ANITA LIVSTRAND – Mötet (MNW, 1978)

Vocals in various languages

International relevance: ***

 

Ranked #12 on the blog's Top 25 list

A highly intriguing album, from the music itself right down to the cover sporting a painting by the excellent Channa Bankier who is still active as a painter, having exhibitions from time to time. (The painting itself is titled ”Mötet”, ”The Meeting”, just like the album.)

Anita Livstrand has a colourful history. As a 16 year old, she started playing in the streets 1969, performing songs by the likes of Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Joni Mitchell and, oddly enough, Träd, Gräs Och Stenar. She got turned on to ethnic music when she bought the Turkish saz to which she started making up songs without words. For a short while she was part of the all-female band Luftbolagets Aftonstuvning who sadly enough never released any music. Another member of shortlived outfit was Helene Bohman who later recorded an album under the alias Stenblomma, now considered a classic by progg aficionados.

In 1974, Livstrand expanded her knowledge in foreign instruments as she acquired a tamboura, on which she accompanied several Indian musicians on their visits to Sweden. She teamed up with plenty of prominent Swedish musicians for recording sessions, such as Jan Hammarlund, Turid Lundqvist, Archimedes Badkar and Thomas Mera Gartz on his underrated ”Sånger” album from 1976. She also contributed to a couple of various artists compilations before she made her solo debut with ”Mötet” in 1978, to this day the only album to bear her full name on the front cover.

Long before the term ”world music” was coined, she weaved together an array of musical threads from around the world. ”Mötet” exposes you to blues, Bulgarian and Hungarian folk singing and Indian and Turkish influences, as well as Scandinavian traditions. All blends together to a remarkably eclectic mix that modern day world music yet has to rival. ”Mötet” is profound, spiritual, earthy and serene, most of the time all at once. The album features contributions from several stellar progg musicians with a flair for multifaceted music. Samla Mammas Manna offered Lars Hollmer and Coste Apetrea to the album's lineup, while the late Thomas Mera Gartz of Träd, Gräs Och Stenar also joined in. Not to mention Turid, Bill Öhrström, Ulf Wallander and astonishing drummer Bengt Berger. All making sure to bring the very best out of the music. If there's a single reason for inventing the word ”organic”, then this album is it. The music flows effortlessly, like a curiously effervescent stream. The music may be acoustic, but the experience is electrifying.

Given the amounts of excellent progg albums released during the first half of the 70's, it's sometimes easy to forget the nuggets from the later progg days, but ”Mötet” is one of those latter period gems. It easily stands out as one of the most inventive and exhilarating releases during the entire progg era!

After ”Mötet”, Livstrand joined forces with another one of the most broadminded singers Sweden had to offer in those days, Marie Selander. With Vargavinter, they released two albums of similar excellence, following the direction pointed out by ”Mötet”. The 80's saw Livstrand participate in recordings by Bengt Berger's Bitter Funeral Beer Band, Bolon Bata (on the mindblowing ”Trance Dance” album) and Barrikadorkestern. In the early 90's she turned into band leader herself in Anitas Livs. Live shows and albums by Anitas Livs proved that she never lost touch with music from all over the world; I saw them back then and it was a truly vitalising experience.

Surprisingly enough, and for some mysterious reason, ”Mötet” was released as a music cassette in Australia 1980. Thankfully, it was also graced with a CD release in the mid 00's, with a slightly altered sleeve.

Full album playlist

SCORPION – I Am the Scorpion (MNW, 1970)

 

English vocals 

International relevance: ***

One of the most legendary albums to come out of the Swedish progg scene, and also one of the earliest. It's almost mythical to collectors, being extremely hard to find and fetching ridiculous prices any rare time it's offered for sale. It was ninth album release on MNW, one of the most important labels of the Swedish 70's, putting out many stellar albums of the era.

Scorpion was in fact MNW head honcho Bo Anders Larsson's own one-off project. Larsson had previously been in Tintacs who had two singles out in the late 60's. Tintacs soon became Ron Faust who put out a fine 45, ”I Wanna Hold You” b/w ”I Keep on Moving”, in 1969. Both incarnations of the band also featured Lorne de Wolfe who later made a mark in history as a member of Contact, Vargen, and much later and to a lot lesser artistic extent, Hansson de Wolfe United. The entire Contact back Larsson on ”I Am the Scorpion”, and being produced by Kim Fowley, it's like the evil cousin to Contact's – much more subdued – debut album ”Nobody Wants to Be Sixteen”.

