HELA HUSET SKAKAR – Complete releases 1978-1982

Hela Huset Skakar (”the whole house is shaking”) is one of the bands bridging progg and punk, with sentiments from progg and an energy similar to that of punk. (Sometime member guitarist Guld-Lars were also in one of the foremost Swedish punk bands KSMB.) They originated from Huddinge outside Stockholm, and shared the devil-may-care attitude with two confrontative Uppsala bands, progg pioneers Gudibrallan, and Rävjunkin their punkiest mode. Given Hela Huset Skakar's rhythm & blues stylings, I hazard a guess that the early Stones and Huset contemporaries such as The Count Bishops and Eddie & The Hot Rods also were among their main influences.

Ingenting blir bättre av sej själv/Mammas städskåp
(Sista Bussen, 7”, 1978)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

Hela Huset Skakar's vinyl debut came in 1978 with 7” ”Ingenting blir bättre av sig själv” coupled with ”Mammas städskåp” on the Sista Bussen label. The 'A' side a prime example of their revved-up R&B featuring rock'n'roll infused sax playing and abundant sloppiness that works in their favour. ”Mammas städskåp” is equally great, similar to what I imagine what it would sound like if Philemon Arthur & The Dung were in fact an electric band trying out Them's garage chestnut ”Gloria” and getting it all wrong. A statement debut!

 

Ner med gud/Spring undan borgare
(Sista Bussen, 7”, 1979)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

The 1979 follow-up 45 is even more frantic than its predecessor. On ”Ner med gud”, their abrasive R&B is pushed further into mayhem with singer Lennart Markebo going beautifully over the edge in his disdain for God and religion. ”Spring undan borgare” is a similarly spiteful, sax-fuelled assault on right-wing politics, with an amphetamine-soaked wah wah guitar bursting out loud at the very end of the track. This is a seven inch fire bomb in the face of suppressing authorities, both mental and social.

Moralisk upplösning
(Sista Bussen, 1980)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

Hela Huset Skakar's sole LP ”Moralisk upplösning” was recorded around Christmas 1979, with additional sessions in June 1980. Parts of it were recorded live, and it shares the sleazy cheap studio/basement feel with the preceding singles. All new material with the exception of a re-recording of ”Ingenting blir bättre av sej själv”. Most it is in the same vein as the first two 45s, but they stretch out a bit on a couple of more proggish and/or pseudo-psychy tracks. Side B is the winner, as side A has a couple of lagging tracks in a 'funny pastiches' kind of style. But like I said, most of it is high-octane to-the-point kerosene-spitting hard-to-resist rhythm & blues that no matter what was the band's foremost trademark and ultimate strength.

Hos Ultra
(Sista Bussen, MC, 1982)
Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: *

The final release to fit within the time frame of this blog is a cassette-only release recorded live at Ultrahuset, a legendary punk hangout where most punk bands (and quite a few others too) performed from 1980 to 1988 when the place closed. It was run by the legendary Tompa Eken who not only offered a stage for struggling underground bands, but also baked cinnamon buns for the bands and audience alike to enjoy. Those buns are as legendary as Ultrahuset and Tompa himself and a mandatory snack for anyone who visited Ultrahuset!

Hela Huset Skakar's performance on 14 March, 1982 isn't that great. While it retains their infamous energy, their repertoire was slowly developing in a not too successful way. As with several Swedish bands around this time, ska influences began to creep in through influential British 2-Tone bands like The Specials, The Selecter and early Madness. Some bands could deal with it without losing their impact, but in the case of Hela Huset Skakar, those influences didn't feel authentic enough to sit well with their original crunchy R&B sounds. Among the best tracks on this rough-sounding document are the final two. One is a cover of Lag & Ordning's ”Nynnat & sjungit”, while the other one is a sped-up by-the-throat assault on ”Summertime Blues”, much closer to Blue Cheer than Eddie Cochran.

Hela Huset Skakar contributed several exclusive tracks to a couple of various artists releases: three are found on the "302:an från Fullersta" LP in 1980, one on tape only release "Mediokra hjärnor" in 1982, and a further three 1982 live selections can be found on the "Ultra lever eller lajv" cassette. They released another live tape (recorded on several later Ultrahuset dates), one further 7” and the ”Lite till” 12” in 1984, all on Sista Bussen. There are also a handful of post 1982 recordings on other various artists comps. In 1995, a compilation CD simply entitled ”1978-1995” was released, and the band reappeared with a comeback album in 1997, ”Ännu mer”. They were also featured on Sista Bussen comp tape "Andlig spiz" in 1984. Interestingly enough, two Huset members – guitarist Christian Wigardt and drummer Håkan Persson – hosted the Swedish Radio show Ny våg (”new wave”, airing punk, new wave and art punk) in the late 70s and early 80s.

"Ingenting blir bättre av sej själv"
"Mammas städskåp"
"Ner med gud"
"Spring undan borgare"
Moralisk upplösning full album
Hos Ultra full album

THOMAS MUNCK – Parachute Man (Sonet, 1978)

English vocals

International relevance: - 

 

This is a massive turd, served on a mouldy plate. It doesn't actually belong here, wasn't it for ”Give Me Your Hand” and to some degree ”Got My Soul All Open” for their studio musician fringe progg shadings. ”Give Me Your Hand” isn't good but still the obvious standout track in this dubious collection, with its time signature changes and proggish guitar sound. ”Parachute Man” is mainly a pop album with some funk moves typical of its time. The pseudo funk is unfortunately so stiff and sexless that they make fucking Level 42 look like James Brown at his hard working sweatiest. Björn J:son Lindh appears on some tracks, as does Lasse Wellander on one. Have mercy on their souls. (For some bizarre reason, so does Chris Rea - of all people! - but he deserves being in this mess for his later activities as an air waves polluter.)

In 1978, the same year that saw the release of this provocatively disgusting clunker, Thomas Munck – a singer as terrible as he is a songwriter – appeared in the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest with ”Nå't som gör dig glad”, meaning ”something that makes you happy”. The voting jury was less than happy though, with each jury member rewarding the song with the lowest possible points. But that's more than I give ”Parachute Man”.

(Please note that I never once called the album "Parashite Man" in this review.)

