TINTOMARA – Tintomara (Abra Cadabra Production, 1979) / Lek (Amigo, 1981)

Instrumental
International relevance: **/**

Before pianist Elise Einarsdotter became a respected name in jazz of her own, she was in late 70's/early 80's jazz quartet Tintomara along with for instance flautist Katarina Fritzén known for her work with visa singer Fred Åkerström and also appearing on a later album by Lena Ekman. Her flute is one of the most prominent features in Tintomara where she almost took on the role of a singer.

Tintomara's first, eponymous album (released on Danish imprint Abra Cadabra Production) is an incredibly tight performance with some latin touches and excellent ensemble playing. The sound is lush and airy making for an easy listen, but at the same time it's a bit unengaging. Everything is nice and there's nothing particularly wrong with it, but somehow it never concerns me much. It passes rather unnoticed despite several welcoming traits. Still better than their second album ”Lek” though.

Released on the higher profile label Amigo, ”Lek” is a much more produced affair with an overuse of smooth-over reverb. It's also an unwanted step closer to jazz fusion which is a rather ill-fitting garb for Tintomara who thereby sacrifice too much of the friendly spirit of their first effort.

Tintomara full album
Lek full album

LARS ”LACH'N” JONSSON & MATS JONSSON – Asken Yggdrasil (Bauta, 2012; rec. 1974-76)

Instrumental
International relevance: ***

A really lovely album recorded in the mid-70's but not mixed and finished until 2020. Not only is it a wonderful and unexpected blast from the past, it's also a missing piece of the Zut Un Feu Rouge and Ur Kaos puzzle. Both bands featured/features prime mover Lars ”Lach'n” Jonsson, a multi-instrumentalist but most of all drummer who also released a series of art rock solo albums in the Rē Records ilk.

Those familiar with the postpunkish RIO stylings of Zut Un Feu Rouge or the Zeuhlish assault of Ur Kaos will probably be surprised by the relative pastorality of ”Asken Yggdrasil”. I can't put it any better than what Lach'n Jonsson does himself: ”The music was created under the influence of records such as Bo Hansson – 'Lord Of The Rings'; instrumental, melodic music with a touch of old folk traditions and a Nordic atmosphere. Old Norse mythology became the theme for a musical suite, where the predictions of the Voluspa gave the motifs to form an instrumental tale.” That's exactly it!

Some tracks, all of them instrumental, are even downright romantic, such as the short piano piece ”Soluppgång” (”Sunrise”) and ”Urd, Skuld och Verdandi” (”Urd, Skuld and Verdandi”, the names of the norns that control the fate of humans in the Norse mythology). The Bo Hansson influence comes sweetly to the fore in ”Midgårdsormen” (”the snake of Midgard”) and ”Valhall” (”Valhalla”). A track like ”Ragnarök” (the twilight of the gods) in turn points toward Lach'n Jonsson's future in the abovementioned bands, with quirky rhythms and almost symphonic epicity.

Why it took until the early 10's to see this album mixed, edited and mastered is beyond me. Had it been released shortly after it was recorded, this would be heralded as a fullblown classic of the era. Well, it still is – it's just that very few people know it. Instead of wasting immodest sums of money on so called 'collectable albums” of inferior symph rock, you could get ”Asken Yggdrasil” for basically small change, and get a wonderful little album too.

Full album playlist (Bandcamp)

NEXUS – Nexus (Four Leaf Clover, 1978)

Instrumental
International relevance: **

Excessively boring fusion leaning jazz album from this Malmö quartet. Most interesting fact is that drummer Anders Lagerlöf used to be in rowdy garage gods Namelosers in the 60's. Nexus released a couple of more albums in the 80's including one together with Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava, and made another one 2020. "Nexus" was reissued in Japan in 1978 with a new (and better) sleeve.

Full album playlist

STÖRNINGEN – I görningen (Subverskivbolaget, 1976)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

”I görningen” has a couple of pretty good tracks like ”Främlingen på Stockholms C”, perhaps ”Det är jag som får tacka” and the towering closer ”Fruset land”, but it also has a Blå Tåget-styled pastiche and a few other clunkers dragging the album down. Still, it's better than some other Uppsala bands on Subverskivbolaget and Piglet, like Teddybjörn Band and the largely terrible Sub-gruppen (both bands share members with Störningen). Worth noting is the appearance of Lars Hollmer on accordeon and vocals. ”I görningen” has its share of fans, but it's far too uneven for me to recommend it.

