PER CUSSION – Per Cussion (MNW, 1981)

 

Instrumental, other languages

International relevance: **

Per Cussion's real name is Per Tjernberg who used to be the percussionist in Archimedes Badkar and several other rhythm happy bands. This was his first solo album, and he brought along several friends from Peps Blodsband, Egba and of course Archimedes, such as Bosse Skoglund, Bengt Berger, Babatunde Tony Ellis, Ulf Adåker, and even Peps himself. It's a kindhearted, friendly album bringing together all Tjernberg's influences from Jamaica, Trinidad, Cuba and various African countries. It's pleasant and joyous, a festive get-together of friends easy on the ear, but it doesn't have the oomph to really grab you.

Full album playlist

MONICA NIELSEN & TOMMY KÖRBERG – ...med hjärtat fyllt av trots: Arbetarrörelsens kampsånger (A Disc, 1977)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Monica Nielsen was mainly a busy movie and television actor but as a singer, she was the perpetual co-artist. She only ever released one album of her own and that was back in 1966, with her other vocal participations including merely the odd single, appearances on various artists and duo albums with high profile performers. ”Med hjärtat fyllt av trots” is one of those, focused on Labours movement songs and recorded with Tommy Körberg. Now an internationally widely celebrated singer, but back in the day best known domestically for his early pop albums, Solar Plexus, and the reformed Made In Sweden.

Körberg isn't the only renowned musician here. On the contrary, the credits are littered with names like Janne Schaffer, Ulf Adåker, Egil Johansen, Björn J:son Lindh, Pekka Pohjola and Rune Gustafsson, and the arrangements were written by much beloved bassist, composer and former Jan Johansson cohort Georg Riedel. While this all points to a thoroughly executed project, we have to remember that the album was released by A Disc, the Social Democrats' imprint known to dampen any kind of artistic enthusiasm. Thus the album title meaning ”with a heart full of defiance” seems like impossible wishful thinking, and it is. It's all very well played, well sung and well arranged – in short, technically and musically impeccable – but if you're looking for any inspiration to defiantly fight the powers that be, this is not the place to go. Unless authorities can be fought with sleep, but I for one have never heard of any revolutionary naps. It ought to be wellknown to all by now that I don't ask for any fistwaving loudmouths, but a little more oomph hadn't hurt...

Motsträvigt och med hjärtat fyllt av trots / Arbetsmannen / Oss alla unga / Kom med oss kamrat / Vårt vapen heter solidaritet / Ingen rubbar oss / Arbetets söner / Signalen / Ett enat folk / Det unga gardet / Solidaritetssång / Internationalen

EGBA – Live In 75 (no label, 2017; rec. 1975)

 Instrumental, Swedish vocals, other languages
International relevance: ***

A streaming-only release from EGBA's missing year between the first and second album. Professionally recorded at Bullerbyn, a music pub in the middle of Stockholm. with transitional line-up of Ulf Adåker, Ulf Andersson, Ahmadu Jarr, Bjarne Roupé, Harald Svensson, Göran Lagerberg and Åke Eriksson. It's closer in style to ”Live At Montmartre” from 1977, meaning a heavy African influence, but the kick-off track, the otherwise unavailable ”14 ton trotyl” is unusually heavy and the collection's high point. EGBA fans should really treat themselves to this obscure release.

Full album playlist (Spotify)

KLARA EXPRESS – 1975 (no label, 1975) / WASA EXPRESS – Live At Jarlateatern 1976 (no label, 1976)

Instrumental
International relevance ***/***

The seeds of Wasa Express were already in the ground by 1975, although their debut album wasn't released until 1977. They recorded an LP's worth of material as Klara Express in 1975 in the legendary Decibel studio in Stockholm where myriads of albums have been recorded. If these recordings were made as demos or if they were in fact intended for release I don't know, but they remained locked away for decades before getting a digital-only release.

Klara Express was a very different-sounding band than when turning into Wasa Express, and this incarnation featured EGBA trumpeter Ulf Adåker and trombone player Nils Landgren who both left early on. They were obviously a balancing force in the band, as those Klara Express tapes top everything made after their departure. Instead of the daredevil gymnastics that make Wasa Express such an overbearing band, Klara Express focused on the groove. Åke Eriksson is a drummer well-known for his skills, and here he pulls out every funky trick in the book to great success. The syncopes blare away with precision but also all of the feel it takes to make it swing, groove and funk. It's fusion music alright, but it's in the higher legion of jazz funk, much better than most albums in the same mould. It's a pity these recordings weren't released back in the day, and even greater pity what the loss of Adåker and Landgren did to the band.

”Live at Jarlateatern 1976” is an early document of Wasa Express, and while it still has remnants from their early Klara characteristics, they were already heading for their typical style where it was more important to dazzle and baffle the audience with instrumental acrobatics than to present something with emotional substance. And even in those moments where they emphasize the funk bits left over from the Klara Express days, it sounds dull and calculated. ”Jarlateatern” isn't quite as terrible as their later properly released albums, but it's still dead boring and clinical.

None of these albums have been released physically. Both of them were originally available for free download from Åke Eriksson's website, but are now available for streaming on the regular platforms.

Klara Express full album playlist (Spotify)
Live At Jarlateatern full album playlist (Spotify)

THOMAS FRYKBERG – Väderkvarnsväder (A Disc, 1980)

 

Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

Most A-Disc albums are best described as 'just another A-Disc album'. A bitter few of them has anything to distinguish them; at best it's mediocre artists with mediocre talents to match the label's desire for mediocrity. ”Väderkvarnsväder” is no exception.