Full album playlist

STEFAN DAAGARSSON – Strömkarl i elransoneringstider (Forsaljud, 1976)

 
Swedish vocals
International grading: *

Stefan Daagarsson is quite an illustrious character. His career began in 1966 with pop band The Snippers which was followed by the advent of Charlie & The Others in 1967. The following year, major publishing company Bonniers published his first novel ”...är att berätta allt”, followed by another Bonniers book in 1969. In 1970, Daagarsson set up his own publishing company named Inferi through which all his subsequent books were released up until 1984. Inferi was also the name of the cultural magazine he ran up until 1979. Daagarsson was also the very first to publish poetry by Ulf Lundell who later became one of Sweden's most succesful writers and rock artists. For a couple of years, Swedish Television hired Daagarsson as a playwright. He's also a painter with several exhibitions under his belt. In 1984, he re-invented himself as Rotebergs-Raggarn, a fictious humurous character who had some success with both 45s and albums up until the early 90s. Simply put, Daagarson is a Jack of all trades.

”Strömkarl i elransoneringstider” is the only album under his birthname, and was released by Hudiksvall area label Forsaljud in 1976, a fairly active label responsible for both progg and non-progg discs including fusion band Berits Halsband sole LP and both albums by folk outfit Agö Fyr. ”Strömkarl i elransoneringstider” blends 'humurous' pastiches, typical Swedish troubadour styles and folk inspired numbers with lyrics with a sort-of-poetic flair. He obviously inhabits some talent but the album's disappointing with only very few decent moments, such as opening track ”Pigan” which alludes to Swedish folk songs in style as well as lyrical content. Daagarsson isn't much of a singer either, with a rugged, unmelodic phrasing and a lacklustre, slightly squeaky voice. In its best moments, ”Strömkarl i elransoneringstider” comes off as a 'C' grade version of Kjell Höglund who had a much better grasp of pastiches and lyrical vitality, and at worst, as an untalented parody of troubadour par excellence Cornelis Vreeswijk.

Spelmansminne

KENNETH THORSTENSSON – Ack Värmland... (Oktober, 1976)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Hyper-leftist label Oktober, home to Fria Proteatern and other similar nincompoops as well as being responsible for a number of unlistenable fistwaving various artists compilations, released Kenneth Thorstensson's only album. As a singer, his talents are limited – to put it politely. He sings in the Värmland dialect with an annoying vocal style that's oddly shouty with a monotonous kind of timbre. He's backed by musicans from Södra Bergens Balalaikor and Opponer which imemediately gives away that the music is in a sort of folky style. Some songs have a cabaret touch which doesn't help its case. Most songs are Thorstensson penned, either entirely or in collaboration with others, but he borrows a traditional song as well as defaming John Fogerty with ”Vi gir aldri åpp”, an embarrasing translation of Creedence Clearwater Revival's ”Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”. Hearing it, I'd rather ask ”Have You Ever Felt the Pain?” because this is seriously painful to endure. Hopefully you haven't.

When Thorstensson turns to yodeling on side 2, I just fall down dead with shame on his behalf.

Thorstensson later founded (the better) Arvika Gammeldansorkester.

A curious footnote: Robert Aschberg took some of the pictures used for the album cover. Aschberg later
became known as a provocative talk show host and is still known as an outspoken media personality. In the 70's, he was involved in the leftist circuits. Later he explained it was because they had the prettiest girls.

Full album playlist

LASSE ENGLUND – Drakväder (Alternativ, 1974)

Instrumental
International relevance: **

Lasse Englund's first album, and the first of two released on Kjell Höglund's Alternativ label (the second one being ”Den andra depressionen” released three years later). His technical skills were already firmly in place this early on in his solo career, but as opposed to the previously reviewed ”Lila och orange”, here they are backed up by real substance. The songs are mostly instrumental; the only vocals heard are hummed harmonies on a couple of tracks. The well-composed pieces have an occasional Swedish folk feel, but really owe a lot more to English and Scottish folk music, with Englund even slipping in a short passage from ”She Moved Through the Fair” Davy Graham style to the intro of ”Benke Plankton”. However, Englund's style at this point was assumingly mostly influenced by John Renbourn. The tabla and hand drums work on multiple tracks wouldn't have been out of place on Renbourn albums such as ”A Maid in Bedlam”. But with that one being released in 1977 – who influenced who? I'm sure Renbourn must have known about this Swedish picker and was probably rather impressed by his chops.

Englund's playing is fluent, inspired and fun, and further help from other players including multitalent Kjell Westling makes ”Drakväder” a very appealing and often very beautiful listen. Especially if you're into the folk baroque guitar stylings of Graham, Renbourn, and Bert Jansch in his least bluesy moments. ”Drakväder” is indeed Englund's finest hour as a solo artist. The cover art is nice too, with an elaborate private pressing feel. Better yet: The album can still be found fairly cheap.

Fiskmåsen
Drakväder

TILLSAMMANS - Tillsammans (Kompass, 1976)

 Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

Not to be confused with GregFitzPatrick's Handgjort offshoot of the same name, this seven-piece was a Christian outfit that featured Tomas Ernvik on bass and guitar. Suffering from several wimpy ballads, it still has a fair share of progressive and not-quite-symphonic folk rock moves. The playing is consistently good throughout (including some semi-heavy guitar) and the songwriting is above average, especially if you close your ears during the more overt, sugarcoated "Jesus is a nice bloke" songs. Oddly enough, I sense a wee bit of Paul McCartney and his mid 70's Wings here and there.

"Hela mitt liv" opens side B and has a slight renaissance air which nicely compliments the tasteful almost-folk harmonies. Tillsammans retain the faint folkishness on "Undran i vår tid" and on the mournful "Människor", the latter being the best track here. These three tracks help making the second side stronger than side 1.

Despite the reputation Tomas Ernvik earned through Vatten, the album can still be found fairly cheap. It's not a masterpiece by any stretch, often too much on the well-meaning side of things, but some nice guitar passages and a couple of listenable enough tracks, it's certainly better than the standard Swedish Xian albums that appeared in droves in the 70's.

"Hela mitt liv"
"Kom till mig"

SCALA-TEATERNS ENSEMBLE - Hår (Sonet, 1968)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: **

Originally an off-Broadway production in 1967, musical "Hair" eventually became a Broadway blockbuster, spawning multiple domestic versions in numerous countries of the free world. The Swedish staging was performed at the Scala theatre in Stockholm 1968, the very same year it moved to the proper Broadway stages (thus being the very first musical to make that particular move).

