TEMPELROCK – Det stora lyftet (Planet, 1979)

 
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

A somewhat energetic hard rock band with former Solid Ground member Björn Uhr as the songwriting guitarist. I don't think Solid Ground's ”Made In Rock” deserves its standing as a classic. I find their Deep Purple approximations to be quite clumsy and unsatisfactory, but ”Made In Rock” is still at least seventy-four times better than ”Det Stora Lyftet”. It takes a lot more than chugging guitars and a boogie rhythm to make good hard rock, but that's just about everything Tempelrock had to offer. Oh, and some radio friendly pop rock with disco touches. Plus one of the most pointless covers of ”Ticket To Ride” imaginable.

Two album tracks were released as a single. Tempelrock reformed in the 2010s (but I can't imagine anyone actually asking them to). Bassist Peter Jägerhult appeared post Tempelrock on a debile single by Staffan Runius & Mia Alasjö in 1978 before joining the incredibly crappy band Attack (featuring Wasa Express drummer Åke Eriksson). Drummer Werner Lindström joined Råg I Ryggen singer Jonas Warnebring in the band Spray. Guitarist Sten Tempelman became a record producer. Björn Uhr followed suit with Jägerhult and joined Attack and also did lots of session work.

No links found 

MATS GLENNGÅRD – Violin Race (Bastun, 1980)

Instrumental, English vocals
IRG: **

The expression ”don't be fooled by the name” has rarely been as appliable as here. If you expect anything close to Kebnekajse violinist Mats Glenngård's first solo album, the lovely ”Kosterläge” from 1972, then you'll be sorely disappointed. This is closer to Kebnekajse's last album ”Vi drar vidare” which had Glenngård at the helm as Kenny Håkansson had left the group by then. ”Vi drar vidare” is an insult to the band's once glorious name, with limp fusion jazz, and that goes for ”Violin Race” as well. This is an equally bloody awful piece of shit, with fretless basses (and ”funky” slap bass), appalling keyboards and even electronic disco handclaps, featuring members of EGBA, Häxmjölk, Wasa Express and Hörselmat. It's almost scary thinking that this is what an ex-member of one of the greatest Swedish progg bands really had in him.

I hate this album so very much.

Full album playlist

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)

NEON ROSE - Complete albums 1974-1975

Although a hard rock band rather than a progg band, I still think it's fair to include them here – if Rhapsody fits, so does Neon Rose. But they didn't fit in with the righteous music movement of the 70's. Too 'commercial' in sound, style, language and label choice, they were obviously never on good terms with the 'right' crowd. That, of course, let Neon Rose play whatever they felt like playing. If they wanted to support bands like Nazareth and Dr. Hook on their visits to Sweden, they did. (Scary, I know.)

A Dream of Glory and Pride (Vertigo, 1974)
English vocals
International relevance: ***

Neon Rose formed in Stockholm in 1969 as Spider. In 1973 they changed their name to Neon Rose, releasing their debut album the following year after signing with the Swedish division of Vertigo Records. ”A Dream of Glory and Pride” consists of seven tracks of competent heavy rock, including the ten minute title track that ends the album and that definitely has its share of progressive moves. Several of the songs are allowed to stretch out, with only ”Sensation” and ”Love Rock” being less than five minutes long. In many ways, ”A Dream of Glory and Pride” sounds more like a British effort of the day, and is a decent genre effort.

The album was later reissued on CD, expanded with four bonus tracks including a terrible cover of Eddie Cochran chestnut ”C'mon Everybody” originally released as a B side, two live songs and a previously unreleased studio track.

Two (Vertigo, 1974)

International relevance: ***

English vocals

Some time before Neon Rose's second album (released only months after their debut), Gunnar Hallin was handed the guitar duties by Roger Holegård who from now on wanted to focus on his vocals. Hallin plays a prominent role on ”Two”, a more typically riffing hard rock effort than the previous one, with the most progish track again being the longest one, the ten minute ”Bloody Wellfare” [sic!]. But there's still room for a couple of softer moments, most notably the ballads ”My Lady” and ”Thoughts”, the latter somewhat akin to David Bowie around the time of ”The Man Who Sold the World” and ”Hunky Dory”. The sound of ”Two” is denser than that of ”A Dream of Glory and Pride” and should have enough of appeal to genre fans, but it's a much duller album on the whole.

