Frank Valdor - Scandianvian Party

Frank Valdor
with the Arne Bendiksen Singers

SCANDINAVIAN PARTY

Side 1: 

1. Här kommer Pippi Långstrump (Jan Johanssen / Astid Lindgren) (Swedish)
2. Alley Cat (Bent Fabricius Bjerre aka. Bent Fabric) (Danish)*
3. Angelina  (J. Olsen) (Danish)
4. Poing Poing Poing (Irwin Goodman) (Finnish)
5. Miss' soutaen tuulee (Oskar Merikanto) (Finnish)
6. Häng me' på Party (Ulf Neidemar) (Swedish)

Side 2: 

1. Kohtalokas Samba (Jarl Eugen Malmstén) (Finnish)
2. Om du visste (Arne Bendiksen) (Norwegian)
3. Lykken er... (Arne Bendiksen) (Norwegian)
4. Tango for to / Tango for two (Bjarne Armdahl / Alf Prøysen) (Norwegian)
5. Ta av dig skorna! (Povel Ramel) (Swedish)
6. Det Var på Fredriksberg (W.Kollo / A.J. Thomsen) (Danish)

* Wrongfully listed on disc as written by F. Bjørn & R. Arnold. 

** No earlier than 1972 which is the recording date for track  "Angelina". So the guess would be the the release is from 1972. This is also prior to Franks migrations from Somerset to RCA which happend in 

Presumeably Released: 1972

Frank is at his very highpoint in his career. The days of "á Gogo" are long gone and the anonymity of the Frank Valdor orchestra are now finally swept away as Frank makes his entrance as a Playboy extraordinaire. The trumpet player everyone loves to love, adorned by women and men alike.

In all of his glory Frank has finally reached his full potential on Somerset Records. It is the Dynamic Trumpet Sound, the trademarked Frank Valdor that here reaches the scandinavian shore in a somewhat strange potpourie of traditional scandinavian classics. But it is also a a case of serious flirtation with an ever growing scandinavian audience still awaiting the powerful horn of the great german bandleader. Or is it?
Frank Valdor already had concured the Nordics with the previously released "Rubber Boat Party" title (Sommerset 748) so this might very well have been his way of marking his territory. Frank Valdor is by this moment in his career the absolute alpha-male of the german party band scene. 

Frank teams up with the Norwegian schlager producer Arne Bendiksen, who'd just recently seen moderate success on an international scale with the Eurovision entry "Spiral", to produce this 12 track album consisting of 3 tracks from each of the Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland).

It's a long way from the Latin Bossa groove to the poppy Valdor interpretation of these songs but it's a popping Frank that let's himself have his way with such classics as "Alley Cat" (written 1960 by Bent Fabricious Bjerre) through  "Lykken er.." (written 1971 by Arne Bendiksen) and the unforgetable "Här kommer Pippi Långstrump / Here comes Pippi Longstocking" (written 1969 by Astrid Lindgren/Jan Johanssen).

"Because I'm just that good!"

The covers for this release is as powerful as any other Frank Valdor release. The front cover shows Frank in a powerful pose holding no less than two topless blondes. The grin on his lips

are almost provoking, as if he's staring you down with a "Because I'm just that good!" look. 

"Oh, My Frank...What a huge buckle you have!"

The girls are presumeably Scandinavian but it its unknown if they are in to Frank because of his status as a the Worlds leading trumpeteer or if it is because of the the massive beltbuckle he is wearing.  One thing is for sure is that Frank proves the largeness of his persona. 

His hands are huge, his buckle is huge, his smile is huge, his ego is huge and his mandom is probably huge as well but it concealed by the gimmicky colorful dots that have been added to the front cover.

The rear cover is, in comparison a somewhat different issue. 

The setting is in the same room but the tone is somewhat more somber. The girls are gone, and so is the buckle (?). Frank has a session shot with the greyish looking Arne Bendiksen. 

Arne and Frank are almost holding hands on what almost appears to be a table being tipped over on it's side. Frank is on his best mood as always, but it is quite obvious that the modest mr. Bendiksen may be somewhat disapproving, This would, most likely, be due to not having been invited to be on the front cover with the buxom ladies. We do understand him though. It cannot be easy to measure up to a man like Frank Valdor.

There is a few key things that need to be shown here. Most importantly are Franks accesories. 

Frank is wearing what appear to be a crucifix or maybe a huge norse dagger. The item is not visible on the front cover as one of the vixens appear to be stroking it.

This item, which can be seen in full on the cover for "Frank Valdor - Live in Rio" (See Below), is revealed to be; A pendant of a clenched fist!  This is a brazilian good luck charm which was quite in the rage at the time. And thus we have the explanation for Franks sun tan. He's just come back from Brazil.

Does Frank go fisting?

Second to the pendant of the clenched fist you have the shoes. Now...these are some serious shoes.  Apparantly the shoes are of some fine leathery sort with at least three types of leather to complement the hight of the heels on the shoes. This is actually only one of three times when you get to see Franks shoes. The other two being on the before mentioned "Live in Rio" and on the cover of the "Frank Valdor In Mexico" album.

This is the first and only time you see the leather shoes. 

The labels for the A and B side of the Album.

Overall impression of Album

Musically:


The Scandinavian twist is intresting in comparison to the otherwise heavily samba influenced mr. Valdor. The production quality is as great as can be expected with two musical directors, but there is a sense of confusion when trying to mix several different countries music into one cohearent flow. The flow could maybe have worked if Frank would have bundlede the tracks into four groups of three tracks, in that sense, country by country. 

Best tracks: Här kommer Pippi Långstrump and Alley Cat
Worst tracks: Häng me' på Party and Ta Av Dig Skorna 

Cover art: 

This is Frank Valdor in a very well composed cover. In comparison to some other weird covers, this one is powerful and symbolic as Frank is in himself. The clothing is great, the smile is radiant and the women are as fine as  can be. Frank is doing good and it's quite obvious.