Appallingly subtitled "American Hippie-Yippie Love-In Musical", the musical backing was provided by Baby Grandmothers in their later Mecki Mark Men incarnation, although the album was technically credited to Scala-Teaterns Ensemble. The inclusion of Kenny Håkansson, Mecki Bodemark et al is the only thing to make this release historically interesting, but it has to be said that it's impossible to tell the identity of the band just by listening to the LP. While they conjure up some appropriate groove when needed, any fairly talented group of musicians could have achieved the same thing. The focus is on the singers, but the male and female vocals are maddening, with the female vocals being especially grating. After all, it is a musical, and musicals are an inherently grating abuse of music, like a watered-down version of the operetta which is a watered-down version of the opera which is annoying to begin with.

Those expecting anything along the lines of Baby Grandmothers' "Somebody Keeps Calling My Name" or the Jimi Hendrix impersonations of Mecki Mark Men are up for a major disappointment. "Hår" is just another provincial below average take on a silly musical parodying starry-eyed hippies. Which too was annoying to begin with...

The album was also released by Sonet in collaboration with shampoo and conditioner manufacturer Sunsilk (what else!) with a different sleeve (see below), also in 1968.

Full album playlist

GRUPPKORSBANDET - Hör och häpna (no label, 1976)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

The liner notes read:

This isn't an ordinary record. We're neither skilled nor commercial - you have to be that to get an album released by an established label. That's why we've made this record ourselves. /.../ We can't allow the music being taken over completely by a flock of professional musicians while the rest of us hardly dare play to ourselves, let alone to others. MUSIC BELONGS TO ALL OF US!

How cute. Too bad it's all progg baloney. It sounds just like something those nine members of Gruppkorsbandet had repeated like a mantra to get it right like a quote from Mao's little red book, probably in front of the mirror so that they could strike the perfect progg pose while parroting the tired old progg credo to any old person unlucky enough to be around to hear. It's all nonsense, because nobody stopped anyone from playing anything. Not even in the 70's.

Take a look at the cover. The typeface looks like something off an information brochure from the official Don't Have Fun Institute saying Eat Brown Rice And Be Boring. Look at the nine regular people and their regular people postures. Look at the dull, washed out greyness of it all. Take the record out, put it on. It sounds exactly like you'd expect from the yummy-yummy brown rice munchers with regular people postures pictured in forty shades of grey. Nothing wrong with regular people or brown rice or even the colour grey, but hey...

It's all acoustic folk styled songs with a typical political bent (needless to say, there's an Eisler/Brecht track, mandatory to albums like this). Several members sing simultaneously, Vietnam-solidarity-action-group-with-righteous-placards style. If you want to sing along yourself, a lyric sheet is included. Just yell away.

And, the final nail in the coffin of a stillborn album: a Fria Proteatern cover.

Music belongs to everybody. Fine and dandy, but please keep me out of this.

No links found.

DORIS - Did You Give The World Some Love Today Baby? (Odeon, 1970)

English vocals
International relevance: **

This album sometimes get lumped in with progg, but it's not really a progg album. "Did You Give the World Some Love Today Baby" may have been released in 1970, but it's still mid to late 60's sunlit pop with sprinkles of light groove and easy listening jazz. Doris Svensson is a fine singer with a distinctive voice with mildly rough edges that fits her style nicely, but progg it is not. Except with one spectacular exception: the eerie "You Never Come Closer". 

Hands down the standout track in this collection, it was featured on an British acid jazz comp in the 90's which brought new attention to the original Odeon album (which, of course, skyrocketed in value) and provoked the demand for a CD reissue in 1996, expanded with neglectable singles tracks by Doris's previous pop outfit Plums.

"You Never Come Closer" is a cool-beyond-belief track, later reworked by its composer and noted jazz pianist Bernt Egerbladh for the soundtrack to Swedish 70's television drama thriller series "Ärliga blå ögon" ("honest blue eyes"). Worth mentioning is that horror painter and sometime cover art designer Hans Arnold did the short but wonderful intro sequence of the series. The soundtrack recording was sung by James Hollingworth, released as a 45 in 1977, the same year the TV series became a mandatory watch to hoardes of Swedish viewers. (I've added a link to the intro at the end of this review for you to compare Doris original track to the reworked soundtrack variant.)

The title track of "Did You Give the World Some Love Today Baby" is a nice enough easy listening tinged pop track, but the next best tracks after "You Never Come Closer" are "Don't" and "Beatmaker", both utilizing a charming flower sprinkled groove in a mild funky fashion. But they never come closer to perfection than "You Never Come Closer" does...

A classic album for whatever reason, but still overrated to my ears. And not progg.

Full album playlist
Opening sequence to "Ärliga blå ögon"
James Hollingworth soundtrack 45

NEW CREATION - Sing Out My Soul (Hemmets Härold, 1970)

English vocals
International relevance: **

Little did I know that one day, a Pelle Karlsson album would get high up on my 'must hear' list.

Some background info:

Pelle Karlsson was an unbelievably popular Christian singer in Sweden in the mid 70's. His popularity reached far beyond the religious circuit when he had a smash hit of unexpected magnitude with his version of Elvis Presley's "There Goes My Everything", transformed into a song of religious praise and devotion as "Han är min sång och min glädje". In 1973 and the years to come, he was everywhere, doing television performances and getting frequent radio plays like any secular artist. The album sold in impressive amounts, but Karlsson was a reluctant star. As a matter of fact, he hesitated to even record it, thinking he should go all in as a pastor, preaching to his likeminded on the Pentecoastal Church scene. But fate -- or God if that's your inclination -- obviously had other plans for him.

Which means that now, as the era of Jesus music as we know it is long gone, you see his breakthrough album in every flea market and charity shop all over Sweden. There are in fact so many of them that you'd be honestly surprised if you walk into a junk shop with only five crappy albums on offer and Karlsson's album isn't one of them. This in turn has led to a peculiar cult among crate diggers with a particular sense of humour: When you find the album (lovingly nicknamed "Pelle's green one" due to the cover art's background colour) in a charity shop, front the album, i.e. put each copy you find in the very front of each record crate. Thus you can easily tell if a 'fronter' has been there before you.

