James Hollingworth – a Swede by birth despite his British sounding name – made several singles already in the mid-60s. The first one featured one song each by Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan and he pretty much continued in this vein covering American folk- and country-based artists in the following years.
released as James
Swedish vocals
International relevance: ***
The
first single of interest here is this one, released simply as James.
It's a Swedish version of a then brand new Cliff Richard song
released as Cliff & Hank (with Hank being Marvin of The Shadows
and also the song's author). That surely doesn't raise much interest,
but truth is that it's a really good even bettered by James. The
original, ”Throw Down A Line”, suffers from a rather cowardly
performance, but James instills a certain restless drama into it. He
also makes better use of the string arrangement which further
elevates the song. The B side is a Hollingworth original not quite on
the level of the A side but still good. It's noteworthy for having
Blond as backing band giving the track a spirited performance with
spacey sound effects and great guitar playing.
Medvind (CBS, 1974)
released as Hollingworth/Liungman
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **
Let's make a jump to 1974 and Hollingworth's first
full length album. Recorded in 1973/74 and released with partner
Karin Liungman, it's a real duo work with songwriting and vocal
duties shared between the two. It's a pretty varied effort ranging
from Liungman's lovely folkish ”Det borde varit vildros” to funky
workouts such as ”Elden är lös”. Some lyrics touch on
environmental concerns, a recurring theme on their following albums.
It's an OK album overall but I generally prefer Liungman's tracks
delivered in her very appealing veiled voice.
Barnlåtar (CBS, 1974)
released as James & Karin
Swedish vocals, spoken word
International relevance: **
The duo began recording their
next album only a couple of months after their first one was
finished, and it's a rather different kind of album. The title means
”children's songs” in English and that's exactly what it is. Not
a massive hit upon release, its reputation grew steadily. Today it's
heralded as one of the finest children's album ever released in
Sweden. Their idea was to make an album both pedagogical and entertaining to children but also possible for grown-ups to enjoy, and they certainly succeeded. An album such as Jojje Wadenius's ”Goda' goda'” immediately leaps to mind. As on the
previous album, some songs are inspired by the couple's travels in
Morocco. Disguised in the easy-going, crazy fun songs are again
environmental concerns, as in the still wildly popular and evocative
”Älgarna demonstrerar”, about a gang of elks' protest meeting
against pollution and deforestation. Similar sentiments can be sensed
in the excellent ”Har du grävt någon grop idag?”. There are
also moments of sheer whackiness, most notably the totally bonkers
”Jag vill ha vitaminer” that sounds almost like Philemon Arthur
impersonating Donald Duck.
What really contitues ”Barnlåtar”
is James & Karin's care for songwriting and attention to
arrangements. It truly is an album that can be enjoyed by children
and grown-ups alike. You could take several songs from the album and
only tweak the lyrical subjects, and no-one would notice it's a
children's record – just like ”Goda', goda'”.
Djurens brevlåda (CBS, 1976)
released as James & Karin
Swedish vocals, spoken word
International relevance: **
Released two years later, ”Djurens brevlåda” is essentially ”Barnlåtar Vol. 2”. The songs were originally written for a radio series of 18 episodes. It features Hollingworth's best known song of all, ”Hur ska jag göra för att komma över vägen?” which subject-wise follows in the footsteps of ”Älgarna demonstrerar”, not to mention ”Älgarna säger” which is a direct reference back to ”Älgarna demonstrerar”. A personal favourite in this collection is ”När vintern är över” which is as baroque pop a children's song will ever get. But there are so many good songs here to choose from.
The main difference between this album and ”Barnlåtar” is that the songs here are shorter, most of them around the one minute mark, some even shorter than that. But it's actually not that distracting, and everything I said about the previous album can also be said about this. If you have one album, you'll want the other one as well. They belong together.
One more great track appeared under the
James & Karin banner before they parted ways. ”Den sista
vargen” (backed with ”Rödluvan ljug”) appeared in 1977 through
the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. The A side was later
included on Hollingworth 1979 solo album named after the song.
Ärliga blå ögon / Morgon på Kungsholmen (CBS, 1977)
released as James Hollingworth
Swedish vocals
International relevance: ***
James first post-Karin outing was this soundtrack 45 from a very popular heist drama series for Swedish Television in 1977. The song might very well be Berndt Egerbladh's crowning achievement as a songwriter, and I'm not kidding you if I say it's one of the best Swedish songs ever. Curiously enough it's the same song as Doris's ”You Never Come Closer” from 1970 with the Swedish lyrics written by director Leif Krantz to fit the series's plot. Annoyingly enough, it was never included on any of Hollingworth's albums, and the single is quite rare these days. If that Record Store Day nonsense was of any proper use to mankind, that would be something to re-release. Suggested reissue flipside: Doris's original version.
The B side is a track from ”Medvind”.
Karin Liungman released a couple of albums under her own name following the separation from James Hollingworth while he had a more prolific career. As of June 2025, he's 77 years old and still active as a performer although his last album to date came in 2006, most fittingly a children's album with Jojje Wadenius.
Vem var och när
Persson är lös
Medvind full album playlist
Barnlåtar full album playlist
Djurens brevlåda full album playlist
James Hollingworth 7"
Ärliga blå ögon