RÖDA LACKET – Röda Lacket (Ljudspår. 1974)

Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: *

Ljudspår was the musical outlet of film studio Europa Film and managed to release several highly credible albums 1972-1976 including the first Mikael Ramel, second Fläsket Brinner and the final album from Vildkaktus. Röda Lacket's only LP isn't quite one of them. Not fusion, not really jazz rock but more of a horn rock album with vocalist Göran Folkestad sounding like a Christian commercial singer. Well, both commercial and Christian is right insofar he appeared in the Eurovision Song Contest twice in the 80s and bassist Thomas Lindbjer was in both Vatten and Salt. The musicianship is OK enough but the songwriting is blunt and undistinguished. It doesn't matter if they dabble in jazz (”Gasen pyser”), instrumental Latin soul (”Jättarnas dans”) or pop ballads (”Våra statsmän”), nothing here has any personality. ”Röda Lacket” is a perfectly pointless album by a perfectly pointless band.

Jättarnas sång 
Jättarnas dans
1848

ERIC BIBB – Ain't It Grand (MNW, 1972)

English vocals
International relevance **

Eric Bibb is a well-known name these days, hailed for his live performances and numerous albums somewhere between blues and singer/songwriter material. Born in New York City in 1951, he was given his first steel string guitar at the age of seven. Quitting his studies in Russian and psychology, he left for Paris in 1970, assumably as a draft dodger, before settling in Stockholm shortly after. Once there he got in touch with the still relatively new MNW label and MNW co-founder Roger Wallis who took him under his wings and released Bibb's first-ever album ”Ain't It Grand” in 1972. Wallis also provided horn arrangements and piano for the album, joining forces with people like saxophonist Christer Eklund (Grapes Of Wrath, Slim's Blues Gang, Rolf Wikström), bassist Torbjörn Hultcrantz (Bernt Rosengren, Albert Ayler and numerous other jazz luminaries) and Dave Spann (Red White & Blues, Vildkaktus).

”Ain't It Grand” has those sweet characteristics of a good debut album. Bibb was already a skilled player with a keen sense of delivery (and a very pleasant voice), but the music isn't yet fully formed. It has an intimate, stripped-down feel and there's a seeking, trying quality to it, a certain hunger to prove its greatness to the world. Sometimes it reminds me of Terry Callier and Bill Withers, sometimes it's a bit like John Martyn. One track, the lovely ”Tuesday Mornin' Rendezvous” even hints at UK guitar maestros Bert Jansch and John Renbourn. The more laidback tracks are nicely balanced against a couple of songs relying more on groove, such as the album closer ”The Last Time?”. The semi-shuffle ”Lovefire” in turn has some biting electric guitar and gurgling wah-wah faintly like a lighter variant of Pete Cosey's work on Muddy Waters's and Howlin' Wolf's psych blues albums on Cadet Records. The understated aggression of the playing goes well together with the lyrics reflecting Bibb's anti-racist and anti-draft stance.

”Ain't It Grand” is something of a forgotten nugget, especially in the MNW discography. It captures the spirit of the times but doesn't feel the slightest antiquated. For reasons beyond my knowledge, it took him five years to release his second album ”Rainbow People” on the audiophile imprint Opus 3. A more exact and polished effort for sure, but also lacking the imperative and directness of his beautiful debut.

His stint with Opus 3 also hooked him up with folksy singer/songwriter and U.S. expatriate Bert Deivert for a couple of collaborative albums, and as a side note, I'd like to mention Deivert's own 1979 album ”Handcrafted Songs” which might appeal to fans of Bibb's folksier sound, especially that which veers towards the U.K. style perfected by Bert Jansch.

Bibb's vast discography includes further collaborations with artists such as Taj Mahal, Maria Muldaur, Swedish gospel singer Cyndee Peters, and Eric's dad Leon Bibb.

Full album playlist

SABU MARTINEZ – Afro Temple (Grammofonverket, 1973)

Instrumental, spoken word

International relevance: ***

New York born percussionist Louis 'Sabu' Martinez was something of a wunderkind, making his professional debut in 1941 at the age of 11. At 18 he was offered a place in Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra, and he later went on to work with jazz giants like Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, and Charles Mingus. His band leader debut came in 1957 with ”Palo Congo” on the Blue Note label. Ten years later he moved to Sweden and released a couple of albums under his own name of which ”Afro Temple” is the best known.

The album was recorded in April 1973 with a number of renowned instrumentalists, among them Christer Boustedt and Bernt Rosengren on saxes and flutes, U.S. born Swedish bassist Red Mitchell, and drummer Ali Lundbohm (of Vildkaktus). Needless to say, it's a percussion heavy album with strong Afro-Cuban influences, not only featuring Martinez himself but also four other conga players. The title track is fine with Boustedt wailing away on his alto and the reverb drenched ”Para Ti, Tito Rodriguez” and funky ”My Christina” are pretty cool too, but I think the album as a whole is overrated.

The folks at Mellotronen wouldn't agree with me as they've released a series of previously unreleased Martinez recordings made for the Swedish Radio 1967-78, ”Winds & Skins” (with saxophonist/flautist Sahib Shihab), ”Burned Sugar” and ”Maldito Primivo”.

Martinez died in Sweden from gastric ulcer in 1979, only 48 years old.

