Doris: Did You Give The World Some Love Today Baby (1970) ... plus

A big-voiced blue-eyed soul, jazz, and pop vocalist reminiscent of Lulu, Dusty Springfield, and Petula Clark, Sweden's Doris Svensson is best known for her lone solo LP, 1970's eclectic Did You Give the World Some Love Today Baby, which made few waves on its initial release but became a favorite of rare groove crate-diggers as time went on. Born in Gothenburg in 1947, Svensson performed with several bands throughout the '60s, making her debut with the Strangers in 1960 and going on to score hits in the groups Plums ('Mama Didn't Lie,' 'Wouldn't That Be Groovy' - the latter with a promo video directed by a young Lasse Hallström) and the Dandys ('Go Back to Daddy') late in the decade. Doris (as she was billed) cut her first and only album for EMI/Odeon with several noted local musicians, including jazz pianist, organist, composer, and producer Berndt Egerbladh, who also wrote most of the tunes; drummer and film actor Janne "Loffe" Carlsson of the instrumental jazz-rock duo Hansson & Karlsson; and her husband, bassist Lucas Lindholm. Did You Give the World Some Love Today Baby reveals Doris to be a singer of considerable range with plenty of personality. She's a throaty belter on the funky, country-inflected 'Waiting at the Station,' the Northern soul-styled groovers 'Don't' and 'Beatmaker,' and the brassy pop-soul title tune (even coming off a bit worryingly unhinged as she exhorts "you've got to love the one you love/and the whole darn world as well") - but she scales back the fireworks for sweet, if somewhat fey, ballads like 'Grey Rain of Sweden' and 'Daisies,' which call to mind the sophisticated songwriter pop of fellow lost gem Margo Guryan. There's also a heartfelt, tastefully orchestrated rendition of the Band's 'Whispering Pines,' and - easily the album's most unusual moment - the bizarre, unsettling jazz-psychedelia of 'You Never Come Close,' which sounds like nothing you'd expect to hear on an ostensibly pop record from any era. Add in a smattering of upbeat big-band swing tunes ('I'm Pushing You Out' and the organ-led shuffle 'I Wish I Knew'), the goofy, vaudeville-ish 'Won't You Take Me to the Theatre,' and a jaunty cover of Harry Nilsson's 'Bath,' and you've got a true smorgasbord. Although the album sold poorly and Svensson retreated from the limelight - playing in a dansband with her husband during the '70s before retiring from music altogether - those last three cuts, in particular, piqued the interest of record collectors over the ensuing decades, eventually creating enough demand to warrant several reissues in the '90s and '00s. This one features ten bonus tracks by the bands Doris sang with in the mid-to late '60s, including several Swedish hit singles. http://www.allmusic.com/

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