LOTUS – Lotus (SMA, 1974)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Following the demise of Malmö based Asoka who released a very rare and sought after album in 1971, guitarist Robert Larsson and keyboardist Claes Ericsson went on to form Lotus, abandoning the heavy rock of their former band in favour of an all instrumental straight up progressive sound.

”Lotus” is a less organ oriented album than one would expect, the emphasis being on the guitars which are sometimes heavy, sometimes lyrical and melodic, as in the case of the quirky ”At El-Yago 9-3”, and of album highlight, the Zappa-esque ”Zero”. However, Ericsson gets his chance to show off his skills in ”Ungersk dans”, suggesting Dave Stewart of Arzachel/Egg was a major inspiration of his.

There's no doubt about Lotus being a very tight unit, pulling off every track with an effortless grandeur. But while their collective chops may be alluring to some – quite a few even, judging by a couple of reissues prompted by the price tags usually attached to copies of the original pressing – the cleverness and aptitude soon get boring to anyone not merely into applauding their well rehearsed efficiency. Still ”Lotus” is a far more listenable effort than their second album, the fusion permeated and impossibly overbearing ”Vera O'Flera” released by a different line-up in 1976.

"Lotus" was released on CD with bonus tracks in 2002.

Full album with bonus tracks

GYCKLARNAS AFTON – Gycklarnas afton (Gycklarnas Afton, 1980)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Fans and collectors of obscure soft fusion should take note of this one-off local release from Gamleby six-piece Gycklarnas Afton, named after Ingmar Bergman's 1953 movie classic (known to the English speaking world as ”Sawdust and Tinsel”. The nine tracks of their sole, eponymous album are fluent and well executed, especially considering it's a private release.

”Orientalic” should appeal to prog fans with a couple of passages akin to classic early period Van der Graaf Generator, thanks to saxophonist Per Gustafsson and keyboard player Villy Karlsson, whereas ”Gräsklipparn i Högsby” (”the lawnmower of Högsby" – where do they get these titles from? Högsby, obviously) sees guitarist Erik Berg in a Jojje Wadenius/Made In Sweden mood.

Casual listeners might find the album pleasant, although possibly a bit unexciting.

Remaining members were the three Schmoranz brothers Lasse (bass), Olle (percussion), and Per (drums). The latter went on to join new wave band Ruinens Brant who had a mini album out along with two 45's in the early 80's.

Orientalic

ARBETE & FRITID – Ur spår (MNW, 1975)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

”Ur spår” is a different beast to the Arbete & Fritid albums preceding it, not only as far as the music itself goes, but also in terms of line-up. Drummer Bengt Berger and multi-instrumentalist Kjell Westling had left before the release of their third album ”Arbete & Fritid” in 1973, with the equally brilliant Bosse Skoglund taking Berger's place, and Tord Bengtsson filling the void caused by Westling leaving. For ”Ur spår”, Arbete & Fritid were augmented by Thomas Mera Gartz on fiddle, recently graduated from Träd, Gräs & Stenar.

Released in 1975, the album was recorded live in concert at Ludvika Music Forum in March 1974, and reveals an aspect of Arbete & Fritid rarely documented on record. Consisting of one continuous piece split between the two sides of the album, it emphasizes the jazz element of the band's music, allowing their improvisational chops to come through clearly. There's no other album in Arbete & Fritid's ouvre quite like this one. Like I've said elsewhere, they never made a bad album, but it's a pity that this particular, slightly more uninhibited side of the band is so under-represented in their output.

Often overlooked in favour of their first three albums, ”Ur spår” remains one of Arbete & Fritid's most underrated efforts, successfully bridging the gap (if there ever really was a gap) between them and Träd, Gräs & Stenar. Not only that, towards the end of side 'B', they beat Träd, Gräs & Stenar in their own drone groove game.

 

The cover art, courtesy of brilliant visual artist Channa Bankier, reflects the music perfectly, layered with the evocative mystique of the dark forest and the ambiguous pledge of the setting sun lighting up the imposing clouds. In short, all the inherent strengths of Arbete & Fritid here demonstrated to great effect, albeit in slightly different way than usual.

Thanks to Roland Keijser for kindly letting me use Johan Källgren's pictures from the actual "Ur spår" gig. 

