Swedish vocals
International relevance: **
Calcutta Transfer were essentially Dag Vag's little brothers. Their rock reggae style is so similar I would easily forget just who I'm listening to hadn't it been for the authentic Dag Vag being tighter, heavier and with better songs. Which is not to say that Calcutta Transfer didn't have their bright moments too because they had, as on ”Bara spärrar (00.30)” on ”Inte bara elände” and ”Jag ville, jag vore” on the second album – both good songs. It's just that Calcutta Transfer were so irritatingly epigonic that even their finer tracks are somehow lost to redundancy. Still, they had their fans and even toured with their idols Dag Vag. (However, I happily give them bonus points for the cover art of "Calcutta Transfer 2", paraphrasing Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica".)
The band made a couple of singles in addition to their albums. Their third full-length disc ”Easy Loving” appeared in 1986, and while it's outside the blog scope and also suffers from a more typical 80s sound, it's their most mature work.
The Transfer's main man Tom Hofwander later
re-appeared as producer Internal Dread working in his self-built Rub
A Dub studio in Stockholm. From the mid 80s and on, it became an
often used recording location for all sorts of bands. Hofwander sadly
died in a car crash in 2012.
from "Inte bara elände"
Hålet / Det kliar / 00.30 / CBI / Ganges
from "Calcutta Transfer 2"
Liemannen
And as a bonus, here's their 1981 Tonkraft show.
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