ARBETE & FRITID – Se upp för livet (MNW, 1977) / Håll andan (MNW, 1979)

Se upp för livet (MNW, 1977)

Instrumental, Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

 

One of Arbete & Fritid's weakest. Roland Keijser had left the band at this point, taking most of the jazz with him, and leaving the leadership to cellist Ove Karlsson under whose direction the band took a step closer to rock, or at least rock related music.

The music on ”Se upp för livet” is pretty diverse though, ranging from the plain bizarre (”Knoga och knega” and ”Avdelning - indelning” ) to the downright spooky (”Jag är inte som andra”), from the eerie opening drone of ”Födelsemusik” to the hard rock of ”Lev hårt - dö ung” (sounding like a crossbreed of Nationalteatern and Gudibrallan). A lot of the album sounds like a Thomas Mera Gartz solo album on one hand and a Träd, Gräs & Stenar album on the other (Gartz and Torbjörn Abelli appear on ”Se upp för livet”). The atypicalities of the album might be explained by the fact the music were made for an exhibition at Kulturhuset in Stockholm 1976, and probably had to fit in with the exposition's concept. It would probably have been a better album had it been trimmed down to a single disc, but it's still worth having for the good bits.

Håll andan (MNW, 1979)

Instrumental, Swedish vocals

International relevamce: ***

The last album to be released by Arbete & Fritid is still stylistically sprawling but nevertheless a more cohesive effort than ”Se upp för livet”. Here you find the almost-punk burst of ”Jag föddes en dag”, the dreamy ”Dorisk dron”, the elevated jamming of ”Thulcandra”, and the experimental and slightly creepy ”Kalvdans”. I've always had a soft spot for this album and although it's not really comparable to the early Arbete & Fritid albums, it's certainly a recommended effort.

The ”1969-1979” CD comp, later retitled ”Deep Woods”, features three good and otherwise unavailable tracks from 1978. There's also a unique (albeit not very good) and still unreleased Tonkraft show from December 1979 worth snooping around for by Arbete & Fritid and Archimedes Badkar joining forces.

 

Se upp för livet full album playlist

Håll andan full album playlist