Ur spår (side one)
Ur spår (side two)

PANTA REI – Panta Rei (Harvest, 1973)

English vocals

International relevance: ***

If you regard the city of Uppsala (situated some 60 kilometers north of Stockholm) from a certain angle, it looks very much like a 70's progg epicentre. For instance, Uppsala had one of the first and most important music forums. The music forums were non-profit associations crucial to the progg movement, arranging concerts and generally inspiring people to come together and do their own thing regardless of – and opposed to – any commercial aesthetics.

Out of the fertile Uppsala soil grew one of the most influential progg bands of all times, Samla Mammas Manna. Founded as early as 1969, the Samlas appeared at the second Gärdet festival in 1970 alongside stellar acts such as Träd, Gräs & Stenar and Fläsket Brinner. The Samlas may be the best known Uppsala band but they were far from being the only one. Panta Rei was another.

When Panta Rei released their eponymous album in 1973, for many years their only release whatsoever, they had been together for around three years. Now highly regarded, the album failed to make any significant impression upon its release. Sales were poor – was it the fact that Panta Rei had scored a deal with major label Harvest that turned people away from them in a time when MNW and Silence had already established the do-it-yourself ethos preferred by the many proggsters?

Sometimes categorized as symphonic rock, sometimes as jazz rock (two former members of monstruous free jazz act G.L. Unit were hired specifically for the album sessions), ”Panta Rei” is in fact much too varied to pinpoint stylistically. Often good, it doesn't quite live up to its reputation. Side 'A' fares better than side 'B', with three well composed tracks with enough melodic sensibilitues to ensure a rewarding listening experience. ”Five Steps” is a jubilant way to open the album, followed by lush album highlight ”White Bells”, richly ornate with flute and acoustic guitar and quite similar in mood to UK band Traffic. The heavier ”Five O'Clock Freak” on the other hand points to both Hendrix and Soft Machine as well as Austria's Krokodil and ”Weasels Ripped My Flesh” era Mothers of Invention.

Side two is more problematic. ”The Knight” is way too ambitious for its own good, with Panta Rei unable to combine the many song segments to a cohesive unit, ending up with a sprawling, overlong mess. ”The Knight” would certainly have benefitted from a more thoughtful disposition. Oriental flavoured ”The Turk” is better, rounding the album off in playful mood, somewhat akin to city mates Samla Mammas Manna.

Despite its shortcomings, it's easy to why the album has become such a sought-after collectors item. It has more going for it than sheer scarcity. Panta Rei were a skilled bunch with a flair for combining inspirations drawn from credible sources into something original.

In 1974, the band changed their name to Allting Flyter (Swedish for ”panta rei”), and after disbanding, drummer Tomo Wihma who joined Kontinuerlig Drift who released one rarely seen album, while bass player Zeke Öhrn played with Arbete & Fritid for a short while.

In 2012, the Mellotronen label unearthed a couple of 1973 live recordings and released them on ”The Naked Truth”. One of several Panta Rei sessions made for the Swedish radio show Tonkraft appeared in 2013 as part of the massive 40CD box set ”Progglådan”. Recently, singer Georg Trolin initiated Panta Rei 2.0, releasing the album ”Last Ticket to Heaven” in 2016.

Full album

GRACE – Blind (Manifest, 1981)

Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: **

Luleå based six-piece Grace had been around for five years when Manifest released their sole album in 1981. Although somewhat symphonic, song structures and guitar riffs display an obvious heavy metal influence. However, ”Blind” is a mainly keyboard driven album which does nothing to hide its 1981 recording date. Grace is occasionally reminiscent of 80's generation pomp rockers Tribute, but sometimes come off like a fourth-rate lightweight AOR version of Kaipa. While not a Christian album per se, it still has a kind of Jesus metal vibe to it. It's low on original characteristics, and bass player Bernt Ek's bland vocals certainly doesn't help saving ”Blind” from being an effort best neglected.

Ek and drummer Janne Lundberg went on to form the exceedingly dreadful Wildliw which released a couple of 45's in the years to come before changing their name to Bedlam. Organ player Mikael Junell ended up in Drift, while keyboardist Henrik Thall joined Grave whose self-released 7” ”Screaming From The Grave” is now highly sought after by metal collectors.

