English/Swedish vocals
International relevance: ***
Information on Mr. Brown is hard to
come by. What is well known however is that they released a privately
pressed symphonic progg album held in high regard among collectors of
the genre. The album cover is one of the weirdest in the entire progg
genre and suits the curious title well, which in full reads ”Mellan
tre ögon med Mr Brown” (”Between three eyes with Mr Brown”).
The obvious point of reference is Pink
Floyd - ”Dark Side of the Moon” and ”Wish You Were Here” in
particular - with nice folksy touches in a Jethro Tull vein. The Tull
influence is particularly clear when the flute enters the otherwise
piano oriented sound, as in ”Kharma 74” and the only proper track
sung in Swedish, ”Liv i stad utan liv”. There are also
pseudo-classical moves, mandatory to an album in this ilk. But Mr.
Brown never falls into the pretentious traps. They keep it low-key
and the emphasis is on highly lovable melodies and a lush, clean
sound. Considering this is a private pressing, the album is even more
impressive. The production is appealing and with all the beautifully
crafted melodies, it should attract even the toughest symph skeptic.
Three of the tracks are entirely
instrumental, and it is these that reveals the Jethro Tull leanings
the most. Mr. Brown often take a simple, melancholic melody and
build a whole song around it.
”Resan till Ixtlan”, named after
Carlos Castaneda's book, even hints at Leonard Cohen's ”Bird on a
Wire” wrapped in that semi-classical robe so elegantly worn by the
band.
The most curious track is the album
closer, ”I'll Arise”, which puts all symphonic aspirations aside
in favour of what can best be described as a Lou Reed pastiche! It's
not far removed from the style Reed adapted in the years from the
Velvet Undergrounds third LP up to his first solo album. A suprising
ending to an oddly addictive and overall excellent album!
Rumour has it that Mr. Brown reformed a
couple of years ago for live gigs but skipped the style of their sole
album altogether to play only 60's covers. A weird move it seems when
you hear what kind of original quality material this seven piece was
churning out on ”Mellan tre ögon”. One Anders Giselsson stated
on progg.se that members Anders Nilsson (keyboard) and Håkan
Andersson (guitar, mandolin, vocals) were still writing songs
together as late as 2005.
Four of the original band members have
been affiliated with other progg acts over the years, such as the
obscure Östan Sol Västan Måne, Bluesblocket, Blå Schäfer, and
the strange ”anti-progg progg” rightwing singer/songwriter
Carl-Anders Dexter, none of them anywhere near Mr. Brown in neither
style nor brilliance.
Full album
No comments:
Post a Comment