Thomas Frykberg was a decent songwriter, somewhere at the end of Mikael Ramel's spectrum with a dash of Blå Tåget's cabaret-like moments, but his qualities are dampened by a boring studio mafia sound. As a lyricist, Frykberg isn't even on the same planet as Ramel; the lyrics are a yawn, riddled with bland politics and the occasional toothless satirical edge. Frykberg vocal delivery is less than inspiring too. He's a dull singer with a rather weak and non-descriptive voice, and the semi-jazz fusion backing provided by fusion royalty like Jan Tolf (Häxmjölk, Resa) and Ulf Adåker (Egba) is obviously competent, or if you prefer a more honest phrasing: typically bloodless. Best song in the lot is the slightly melancholy title track with an appealing melody, laced with a fairly elegant string arrangement and a few amiable flugelhorn lines. Best song, yes, but not good enough to save the rest of the album from being destined for oblivion.

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EGBA – The 1970's albums

Sweden's leading fusion band of the 70's, founded in 1971 and active through the 80's, with one stray album released in 2004. Their name stands for Electronic Groove & Beat Academy but they're exclusively refered to by the acronym EGBA. The band was centered around trumpeter Ulf Adåker and had a changing line-up over the years, at one point or another including guitarist Jan Tolf, Göran Lagerberg, Amadu Jarr, pianist Harald Svensson (Resa, Häxmjölk), drummer Åke Eriksson (Wasa Express) and Per Tjernberg (Archimedes Badkar). A reformed EGBA is still performing.

EGBA (Grammofonverket, 1974)
Instrumental, other languages 

International relevance: ***

 

Their first album presented all of the band's characteristics, jazz fusion inspired by the likes of Miles Davis and Chick Corea, with funky grooves providing the foundation on the heavier tracks, with a distinct African influence to boot, most notably on”Gbinti”. ”Capsiloni”, written by drummer Claes Wang, veers towards Archimedes Badkar. ”Egba” is one of the finer examples of Swedish fusion thanks to its diversity and inspired playing. Great cover too.

Jungle-Jam (Sonet, 1976)

Instrumental, other languages

International relevance: ***

Egba's second album adds a bit of Latin music to the mix, and takes the funk one step further. The album unfortunately lacks a lot of the charm that makes their debut enjoyable. This is pretty much a standard funk fusion album with the urge to explore and discover largely substituted with technical precision.

Live at Montmartre (Sonet, 1977)

Instrumental, other languages

International relevance: ***

Better than ”Jungle-Jam”, probably because it was recorded live, with Egba feeding off the audience at the Montmartre jazz club in Copenhagen. Here they expanded their palette of styles to include reggae on ”Satobe”. Still not on par with their debut however.

Amigos Latinos (Sonet, 1978)
Instrumental, other languages 

International relevance: ***

 

Just like the title suggests this is an album with a stronger emphasis on Latin influences. It's also an excruciatingly dull album, with fusion meaning a mathematically precise show-off. I find it extremely hard to sit through without a steadily increasing level of irritation.

Bryter upp! (MNW, 1979)

Instrumental
International relevance: ***

A literal translation of the album title would be ”breaking up”, and while not exactly true, it saw Egba change to a smaller line-up and also a new label. The title also suggests the band was taking off in a new direction which is partly true as ”Bryter upp!” is less hysterical than ”Amigos Latinos”, a little more reflective. It still fails to satisfy unless you have a high tolerance for their kind of music.

”Progglådan” features two Egba tracks recorded for the Swedish Radio in 1972, and three more from a 1978 session.

I can see why they're highly regarded by fusion fans for their passion and skills making them much better than many of their peers, even if they're not to my liking.

Egba full album playlist
Jungle Jam full album playlist
Live at Montmartre full album playlist
Amigos Latinos full album playlist

ANDERS HELMERSON – End of Illusion (Skivbolaget, 1982)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Classically trained Anders Helmerson once said that ”End of Illusion” was known to music business insiders as ”the most expensive Swedish record production after ABBA”. I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing, but there's no denying it has plenty of production sheen, supposedly necessary to an album of this nature.

Helmerson was an early member of Kung Tung, but ”End of Illusion” bears no similarities with the satirical balls-to-the-wall rock of his previous band. It's a full scale symphonic work, and Helmerson is proud to demonstrate his Keith Emerson/Rick Wakeman pretentions. I could stop there – symph fans might drool over it (although that too is doubtful, judging by the Prog Archives reviews); me, I just get exhausted by the vulgar pyrotechnics. Especially since the compositions lack substance and dynamics, merely being thick layers of late 70's/early 80's keyboard textures. It's actually hard to believe the number of musicians involved here, as most of them are obscured by Helmerson's ego, ego, ego, ego, ego, keyboards, keyboards, keyboards, keyboards and keyboards. Did I mention ego and keyboards? As if that wasn't enough, he even got Egba trumpeter Ulf Adåker to play synthesizer!

It took Helmerson almost three years – from 1979 to 1981 – to finish off the album, largely due to financial shortcomings. He could have saved some money on studio time wasted on ten billions of extra keyboard overdubs. Ironically, ”End of Illusion” initially proved to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the self-released album failed to make much of an impact, prompting Helmerson to leave for Canada, then Brazil, and a more successful career, leaving behind one of the worst examples of self-indulgent and preposterous symphonic rock ever. 

Full album playlist