Full album playlist

A VARIOUS ARTISTS SPECIAL: 4 POLITICAL COMPILATIONS

Just like one might expect, there's a slew of various artists albums released during the progg years. Some of them are regional releases covering a local scene such as ”Bygg ett eget musikforum”, a double album including several lesser known Uppsala bands plus an exclusive track by Samla Mammas Manna. Others in turn document specific events, such as ”Alternativ festival”, released by MNW in 1975 consisting of live recordings from Alternativfestivalen held as a protest manifestation against the commercially oriented Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm 1975 following Abba's ”Waterloo” victory in Brighton the previous year. And there's of course the famous 2LP set commemorating the Gärdet festival that many consider the starting point of the entire progg movement.

There's also a fair share of charity styled albums produced to bring attention to certain causes and raise funds to help for instance striking labourers. These albums are of an undeniable historical value, artefacts to remind us of a particular events and moments in time. However, few of them are fun to listen to for other than strictly academical reasons. More often than not, they're bogged down by political fundamentalism and tiresome sloganeering. Even if you sympathize with the core sentiment of the leftwing world view expressed in the lyrics, they soon get overbearing, rendering many of the albums straight up unlistenable. I consider them being of limited interest even to foreign listeners unfamiliar with the Swedish language, due to the often low quality music. That said, they're still part of the progg movement and thus clearly within the scope of this blog, why I've decided to present some of them here as the first in a series of brief overviews.

 ARBETARKAMPEN OCH AVTALSRÖRELSEN (Arbetarkultur, 1974)

Featured artists: Finn Zetterholm / Narren / Jan Hammarlund / Klasskamraterna / 

Oktober / Marie Selander / Knutna Nävar

Swedish vocals, other languages

International relevance: *

Publishing house Arbetarkultur was run by Swedish communist party SKP, but had several record releases out during the 70's from artists such as Maria Hörnelius, Röda Kapellet and Unga Gardet. ”Arbetarkampen och avtalsrörelsen” (”the labourers' struggle and the round of wage negotiations”) has catalogue no. AKLP01 and was recorded live at the Labourer's convention in early 1974. Far left stalwarts Knutna Nävar make a contribution with ”Det är något konstigt med friheten”, while singer/songwriter Jan Hammarlund, one of the first to openly declare being gay and a fierce mouthpiece of the Swedish gay rights movement, appears with three tracks. The album closer speaks for the album's sentiment, a full cast performance of ”The Internationale”.

HÖR MASKINERNAS SÅNG (Proletärkultur, 1973)

Featured artists: Knutna Nävar / Maria Hörnelius / Boråspionjärerna / Wiveka Warenfalk / Fred Åkerström / Röda Ropet / Röd Morgon / KPML(r):s Blåsorkester
Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

 

”Hör maskinernas sång” (”hear the singing of the machines”) is similar to ”Arbetarkampen och avtalsrörelsen” only more hardboiled left-wing, being released by Proletärkultur, the label affiliated with communist party KPLM(r). Of course, KPML(r) figureheads Knutna Nävar appear on the album providing two tracks, plus backing Maria Hörnelius up on ”Den trojanska hästen”. Also featured is renowned singer Fred Åkerström. The album is recorded during KPML(r)'s federation day meeting in 1973 and each song is followed by the unproportionally loud Soviet Union styled audience roar. ”Hör maskinernas sång”– appropriately rounded off with yet another version of "The Internationale" – is the perfect album for anyone who wishes to poke fun at the sometimes over-zealous Swedish leftist engagement in the 70's.

LÅT ALMARNA LEVA (Metronome, 1971)

Featured artists: Cornelis Vreeswijk / Bernt Staf / Fred Åkerström / Tage Lidén

Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: *

The album was recorded in May 1971 in Kungsträdgården, Stockholm in conjunction with the massive protests against the felling of elm trees that were 100 years old to make way for a new subway station. It was a battle of political inclinations, but the real struggle took place between the ordinary protesters and the police. Thousands of people participated in the protests and many of them took turns occupying the area day and night to prevent the trees from being cut down. The trees themselves were occupied to stop the chainsaws and several people were hurt during the week-long clashes, but the protesters won and the elm trees are still there as a much loved symbol of the power of the right to protest. 