Reload (Vertigo, 1975)

International relevance: **

English vocals

Productive they were, you have to give them that. Two albums in 1974, with a third following already in 1975, featuring new drummer Thomas Wiklund (formerly of Uppåt Väggarna who released one fine 45 on Efel Records in 1971, ”Jag hatar politik” b/w ”Jag färdas”). But by the time ”Reload” was recorded, everything vaguely appealing on ”A Dream of Glory and Pride” was long gone. In its place, all standard hard rock moves inflated by a tiresome production. The track ”A Man's Not a Man” has a surprising power pop chorus reminiscent of Cheap Trick – no wonder it was chosen for a 45 release. (The single mix is included on the CD reissue as a bonus track.)

The most interesting thing to me is that the cover art is by Anders F. Rönnblom, a graphic designer and an excellent artist in his own right.

 

Roger Holegård joined Wasa Express following the demise of Neon Rose in 1975. Two years later, guitarist Piero Mengarelli opted for a Neon Rose reunion with him as the only previous member of the band. An unsuccessful venture – they disbanded after only recording a couple of demos. A further attempt at reviving the band (this time with Piero Mengarelli and his brother and bass player Benno) only got as far as to an unreleased single for the Rosa Honung imprint in 1981. In 2015, Piero Mengarello again tried to bring Neon Rose back to life, and again with him as the only original member. This version of the band, known as Neon Rose Chapter III, quit in 2017. Time to give up trying perhaps?

 

A Dream Of Glory And Pride full album playlist with bonus tracks
Two full album playlist with bonus tracks
Reload full album playlist

WASA EXPRESS – On with the Action (Sonet, 1978) / Till attack (Sonet, 1978) / Schack matt (Sonet, 1979)

On With The Action (Sonet, 1978)

English vocals

International relevance: *

Their debut album is absolutely terrible but if you thought it couldn't get any worse, think again. ”On with the Action” is a set of nine tracks, each one worse than the previous. They were so competent players they obviously felt the need to dumb themselves down to a 'funny' level where Jim Carrey looks like the overlord of comedy. Clown hard rock meets clown disco meets clown surf punk and the result is an insult to all clowns around the world (and I'm usually not the one to defend clowns).

Till attack (Sonet, 1978)

English vocals, Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

One side live, one side studio, one full album of crap. Charter travel fusion, trailer park boogie and office party disco. No redeeming qualities.

Schack matt (Sonet, 1979)

Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: *

If Wasa Express ever had anything even remotely reminiscent of something not entirely unlike a strictly hypothetical concept of qualities, that was definitely long, long gone by the time of ”Schack matt”. Everything I said of the two previous albums goes for this one as well, only to a higher degree. The version of The Balloon Farm's garage classic ”Question of Temperature” is the worst ever. The only interesting thing here is that the first part of their ”Midnight to Six Man” cover sounds like ”Nevermind” Nirvana more than a decade earlier.

On With The Action full album playlist
Till attack full album playlist
Schack matt full album playlist

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

GUDIBRALLAN – Uti vår hage (Silence, 1970) / II (Silence, 1971)

 GUDIBRALLAN – Uti vår hage (Silence, 1970)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: ***

GUDIBRALLAN – II (Silence, 1971)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: ***

I never use the term 'proto punk' anymore. I don't like it, and the more I think about it, the more irritating it gets. It's just the present day's presumptuous way of forcing the past to fit with the current notions of historical events and processes. It's an afterthought at best. And so, Gudibrallan were not a 'proto punk' band. They were, however, a sometimes great rock band with a refreshing 'fuck off' attitude towards music, authoritative decrees and organized politics.

Founded in Uppsala in 1968, Gudibrallan's first gig was in a church, much to the congregation's dismay... It's safe to say Gudibrallan found a more receptive audience at the first Gärdet festival in June 1970. Fronted by inimitable singer Örjan Terje, they trashed their way through a ramshackle set including a wonderfully blasphemous Swedish version of ”Cadillac”, ”Farbror Sven” (”uncle Sven”), mocking left-wing and right-wing politicians alike (the ”uncle Sven” in question is then Swedish Minister for Defence, Social Democrat Sven Andersson).

