Philemon Arthur & The Dung
After falling in love with the whole Träd, Gräs Och Stenar, Pärson Sound, Harvester and International Harvester bunch, it was almost impossible not to be exposed to the legendary swedish record label Silence. All the great swedish psych bands had some direct or indirect link with the label. Once you start exploring their output, you will eventually fall upon an anomaly in their discography: Philemon Arthur & The Dung (I still don't know where they got that name from). This duo didn't sound like anything else in the whole scene and actually caused quite a stir in their home country.
This was like psych-folk music with a punk attitude. The artwork on the cover was horrible, the drawings out of proportion, just like the music, which sounded like it was recorded in the artists' kitchen using utensils, cauldrons and whatnot as instruments. You can hear the singer flinching on many occasions, laughing at his own jokes in his shrill nasal voice (it sometimes sounds like a bunch of teenagers jamming in their parents house). It's insane! The lyrics, for those who understand swedish are absurd, surrealistic and yet charming. No one knows who these two really are and a popular urban legend in Sweden says that one of the members is popular rock artist Mikael Wiehe, but his music sounds nowhere close to the madness found on Philemon's albums even though some of his earlier material has progrock tendencies. To make matters worse, he has never denied nor confirmed the legend when confronted with the questions.
The group is also quite famous for having single-handedly "destroyed" the swedish Emmys. When their first album won "best album" back in 1977, their was such outrage from the general public and other artists that the award ceremony was terminated for the next ten years! When it finally came back in 1987, Philemon Arthur & The Dung were right there waiting with their second and final album, Får Jag Spy In Din Paraply ("May I puke in your umbrella"). And no... they did not win again.


Musikens Historia Del 1 Och 2Label: Silence Records Release: 1977 Format: CD Cat. no: SRSCD 3607 |
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