Various bands and artists supported the protesters, such as Envoys who, with vocal backing from Charlie & Esdor (of Gärdet festival fame), released a benefit 45 "Almarna åt folket”, a cover of ”Power to the People” with John Lennon's original lyrics translated into a war cry in defense of the preservation of the elm trees. Other noted singer/songwriter artists appeared in Kungsträdgården during the protests, including Cornelis Vreeswijk, Bernt Staf and Fred Åkerström, all appearing on ”Låt almarna leva” (”let the elm trees live”), released on the major record label, Metronome. Short speeches and interviews with the protesters and supporters are interspersed between the tracks, providing the recording with a pronounced documentary feel and the album is highly valuable time capsule of those events. Musically speaking, it's one of the most consistent albums in this post, but it's doubtful it would make much sense to non-Swedish listeners without necessary insight into the historical events which took place all those years ago.

STÖD DE STREJKANDE HAMNARBETARNA (Proletärkultur, 1974)

Featured artists: Thomas Ellerås / Harald ”Bagarn” Andersson / Knutna Nävar / Anja Svederborg / Fred Åkerström / Mats Lundälv / Sven Wollter / Röda Ropet / Dan Berglund

Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: * 

Another typical Proletärkultur release, similar to ”Hör maskinernas sång” above with some of its artists re-appearing here; Knutna Nävar, Fred Åkerström and Röda Ropet, along with several other KPML(r) sympathizers including Knutna Nävar member and later to be famous actor Sven Wollter, and singer/songwriter Dan Berglund, performing one of his best known song "De mördades fria republik" in his typical world-weary voice. (Berglund later left the KPML(r) party and came to dismiss the political engagement of his youth.) The title reads ”support the striking dockers” and there's nothing that can be said about the album that the title doesn't give away immediately. All acoustic pamphlet songs, performed in a typical overwrought ”engaged” fashion. Recorded live at Marx-Engels-huset, "house of Marx-Engels". Go figure.

from Arbetarrörelsen och avtalsrörelsen

Marie Selander - Maskinernas sång

from Hör maskinernas sång

Knutna Nävar - Hör maskinernas sång

Maria Hörnelius & Knutna Nävar - Den trojanska hästen 

Boråspionjärerna - Arbetarmarseljäsen 

Boråspionjärerna - Albaniensång

Wiveka Warenfalk - En proletärmoders vaggvisa

Fred Åkerström - Den trettionde i första -72
Fred Åkerström - Mordet i katedralen 

Röda Ropet & Knutna Nävar - Sång om fjortonde maj

from Stöd de strejkande hamnarbetarna

Knutna Nävar - Balladen om Olsson 

Sven Wollter - Riksdagsvisa 

Dan Berglund - Visa till SAP 

Dan Berglund - De mördades fria republik

SOGMUSOBIL – Telefon (Gump, 1971)

Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: ***

Sogmusobil were one of the first generation progg bands along with Träd, Gräs & Stenar, Fläsket Brinner and Samla Mammas Manna, starting out as a six-piece curiously known as Telefon Paisa. Einar Heckscher, wild man poet and founding member told the Arkivet podcast/website that they got the name Telefon Paisa ”from the idea that if every person in the world had a telephone and some pocket money for the call there would be peace on Earth (paisa is a subdivision of the Indian rupee where a paisa equals 1/64 of a rupee)”. When three of the original members left the band shortly before recording ”Telefon”, they changed the name to the even more curious Sogmusobil (the origins of the name in question is well documented; it's an abbreviation of ”Stark och god musik utföres snabbt och billigt", roughly meaning ”strong and good music performed fast and cheap” in English).

Sogmusobil's live shows were famed – or infamous – for being shambolic happenings, as confirmed by a surviving live recording from Moderna Museet (the Museum of Modern Art) in Stockholm in August 1970. Noodling and rambling, they sometimes happen to make the music gel, but a lot of the time, they appear so out of it with Heckscher apparently freeforming lyrics over a untogether mess of group noise. Judging by that, it's pretty amazing that they even managed to get an album done.

”Telefon” is indeed an acquired taste. Approaching it for the first time, it helps being accustomed to Red Krayola's 1967 album ”The Parable of Arable Land”, ESP-Disk' act The Godz, and the stoned out freak jams of Hapshash and the Coloured Coat saved for posterity on their debut album. In short, ”Telefon” is very much a product of its time. It does have some appeal if you're in the right frame of mind, but if not and most often, it's merely a nerve-grating endurance test – ”psychedelic” at its worst. "Tjackvalsen" is pretty good but the stand-out track is the hard driving album opener ”Arabic in the Morning”, somewhat resembling Hawkwind and included on the 4CD box set alphabetically chronicling the evolution of progg, ”Pregnant Rainbows For Colourblind Dreamers” (released in 2007, but sadly long deleted).

