Instrumental
International relevance: ***
Ranked #4 on the blog's Top
25 list
One of those albums just about
impossible to overestimate. From the first notes of ”Gånglåten”
to the last ones of ”Musik från Liljevalchs”, this is progg
perfection with everything you could possibly ask for: bittersweet
folk harmonies, exemplary jazz influences, organic groove, powerful
performances, excellent and perceptive playing that never overtakes
the musical content, and instrumental as it is: no politics. And one of the most
striking album covers ever. (Graphic artist Hans Esselius designed
the cover, and alluding to the band's name – ”the pork is
burning” – he actually used a real pig's head in real fire for
the photograph.)
Fläsket Brinner attracted a multitude
of top notch players over the years. Kenny Håkansson was with them
for a short time (a line-up documented on double LP ”Festen på
Gärdet”). Mikael Ramel joined the band in time for their second
album ”Fläsket”. Their ever changing line-up featured Bo Hansson
for a while. Jazz pianist Bobo Stenson used to join them on stage.
Sweden's finest drummer Bo Skoglund was recruited for a later
incarnation of the band. Not to mention original members Sten Bergman
(organ, flute); Gunnar Bergsten (sax); Per Bruun (bass); Bengt
”Bengan” Dahlén (guitar), and the exceptional Erik ”Kapten”
Dahlbäck, a powerhouse drummer that had an inutitive musical
understanding and a force extremely important to early Fläsket
Brinner.
'Power' is a key word when discussing
Fläsket Brinner. They generated so much electricity during a show
that they alone could have supplied energy to any Swedish mid-sized
city for a week straight. In 1970 they supported their source
inspiration Frank Zappa at Konserthuset, Stockholm (selections from
the occasion are featured on ”Fläsket Brinner”). They simply
must have blown him off the stage into the Baltic Sea and watched him
drift away to the shores of Finland.
Fläsket Brinner's telepathic inter-member contact and their instinctive musical understanding made
for immensely dazzling music, so intense and brilliant that its glow
can never wear off. This is music for the past, for the present, for
the future, for all ages to come.
Full album
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