There's even a short radio documentary (in Swedish) made about the album itself and the odd phenomenon it later initiated.

I doubt that very few people too young to have experienced Pellemania partaking in this tongue-in-cheek cult has even heard the album. And most of us who indeed are old enough usually try to ignore that we did. Not that Pelle Karlsson was a bad singer. True he wasn't the most pitch-perfect singer ever, and true his vibrato might be just a little bit over-developed, but he was in possession of a sonorous voice with a wee bit of Elvis in it. It's just that the whole thing has become a standing joke and, well, you just don't listen to his albums. That's 'albums', in plural, because he released several before retreating to congregational activities which is still his primary occupation.

So, Pelle Karlsson is not someone you put on your want list.

But -

As the third volume of compilation series "Who Will Buy These Wonderful Evils" was released in the mid 00's, "He Is There" by New Creation featured on the album rose to admiration. All for a good reason -- "He Is There" is simply one of the most impressive psych tracks to emerge out of Sweden, ever. I know for a fact that my jaw wasn't the only to drop with a loud 'thud' when I heard it for the first time. My jaw was seriously disjointed once I learnt that the singer in this obscure band was one Per-Olof "Pelle" Karlsson.

I've been on the hunt for the album from which it - "Sing Out My Soul" was taken from ever since. People have found it in charity shops for next to nothing, but I'm not one of them. It's kept eluding me, slowly turning into a fixation: I'VE GOT TO HEAR IT! I was expecting heaven (after all, chances were somehow good for that...) but was prepared to be disappointed (because most Christian albums are crap, especially if they're Swedish). No way the album as a whole could possibly match the stunning grandeur of the doomy organ-laced "He Is There" with a fuzz guitar solo to knock buildings into dust.

And so, thanks to a friend of this blog, the album finally came my way. The waiting was over. The kingdom of the Lord was at hand.

But let's be frank: "He Is There" is in a league of its own. No other track here comes even close in mood, intensity and characteristics. The second best track is "I Surrender All", with surges of wah wah and soulful vocals. It's also notable for its blatant theft from Pugh Rogefeldt's "Här kommer natten" released on Pugh's groundbreaking debut album "Ja dä ä dä" a year earlier -- check that guitar line at the end!

The remainder of "Sing Out My Soul" ranges from the passable to the s. Among the better of the lesser songs is the title track, a relaxed blues gospel with some more Elvis inspired singing from Karlsson to a nice laidback beat. "Amen" is the old familiar song popularized by Curtis Mayfield-led Impressions in the early 60's, here in a version with psychedelic aspirations but not as developed as it should have been to really make a memorable impression. "I Know A Place" is a heartfelt ballad that too could have pushed it further but is held back by the somewhat restrained group effort. "Calvary" in turn is a surprising Christianization of "Yesterday" (yes, The Beatles song) and counts among the LP's weaker tracks.

The whole album has an appealing garage-like sound and several good intentions but it's generally kept down by the unnecessarily cautious band supporting him. My overall impression is that "Sing Out My Soul" is a missed opportunity. It could have been so much better had it been a little bit more in your face. It's better than any of Karlsson's solo albums but it lacks the final push to make it great. If you find it cheap, it's worth a go for "He Is There" and the rather nice album cover, but don't expect too much of the rest.

New Creation had another album out on Prim Records in 1971, "Jerusalem", this time with Swedish lyrics, plus another one (also in Swedish) credited to Pelle Karlsson in 1972, "Till alla" on the Signatur imprint. The latter one is mostly remembered for the title track that features some comically unskilled sitar playing.

Full album playlist

THOMAS ALMQVIST - The Journey (Mistlur, 1980)

 Instrumental

Iinternational relevance: **

Thomas Almqvist's second solo effort is an altogether different beast to his debut "Nyanser" released a year earlier. Gone are (most of) the tranquil new age styled relaxation pieces for acoustic guitars, and in its place, more complex and fusion invoked workouts with a full band on several of the cuts. The title of the opening number "L.A. Exit" suggests the same studio gloss of L.A. Express's stockbroker fusion as the the music itself. While some tracks are still acoustic, they too reveal a change in aesthetics. Although I'd never listen to fusion unless I had this blog or was threatened by blunt force to my head (perhaps not even then), I can still distinguish good fusion from bad fusion, and this falls heavy in the latter category.

At least "Nyanser" had its qualities as unintrusive and faceless background music perfect for watering your plants or wiping the dust you've put of wiping off the shelves for far too long already, but this is just plain boring. 

Full album playlist

STARDUST INTERNATIONAL & TAYFUN - Stardust International & Tayfun (Hendrix Music Production, 1973)

English vocals, other languages
International relevance: *

I've been dilly-dallying forever whether to include this album here or not until finally deciding to go for it. After all, it has many enough credentials to at least put it in the fringe progg category, including trumpeter Jan Allan's affiliations with people like Hawkey Franzén, Merit Hemmingson et al, and session bassist Mike Watson who played on too many progg albums to even start counting.

Tayfun Karatekin had several singles released in his native Turkey when he arrived in Sweden to record this one, rare (highly sought-after by some) and lavishly produced album with touches of horn rock, funk, jazz, asphalt soul. First album by American lesbian rights band Isis sometimes leaps to mind. Tayfun himself is a powerful singer, with a rich baryton voice that at times has a striking resemblance to 60's Scott Walker. It must have been tempting to Tayfun to oversing with a distinctive and forceful voice like that, but thankfully he sticks to his guns and avoid going Tom Jones all over the music. I like his voice and I think it keeps the songs fresh even when the material itself is only so-so and the arrangements tend to become a bit bloated with brass, choir, and woodwinds. The strings on "It Didn't Do You Good", supplied by Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, works pretty well in this context though. There's also some really wild fuzz guitar unexpectedly bursting loose on "Mercedes Bus" and "I'll Never Find Another You".

I can't really recommend "Stardust International & Tayfun" to a progg fan, but I do think it has other qualities that comes through the bombast. It's definitely a product of its time, simply because they don't make albums like this anymore. Although I'm fully aware the album won't sit that well with a lot of readers of this blog, I'm also a sucker for good singers musical enough to hold a tune why I actually found it rather enjoyable.