Vastly overrated, ”Telefon” had an eagerly anticipated limited re-release a couple of years back, not affecting the value of original copies on the Gump imprint – prepare yourself for an asking price of at least €500 for a decent copy. Unless you're lucky enough to stumble across a copy priced based on musical value...

Two years after the release of Sogmusobil's sole album, Heckscher and Norweigan keyboard player Johnny Mowinckel (formerly of Atlantic Ocean and Fläsket Brinner) reformed Telefon Paisa, using yet a new name, Levande Livet. As such they recorded one album, the largely under-appreciated ”Strömmens pärla”.

Mowinckel kept playing music after the demise of Levande Livet but made only a few appearances in public, according to Wikipedia Sweden ”due to a rough life”. Unexpectedly, he released an album of electro-acoustic music in the mid 90's, ”Skisser från Flen”. Mowinckel passed away in 2015 after a period of illness. Colourful character Heckscher on the other hand established himself as a comparably successful author and translator of the works of Charles Bukowski, Jack Keuroac, Thomas Pynchon, Louis-Ferdinand Céline and the likes. In the early 00's, Swedish National Television produced a 47 minute documentary on Heckscher.

Full album playlist

ARBETE & FRITID – Arbete & Fritid (Sonet, 1970)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Ranked #2 on the blog's Top 25 list

Not only does Arbete & Fritid's debut album stand as one of the cornerstones of progg, it's also one of the best albums ever to come out in Sweden. It's a prime example of how to vigorously merge modal jazz, European folk music, and avantgarde with a light touch of the kind of psychedelia that was still fresh in Sweden at the time of the album's release in 1970. ”Arbete & Fritid” (not to be confused with their 1973 album of the same title) broke new ground with such intuition and craftmanship that it remains unrivalled to this very day.

Arbete & Fritid rose out of The Roland Keijser Quartet, a powerhouse jazz combo that emerged on the fertile Swedish jazz scene of the 60's. Sax player Keijser was one of the original core members of Arbete & Fritid, but then again – they had only core members. Each of them offered crucial musical input being imaginative instrumentalists of the highest order, thus becoming mainstays of the Swedish folk and jazz scene long after progg declined as the dominant cultural movement; the only exception being trumpeter Torsten Eckerman (1945-2013) who became a teacher after leaving Arbete & Fritid in 1976 and participating in the tour de force venture Tältprojektet in 1977. The versatile Ove Karlsson has always added a unique flavour to the music he's been part of, especially as a cellist, and he has appeared on plenty of recordings over the years. The equally multi-talented Kjell Westling (1942-2010) appeared in various contexts where his flair for folk and folk inspired music came to great use. Drummer par excellence Bengt ”Beche” Berger has been involved in numerous bands and projects through the decades, and remains a natural force on the Swedish music scene, currently being a part of multifaceted outfit Beches Brew. Roland Keijser too is an ever so remarkable jazz musician, still keen to join in with both up and coming youngsters of the neo-progressive genre and noted jazz players. In 2017, he was awarded the prestigious Lars Gullin Prize.

But when all of them played together, like in the early 70's, they achieved something out of the ordinary, something utterly amazing, timeless and indestructible. Nothing can weaken the light pouring out of ”Esso Motor Hotel” or the eponymously titled ”Arbete och fritid”, nothing can diminish the impact of the brooding ”Damen i svart” or the beauty of ”Vind” which ends the album in a state of elevated melancholia. The overall feeling is one of astonishing otherness, further accentuated by Örjan Hamrins eye-catching cover art.

A lot of people seem to prefer ”Arbete och Fritids andra LP” (whose title translates into the explanatory ”Arbete och Fritid's Second LP”) and that too is a majestic effort. Truth is that Arbete & Fritid never made a bad album. Even when slowly evolving into a different band through a number of personnel changes from the mid 70's until eventually calling it quits with ”Håll andan” in 1979, they consistently operated on a remarkable quality level. But in the early days, in the very beginning, with their debut album, they were far above everything and far ahead of everybody else, even themselves. ”Arbete & Fritid” is a true classic, rich with a vitality that will make it outlive us all.

