JOINT EFFORT – Du, värld / I morgon
(Kyrkoton, 1969)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: ***
A very rare single from a very obscure Christian trio, so obscure it's not even listed on Discogs at the time of writing. Released on the Kyrkoton label who also gave us the collectable Vergers which should pique the interest of some readers. Not that it needs any pull from others because it stands up well on its own. The B side is the weaker track of the two, although that one's OK as well with a Sir Douglas Quintet styled organ and a pretty catchy drive. But the real treat is ”Du, värld” which is just excellent, a rare Swedish example of what's internationally known as moody garage. Absolutely haunting with brooding organ, reverbed rimshots and a mesmerizing atmosphere created by a slow, almost ghostlike, harmonized melody. In a time when everything appears excavated, discovered, comped and reissued all over again, it's a mystery how this one slipped through the cracks. It's not even of Discogs at the time of writing. It's one of the best Xian tracks I've ever heard from Sweden, almost up there with New Creation's ”He Is There”.
Joint Effort later changed their name to Mission Possible and as such released another Kyrkoton single in 1971. The A side, in a style similar to ”Du, värld”, is featured on the ”Frälst!” compilation.
Four tracks recorded for the
”Democratize Sweden” conference in January 1977 and released to
celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Social Democrats' youth
association SSU the same year. The focus is obsviously on the
message, delivered by singing groups Nacka-gänget, Nya Gesällerna
and Lasse-Maja. The music was written by Göran Blomqvist known from some other Social Democratic releases, with words by
journalist Bernt Rosengren (no, not that Bernt Rosengren). A couple of the songs – with hot titles such as ”Var
börjar socialismen” (=”where does socialism begin”) and
”Socialismen är solidaritet” (=”socialism is solidarity”) –
appear rooted in the Eisler/Weill tradition but are melodically
paralyzed. The whole thing just sounds unmusical, but it wouldn't
surprise me if some perverted hipster DJ takes a liking to ”Du
duger” (=”you're OK”) because of its, ahem,
'funkiness'.
Two non-album tracks released inbetween
Friskt Vatten's last two albums. ”Tågsång” is a ballad of
sorts, unpleasantly close to yacht rock but with some fine piano
playing. ”Marknadsföring” speaks out again mindless consumption
and shares the sentiment with Peps Persson's ”Hög standard” but
lacking Peps's ability to transform observation to sharp-witted
lyrics on his level.
KYRKSTÖT – No Smoking / Dr. Jekyll (no label, 1980)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *
A
Christian hard rock band familiar from the V/A comp ”Rockplock”.
This single was the only other outing from Kyrkstöt. The A side is
competent but entirely uninteresting boogie rock, while ”Dr.
Jekyll” is radio friendly pop rock that feels overlong despite
being of 4 minute standard length. Best avoided.
The title of this single is ”Odlad jord ska förbli odlad” (=”cultivated land should remain cultivated”) but the song titles are actually ”Fattig på de fattigas planet” (=”poor on the planet of poors”) and ”Den trygge” (=”the safe one”). It was recorded within the long running environmentally concerned and anti-capitalist Skogsnäs community in the Northern Sweden.
I was afraid ”Odlad jord ska förbli odlad” would be just another fingerpointing pamphlet progg release, so I was completely taken aback when ”Fattig på de fattigas planet” proved to be an outright fantastic minor key folksy track augmented with a wonderful, gnarly fiddle like straight out of cult movie ”The Wicker Man”. Even the children's chorus sounds good (!), adding another emotional layer to the splendid track. The guy who wrote it is Kåre Wigforss who I think is still musically active (judging by a Youtube channel dedicated to Kåre Wigforss Band) although I can't find any proof of him having released anything apart from this one knockout track.
The B side is credited to the band
Ryktet Går and while their ”Den trygge” isn't on par with
”Fattig på de fattigas planet”, it's still better than expected.
It's more of an early 80s folk rock track with jangly guitars –
think a slightly more garage-y but relaxed early R.E.M. and you're
not exactly correct but going in the right direction.
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *
A twelve-piece band formed in late 1979
when the Gothenburg fraction of The Anti-Nuclear Movement needed
music during their meetings. (”Nejrösterna” means ”the no
votes”, referring to the nuclear referendum held in Sweden in March
1980). Two songs were recorded in November 1979 but the release was
belated by the pressing plant until early 1980 when the single was
finally released in an edition of a 1000 copies (with about half of
them sold by the band). The lyrics for the A side were found in a
leaflet distributed during an anti-nuclear protest march, while the
words for the B side used The Beatles' ”Nowhere Man” as a source
inspiration. Let's get it over with right away: This sounds nothing
like The Beatles. It doesn't sound like anything you'd want to hear.
As opposed to Skogsnäskollektivet above, this is exactly the kind of
stuff that makes me want to rip my ears off my head. Ten people
singing at once in a smug tone, backed by flutes, bongos and
accordeon and an unnecessary large number of maracas. My only
question now is how far this piece of shit will fly if I throw it
from a cliff.
SKOTTES MUSIKORKESTER / THOMAS WIEHE, PER DUNSÖ, OLA STRÖM & TRULS – Antikärnkraftverk (Källan, 1979)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *
The resistance against nuclear power was well spread in the cultural world prior to the referendum mentioned above. Plenty of actors, musicians and artists spoke out against it in 1979-1980 as proven by several charity singles and albums released at the time. This one gathered Skottes Musikorkester, and Thomas Wiehe together with Per Dunsö, Ola Ström and Ström's nephew Truls. Per Dunsö and the two Ströms were known from TV where they produced appalling children's shows, and their track ”Vaggvisa fem i tolv” (=”lullabye five to twelve”) could very well have appeared in one of them. The clarinet and the fiddle are pleasant features, and the acoustic framework is nice enough, but the song itself is oddly formless. And there's way too much Truls singing.
