Sunday, December 16, 2018

JOHN-ERIK AXELSSON – Barn (G-Produktion, 1971)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

”Spår”, the second album from this singer/songwriter, is a numbing act of inprofiency where Axelsson stumbles around in his catastrophes disguised as 'songs' like a drunken elk trying to avoid an electric fence. Surprisingly enough, this – his debut – is better (although I'm uncomfortable using the word 'good' in any form when talking about Axelsson). At least it sounds as if the backing musicians have some notion of what's happening. They even manage to get some groove going on ”Jag vill” (that curiously enough sounds a bit like the old soul nugget ”The Snake”, brought to perfection by Al Wilson in 1969).

But, then there's Axelsson himself. His lyrics are unbelievably lousy and sung with too much self-esteem. The effect is tragicomic as often the case when incompetent performers overrate themselves to the point of megalomania. Because no matter if the backing musicians are within the spectrum of adequacy, they can't conceal that John-Erik Axelsson is so lost in overestimating his own abilities.

While ”Barn” isn't quite as cringeworthy as ”Spår”, it's still a genuinely terrible album where you constantly sit anticipating in horror the next lyric like ”I went to a party last Wednesday and I met a woman with fat fingers” (from ”Kvinnor”, ”Women”) will jump out of the speakers to smack you straight in the face like a Mach 3 rotten plum bizzarely appearing out of nowhere.
 

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