Full album playlist

VAD TUSAN SOMHÄLST - Sista skriket (VTS, 1978)

 Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

A scarce private pressing but also one of very limited interest. The moody and primitive cover art and the basement fidelity might trigger one to believe this could be a bleak hard rock album, but anyone nurturing any such expectations will be painfully disappointed. Vad Tusan Somhälst came from Luleå just like Rekyl and Anton Svedbergs Swängjäng, and their songs have that certain matter-of-fact feel typical to bands hailing from the Northern Sweden. However, Vad Tusan Somhälst (a deliberately misspelt name meaning roughly "just whatever") suffered from underdeveloped songwriting skills often manifesting themselves in pseudo-cabaret styled songs that sounds clumsy and silly. But had the songs been any good, chances are that this five-piece would have messed them up anyway due to their lack of instrumental skills, as proven by the only track here showing some potential, "Bluesen i din kropp". Vad Tusan Somhälst sound like an underrehearsed school band without the charm.

I don't have much to say about "Sista skriket", it's simply a bad record with few if any redeeming qualities. It doesn't turn up that often, and I've really no idea how much the estimated value might be. Not that it matters, because if you pay for it all, you pay too much compared to what you actually get.

No links found.

MADS VINDING GROUP - Danish Design (Sonet, 1974)

Instrumental
International relevance: ***

 

It's albums like this that makes me question my vocation. Why do I do this? How far am I willing to go with this blog? Is it really just a karmic punishment for mistakingly killing a squirrel in a previous life by sitting on it thinking it was a small cushion? Am I a bad person? Is it only right that I suffer?

For a long time, I've put off writing about "Danish Design". Yeah, you've already figured out why. It's Danish. The title already says so.

Or so I tried to convince myself, ignoring the cold, hard facts. And they are as follows: The album is recorded in Sweden. It's produced by a Swede, Rune Öfwerman. Engineered by another Swede, Lasse Gustavsson. All musicians except Mads Vinding himself are Swedish (he's, you know, Danish). Sabu Martinez, percussion. Ola Brunkert, drums. Jan Schaffer, guitar. Keyboards, they're played by Kjell Öhman -- very Swedish. Released by Sonet Records? Ah yes, a Swedish label.

You see where this is going, don't you?

I can run, but I can't hide. It's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it. Tough shit it had to be me.

[insert inappropriate word referring to sexual intercourse]

Let's put it this way: This album is so boring, so relentlessly tedious that I consider playing Coste Apetrea's "Nyspolat" seven times in a row while breathing inside a very small plastic bag.

This is fusion at its worst. Soulless. Impotent. Clinical. There's more life in a lab grown bacterial culture than on this album.

I hate the album cover too.

Full album playlist

FUNCTION – Play It Maestro (Prim, 1979)

English vocals

International relevance: **

Function gets an A for ambition and execution, but they also score high on the 'so boring it hurts' scale. They were a Christian band on the Prim label, run by the Swedish Pentecostal Movement , and ”Play It Maestro” also had a U.S. release in 1982 on Lamb & Lion Productions. The music is of the most dreaded kind, inbetween AOR, prog rock and fusion. Competent for sure, but that's certainly not an end in itself. Whatever redeeming qualities the use of violin brings to the table, the cheesy jazz rock synths quickly pollutes them to a toxic degree. Vocalist Lars Ludwingson doesn't make it any better either, sounding just like you can expect from somebody having every bit of real soul crippled by a cocksure and annoyingly stubborn faith. A mind uniform that's too tight to let your head breathe properly with different ideas.

The only track even remotely agreeable here is "Unborn Child", but that would have been much better if performed by Pink Floyd. Mind you, I think Pink Floyd is the longest valium party that ever happened and happened and happened and happened and happened and happened and happened and happened and happened and... So thinking they would do anything better is hardly a compliment.

Quite honestly, I can't see how even the most hardcore Christian could bear listening to these suffocatingly boring 43 minutes all through. Play it, maestro? No, please, don't.

Full album playlist (Spotify)

STEFAN MELLBERG – Pieces Of My Mind (SMR, 1978)

English vocals
International relevance: **

Late-to-the-party singer/songwriter Stefan Mellberg's only album, housed in a sleeve with a nice private pressing vibe. Unfortunately, the cover art writes cheques that the songs can't cash. While Mellberg is capable of a couple of decent tracks, i.e. ”Amelia – Where Is the Sun?” and ”Well, That's the Way” (the latter with a slight Leonard Cohen bent), most of ”Pieces of My Mind” is rather unengaging soft rock. On a couple of occassions, Mellberg tries to change the pace with a bit of jazz, reggae and good old rock'n'roll. It falls flat however, especially on album closer ”Dream Lover”, the particularly bad faux reggae track. The sound is quite good for a private release (SMR = Stefan Mellberg Records), and the otherwise unknown backing musicians are OK, but Mellberg's vocals have an frustrating, uninterested feel. Maybe he was struggling with the English language too much? Not that his efforts are very convincing... Mellberg's voice has a slight touch of Ola Håkansson's (of Ola & The Janglers) and I figure he had a musical taste firmly rooted in the 60's judging by the melodic traits.

It's certainly better than other more embarrasing examples of artistically bankrupt nobodies in the singer/songwriter vein, but 'not inept to the point of insulting' just isn't enough. It's not a very expensive album and it shouldn't be either. As a matter of fact, it's hardly even worth the $10 people usually ask for it.

Full album (Spotify)

BEFORE PROGG - A SPECIAL FEATURE ON SWEDISH 60'S POP, ROCK & PSYCH

It is of course very convenient declaring the two Gärdet festivals the starting point of Swedish progg, but as with any 'movement', progg is the result of what came before it. There's not one thing that appears completely out of the blue with no ties to the history. Besides, claims of the Gärdet festivals as the real beginning of progg exclude bands such as Hansson & Karlsson and Baby Grandmothers from the equation which needless to say is plain revisionism. But the roots of progg go deeper and further back than that too. Several prominent and important characters of progg or, if you will, 'the music movement', were in bands long before progg was a thinkable concept. Therefore, and despite the 1967-1982 scope of this blog, I think it's time to go back a bit in history and shed some light on what went on in Sweden in the 60's.

