MARSFOLKET – Marsfolket (Mellotronen, 2025; rec. 1971)

 English vocals, instrumental
International relevance: ***

Marsfolket was a supergroup of sorts even though the members of this six-piece wasn't necessarily 'superstars' as of yet. Björn Skifs had been in 60s band Slam Creepers, and Claes ”Clabbe” af Geijerstam used to be a teen idol in pop band Ola & The Janglers. But Bo Häggström (previously of Lea Riders Group and Made In Sweden, then replaced in Marsfolket by Mike Watson), Björn Linder (post-Tages outfit Blond), Janne Schaffer and Ola Brunkert (later ABBA's go to drummer) weren't quite household names in these days (and some of them probably aren't still). They only existed for a very bried period, from to March to April 1971 – hence their name Marsfolket (a pun meaning both ”the people of March” and "martians"). Their main purpose was touring, and for long, the only physical proof of their existence was a single and one track on Janne Schaffer's debut album, the massively funky ”Jordbruksmaskinen”. The single entitled ”Marsfolkets justa rattar” with the tracks ”Maria, Maria” and ”The Hunter” is somewhat rare, and for long I hoped there would be more recordings of theirs. Then out of the blue this full-length album of previously unreleased recordings in studio quality appeared!

Given the group's ephimeral nature, they relied a fair bit on cover versions of contemporary acts such as Grand Funk Railroad, J.J. Cale, Derek & The Dominoes and The Band. While that might not look too tasty on paper, the thing is that Marsfolket were a brilliant bunch who knew how to shake up even the most wooden material. A little less than half of their repertoire was nevertheless original songs and they are every bit as rocking, grooving, funky and musically abundant as their borrowed material.

Björn Skifs is best known internationally for ”Hooked On A Feeling” which took his band Blue Suede to the top of the Billboard charts years before ABBA claimed the same spot. One thing that ”Marsfolket” proves is what a great singer Björn Skifs indeed was. He's unfortunately one of those singers born with an excellent voice that he – much like Tommy Körberg – habitually has wasted on uninteresting or plain stupid material. When he doesn't hold back, he's a truly gifted blue eyed soul vocalist. Geijerstam isn't too shabby either although his voice isn't quite as strong as Skifs's, but alternating between the two work just fine in this setting and adds a little extra variation.

My guess why Marsfolket was such a vibrant band is because they didn't have anything to prove. Knowing their time was limited already from the start meant they could let loose and simply enjoy themselves in each other's company without having to deliver absolute perfection as session musicians or big stage entertainers. That's what makes this album so delightful. Yes, that's exactly what this is – a delight!

Full album playlist

FINN ZETTERHOLM & KABARETORKESTERN – Längtans blåa elefant (YTF, 1977)

 Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Visa singer Finn Zetterholm is more interesting as a troublemaker than a musician, and this album is
mostly academically interesting for having Mikael Wiehe's Kabaréorkestern as a backing band. It guarantees some good musicianship, if nothing else. It does have a few decent moments apart from that though, especially when Zetterholm gets a bit closer to folk melodies, as on ”Sven i Rosengård anno 1977”, and the melancholy ”Fågelns visa” and ”Vaggvisa vid Ekofisk”. They also try for a more creepy atmosphere on ”Flickan som skrek” without really succeeding. But too many songs are just silly, and all in all, this isn't a very memorable album at all.

Näktergalen
Fridas klagan över snön 
Fången på Hall 
Flickan som skrek
Bröllopet i hönsgården
Sven i Rosengård anno 1977
Balladen om Sussie
Jimmy Carters Rag
Barnvisa
Vaggvisa vid Ekofisk
Sång till fars dag
Sång i lönearbetestakt eller Nyaste grottesången
Fågelns visa

PEPS PERSSON – Walking By Myself: Live At Fattighuset 1972 (Mellotronen, 2025; rec. 1972)

English vocals
International relevance: **

This is very strange. It was released through streaming sites only in early 2025 with the info that Mellotronen's behind it, but it's an unusually shoddy release coming from them. To begin with, it's short on info. What we know, or at least are told, is that was recorded at Club Fattighuset in Stockholm. But there are no musicians credits (although it sounds like Slim Notini on piano) and the recording year is uncertain. The ”cover” says 1972 (a date also given by long running Swedish blues magazine Jefferson on Facebook shortly before the release) but every streaming platform says it's from 1973. The ”cover” is as unimaginative as it gets and looks more like the work of some kitchen table bootlegger. The sound is in stereo; it's either an execeptionally good audience tape or a B+ soundboard recording. 

Being from the early 70s it's an all blues set but edited down to a six songs of a mere 25 minutes. What's interesting is that it only has songs not on any other Peps album, and being a good performance it's highly interesting to Peps fans. But if someone bothers to release it even in such a disappointing fashion, why cut it down to EP length, and why such careless presentation? Being of musical as well as great historical value, I wish whoever's responsible for this hack job would have paid more respect to the source material and Peps devotees.

