Saturday, August 18, 2018

GREG FITZPATRICK – Det persiska äventyret (MNW, 1977) / Bildcirkus (Mistlur, 1978)

 
Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: ***/***

Beverely Hills born Gregory Allan FitzPatrick was the son of director and documentary maker James A. Fitzpatrick who began making movies in the 20's and whose career spanned five decades. He left the States in 1966 and spent a year in Finland before settling down in Sweden. He earned his living as a street musician, and eventually formed a band with Jan Bandel and Sten Bergman. They turned into Atlantic Ocean and recorded one album in 1969 (released the following year), then FitzPatrick left for Asia. Upon returning to Sweden, he initiated Handgjort that in turn spawned the Tillsammans project with a line-up large as a small city. In 1976 he teamed up with Samla Mammas Manna for ”Snorungarnas symfoni”. His first solo album appeared in 1977.

”Det persiska äventyret” is an unintentionally funny album. FitzPatrick sings in Swedish – or he thinks he does. With an American accent so thick you could chop bricks out of it to build a house with, it's sometimes almost impossible to understand what he says. You've got to admire his linguistical braveness though, more than the album itself. It's more peculiar than good due to his lack of proper Swedish. For some reason the album has a several cover versions of songs by Hoola Bandoola Band, Bo Hansson/Fläsket Brinner, Stenblomma, Robert Broberg, Gläns Över Sjö Och Strand and Philemon Arthur & The Dung's ”Du var min enda vän”. His passion for Sweden and the then contemporary music is endearing for sure but ”Det persiska äventyret” is actually rather dull apart from the curious pronounciation.

For his second album ”Bildcirkus”, released under his full birthname, he dropped the lyrics altogether in favour of an all instrumental semi-symphonic music that's closer to ”Snorungarnas symfoni” than ”Det persiska äventyret”. His pioneering infatuation with synthesizers shows. He uses them a lot on the album, making it sound dated and sterile. Parts of it remind me of Samla Mammas Manna member Lars Hollmer's solo albums, but ”Bildcirkus” isn't as heartfelt as say ”XX sibiriska cyklar”.

Greg Fitzpatrick later became an in-demand session player, and opened a synthesizer shop in Stockholm in the 80's. He then turned to jingles making for commercials, and he's also worked in the field of music pedagogy.

Det persiska äventyret full album playlist
Bildcirkus full album playlist

1 comment:

  1. Tack för den här bloggen (som jag ramlade på av en händelse)! Verkligen en imponerande katalog! Håller förstås inte med om alla värderingar. Spelar ingen roll förstås. Just Greg Fitzpatricks "Persiska äventyr" tycker jag ändå är lite intressant. Håller helt med om att Gregs sång ju blir accidentellt komisk och det hade varit bättre att låta någon annan sköta den uppgiften. Jag gillar viben i "Stockholm City", "Stigarna...." och "Det finns ett tomrum" (dock inte jamandet där!) Kompet är tight, rätt sparsmakat och snyggt, Lasse Englund är förstås lysande på gitarr, men ligger lite ojämnt i mixen ibland. De country influerade låtarna påminner en del i soundet om Neil Youngs "Harvest" (ja, inte sången då : ). "Keops pyramid" har en rätt intressant ansats där man helt lämnat originalets klassiska gitarr-intro/mellanspel. Det hela faller dock helt ihop i sångens B-tema inte minst pga Gregs ansträngda sång. Dessutom tycker jag att originalets B-tema musikaliskt sett ändå inte känns helt nödvändigt faktiskt. Thåström gjorde en akustisk version en gång utan B-temat, som åtminstone i hans version fungerar alldeles utmärkt.
    MVH
    Mats

    ReplyDelete