Gudibrallan translated existing songs to Swedish several times. For instance, ”Hey Joe” became ”Hej Gud” (”hey God” – probably one of the most shocking songs of their first public appearance), and one of their best known tracks ”Sosse” was in fact ”It's Too Late” by The Kinks.

Gudibrallan's 1970 debut album ”Uti vår hage” was recorded in one day, mixed in one day and released two weeks later. Contrary to popular belief based on catalogue numbers, Bo Hansson's ”Sagan om ringen” wasn't the first Silence release – ”Uti vår hage” was. Almost fifty years later, its wild and twisted beauty is as fresh as ever. You may call it progg; if you insist, you may even call it 'proto punk' but to me it's simply a prime example of Swedish 70's rock music at its anarchic best.

”Gudibrallan II” followed in 1971, a more contained effort than their uninhibited debut – controlled or contrived, depending on your bias. Maybe the presence of engineer Bo Hansson allayed their initial ferocity? The best tracks are ”Hispan” and classics ”T-doja” and ”Sosse”, the latter displaying obvious similarities to The Kinks' ”It's Too Late” and even more so, Sir Douglas Quintet's "Dynamite Woman"), while ”John Boy” and ”Visa om jungfrun” are in a International Harvester/Träd, Gräs & Stenar vein. It's a good album but not on par with their debut.

Original copies of ”II” came with a bonus single, ”Handgranat och bajonett” (a spoof on Swedish 1946 hit song ”Tjo och tjim och inget annat”) and the excellent ”Ät mera gröt” that would have been great on ”Uti vår hage”.

The original Gudibrallan quit in 1974, but in the 80's Örjan Terje reformed the band with new members including Mikael Katzeff (formerly of Elektriska Linden) and Åke Eriksson (Wasa Express). They had a couple of 7” releases in the 80's, and a full length album in 2004, ”Visor från Sovjetunionen”. They still play occasional gigs. In 1995, Silence released ”T-doja” which would have fit the 'best of' slot it was meant to do had they only included ”Ät mera gröt”.

A CD compilation exists called "T-doja" which collects most but not all the original band released.

T-doja full album playlist

WASA EXPRESS – Wasa Express (Sonet, 1977)

Instrumental

International relevance ***

Let me get this straight: This is progg at its most unlistenable worst. Yes, it's true that they are technically driven musicians; Åke Eriksson for instance is one of Sweden's most skilled drummers. But that's all there is to it. It's all about technique. The whole point with the music is showing off. Nothing else. To further stress how incredibly competent they are, they add ”humour” to their instrumental perfection. Thing is, it's not funny. It's just silly. ”Does humour belong in music”, Frank Zappa asked, and I see no reason why it shouldn't, at least under controlled circumstances, but when it is used only as an excuse to make things more complicated than they need to be just because they can, I just say grow up, guys.

If you need an example how funny they are, take a look at the cover. Yeah, funny. Send in the clowns. Oh, they're already in.

Stylistically, we're talking fusion. There's a whole slew of jazz in there of course, some funky moves and a bit of stupid rock music. The absolutely worst example of the latter is the cover of ”Cadillac”. Why? To show how connected they are to their rock'n'roll roots when they're so far removed from anything rock'n'roll whatsoever? So it's hard to decide whether they are at their very worst when they ”jokingly” throw an old rock standard into the mix, or when they go for extreme jazz rock gymnastics. In both cases it's so dull that it takes fifteen gallons of coffee to even stay awake.

Maybe the most disgusting thing about Wasa Express is the cheesy, studio ”funk” synthesizer handled by Bo Hallgren. His keyboard runs could outdo Usain Bolt anyday in terms of rapidity. That kind of speed might be impressive in sports, but not in music. In music it's nerve grating, plain and simple.

This, their debut album, was in its original LP format of standard album length but it feels as long as a week. And remember, this is their best effort. I don't know what crime the general public had collectively committed to get punished with three further Wasa Express albums during the 70's, all of them gradually worse. As if it wasn't enough, they even reformed briefly in the mid 80's, then again in the 00's. They still perform and have released two albums with the new line-up. Have mercy on our souls.

Eriksson was also in fusion band Egba, and later on he played the drums in Attack who scored a major hit in Sweden with the stinker ”Ooa hela natten”.

Full album playlist