Thursday, August 16, 2018

HANDGJORT – Handgjort (Silence, 1970)

Instrumental, English vocals
International relevance: ***

Few bands live up to their name as Handgjort do; the word means ”handmade” in English. At least as far as album covers go. Every individual cover were painted by hand so each of the initial 901 copies are all different. A further 226 copies were then pressed in 1973. (The picture above is from a reissue.)

The music on the album has a 'handmade' feel too. It's masterminded by Greg FitzPatrick who uses different pseudonyms on the album due to his lack of a Swedish work permit. FitzPatrick had just returned from an Asian trip, picking up musical influences on his journey, as exemplified by the extensive use of sitar, tablas and flute. Björn J:son Lindh, Jan Bandel, Guy Öhrström and of course FitzPatrick himself appear on the album.

It's a pleasant album, but the question is why I should listen to ”Handgjort” instead of authentic Indian and other Asian music. It pretty much falls in the same category as UK band Magic Carpet (only without the vocals), i.e. a bunch of people soaked in hippie mysticism. It's a strange album insofar it's cheesy and appealing to equal parts. I'm never really sure what I actually think about it. I like it and I don't like at the same time.

The album has been reissued a couple of times (in hand painted covers), and in 2010 it was expanded with a number of previously unreleased subpar tracks recorded at the Gärdet festivals. Their track ”Farmer Jack” can be heard on ”Festen på Gärdet”.

Greg FitzPatrick later initiated the voluminous project Tillsammans.

Full album playlist with bonus tracks

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