Finnish born Dan Berglund was probably the most talented act on Proletärkultur. He released three albums on the label, the first two sold well enough to make it to the lower regions of the Swedish album charts – quite an achievement for any Proletärkultur release.
En järnarbetares visor
(Proletärkultur, 1975)
Swedish vocals
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **
”En järnarbetares visor”
demonstrated Berglund's penchant for classic singer/songwriters like
Bob Dylan and especially Leonard Cohen. The songs have a matter-of-fact tone,
emphasized by Berglund's gravelly baryton. The
lyrics are highly political, but the singer's delivery is appealing. One of the better political efforts of its time.
Dan Berglund sjunger Rudof Nilsen
(Proletärkultur, 1977)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *
It's something of a wasted talent when
a songwriter of Berglund's stature makes an album of songs not
written by himself. Well, he did write the music to some of
the songs performed here, but several of them are by others and the
lyrics were selected from Norweigan left-wing author Rudolf Nilsen's
oeuvre. Berglund also handed over over the mic to Mary Berglund to
sing on several tracks. So this is like half a Dan Berglund album,
and not a very good one at that. Still, this was his greatest
success, selling more copies than even ”En järnarbetares visor”.
Den stora maskeraden (Proletärkultur,
1979)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *
With only three non-Berglund tracks
(including one by French chanson singer Georges Brassens), this is more back to normal. The original Leonard Cohen
infatuation is also substituted with a distinct influence from
Swedish singer/songwriter Cornelis Vreeswijk, with Berglund adapting
both his phrasing and style of writing. It's as if Berglund had lost
confidence in his own abilities, chosing to tread safe paths others
had walked before him. There are a couple of good songs here (”Ballad vid minnet av en kamrat”, ”Kampens väg”)
but ”Den stora maskeraden” is disappointing on the whole.
Berglund retired from music after ”Den
stora maskeraden”. He sold his guitar and didn't release another
album until 1987. He also left communist party KPML(r) and came to
strongly deprecate his previous involvement with it. After his
comeback, he began playing some of his older songs with revised
lyrics, and has released a couple of further albums since. Please note that the Dan Berglund of jazz outfit Tonbruket is a different person.
Die-hard fans might also want to seek out an unreleased 1979 Gothenburg radio session Berglund did with KPML(r) friend Maria Hörnelius before his withdrawal.
from En järnarbetares visor
Die-hard fans might also want to seek out an unreleased 1979 Gothenburg radio session Berglund did with KPML(r) friend Maria Hörnelius before his withdrawal.
from En järnarbetares visor
from Den stora maskeraden
Den stora maskeraden
Den stora maskeraden
Nice covers.
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