OLLE WIDESTRAND – Jesus Christ Morningstar (Prim, 1972)

 
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

This is not an album for the casual progg fan. It's a rock (well, sort of) musical that begins where Andrew Lloyd Webber's and Tim Rice's "Jesus Christ Superstar" ends. Olle Widestrand wrote the whole thing in only three days and three nights, and it draw quite some attention upon its stage premiere in 1972. It was released on the Prim label owned by the Swedish Pentecostal Movement. Prim was one of the major Christian labels, and like Hemmets Härold and Signatur operating outside the regular pop world, with a well developed distribution network established long before someone even said MNW.

”Jesus Christ Morningstar” wasn't composer Olle Widestrand first foray into the music world, but it was the one that laid the foundations of him as a legend on the Christian scene. It's an ambitious work, involving the voluminous youth choir of the Immanuel Church in Jönköping, smack dab in the middle of the Swedish bible belt. Add to that four solo singers and eight players providing the musical backdrop. 

What makes this album oddly appealing is the overall mood. It has that early 70s sound common to Swedish Jesus music albums from the late 60s/early 70s, with evocative organs and an almost garage-y sound. Some melodies have a folkish feel. ”Jesu begravning” (=”the funeral of Jesus”) has a slightly awkward lyrical meter but is nevertheless rather captivating with a wonderful piano not dissimilar to Jan Johansson's jazz renditions of old Swedish folk songs. The next track, ”Marias upptäckt” (=”Maria's discovery”) is a slow track with that incense-like organ and a lilting rhythm -- it wouldn't have been out of place on ”Frälst! - A Selection of Swedish Christian grooves 1969-1979”.

”Jesus Christ Morningstar” may not be everybody's great everyday spin, but it definitely has qualities that ought to appeal to fans of ”Frälst!”. If anything, it shows how important mood and atmosphere is to an album. Not every song has to be great, but if there's an atmosphere that creeps up on you and draws you in into a world of its own, much is accomplished. Those infatuated with the still underexplored world of Swedish Christian pop, rock and psych from the turn of the decade, will want to hear this if they haven't already.

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