English and Swedish vocals
International relevance: ***
Sometimes regarded as a continuation of
Telefon Paisa (or if you prefer, Sogmusobil). Truth is that only two
of the members had previously been in Telefon Paisa: Johnny
Mowinckel, and the ever so illustrious character Einar Heckscher.
There are also only a few musical similarities between the two bands,
with Levande Livet being far more skilled than Telefon Paisa and
their pathologically untogether, albeit strangely attractive, freak
jams.
”Strömmens pärla” is all over the
place, stylistically. They move from the scruffy blues of ”Bellman”
and album opener ”Mänskolivet”, through some sort of jazz in
”Samma samba”, to a kind of singer/songwriter rock in ”Out of This Mess” and the slightly psychy
”Fri idrott”. The high points of the album however are the two
final tracks, ”Hr. Drever & hr. Ströver” and ”Strömmens
pärla”. The first one is the album's shortest track, but long
enough to get into a stoned groove. (No wonder, since the band was
excessively into a variety of stimulants...) The title track on the
other hand is the longest piece, a loud, gritty workout with a
prominent horn section including jazz trumpeter Maffy Falay – later
of Sevda fame – blows it out, and some loudmouthed wah wah guitar.
It's a pity that the vocals are too low
in the mix. Well, some might appreciate that they're are barely
audible at times, as Einar Heckscher admittedly isn't the greatest
singer in the world. He has a gruff, gravelly voice that sometimes
hit the notes and sometimes not. I for one actually like his ”who
gives a shit anyway” style of singing, but I know that some people
find it brutally off-putting.
”Strömmens pärla” is by no means
a masterpiece, but I'm quite fond of their dirty sound. Fans of
Gudibrallan and Love Explosion will likely groove hard to it if you can find a copy. It's among the rarest LP's on the Silence label.
Those who want more Levande Livet in
their lives ought to check out the recently released 40 CD box
set ”Progglådan” which features a live recording, also from 1973
and made for Swedish Radio broadcasting corporation. Slightly heavier
and noisier, that recording is a fine complement to their lone studio
album.
Almost all of the members went on to
other glories after Levande Livet disbanded. Gunnar Bergsten later
brought his saxophone to Bo Hansson, Mikael Ramel and Xtra sessions.
He had previously been in avant jazzers G.L. Unit, as well as in
Fläsket Brinner and, along with Maffy Falay, in the aforementioned
Sevda. Hans Berggren turned up many years later in an obscure band
called Happy Boys Band who managed to release one single only in
1980. Bass player Lars Bergström and guitar slinger Tommy Broman
eventually teamed up with the infamous Tom Zacharias on his
equally infamous ”Belinda” albums. Broman also recorded one solo
album for the YTF label in 1976. Peter Smoliansky is the son of
renowned jazz singer Nannie Porres, and founded garage rhythm &
blues band Rost in the late 70's before joining highly successful
rock act Eldkvarn for several years in the 80's and early 90's. He
plays darbouka on ”Strömmens pärla”, as he prior to that also
did with Anita Livstrand. Einar Heckscher became a noted translator
of predominantly American underground literature, and he's also the
brother of Social Democrat Sten Heckscher who during several years
was head Police Commissioner in Sweden.
Full album playlist
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