Skottes Musikorkester in turn
contribute a klezmer styled track with a few instrumental turns that
are quite nice but it's spoiled by the overzealous vocals.
CHECKPOINT CHARLIE – SUSB / Pyret (CC Records, 1979)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **
Checkpoint Charlie formed in 1976 and
had a few active years before eventually disbanding in the early 80s.
In the meantime they appeared on the various artists comps ”Vi har rätt till jobb” and ”Umeå Rocks, Vol. 1”, but had only one
single out under their own banner. Heavily rooted in the semi-heavy
rock style of the Umeå/Luleå region as represented by Rekyl and
Kylans Rockorkester. The title ”SUSB” is short for Stiftelsen
Umeå Studentbostäder (Umeå Student Housing Foundation) with some
wonderfully acidic lyrics against the local lack of housing. The
track is credited to guitarist Urban Bergman, but it's so much Chuck
Berry that it's almost a cover of every Berry song in the style of
”Johnny B. Goode”. Still, the hard driving performance and the
great lyrics (if you can understand them) have a certain appeal.
”Pyret” slows things down a bit, a dark observation written from
a two-year-old's perspective. Some heavy guitars and a couple of
progressive sections are nice features, but it's not as effective as
the rousing A side.
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *
Three songs recorded in 1979 and released the next year by the Mistlur imprint that at the time, early in their existence, was one of the companies that most strategically documented progg's extension into punk. As the title of this EP suggests (meaning ”the blues come from Tierp”, Tierp being the band's hometown situated between Uppsala and Gävle), Turmans Band dealt with blues, but not very proficiently. There's no real edge to it, and the main focus seems to be on the lyrics (also printed on an insert) that address a dull everyday life, unemployment and the troubles getting somewhere to live. The vocals could have strengthened the pedestrian performance but they're too weak to help the cause.
Mora Träsk's Thomas Örstrand appears on harmonica, and the EP title is a nod to Mora Träsk's album "Rocken kommer från Gävle" (="the rock music comes from Gävle").
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **
”Gökungen” was later included on Wiehe's 1983 album
”Lindansaren”, one of the best tracks off that album. It has a a scary, sinister atmosphere and is by far one of the best tracks on that album. The B side is unique to this single and it's easy to see
why it was left off the album. A weak track with an ironic lyric
about the ”joys” of turning 30 when your body has been broken
down by hard work (although the hard work bit is merely implied).
SÄTRASKOLANS MUSIKTEATERGRUPP – Tjejsans nya kläder (no label, 1981)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *
A real oddity with seven songs taken from a school play performed at a suburbian Stockholm school. (The title is an impossible to translate wordplay on the "emperor's new clothes" expression.) Probably of interest mainly to those participating in the play (about fashion peer pressure among youths), but several of the songs actually have pretty cool solo guitar. A couple of surprisingly catchy performances, especially on ”Mode, mode, mode”. But there's also a couple of tracks which suggests some of the songwriters (teachers?) had listened too much to political progg in the 70s. The EP is generally better than I expected, but not worth looking for unless you're a collector of school projects.
The track "Discolåten" was included on "Annorlunda Underground", a CD-r compilation released in 2000.
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *
One of very few singles released on the
pathologically humdrum A Disc label. That this is one of their best
releases says way more about the label than the music on this disc.
It's very commercial sounding with some hard rock aspirations mixed
in with the lacklustre pop rock and ska influences, but they fall
flat due to a submissive production. Minus also for the shouty singer
and the A Disc-typical bland lyrics.
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **
Pistolteatern (=”the pistol theatre”)
is probably best known to proggsters as a venue where bands such as
International Harvester and Fläsket Brinner played. But their main
purpose was of course that of an independent theatre group, and their
progressive stance has made them legendary. The four tracks on this
seldom seen 33 rpm EP all come from the play ”Alive”, and
features the busy Göran Lagerberg on bass and Sven Bjärhall (Solen Skiner, Jan Hammarlund) on lead guitar. Guitarist/keyboardist Håkan
Möller also appeared on a late Thomas Mera Gartz album. The vocals
are shared by Jonas Uddenmyr (later appearing on a cassette-only
release by Thomas Tidholm) and Lars Källenius. All tracks are
suprisingly solid reggae numbers, much more credible than I expected
from their ephemeral origins. There's a relieving lack of ”jokiness”,
but one of the songwriters is Lars Naumborg, friend of Aston Reymers Rivaler, and thus respectful and knowledgeable enough of reggae not
to waste his efforts on any unserious silliness. Can very well be of
interest to those into Swedish reggae.
Friskt Vatten full single playlist
Etos full single playlist (Spotify)
Musikgruppen Nejrösterna
Solen och vinden och vattnet och jorden (poor sound)
Jubileum SSU 60 år
Ditt eget ansvar / Socialismen är solidaritet / Du duger / Var börjar socialismen
Skottes Musikorkester
Frihetens eko
Turmans Band
Till arbetsmarknadens förfogande blues / Bostadsblues
Mikael Wiehe
Gökungen / Livet efter 30
Sätraskolans Musikteatergrupp
Brain Tango / Mode, mode, mode / Discolåten / Sången om Tom / Pia Jansson / Barbies sång
Joint Effort / Kyrkstöt / Skogsnäskollektivet / Checkpoint Charlie / Pistolteatern no links found
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