I don't think anyone actually ever counted how many active bands there were between 1962 and 1968, but likely several hundreds. Some of them hit big while others had just a single or two released, while others in turn never rose above the amateur level playing to friends and rehearsing in their parents' garages and basements. Needless to say, it's impossible to mention even a fraction of all those bands here, why this is merely a small overview of some of the domestically better known bands. Bands familiar to Swedes but not necessarily to anyone outside our borders.

Just a linguistic note before plunging ahead: Swedish 60's bands rarely used the grammatical article 'the' in their names. It's ”Namelosers”, not ”The Namelosers”; ”Mascots”, not ”The Mascots”. While it may appear inadequate to English speakers, and although exceptions exist, I've decided to keep in line with the original and most common band name procedure.

As in most Western countries, the impact of The Beatles were massive on the Swedish youth. Through pirate radio stations such as Radio Syd ('Radio South') and Radio Nord ('Radio North'), and through national broadcasting radio show Tio i topp ('Top ten'), the new melodic sounds from the UK reached our domestic listeners. A pop band craze took on swiftly, although those new amateur bands from all over the country were called twist bands early on. A wimpy name but truth be told: many of the bands were pretty wimpy sounding anyway. Some started out even before The Beatles broke big, but The Beatles and, to a not negligible extent, also The Rolling Stones and The Who had a huge impact on the majority of the Swedish beat groups.

TAGES

With limited knowledge of the English language (including some truly awkward pronounciation) and a not necessarily natural penchant for songwriting, many of those bands relied on covers of UK bands and American rhythm & blues standards, but some creatively fortunate bands featured good songwriters and above-average skills. Most notably Gothenburg's Tages (pronounced 'tah-gehs', not 'taygs'). After a weak start with a couple of less than impressive 45's, they got the chance to record and release an impressive amount of five LP's before disbanding (or rather evolving into Blond who also had one full length disc out, in 1969). Tages won a battle of the bands contest early on and became known as ”The Beatles of the Swedish West coast”. Soon freeing up a considerable amount of songwriting skills and a genuine sense of creative studio work, their last two albums are exceptional for a Swedish 60's band. Both ”Contrast” (featuring the psychedelic workout "Fuzzy Patterns") and especially their final album ”Studio” are landmark efforts of very elaborate pop psych. Add to that their final singles among which "Fantasy Island" is a beautiful example of how far the band would go before the saga ended.

Tages featured one Göran Lagerberg on bass, who later became a stahlwart on the progg scene, generously sharing his abilities with bands such as Kebnekajse, Fläsket Brinner, Jason's Fleece and Egba. He was also an oft-hired studio musician why his name can be found on albums by Joakim Skogsberg, Sam Ellison, Bernt Staf, Pugh Rogefeldt, Bo Hansson and the likes.

MASCOTS

The decidedly second best Beatles influenced beat group was Mascots. As with Tages, Mascots had an excellent flair for short, catchy pop tunes appropriate for the 7” format. They did however release two full length discs, the eponymous debut album in 1965, and ”Ellpee” the following year. Their best track by far was however first issued on a flexi disc that came free to subscribers to the premier Swedish pop magazine Bildjournalen (the song later released on a proper 7"): ”Words Enough to Tell You” is where Mascots let all their melodic expertise shine the brightest. It even beats Tages in their own game, with lush harmony vocals and an absolutely irresistable melody line moving in perfect ways somewhere between The Beatles and The Hollies. It's no wonder that ”Words Enough to Tell You” has found its way to several various artists comps over the years, both nationally and abroad. It certainly deserves it.

It's a sad fact that a burgeoning interest in politics brought Mascots to their demise. The band evolved into the unfathomably abysmal political band/theatre ensemble/general break-every-record-with-their-name-on-it-inspiring Fria Proteatern. What an utter waste of almost unrivalled pop sensibilities!

SHANES

Predating both Tages and Mascots were Shanes. They first tried their luck as an instro band in the Ventures vein in 1963, but as pop mania spread like a wildfire across the nation, the Western twang of their very earliest 45's changed in favour of a more typical beat group sound. When they went for a rougher, more garage or freakbeat inspired style, as on the pounding and hard-driving ”I Don't Want Your Love”, and when they at the very end of their career moved a step or two towards pop psych as on the very nice Yardbirds influenced ”Faces, Faces”, it really worked in their favour. That said, their shamelessly poppy ”Chris Craft No. 9” is a prime example of Swedish 60's beat. Shanes compilations exist but tend to focus on their most familiar hits and not necessarily on their most worthwhile tracks why it's a pretty frustrating task approaching the band's output. You need to sit through a fair amount of crap to save the nuggets.

OLA & THE JANGLERS

The same can be said about Ola & The Janglers. A graphic diagram of the quality of their output would look conspicuously similar to an ECG curve. Their bad songs were really bad and their good songs were really good. At their rawest they were a rather convincing garage rock band, and their stabs at psychedelia – most notably the Eastern-tinged track ”No One Knows What Happens Round the Corner” – were credible enough. Their good stuff would fill an LP length compilation, but a good one doesn't exist, only a couple focusing on their hits, including pointless Johnny-come-lately covers of Del Shannon's ”Runaway” and Chris Montez's ”Let's Dance”. I wish compilers would cast off the demon of nostalgia and go for the truly good stuff instead. There's one pretty great album hidden in Ola & The Janglers' ouvre but that has yet to see the light of day.

One of the Janglers' most prominent members, Claes af Geijerstam, recorded one underrated popsikey album in 1970, ”Out of My Hair”. The Ola of the bunch, Håkansson, went on to fame and fortune with bands like Secret Service who scored big with their single ”Oh Susie” in the 80's. He also became an influential music business honcho.

LEE KINGS

Lee Kings' output is relatively slim. Apart from a slew of singles it consists of one and a half LP only (the half one being shared with the forgettable band The Sunspots which contribute three tracks). Lee Kings were obviously sensitive to the changing times, constantly trying to come up with a song that would sit particularly well with the adolescent record buyers. You can easily say their vision, if ever they had one, was shaped by the whims of Tio i topp. That said, they did put out some memorable tracks, especially when psychedelia was slowly becoming the new worldwide fad. From Lee Kings' last year in existence, 1967, it's well worth lending an ear to ”Coming from the Ground” (backed by a surprisingly rowdy and fuzz fuelled "Day Tripper") and the highly endearing "The Trees Are Talking".