Full album playlist

PLEBB – Yes It Isn't It (Plebb, 1979)

Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: **

The city of Mönsterås is famed for its long running Mönsterås Blues Band, but Plebb took it all one step further and went straight for a sound influenced by hard rock and the burgeoning New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

Founded in 1976, they made their debut in 1978 with a cassette released in a tiny edition of 40 copies, made by the band members themselves – all 16-18 years old – and sold to their eager local fanbase. The small but instant success prompted the band to make a proper LP only a few months later. 500 copies were pressed of ”Yes It Isn't It”, an album as primitively recorded as the cassette before it. Two locations were used for the sessions, a school and a biker club. The latter makes perfect sense – the album is a heavy affair that presumably went down well with the local bikers.

Peter Martinson's and Per-Martin Persson's fuzzed out dual guitars are up front screaming – a bit too up front actually, as it makes the overall sound appear a bit unbalanced. Especially the vocals suffer from being buried in the mix. Not that it's too much of a problem as the vocals are weak. The rhythm section is at least adequate but unexceptional, the songwriting's decent but unimaginative – most of the band's energy supply was obviously spent on the guitar amps.

Fans of UK band Dark (of ”Round the Edges” fame) may want to check out ”Yes It Isn't It” for the sake of it, but you probably need to be a die-hard heavy rock aficionado not to eventually dismiss ”Yes It Isn't It” as the bland album it is. There are several good 70's heavy rock album from Sweden but this is not one of them. It's debatable if this should even account for progg, but I decided to include it here since it's listed in ”The Encyclopedia of Swedish Progressive Music”.

Plebb later changed their name to Purple Haze and released a mini album in 1981. Plebb reunited briefly some years ago. Peter Martinson remains an active musician.

Full album playlist

ART OF MUSIC – Hallo And Farewell (Buttercup, 1971)

English vocals

International relevance: **

”Hallo and Farewell” is one of the rarest progg albums of all time, recorded on a Tandberg reel-to-reel recorder one day in April 1971 and released a little more than a month later on the tiny Buttercup imprint in an edition of 100. The Buttercup catalogue is rather small, mostly consisting of singles and EP's in a variety of styles. To my knowledge, the only other full length album on the label is by Swedish dance band Gayes. Like all Buttercup titles, ”Hallo and Goodbye” was released locally in the Malmö area, home of label head Staffan Olander who in 1973 won top prize 10,000 SEK in the national version of Double or Nothing thanks to his seemingly unlimited Beatles knowledge. (Some years later, Olander hosted several Beatles special shows on Swedish Radio, airing an array of very rare Fab Four recordings, at the time unheard by most.)

As expected from the 1971 release date, ”Hallo and Farewell” retains a pronounced late 60's feel, sometimes thanks to Swante Bobeck's swirling Hammond organ. Four of the songs are penned by the band, the five remaining ones being covers of varying origin, including the lesser known Eric Burdon composition ”White Houses” (from the 1968 ”Everyone Of Us” album), and an understated but spirited jazzy take on the Bobby Hebb chestnut ”Sunny”. However, the highlights are their take on Ray Davies' beautiful ”Tired of Waiting” which Art of Music amazingly enough turn into something not too far removed from The Velvet Underground's third LP; and the band original ”The City” which resembles obscure U.K. folk acts like Shide & Acorn and The Water Into Wine Band, only better.

”Hallo and Farewell” was produced by Staffan Olander as Staffan Olsson but whether he actually produced it is up for debate – it's probably closer to the truth that producer here means ”he who turned on the tape recorder”. It's a true underground effort, and whilst the four members of the band aren't top notch musicians by any stretch, they manage to create an oddly appealing, moody, semi-psychedelic basement atmosphere. It may not be an essential album but it's head and shoulders above other private pressings such as Prefix's 1974 album ”Brustna illusioner” and the disgustingly terrible Malaria album from 1970.