Full album

AUTUMN BREEZE – Demo Tapes (MyRecords, 1977-78) / På radio 1978 (MyRecords, 1978)

Swedish vocals, English vocals, instrumental
International relevance ***/***

When record labels failed to show any interested in Autumn Breeze's album ”Höstbris”, they released it themselves in 1979. When they reformed around 2010, they stuck to self-releasing their music, and have now several albums out on their own label MyRecords. But a compilation of demo recordings made in 1977-1978 appeared as a CD-r already in 2009. Alternately entitled ”Demo Tapes” and ”Casette Tapes” (sic!), it features not only early versions of songs ending up on ”Höstbris”, but also tracks that never made it to the LP. Some songs should have; I'd gladly have swapped the dreadful white-boy-in-an-office funk of ”U P A” and the stale disco of ”Ugglans nattvisir” for the eight minutes of ”Nr. 646” off the demo tape. The main difference between the finished versions and those takes are, as you could expect, these are rougher round the edges. Somewhat closer to 70's hard rock, they sound less refined and that's beneficial. And best of all, they don't have those cheesy synths that are all over ”Höstbris”. True those demos have their share of clumsy playing, but what they lose in precision they gain in vividness.

The second archival release, also a CD-r, features a session recorded for Swedish Radio's local Karlstad branch in 1978. Those tapes fall somewhere between the '78 demos and the '79 album. They still sound a bit under-rehearsed with some rather comic fumbles here and there, and knowing the session would be broadcast, they sound a bit tense.

Swedish Radio has always been famous for getting a great live sound, but for whatever reason the fidelity here is peculiarly muddy which obviously is a drawback. I don't know if some primitive post-production fiddling took place before being released, but there's a reverb here and there which sounds as if it was added later to cover up shortcomings on the original tape. Instead it emphasizes them. Also, the bass must have been boosted prior to release which further adds to the unbalanced and slightly messy sound.

As you can see, I much prefer the demo disc. It's not perfect, but it's imperfect in the right way. I'd even go as far as to say it's better than ”Höstbris” thanks to the rawness and energy it radiates. 

Too bad about the terrible amateurish cover art for both discs though. Somebody failed the Photoshop class...  

Demo Tapes/Casette Tapes full album playlist
På radio 1978 full album playlist

MULLVADSOPERAN – Sånger ur Mullvadsoperan (MNW, 1978)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Mullvaden ('the mole' - don't ask) was an apartment block of four buildings in Stockholm that the city council wanted to tear down already in the 60's. Due to a massive public opinion against the destruction, the houses survived yet another decade, when plans were renewed to knock them down. The tenants refused to move, and became squatters in their own homes in 1977. With the help from Alternativ Stad ('alternative city'), a group working for a more inhabitants friendly city, protests were organised to nationwide attention. Around 300 people took part of the protests and activities, including theatre group Jordcirkus which came together as an immediate result of the Mullvaden protests. Led by Chris Torch, previous with the American group Living Theatre, Jordcirkus performed their 'street opera' ”Mullvadsoperan” released by MNW in 1978, the same year the police eventually stormed the buildings and evicted the tenants/squatters. They lost the houses, but somehow won the moral battle, as the real estate company owning Mullvaden later changed their policies from knocking down old houses then build new (and more expensive) ones, to restoring old buildings in their possession.

A live recording (made at the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm), ”Sånger ur Mullvadsoperan” sounds like a typical political album of the era, sloppily recorded with too many people singing at once with their fists waving in the air. Some songs could possible have been OK had they been more worked on, especially the first track ”Vintern är kall” which has a sweet waltzing melody that, like everything else here, is shouted to death by the many zealous voices.

Albums such as this always seem to end up a time capsule, a moment frozen in time, which only looks more naive and embarassing as the years go by. Although I can easily sympathize with the sqautters intentions (take care of the old buildings instead of raising new ones people can't afford to live in), it doesn't necessarily make for listenable music. The story surrounding the album is so much more interesting than what's on it.

Full album

HARAMBEE – Harambee (Odeon, 1971)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

This is an album I've wanted to hear for a very long time and curiousity grew to expectations, and that's not good. The higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment. I guess we've all been there.

What I expected to get was a an album of well-crafted pop songs still under the influence of the 60's, with pronunced psychedelic elements. Something along the lines of Jason's Fleece perhaps. But it's not really the lost popsike masterpiece I had envisioned my over-vivid, hopeful mind.

It's a mellow album with pastoral touches and a rich use of harmony vocals. The album has an underground feel being recorded at home, but it's surprisingly professional sounding. The songs are on the commercial side, but not without surprises. There's a fuzz guitar breakout here, a sharp turn there, and oops! a sudden melodic twist I wasn't prepared for! There's something about the album that makes me think of a more consistent Cymbeline, perhaps even a dash of pop-minded Latin American bands such as Laghonia/We All Together and Embrujo.

Not everything here is good – ”Kalle Wall” is plain embarassing – but as my false expectations waned off, I began to hear the album for what it is, and there are indeed worthwhile moments. The fuzzed ”Regn” is a high point, while ”Tu-ru-tu” sounds like a lost, early solo McCartney demo. ”Harambee” isn't a lost treasure but it has grower qualities, and if you approach it with fewer misguided anticipations than I did, it's not impossible at all that you reach into it much quicker than me.  

Harambee made a second album in 1975 as Wasa, a much more commercial (and inferior) pop affair released on Polar Records and produced by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and ABBA producer Michael B. Tretow.

Full album