Swedish vocals
International relevance: */**
Tommy Körberg is a huge star even
internationally thanks to his appearance in the ”Chess” musical.
He's an incredibly versatile performer and a massively gifted singer,
but he can also be massively boring and his vocal precision can make
him sound cold. Most of his solo works are way outside of progg; his
relevance to this blog mainly extends to his recordings with Solar Plexus and Made In Sweden. ”Tommy Körberg sjunger
Birger Sjöberg” fits despite not really being progg as it's really a
Solar Plexus album in disguise, featuring the entire band minus
Jojje Wadenius. The songs are musical adaptions of Swedish
turn of the century poet Birger Sjöberg, As expected with the people
involved, it's a well performed affair. It's very polished, so
polished it's lifeless. There's little or nothing of Solar Plexus's
usual frivolous approach to musical genres, and the general feel is that of
restrainment and control. The three tracks that rise slightly above
the inherent dullness are ”Släpp fångarne loss”, ”Samtal om
universum” and ”Bleka dödens minut”. They have vague strains
of a suppressed unease if you listen closely – very closely – but
still lack the spirit the album is in such great need of.
Tommy
Körberg returned to Swedish poetry as a source for inspiration five
years later, but his approach was vastly different on "Blixtlås" (subtitled "Svensk 70-talspoesi", 'Swedish 70's poetry'). Featured are longtime Körberg cohort Stefan Nilsson (Kornet, De Gladas Kapell, Hörselmat) and other people from mainly the jazz and fusion
legions (plus a harmonica cameo from Mats Ronander). It has a sound I don't like, but the music and
arrangements are still more vivid than on the Birger Sjöberg
album. But ”Blixtlås” wasn't made as a companion piece, and
taken as a singular work, it simply sounds lika a cold, cerebreal and
clinical fusion jazz workout.
Sjunger Birger Sjöberg full album playlist
Blixtlås full album playlist
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