Swedish vocals
International relevance: *
Svalöv is situated in the midwest part of Sweden's southernmost region Skåne, not too far from Landskrona on the coast. With a population less than 13,000 in the 70s, Svalöv was hardly a metropolis then and hasn't been since, but the region nevertheless produced some music, much thanks to Hans Greebach's studio and label Hit-Records Of Sweden. The shortlived label is already known to blog readers thanks to Grassroots. Greebach produced Oxid's ”Eklatant” and also contributed a guitar solo to the album.
Oxid were four buddies barely in their moustache age thanking one Angelika for buns and coffee on the back cover. Their attempt to look heavy metal on the front falls flat as padded jackets have a very low Judas Priest factor. (Only the guy second from right had parents that agreed to pay for his leather.) In short, they don't come much dorkier than this. And if you think the outer appearence reflects what's inside, you're perfectly right.
”Eklatant” is not a good album. But the simplistic songwriting, simpleminded execution and the lyrics' painfully adolescent observations scores high on the charm scale if you can accept it for what it is. Oxid were sincere and what can four poor boys do in Svalöv except play in a rock'n'roll band? Their hard rock ambitions are endearing but without the necessary skills, ”Eklatant” ends up closer to a smalltown punk album that wouldn't take them anywhere but back to mum and dad's disappointment over low school grades. The album is a snapshot of a Sweden long before Instagram influencers and twisted TikTok challenges. The innocence of ”Eklatant” dressed up in vanilla buns rebellion is heartwarming. The strong DIY vibe, a clear heritance from progg filtered through the punk ethos, is hopeful. From that persepctive it doesn't really matter that the music is bad.
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