Full album playlist

VILDKAKTUS – Vindarnas vägar (Polydor, 1971) / Natten (Ljudspår, 1973)

Vindarnas vägar (Polydor, 1971)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: ***

Another very fine effort from Vildkaktus. Not quite as good as ”Tidsmaskinen” but not far from it. ”Vindarnas vägar” is a more 'typical' prog than their debut, whatever that means and besides, nothing about Vildkaktus is exactly typical anyway. ”Vindarnas vägar” reveals influences from late 60's harmony laden American bands with jazzy inclinations. But it's isn't an epigonic work; it's tight, meticulously constructed and imaginative. The songs are excellent and confirm Vildkaktus as one of the most original bands of the era.

The album had a Record Store Day reissue in 2017.

Vildkaktus had a non-album 45 out on Polydor in 1972, "Vila vid denna källa"/"Natur du kämpar", before leaving the label for their third album.

Natten (Ljudspår, 1972)

Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: ***

Vildkaktus' third album is their weakest. It's less intricate than their previous two, on one hand opting for a little heavier sound (case in point: ”Ånglåt”) and on the other for a more straight-ahead West Coast sound, as on ”Substitute Woman”. It sounds as if Vildkaktus had lost a bit of interest in their music, and not surprisingly they disbanded after ”Natten”. Guitarist Olle Nilsson, pianist Gösta Nilsson and bassist Tommy Johnsson reappeared in Ibis a couple of years later.

A 1971 session for the Tonkraft show is included in "Progglådan".

Vindarnas vägar full album playlist

Natten full album

Tonkraft 1971 full album playlist (Vildkaktus starts at track 8)

IBIS – Ibis (Grammofonverket, 1974) / Sabbas Abbas mandlar (Dragon, 1980)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***/**

Ibis evolved out of the excellent Vildkaktus but has very little in common with pianist Gösta Nilsson's and guitarist Olle Nilsson's former band. The music on their debut is jazz fusion, albeit with a much dirtier edge than the genre usually allows. Sometimes during the noisier parts they remind me a wee bit of French band Magma but possibly only because the tenstion they create from time to time.But ”Ibis” do indeed has quite a few more progressive moves than their far more academic Swedish fusion genre fellows. While I prefer the splendour of Vildkaktus, ”Ibis” is an interesting piece worthy of several plays.

Their second album with an untranslatable pun on Samla Mammas Manna for title didn't appear until six years later, and features a vastly different line-up with only Gösta Nilsson left from ”Ibis”. The personnel change obviously prompted a change in style, and ”Sabba Abbas mandlar” is a straight post bop jazz record with only a few contemporary fusion tinges on ”Summer Eyes” penned by new member and jazz legend Bengt Ernryd. An OK album but keep in mind it collects few progg points.

Ibis full album

Sabba Abbas mandlar full album

VILDKAKTUS – Tidsmaskinen (MNW, 1970)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

Vildkaktus are probably best known for their 1971 album ”Vindarnas vägar”, a more ”typically” prog sounding affair than its predecessor, the un(der)sung ”Tidsmaskinen” (”the time machine”). ”Tidsmaskinen” was one of the first albums to be released by MNW Records (cat. no. MNW 11P), and is one of the label's most rewarding releases of 1970.

Tobias Petterson describes the album nicely in ”The Encyclopedia of Swedish Progressive Music” : ”With strong songs and interesting Swedish-language lyrics, 'Tidsmaskinen' in full of intricate and appealing sounds presenting a unique blend of vocal harmonies, fuzz guitars amd wild piano jazz – often within the same song.” ”Tidsmaskinen” also has a certain U.S. West Coast vibe, and with its jazzy touches, a band like Spirit leaps to mind. Add to that a generous melodic sensibility inherited from guitarist and singer Olle Nilsson's previous band '14' (who released the very rare album ”In a Bunch” on Olga Records in 1966).

References aside, ”Tidsmaskinen” is a truly original work which doesn't reveal its full splendour until after several spins, but even after one has grown familiar with it, there are still enough of adventurous song structures and suprising style changes to keep the listener's interest at peak all through. Best of all: it never sounds mannered and artificial, only rich with ideas gracefully merged into a cohesive whole that impresses in all the right ways.

Apart from their endearing debut album and the aforementioned ”Vindarnas vägar”, the band released ”Natten” in 1973 which turned out to be their last album as Vildkaktus. They also had two 45's out in 1971 and 1972 respectively, including a total of three non-album tracks. A Swedish Radio session for the Midnight Hour show in 1971 were subsequently released as part of the 40CD box set ”Progglådan” in 2013.

In 1994, Olle Nilsson won a lookalike contest arranged by a commcercial TV network, bringing his part as John Lennon in long running Beatles tribute band Liverpool to nationwide success. Liverpool also appeared in the Eurovision Song Contest national selection in 2003, but their contribution ”Love Is All” didn't make it to the final round.

Both Olle Nilsson and piano player Gösta Nilsson was in fusion outfit Ibis which pretty much was a later incarnation of Vildkaktus. Originally a trained church musician, Nilsson also worked as a professional choir master, thus meeting soon-to-be noted jazz vocalist Monica Borrfors with whom he recorded the album ”Your Touch” (which, as it happens, also featured another former Vildkaktus member, bass player Tommy Johnson.)

Drummer Ali Lundbohm appeared on a couple of albums by other progg acts in the early 70's including Contact's final LP ”Utmarker”, before joining successful blues singer Rolf Wikström's backing band.

”Tidsmaskinen” bassist Håkan Thanger went on to work with several Swedish high profile performers as a songwriter, engineer and musician. He also took a shot at a solo career, recording a one-off 45 for a camper manufacturing company, scoring a hit with the humurous ”Polarbjörnen” in 1976. Thanger now works for a job center.

Tidsmaskinen
Beatvisa