "Ramlar" - 4. "Nu kan du få mig så lätt" (4 / 5) - 5. "Vi två, 17 år" (4 / 5) - 8. "Magiskt, men tragiskt" - 9. "Atombomb"

Studio album debut by Håkan Hellström. The album was probably the best received album in Sweden that year and Håkan went from being fairly unknown to a star overnight after his single-hit with the song "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg", which had been released a few months ahead of the album. The album sold "platinum" and was nominated for 6 Grammis in Sweden later that year, and won the national prize, "Rockbjörnen" for best album. The music is proclaimed indie pop, although I don't think that is a very fitting description. It's more singer / songwriter jangle pop / rock, inspired by The Smiths and Morrissey ("Atombomb" is very close to Morrissey's "Everyday Is Like Sunday") and pop soul as performed by Dexys Midnight Runners, which basically is to say: British music of the 1980s, but also music with bonds to more traditional folk pop and pop soul of the 1970s. Thematically, the songs are about teenage life with partying, and lost and unrequited love. The personnel on the album is almost the same people who contributed to the albums with "Broder Daniel", including most of the former band members including Daniel Gilbert on guitar who continues to work with Hellström on his forthcoming solo albums.

Håkan Hellström

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Håkan Hellström (birth name: Håkan Georg Hellström; Apr. 2, 1974), was born in Göteborg, Västergötland, Sweden. He was member of the Swedish bands Broder Daniel (1989-2008), and Honey Is Cool (1994-2000). Hellström is a Swedish singer / songwriter pop / rock artist who started out in a high school band Little Wing. He then joined another high school band Broder Daniel, with whom they shared rehearsal studio. This band had been formed by high school friends Henrik Berggren (vocals) and Daniel Gilbert (bass). Hellström joined the two on drums. The band began playing concerts around 1992 with the addition of both Johan Neckvall and Anders Göthberg on guitar. The band released their first album in 1995, and Hellström then parted from the band to be drummer in Honey Is Cool in 1995, with whom he released two albums before leaving around '98 to rejoin Broder Daniel, this time playing bass (as Johan Neckvall had left the band and the current bassist, Theodor Jensen took over the guitar) and contributing with additional vocal. The band faced some success and critical acclaim for the album Broder Daniel Forever (1998), which had been helped along with the band's inclusion of 3 songs on the soundtrack album for the Swedish movie "Fucking Åmål" (1998). Hellström began to work on his own songs and had his first critically acclaimed solo release in 2000 with the homonymous single hit "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg". Throughout his solo career, Hellström has met some criticism for being too inspired by others, i.e. songs by the Jam, Dexy's Midnight and Runners, and Morrissey. All the same, Hellström has had great success as a solo artist in Scandinavia with his jangle pop / rock and singer / songwriter style with both chamber pop and indie pop and most recently some synth pop elements, and all his album releases have been awarded various Swedish prizes, i.e. Rockbjörnen (2000, 2001, 2008, 2011), P3 Guld (2003, 2009), Grammis (2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010), Evert Taube-stipendiet (2007), and all his studio album releases has either sold Gold or Platinum in Sweden.

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