If you buy Haakon Ellingsen: "Bounty" from Termo Records you will hopefully find out that: "There is a certain sombre, cerebral playful something about those songs, so beautiful it hurts! They have a gentle aftertaste only matched by Brian Wilson at his creative peak around PET SOUNDS and SMILE. The songs don´t seem to be particularly American or British inspired, or inspired by music from any other country for that matter, apart from the lyrics. They´re out of time and out of geography. They are the perfect ballads Jeff Lynne (Idle Race, Electric Light Orchestra, Travelling Wilburys and...The Beatles...) has been striving at for the past 40 years." (Luna Kafe record review 12/15/05)
Check out this video: Bounty
"The title track is about the most beautiful sound you are gonna hear this year."
(Gjermund Glesnes, Sandefjords Blad on "Bounty") - - - - - - - - - -
"The album is bubbling with a feelgood atmosphere and little delicacies in the arrangements."
(Geir Atle Ellingsen on "Bounty" in musiq.no) - - - - - - "He is one of our most outstanding songwriters with clear references to the late sixties, and not at least to our times version of the era. Earlier, he got an outlet for this in The Last James ("Kindergarten" is Norways 5th or maybe even 3rd best pop album through all times). The word melodic becomes empty when to describe Haakon's popmusic."
(Audun Vinger on "Bounty" in Natt Og Dag) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "The album sounds like Aruba, Bahamas, and Kokomo in one and the same, and as if Paul Mc Cartney settled in a tropical paradise, after having caught a norwegian accent. When it comes to the arrangements, "How Little We Talk About Sky" is about as delicate as can be." (Thomas Karlsen on "Bounty" in groove.no) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -"This Norwegian drafts his songs with soft instrumentation- the volume may be light but the use of strings, keys and flute are heavy. The softer side of The Beatles comes through in "Bounty". But there's a lot more behind Ellingsen than that first glimpse. It's definitely worth a listen or five." (Fense Post) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Recordings: The Last James w/ Lars Pedersen and Lars Lillo-Stenberg: "The Last James" (1993), The Last James w/Lars Pedersen: "Kindergarten" (1996). Gramophones: "Boy" (ep 1996), "The Last Dreamer" (1997). Soloalbums for Perfect Pop Records: "Minstrel" (2001), "What Is To Come...?" (2004), "Bounty" (2005). Contributed with singing and playing on "Svett smil" (De Lillos 1990), "Hjertet er en ensom sjåfør" (Farmen 1996), "Nevermind The Hillocks" (The Tables 2003), "Last Words" (Okasa 2006), "Trippy Happy" (WHEN). Songwriter on: "Smiling For" (Big Bang 2001) with the song "Light Of Hope" (original title: "Better Put Some Light In Here"). Nominated for Tono's Edward prize in 2002 for the song Peace Comes To Town. "The Plum Album" will be released September this year: listen to "They Play With The Wind"/ get some more information from: Termo Records... To buy: Sir Haakon & The Popular Musicians "What Is To Come...?": you can also click on the PayPal button bellow and I will post a copy to you for $15 including postage and packing: DOWNLOAD MINSTREL/ WHAT IS TO COME...?/ BOUNTY FROM ITUNES: "BOUNTY": buy BOUNTY from Termo Records ($15), Big Dipper (søk tittel: Bounty), www.prefueled.com, Platekompaniet... Some kind words about "BOUNTY" at: Luna cafe web-zine. www.myspace.com/haakonellingsen also recommends: TRIP INSIDE THIS HOUSE: an excellent website dedicated psychedelic music... (bio and set-up: Gerhard Humle)
Greetings Haakon Best wishes from the seaside. I love the new songs, especially 'Tonight'. Those strings are just wonderful. Great work my friend. Paul
We always enjoy your music! It's very enriched and your Oslo sun must be a warm inspiration.. Here, in smokey California we're dying from smoke inhalation from all the wild fires. Always Keep Up the Great Music!! ~VM~
Hello friend. Thanks so much for alerting me to your new song! I love, love, love it! Some day soon, we're going to have to cross paths in the real world. Keep up the good work. Much love, - Loki
Hei! Takk for sist. Veldig hyggelig at dere kom:-) Love to be with you låter fantastisk bra. Gleder meg til å høre resten av albumet. Ha en strålende sommer!!!
Hallå där Haakon! "Love to be with you" var bland det finaste jag hört av dig! Så proffsigt gjort och med en klar och vacker melodi till detta ljuvliga arrangemang! Ibland tror man nästan att man lyssnar på Mike Pinder från Moody blues fast med en mer psychedelic "touch" och där finns även lite Beach boys känning någonstans!