released as Jimmy Nielsen
Jimmy Nielsen came from Norrahammar, a
part of Jönköping, the capital of the Swedish bible belt. It's no
surprise then that Nielsen is a Christian singer, but his music is often heavier than your typical Jesus pop fare, possibly inspired by the commercial success of Christian hard rock band Jerusalem. Nielsen's debut came with this
self-released 7” in 1980. The 'A' side isn't that heavy though,
it's just a terrible perky pop tune. The flip's ”Är du beredd???”
is better, although it's too light to fully work as the boogie rock
Nielsen and backing band Karmel attempted.
Varför är din blick så negativ? (Karmel Musikproduktion, 1981)
Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: **
After
the weak debut 45, Nielsen and his band now renamed Karmel -81 went
for a full length album. With a better production they come closer to
what they aim for. The sound is better and the band is tighter, but
the songs still aren't very good. The pedestrian blues rock and
boogie stomp is diluted with some absolutely dreadful funk moves
including the then fashionable slap bass technique that those who use it certainly won't get into heaven for. Neither will drummers
wasting space with drum solos à la the two and a half minute ”Smurd”
on side 2. Best track is ”Fort fort springer du”, a surprisingly
garage-y track that was recycled for the band's final 7” in 1982
along with another album track, ”Heroin där fick du tji”.
Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: **
This four-track 12” is probably the best thing Nielsen released, even though it rehashes the disgusting slap bass jazz funk instrumental ”Funk My Soul” from the LP. But apart from that, he had the good taste of dropping the constipated boogie blues for a more singer/songwriter oriented material which suits him better. Not that any of it is particularly imaginative, but I think the last track ”Misslyckad” is at least passable.
Full 1980 single playlist
Varför är din blick så negativ? full album playlist
Maxi-EP full 12" playlist
No comments:
Post a Comment