Singer Lenne Broberg later scored a brontosaurus sized hit with ”Mälarö kyrka”, a soft sounding predecessor of sorts to Contact's ”Fyrvaktarens dotter” and something of a 'guilty pleasure' of mine.

STEAMPACKET

Steampacket, a.k.a. Steampacket II, a.k.a. The Longboatmen were also stylistic grasshoppers, even more so than Lee Kings. Their eight 45's present a wide array of styles, from the moody balladry of ”Bara ett par dar” to the fiery freakbeat of ”Take Her Any Time”, with stops at psychedelia, country music and straightforward pop along the way. But with the great Rolf Scherrer and the exceptionally talented Mikael Ramel (both vocals and guitar) in the band, they were well equipped to dabble in whatever they felt like. Their complete recordings were released on the print-on-demand CD ”The Singles and More 1965-68” in 2015, and although it's far from stylistically lucid there's certainly not much to object to as far as quality goes. Having already mentioned Scherrer and Ramel, it's obvious why Steampacket are crucial to the pre-history of progg. Scherer was an early member of Kebnekajse and can also be heard on several Bo Hansson albums. And Mikael Ramel – well, he's Mikael Ramel, i.e. a genius solo artist of ”Till dej” et al fame, plus a one-time member of Fläsket Brinner.

So what about their multiple band names? Well, in Sweden they were called Steampacket II for their first three singles to avoid being confused with Rod Stewart's band Steampacket. For the same reason, ”Take Her Anytime” was released in the UK as The Longboatmen. Later they were domestically known simply as Steampacket.

SHAKERS

Say what you will of Tommy Rander – later to become main leftwing fundamentalist operator on Gothenburg's progg scene and eventually the nemesis and relentless decapitator of progg's unkempt creativity, and recently taking an unnerving turn towards ideas sampled from the extreme rightwing (after all, politics aren't a linear scale but a circle where the extreme right and the extreme left are much closer neighbours than a lot of people have the guts to admit) – but he indeed had a strong vision of what Shakers were supposed to be. More precisely a snotty Rolling Stones/Pretty Things styled, abrasive rhythm & blues band. If you don't mind his fonetical gibberish (English in Rander's mind) on early tracks and only slightly bettered in time for the band's final releases, you have quite a few highlights to discover. Shakers were also one of the earliest and most eager condoners of psychedelia, as evident on excellent numbers such as ”Who Will Buy (These Wonderful Evils)” and ”Tracks Remain”. All their recordings are decidedly rough-hewn which is a welcome change of pace after delving into the discographies of the more polite sounding bands. And if you pretend there's no Rander involvement whatsoever, it gets even better...

NAMELOSERS

In terms of rawness, Malmö's Namelosers gave Shakers a run for their money. Few Swedish 60's singles rock as hard and brutal as Namelosers' throat-grabbing rendition of ”Land of a 1000 Dances”. Of all the recorded versions of that old chestnut, Namelosers' version is hands down among the top 3. I mean, seriously, that fuzz guitar can simply melt concrete walls! It's hard to fathom the fact it was recorded and released in Sweden as early as 1965 when fuzz boxes were a brand new thing only just heard on Rolling Stones and Beatles records. Namelosers were truly in with the in-crowd.

Founded already in 1962 as Tony Lee & The Fenders, they soon changed their name to The Beatchers. As such they released their debut EP in late 1964 with Gary U.S. Bonds cover ”New Orleans” as the lead track. A Gothenburg band called The Beachers, without a 'T' in the middle, wasn't too happy having another similarly named band around, and threatened The Beatchers, with a 'T' in the middle, with a lawsuit. The now nameless band needed to come up with something catchy to call themselves, and a name contest was arranged by pirate radio station Radio Syd. I've no idea what other listener suggestions there might have been, but whoever came up with Namelosers (with an obvious reference to the recent Beachers debacle) won... ”New Orleans” was hastily reissued (on a new label) with the substituted band name on the cover. The name mess proved advantageous however, bringing a fair amount of attention to the band, and the song went straight to No. 3 on the Tio i topp chart. Fans were frantic, causing havoc at Namelosers shows, and the band quickly earned a bad boys reputation, Rolling Stones style. Restaurants wouldn't let them in because of their long hair and scruffy looks. (Those were the days...) To further nurture their hoodlum image, they told Bildjournalen that one of their favourite pastimes was to go to Malmö's local dump and shoot rats. Probably nothing more than a publicity stunt, although their best singles indeed sound as if they could kill a diversity of rodents...

Namelosers released a total of fourteen tracks from 1964 to December 1965. One further song appeared on a Bildjournalen flexi disc in 1966, the storming ”Do-Ao”. For some odd reason, the impossible-to-overrate ”Land of a 1000 Dances” failed to enter Tio i topp. Taken by surprise and hugely disappointed, Namelosers called it quits shortly after. In 1989, rare records shop and record label Got To Hurry issued a compilation of Namelosers complete studio recordings. Still possible to locate in used condition, a reissue is nevertheless long overdue.

ANNAABEE-NOX

In the small but loud legion of more garage infused bands you can't ignore the curiously spelled Annaabee-Nox. As with Shakers, no label trusted them with an album contract. Seven singles and a track on a Bildjournalen flexi disc are all that officially remain from their 1965-1968 lifespan. A rare surviving live tape confirms what people lucky enough to have seen them in concert have said ever since: they were one wild stage act. Not all of their studio recordings retain that same high level fervor, but you really don't want to mess with ”I'm Not Talking” and ”Bo Bo Boggie Pack” [sic!] if you love your mother. If you love your wife/husband and yourself, you don't want to pay the prices for the original 45's either – if they ever appear in playable condition that is. Thankfully, their complete discography received the compilation treatment in 2014 by Allatiders Skivhandel, and it's also easily obtainable in digital format courtesy of Parlophone.

