The seeds to Contact were sown in the
early 60's when Ted Ström and some friends formed Ruperts in Lidingö
outside of Stockholm. As Ström later attended art school Konstfack,
he met drummer Leif Reinholds and they started cover band Hårbandet
which became the first rock combo to perform at the Konstfack parties
where jazz had been the preferred music up until then. They changed
their name to Yellow & Blues (playing in a John Mayall influenced
style) and Grand Canyon (backing a young and then still unknown Peps
Persson, and The Scaffold featuring Paul McCartney's brother Mike
McGear) before settling for Contact in 1968. Their line-up changed a
few times during their original 70's period.
A Fairy Tale / Convul'sions (7”, MNW,
1969)
International relevance: ***
English vocals
Contact's first release was this much
likeable 45 on MNW. They hadn't yet developed the folk rock sound
they're known for, but ”A Fairy Tale” does have a faint folk
touch to it. The real knockout however is the 'B' side.
”Convul'sions” is a hard and primitive track reminiscent of
Scorpion (with Contact collaborator Bo Anders Larsson) and the
heavier side of The Troggs, with a persistent caveman beat and
featuring an unexpected saxophone solo courtesy of Björn Holmsten.
Bassist Thomas Larsson was replaced by Lorne de Wolfe after this
release.
Nobody Wants to Be Sixteen (MNW, 1970)
International relevance: ***
English vocals
Produced by American svengali Kim
Fowley, Contact's album debut was intended for an international
launch that never happened. It's clearly the work of a band looking
for an identity, restlessly searching among 60's pop, psychedelia and
folk pop – probably due to Fowley's well documented flair for interferring with the artists's material. (”He changed basically every one of our songs and arrangements,” Ted Ström reveals when asked about the collaboration.) Thus, it's unfair to compare it to Contact's later albums as it
sounds like a completely different band (or rather Kim Fowley), but it's actually my
favourite album bearing Contact's name. The songs are really good, with Ted Ström's
”Wounds”, Fowley's ”How Was Your Summer”, and ”Conquest of
a Red Rose” by the band's other songwriter Ted Steerling on
top. (An observation: Steerling's ”Visions of Apple” almost
sounds like a Big Star ballad before Big Star even existed.) I like
the trying and sort of underproduced feel of the entire album. It's a
delightful but underappreciated little record, which was brought out
of its relative obscurity when reissued on Record Store Day vinyl in
2016 – including the rare pre-album 45 as a separate bonus
7”.
The ”Sixteen” sessions also
produced an entire Kim Fowley album with Contact backing him up, released by MNW in 1970,
entitled ”The Day the Earth Stood Still”. The sound is similar
but Fowley's album is more in his typical exploitation rock style.
Hon kom över mon (MNW, 1971)
International relevance: ***
Swedish vocals
There's a bit of chronological
confusion as regards the Contact discography. The 45 ”Jag är lite
ledsen ikväll” was actually recorded three months before ”Nobody
Wants to Be Sixteen”, with the famous ”Hon kom över mon” on
the flipside, a year before the album of the same name was released.
Recorded with traditional folk group Skäggmanslaget, ”Hon kom över
mon” instigated the latter day notion of Contact as an out and out
folk rock outfit. Which they weren't and which becomes evident once
you listen to an entire album by them. ”Hon kom över mon” was
indeed written to emulate a traditional song, and there are other
tracks on the album with a folk ambience, but some of the selections
are much closer to rock, such as ”Fisken”, ”Nattens drottning”,
”Vargarnas natt” (that almost sounds like a Nynningen track).
The
album is a bit uneven and it would have been nice to have had the
fine ”Jag är lite ledsen ikväll” instead of, for example,
”Samma vindar, samma dofter” which despite being a classic
Contact song would have fitted Blå Tåget a lot better with its fake
jazz touch provided by violin and clarinet. But make no mistake, this is a
good album that was awarded with a Swedish Grammy for best group
effort of the year, in competition with NJA-gruppen and Fläsket
Brinner.
Utmarker (Polydor, 1972)
International relevance: ***
Swedish vocals
Contact left MNW and signed with
Polydor for what came to be the band's last album, something that caused an outrage within the music movement, not unlike what happened to Turid when she left MNW to join Metronome. Ted Ström remembers:
- I tell you, it caused one heck of an outcry. For instance, we were put on trial before a 'public court' with people from Silence and some others too... 'Public court' was irony. Silence might have been out fishing for us when we left MNW. But the meeting was probably more about some obscure principles...
”Utmarker” kicks off with one of the greatest progg tracks ever, ”Fyrvaktarns dotter”, again in a folk inspired vein but even better than the famous ”Hon kom över mon”. The track was also released as a single with the brilliant non-album track ”Fly mig en sommar” on the 'B' side. With a major label budget to back them up, they made a bigger sounding album without losing their integrity. ”Utmarker” is a better album overall than ”Hon kom över mon”, with more distinctive songwriting from Ström, Steerling and de Wolfe alike.
- I tell you, it caused one heck of an outcry. For instance, we were put on trial before a 'public court' with people from Silence and some others too... 'Public court' was irony. Silence might have been out fishing for us when we left MNW. But the meeting was probably more about some obscure principles...
”Utmarker” kicks off with one of the greatest progg tracks ever, ”Fyrvaktarns dotter”, again in a folk inspired vein but even better than the famous ”Hon kom över mon”. The track was also released as a single with the brilliant non-album track ”Fly mig en sommar” on the 'B' side. With a major label budget to back them up, they made a bigger sounding album without losing their integrity. ”Utmarker” is a better album overall than ”Hon kom över mon”, with more distinctive songwriting from Ström, Steerling and de Wolfe alike.
Compilation ”Samma vindar, samma
dofter” is a 'best of' CD that picks most of the best tracks from
Contact's last two albums, adding ”Jag är lite lessen ikväll”
and ”Fly mig en sommar”, unfortunately not in chronological
order. It also features a 2004 track by the reformed Contact. They
have reunited several times over the years, and is performing again
in 2018 with a line-up including two of Ted Ström's sons. A couple of 1970/71 Contact radio recordings can be heard in ”Progglådan”.
After Contact, Ted Ström went on to
play with Norrbottens Järn before embarking on a solo career. He's also a highly skilled watercolour painter. Lorne de Wolfe formed Vargen that later developed into successful band Hansson de Wolfe United.
Special thanks to Ted Ström.
Nobody Wants to Be Sixteen full album playlist
Special thanks to Ted Ström.
Nobody Wants to Be Sixteen full album playlist
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