Full EP playlist

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Samlade krafter (Avanti, 1978)

 
Featured artists: Mikael Wiehe & Kabaréorkestern / Herr T Och Hans Spelmän / Elektriska Linden / Pierre Ström & Kenneth Kvist / Björn Afzelius / Göteborgs Visgrupp 
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

A album recorded live in Stockholm Easter 1978 and released to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the formation of the youth organisation KU of the Swedish communist party VPK. Some high profile names here, most notably Hoola Bandoola Band ex-members Mikael Wiehe and Björn Afzelius, both represented with two tracks each. One of Afzelius's contributions is interesting as it's an acoustic cover of Nationalteatern's magnum opus ”Barn av vår tid”. But interesting doesn't necessarily mean good. The bare bones approach with only voice and guitar bereaves the song most of its original prowess. Afzelius's other track ”Nattlig visit” fares better as it's a folk styled number reminiscent of Bob Dylan's earliest narrative songs. I'm not an Afzelius fan but ”Nattlig visit” is actually good, clearly one of his best ever.

Mikael Wiehe's two tracks with his then backing band Kabaréorkestern are also at both ends of the quality spectrum. ”Kärlek, ömhet och disciplin” is bloody awful in a marching band style (and absurdly enough later released as the 'A' side of a 1980 Avanti single backed with Afzelius's ”Nattlig visit”). ”Högt till tak” is much better, unusually heavy for Wiehe and also instrumental with a persistent, groovy drive and a rich horn section almost moving into jazz territory at times. The guitar solo has a nice bite to it as well.

Elektriska Linden's sole album ”Torbjörns dansskola” isn't too impressive, but their sole track here – ”Ugglan far i natten” – is pretty vivid and raucous taking cues from both Nationalteatern and The Rolling Stones. ”Smeden” by long running folkish band Herr T Och Hans Spelmän is more typical to the style you could expect from an album like this, half decent for the style but still forgettable. The two tracks each by Göteborgs Visgrupp and singer/songwriter Pierre Ström on the other hand are exactly as bad as one might suspect.

”Samlade krafter” is too inconsistent but the good or at least decent tracks make this a little better than several other LPs in this vein.

Full album (poor sound)

DICE – Live 1977 (Belle Antique, 2013; rec. 1977)

Instrumental
International relevance: ***

Japanese archival label Belle Antique released three discs of archival Dice material. The recordings here were made for Swedish Radio on 11 May, 1977, and portions of the show were also included in ”Progglådan”. But this is the complete session.

Recorded between ”The Four Riders Of The Apocalypse” (one of the archival CDs) and their only proper album ”Dice”, ”Live 1977” falls somewhere inbetween stylistically. It's not quite as pompous as ”Four Riders”, more 'complex' or if you prefer 'unnecessary complicated” and thus not as focused as the following album.

I'm not sure it's actually a live recording because there's no audience – it sounds more like a studio session with the songs interspersed with interview bits. A distracting feature as the album would have run much smoother without the spoken parts. They should have been edited together to a bonus track instead. Still, a must to Dice fans.

Sjukdomen (from Progglådan)
Begäret (from Progglådan)

GRUS I DOJJAN – I klackbaren (Metronome, 1978)

Swedish vocals, other languages, instrumental
International relevance: -

Just another Grus I Dojjan album. The only thing that differs their later albums from the earlier is that the later ones are better recorded. Other than that, it's the same cheerful, good-timey folk/bluegrass fare as always. The skewed ”Tokfans polska” is a bit fun though with the deliberate off-key playing that will surely drive some people nuts.

But whar's Jeff Lynne doing in cover shot???

Full album playlist

MICHAEL, SALT & PEPPER – Live At Alexandra's (Blueberry, 1970) / THE BLOOM GREEN GROUP – Discoteque (Haparanda, 1971)

 English vocals, instrumental
International relevance: **

A largely insignificant group sounding a bit like a power horn rock version of Made In Sweden. Their first album was recorded live and is pretty vital if unnecessary consisting of all covers such as ”By The Time I Get To Phoenix”, ”Eleanor Rigby”, and a ”Hair” medley of ”Aquarius” and ”Let The Sunshine In”. I have to say though that their take on ”Try (Just A Little Bit Harder” is pretty powerful with some stinging solo guitar.

They re-emerged the following year under the moniker The Bloom Green Group, with some tracks from their debuted re-recorded in studio. The Made In Sweden vibe is stronger here, largely due to what might be Mats Westman from the first album – the album cover has no musicians listed. It does however have a massively cheap looking front that was changed for the digital reissue.

The group also had two 45s out and undertook a Mexican tour in 1971.

Live At Alexandra's full album playlist
Discoteque full album playlist