LEA RIDERS GROUP

Of all 60's bands, Lea Riders Group is probably the one that most notably bridges the 60's and the progg era. They were also one of the most technically mature rock bands Sweden spawned during the entire decade. Led by Hawkey Franzén and featuring Slim Borgudd and Bosse Häggström, they were the embryo of Made In Sweden. Without Jojje Wadenius, the jazz elements were a lot fewer, although you could still hear jazz strains in their best known track ”Dom kallar oss mods” (the leitmotif from Stefan Jarl's [semi-]documentary of the same name). Without a doubt the band's high point, with wild screeching guitars, frenetic staccato vocals dissolving into stoned and paranoid groans, drums pounding out a disintegrating beat that is hazy and hard as rebar at the same time, a full frontal psychedelic assault leaving only smoke and dead bodies behind. A lot of people are familiar with it from being famously included on ”Pebbles Volume 3” (and subsequently on other comps as well). A track like that obviously raises the expectations for Lea Riders Group's other outpourings, but they might leave you disappointed at first. Which is not to say that the rest of their material is bad. Not at all. On the contrary, a lot of it is hard-boiled, thick-skinned, jailhouse badass rhythm & blues of international stature with all the chops needed to pull it off with brilliant precision. Just not from the same mould as ”Dom kallar oss mods”.

For an annoyingly long time, Lea Riders Group's recordings were just about impossible to find. Swedish label Garageland Records tried to rectify that in the late 80's when they released a vinyl comp, later reissued on CD as ”The Forgotten Generation”. However, the Garageland CD is best forgotten too as the sound is so dull and hissy that I suspect the tracks were taken from a fourth or fifth generation cassette dub. That hack job was thoroughly pushed into the depths of redundancy when Universal (for once!) did a good thing and released the collected singles on a Record Store Day LP in 2018. Although losing the bonuses from the Garageland CD (all of them live recordings and/or rehearsals in dubious fidelity from what I recall) and not including the additional instrumental tracks from the soundtrack to Jarl's movie, Universal's ”The Singles 1966-68” is absolutely essential from any perspective.

FRIENDS

When Garageland put out the unsatisfactory ”Forgotten Generation” CD, they concurrently reissued two other titles from their back catalogue, one by Panthers, and one by the rather peculiar band Friends. The Panthers release is best ignored altogether, but the Friends CD ”Talkin' 'bout Us” is well worthy of attention. At least to some. They're probably a band in the 'love it or hate it' category, all depending on what you think of Anders Peedú's vocals which admittedly is an acquired taste. The pronounciation heard on the early Shakers singles is Queen's English compared to the sometimes indecipherable syllables coming out of Peedú's mouth. But if that doesn't bother you (and I've learnt not to let it bother me although it took some time and persistance), then Friends were a rather remarkable group who despised the commonly overt Beatles and Stones influences. Their take on rhythm & blues was quite frankly unique among Swedish bands. ”It Ain't Necessarily So” and ”Empty Handed”, both taken from Friends' 1965 debut 45, are as raw as any of the American garage bands, untrained to the nth degree but nevertheless consistent and chock-full of self-assured and cocky attitude bordering on the nihilistic. Despite all Friends' obvious shortcomings (like having a twelve year old drummer, but so did Ornette Coleman), the three singles released during their short lifetime as a band are some rather exceptional stuff. The Garageland album fleshes out the short playing time those singles make for with some previously unreleased tapes which add nicely to the dizzying experience.

Although having Karusell, a major label with a thorough experience of bringing fame to their acts, backing them, nothing could catapult Friends to the commercially viable level of Tages, Mascots and Shanes. An appearance on the biggest (actually, only) TV talk show Hylands hörna generated gigs but no impressive record sales. Friends' fan base was largely made up of outcasts and mods from Stockholm's underground circuits, people often sharing the hard-living Friends' destructive lifestyle of drugs and alcohol. Years after the demise of the band – it was all over in 1966 – two of the members died from substance abuse. A unique band with an ever so inspiring integrity, but with a tragic story attached to it.

HEP STARS

I've not yet mentioned the biggest act of all: Hep Stars. Still heralded among a lot of people, I refuse to believe their position in people's minds is anything but pure nostalgia. Because man, did they suck! The only thing worthy of acknowledgement is their smash hit cover of Vince Taylor's ”Cadillac” which remains a stone cold classic. Albumwise, the only remotely amusing thing they did was the undeniably frantic live document ”On Stage” where they rush through their repertoire at breakneck speed in front of hysterical teenage girls. It's not a good album by any stretch, but yeah, it is remotely amusing. Hep Stars member Benny Andersson later became a mega star with ABBA.

COMPILATIONS

There are several shortcuts to the Swedish 60's if you don't want to take the long and often disappointing road to it. For a general overview there are two vastly different editions of ”Stora popboxen”. The first one leans towards the poppier side, while the second edition is more towards the rhythm & blues sounds. Both of them are a bit much to chew for the average listener, why I'd rather recommend the almost flawless one disc comp ”Searching for Shakes”. Originally released on vinyl by Amigo Records in the mid 80's, the CD reissue is graciously expanded with meticulously chosen tracks in the same garage/freakbeat vein as the original album. Some of the songs I've specifically mentioned above are featured on this five star compendium of Sweden's rawest sounds from the 60's. A similarly styled 2 CD set was fairly recently put together by UK's RPM Records, entitled ”Svenska Shakers”, accurately subtitled "R&B crunchers, Mod grooves, Freakbeat and Psych-pop from Sweden 1964-1968". There's some overlap with ”Searching for Shakes”, but the RPM release has several hard-to-find nuggets not on the Amigo artefact and vice versa, so if you like one of them, chances are you'll want the other one as well. The RPM set looks pretty nice too.

There are several minor acts that released utterly mindblowing one-off singles that are very rare and seldom comped. The six-volume series ”Who Will Buy These Wonderful Evils” does a brilliant job bringing several more psychedelic sides together. Well-known bands such as Tages, Shanes, Ola & The Janglers and Mascots rub shoulders with more obscure acts like The Outsiders ("On My Magic Carpet" is a killer track!), T-Boones (featuring a very young Kenny Håkansson, as on the devastating "I Want You"), the garage punk of The Other Side's "Out My Light", the brilliant Members Blues Band (whose ”P.S. Elic” is quite possibly the trippiest single ever released in Sweden), New Creation (Christian outfit whose ”He Is There” is a jawdropping slice of proto-progressive late night psych), The Junk's & The Angels, Älgarna etc etc etc. Reaching into the 70's, the ”Who Will Buy These Wonderful Evils” volumes are mandatory to readers of this blog. I'm not sure of their current availability but I assure you it's worth some effort to track them down, the first four volumes in particular.