WILDMARKEN – Wildmarken (EMI, 1976) / Och nu på sjuttiotalet (EMI, 1977)

Wildmarken (EMI, 1976)
Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

I'll never understand what makes one album a sought-after rarity when a better album hardly attracts any interest at all. For example, why do people fork out tons of cash for crap like Epizootic, Shaggy and Asoka when they ignore albums like ”Wildmarken” that has just about all the features that make collectors go bonkers? 

While not 24 carat knock-out stuff, Wildmarken's heavy rock is well made with decent vocals and plenty of biting guitars, sometimes even with growling wah-wah. Only two ballads interrupt the heavy flow (”Guld” and ”En längtans dag”, the latter with a dash of Blue Öyster Cult) but it's tracks like ”Gitarr och dragharmonika”, ”Långt bort från stan” and ”Som en extra dag” that define the album. An LP ripe for discovery for those into the heavier side of progg.

Och nu på sjuttiotalet (EMI, 1977)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

Wildmarken's second album suggests they tried to move forward while adding even more power to their music. You can hear sax on the first track ”Han som var rädd för giftgasen”, and there's some discofied clavinet on ”Vinet är slut”. And sometimes they just take the easy boogie way out, as on ”Ida Petronella Lundström”.

While I appreciate Wildmarken's attempts not to make their debut album over again, it doesn't necessarily mean I think their attempts pay off that well (and whoever came up with the idea of having a flock of cavemen grunting background vocals certainly should have kept it to himself.) (And I hope the cover designer got fired). There is, however, one great track here, ”Vad vill dom”, that rounds off the album in a better way than it perhaps deserves.

 

Wildmarken full album playlist

Och nu på sjuttiotalet full album playlist