Dotti Holmberg - Sometimes Happy Times (2002) [Hi-Res]

Although Holmberg did not release solo recordings in the 1960s, she recorded fairly often in the studio and at home, yielding enough material to produce this 17-song mixture of 1966-1970 studio productions and home demos. Her Curt Boettcher association is what will probably draw a lot of collectors' attention to her work in the first place, though as it happens just four of these tracks (all from 1966) were produced by Boettcher. Those Boettcher cuts are, well, typical Boettcher: candy-sweet melodies and lyrics matched to multi-layered Baroque pop production, with Holmberg's vocals verging on the childlike (not always to good effect). Holmberg only wrote one of the Boettcher-overseen songs, but actually did pen most of the other songs, which project a flower-powery naïveté that can be both affecting and overdone in its fantasy-ridden rose-colored hue. If you're in the right mood, it's not bad stuff, as Holmberg has a decent knack for blending the merry and the melancholy in her melodies, and her voice does have a singularly high, keening, almost transparently trusting quality. The eight home demos, though far less sophisticated in their arrangements (mostly featuring just folky acoustic guitars and light percussion rattles), are in some aspects preferable to the studio outtakes, as her voice and approach are more down to earth on the home recordings, the vocals in particular avoiding some of the near-shrillness of the studio productions.

Tracklist:
1 01. Dotti Holmberg - I Sing My Song (02:32)
1 02. Dotti Holmberg - Sea Of Tears (02:14)
1 03. Dotti Holmberg - Foolish Times (02:41)
1 04. Dotti Holmberg - And We're One (02:42)
1 05. Dotti Holmberg - Let You Know (01:46)
1 06. Dotti Holmberg - The Bird (Didn't Die) (02:26)
1 07. Dotti Holmberg - To Touch Upon The Light (02:16)
1 08. Dotti Holmberg - The Essence (01:57)
1 09. Dotti Holmberg - It’s Not Worth It At All (02:51)
1 10. Dotti Holmberg - Love Is (Demo) (02:10)
1 11. Dotti Holmberg - Baby's Blues (Demo) (01:35)
1 12. Dotti Holmberg - Sometimes Happy Times (03:28)
1 13. Dotti Holmberg - Magic Carpet Ride (03:02)
1 14. Dotti Holmberg - Pickin' Daisies (02:43)
1 15. Dotti Holmberg - When The Wind Blows (Demo) (02:25)
1 16. Dotti Holmberg - Love, Love (Demo) (02:36)
1 17. Dotti Holmberg - Visualize (Demo) (02:11)
1 18. Dotti Holmberg - Hopscotch (02:02)
1 19. Gary Holmberg - Close To My Baby (03:09)
1 20. Gary Holmberg - Natural High (02:41)
1 21. Gary Holmberg - Meaning Of My Mind (02:21)
1 22. Gary Holmberg - Why (02:35)