Instrumental
International relevance: ***
Ranked #16 on the blog's Top 25 list
Kvartetten Som Sprängde started out as
a quartet just like their name implies but were reduced to a
three-piece before making their lone album for the legendary and
collectable Gump label. However, the trio format is perfectly
sufficient, with guitarist Finn Sjöberg interweaving folk inspired
melody lines with Fred Hellman's thick layers of moody organ and the
free flowing and pulsating beat provided by drummer and jazz legend
Rune Carlsson.
”Kattvals” comes across like a
cross-pollination of early Bo Hansson/Hansson & Karlsson,
Kebnekaise and Fläsket Brinner – the latter is a particularly
valid reference in the case of the stunning ”Gånglåt från
Valhallavägen”, evoking the similarly titled ”Gånglåten”
from Fläsket Brinner's debut album of 1971. ”Vågspel” offers up
more of Hellman's folk derived harmonics, similar to Bo Hansson's "Sagan om ringen", conjuring up mental images
of dark Northern forests and twilight
goblins. As declared by its song title, ”Andesamba” (”Spirit
Samba”) relies on Latin influences (which has provoked some
misleading comparisons to Santana) with a forceful drive again
prevalent in closing track ”Ölandsshuffle”. But all tracks are
worthy of mention really, as the album has no weak moments.
”Kattvals” is a tour de force, a grand moment in progg history. No serious progg fan should live without it.
Unsurprisingly, ”Kattvals” has been
reissued a number of times, thus making it obtainable to those who
cannot afford the increasingly expensive originals. Sadly, Kvartetten
Som Sprängde weren't around long enough for another album but they
did join singer/songwriter Bernt Staf as a backing band on his 1973
album ”Valhall”.
However, a four track Kvartetten Som
Sprängde radio session exists, made for the weekly Tonkraft show in
September 1973. This 30+ minutes session remains unreleased, making
it one of the most glaring and unforgiveable omissions from Swedish
Radio's shoddily edited and poorly presented box set ”Progglådan”,
comprising a total worth of 40 CD's of previously unreleased archival
material. Why wasn't the excellent Kvartetten session included? It
screams out for a prompt official release!
Fred Hellman had previously been in
Zoom who released one 45 in 1968, featuring decent but non-essential
cover versions of The Beatles and Traffic. Rune Carlsson's
pre-Kvartetten career includes sit-ins with Eric Dolphy, Chet Baker
and Krzysztof Komeda among others, and later went on to playing drums
for numerous artists mainly in the progg and jazz field. He died in
2013. Finn Sjöberg earned reputation as a session musician,
appearing on albums several high profile acts including ABBA. He also
made one largely forgettable solo album, ”Finn” in 1978.
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