Art of Music appeared on TV and radio a few times but weren't around long enough to make another album – they disbanded the same year ”Hallo and Farewell” was released. They do however appear on a couple of seven-inches, so rare they're not even listed in Tobias Petterson's extensive ”Encyclopedia of Swedish Progressive Music”. The three-track ”An Art of Live Music” EP (assumably a live recording including a cover of The Beatles' ”Lady Madonna”) appeared in 1972, and does also exist in a special Christmas edition entitled ”God jul 1972, gott nytt år 1973) with an added introduction by Staffan Olander. Also from 1972 is a split EP with fellow Buttercup act Mattis and the otherwise unknown G&D. Art of Music's contribution is exclusive track ”A Place in the Sun”. The following year, 1973, the foursome appeared as a backing group on Hasse Permbo's 45 ”Balladen om Karl Hubert” on the Playback label.

The album had a 50th anniversary reissue adding a full extra album with rare and unreleased recordings.

Tired of Waiting

ANDREAS AARFLOT – Det rivna pianot (Manifest, 1978)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

When speaking of progg domestically, a lot of people instantly think of the ”everyone can play” aesthetics signifying some of what was performed and released in Sweden in the 1970's. While true that a lot of progg were made with Träd, Gräs & Stenar's and Blå Tåget's expression-before-skills credo as a starting point, it's vastly unfair limiting the musical outcome of the progg era to such a simple slogan-defined modus operandi. After all, no-one could possibly argue that such technically driven bands such as Samla Mammas Manna, Fläsket Brinner and Panta Rei fit the progg bill perfectly.

Keyboard player Andreas Aarflot was one of the many – many! – members of the ever-changing Anton Swedbergs Swängjäng clan based in Luleå in the north of Sweden. Several of Swängjäng participants also appear on Aarflot's lone solo effort, a ingeniously performed album with poetic touches (as Tobias Petterson correctly points out in his book ”The Encyclopedia of Swedish Progressive Music 1967-1979”), striding the line between jazz fusion and symphonic rock; the appearance of fusion band Kornet's guitarist Stefan Björklund ought to give a clue about the album's characteristics.

”Det rivna pianot” is well worth hearing for genre fans, but it should be noted that while emphasizing the slick techniques of the instumentalists, singer Britt Nilsson comes to the fore on several of the tracks. Perhaps not a problem to others but I find her jazz stylings a bit overbearing and her voice a tad shrill. It should be noted though that fusion isn't quite my cup of tea; still I think that ”Det rivna pianot” would have been a more listenable – albeit more pedestrian – album had it been all instrumental.

During the 80's, Aarflot turned to soundtrack composing, before setting up his own music production company in 1994, providing music to various events including an orchestral arrangement of the Polar Music Prize vignette and music celebrating the National Day of Sweden.

Full album playlist

GANDALF – Gandalf (Gandalf Skivprod, 1977)

Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: **

There are of course several bands sharing the name Gandalf, with this Uppsala band being one of the lesser known. Their sole album was originally intended to come out on the communist label Oktober, but after hearing the track ”Plastisk Svensson” which they deemed being ”too anti-working class”, Oktober got cold feet and decided to cancel the release. Instead, Gandalf opted for a self-paid edition of 500 copies on their own label Gandalf Skivprod, eventually making it a much sought-after rarity, now in the €150-200 price range.

To be honest, it's rarity status is the only thing it's got going for it. The music is less than exciting, sometimes with touches of straight-ahead boogie rock (as in the particularly horrendous ”Balladen of Fyristorg”), but mostly the songs move in a semi-symphonic/progressive vein with a couple of heavy guitar leads. The album has a couple of nice flute passage, but being otherwise insufficient players, the band fails to make their point properly – some of the time signature changes are clumsily executed to the point of embarrassment. On top of that, the garage-y sound which sometimes adds to the mood of an album simply doesn't sit well with what Gandalf is trying to achieve.

With the exception of closing track ”The Spoon”, all lyrics are in Swedish which should delight non-Swedish speakers as this lot was as bad lyricists as they were instrumentalists. The social commentary (drug problems, the school system, environmental issues etc) is formulaic and inferior singer Johan von Feilitzen have a hard time trying to make the metre fit with the dull melodies. von Feilitzen later joined radio friendly and best forgotten Uppsala outfit Hansa Band.

”Gandalf” is the perfect example of an album that's in demand with collectors solely because of its scarcity. Had this been an album released by the hundreds of thousands (which wouldn't have been reasonable given its overall sub-par qualities), no-one would have paid any attention to it. There's no reason why anyone should in its edition of 500 either – especially not with the current price tag.

Full album