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: **
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
Made In Sweden (With Love) full album playlist
Made In England full album playlist
from Regnbågslandet
Blåsväder är en besvärlig sak
Ett stycke musik
from Regnbågslandet
Blåsväder är en besvärlig sak
Ett stycke musik
You are not a fan!! strange because these 2nd and live album are very well done
ReplyDeleteYes, they are extremely competent but I also find them extremely boring to listen to. :-)
ReplyDeleteThese albums are seemingly impossible to find in the US. I've been trying so hard, is there any way at all you could create a zip file of their discography for me?
ReplyDeleteThis is really misleading reviews from a man that clearly doesn't like the band and the man 😂
ReplyDelete"Misleading" only if you don't agree with me. But there is no ultimate truth, it's all about taste and I'm perfectly fine with people disagreeing with me.
ReplyDelete