MADE IN SWEDEN – Complete albums 1968-1970

Made In Sweden evolved out of Lea Riders Group, the most powerful rhythm & blues based Swedish 60's bands, responsible for the towering 1968 psych masterpiece ”Dom kallar oss mods” brought to world fame in 1979 when it was included on the third volume of the legendary compilation series ”Pebbles”. Actually, they did more than just evolve – the Made In Sweden trio was Lea Riders Group minus singer Hawkey Franzén, with Bo Häggström on bass, Slim Borgudd on drums, and Jojje Wadenius who replaced the original Lea Riders Group guitarist Sigge Ehlin one week before they disbanded in mid '68.

Made In Sweden (With Love) (Sonet, 1968)

Instrumental, English vocals

International relevance: ***

Made In Sweden's debut album was recorded in a mere six hours. Their 'groovy' pop inspired jazz rock was already in place, with an all around high level musicianship. The problem is that their core concept soon loses its freshness and becomes predictable. Also, Wadenius trademark style of scat singing along with his guitar solos quickly gets very annoying. There's something smuggish about the whole thing that I can't come to terms with.

Snakes in a Hole (Sonet, 1969)

Instrumental, English vocals

International relevance: ***

Aiming at a more psychedelic sound, Made In Sweden added some organ, strings and sound effects to their jazz/rock/blues blend. But it's basically the same thing as their first album, only dressed up in a new flashy garb. ”Snakes in a Hole” sounds empty and superficial, it lacks the substance to elevate it above the fancy surface.

The band made one further LP in 1969, children's album ”Goda' goda'”, released as a Jojje Wadenius solo album.

Live! at the ”Golden Circle” (Sonet, 1970)

Instrumental, English vocals

International relevance: ***

Just like the title says, this was recorded live at the legendary Stockholm jazz club Gyllene Cirkeln (The Golden Circle), and one would hope the live setting would provide the band's music with something substantial. It doesn't. There's more jamming and a rawer group sound, but everything I have against Made In Sweden's first two albums gets in the way even more here. Especially Wadenius's ego. I mean, he really loves his guitar style. It takes a whole lot of self-denial for me to get through this.

The CD features alternate takes.

Made in England (Sonet, 1970)

Instrumental, English vocals

International relevance: ***

For their fourth regular album, Made In Sweden went to the London to work with the engineers at Pye and Olympic Studios. It provided the band with a fuller sound – let's call it overproduced – but it hardly made the music any better. It's basically the same moves over again, only with a little more prog and pop to them, and a couple of extra musicians. Of all their forgettable albums, this is the most forgettable.

The album was released in Spain with a different cover (below left) and in the UK as "Mad River" in 1971 (avoveright), and again with new cover for the 2009 CD reissue. 

Regnbågslandet (SR, 1972)

as Made In Sweden, Olof Thunberg, Tommy Körberg
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

A soundtrack to a children's Christmas TV series that unfortunately doesn't work as a stand-alone disc. Some songs are OK, the instrumental "Ett stycke musik" and the Tommy Körberg sung title track are nice, and some are even psychedelic, but most of it is pretty silly, and not at all as successful as Jojje Wadenius's "Goda, goda".

Wadenius reformed the band in 1976 with entirely different musicians. The revamped Made In Sweden released one album, "Where Do We Begin".

For those who want to check out Lea Riders Group, a compilation of their complete singles from the master tapes was released on Record Store Day in 2018, aptly titled ”The Singles 1966-68”. Do avoid the late 90's Garageland CD of the same material, the sound is subpar, as if it was taken from fifth generation cassette dubs.

Made In Sweden (With Love) full album playlist

Snakes In A Hole full album playlist

Live! At The Golden Circle full album playlist with bonus tracks

Made In England full album playlist 
from Regnbågslandet
Blåsväder är en besvärlig sak
Ett stycke musik