Delivered in a stunning monochromatic sleeve, ”I Am the Scorpion” is a partly wild affair, sometimes reminiscent of the Stooges or any other late 60's/early 70's Detroit band of your choice. Side A of the album is hard-boiled psych rock with frantic fuzz guitars. The title track is a classic, as is the garagey ”Hey Girl, I'm Ugly” (which also can be found on the MNW sampler ”Ljud från Waxholm”) and the heavy ”Red Queen of the Underground”, plus the short but great ”Blues for Jimi Hendrix”. If you want to know why this album is in such high demand, these tracks ought to explain it!

With the first side of the album having the guitars going on the red and the drums pounding on your eardrums, side B might come as an unpleasant surprise. Much mellower, and in parts downright terrible. It begins with one of the lousiest tracks ever recorded in Sweden, ”Michoican” (backed with another pointless album track, the parodic blues track ”Everybody Knows My Name”). Why this jolly-jolly-ho-ho-ho-thumbs-up-yeehah crap was chosen as a single – A side at that! – is a complete mystery. Somebody must have had a severe brain loss picking that as some kind of attempted hit.

The rest of the second side is much better, but a far cry from the stunning first one. Much more in a 60's beat style, it does have its pleasant moments, such as the freakbeat rumbler ”Hey La La La” if you're into that sort of thing.

”I Am the Scorpion”, as a whole, is a disappointment – especially if you fork out the money dealers ask for it without knowing what the B side is like. Side A, however, is as heavy and rough as music got in 1970, up there with the best and rawest US garage rock of the era. Do keep in mind though, that nice copies are hard to find of the early MNW releases, including "I Am the Scorpion". The vinyl they used were hardly audiophile stuff...

As an afterthought, Scorpion released a non album 45 in 1971, a cover of ”It's All Over Now”, made famous by the Rolling Stones, coupled with a screaming five and a half minutes of ”Wolves Mouth Song”. Almost as impossible to find as the album, this certainly is in the vein of the album's prime side. ”It's All Over Now” gets a blasting devil-may-care treatment sure to fry your brain. ”Wolves Mouth Song”, although being entirely instrumental, is Scorpion at their (or his) uttermost finest. Both tracks were in fact outtakes by Swedish-Norweigan hippie duo Charlie & Esdor.

Full album playlist

DUNDER – Dunder (Mercury, 1978)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

Today, five-piece Dunder is a little known outfit. Originally called Dunder Å Snus when they started out in 1976, they hailed from the small industrial community of Hallstahammar with a population of no more than 10,000. Although they might not be well known today, their sole album was well recieved by critics and the audience upon its release in 1978. Wrote Dagens Nyheter, Sweden's leading daily paper: ”A tight, massive and intense kind of rock music pours out of this band”, and another magazine called ”Dunder” a ”thundering debut album”, alluding to the group's name which means ”Thunder” in English. ”The album actually puts Dunder in the frontline of Swedish rock,” the writer continues. And true is they're heavier than many a band in Sweden at the time. The native tongue lyrics are only vaguely political, which had leading progg mag Musikens Makt asking how Dunder had the nerve to dub their music progressive. It probably didn't help the band getting the orthodox progg movement grace that the album was released through major label Mercury Records. Also, the music is more straightforward than their peers', which had the band facing troubles getting gigs. ”There are almost no places for a progressive band like us, without a political message,” the band complained to an interviewer. Still, they managed to in neighbouring cities, and also scored a tour up north in Sweden. They also proved very successful in European radio show competition ”Europatoppen”, in which they got more votes than the well established and beloved Pugh Rogefeldt.

All material on the album is original, eleven well crafted tracks with prominent guitars and a tight, driving sound. Good vocals too, courtesy of Franco Mavica. ”Dunder” is a consistent effort, relying on the heaviness and thankfully keeping the ballads to a minimum. Closing track ”Medan tiden flyr” is an exception, laced with a string arrangement and a pseudo baroque melody line that I suspect would have fitted noted Swedish singer Tommy Körberg just nicely. ”Varje låt har sin egen tid” on the other hand sees the band at its most hard rocking, while ”Ge mig liv” adds a tasteful dash of gospel in the vocal harmonies. ”Dunder” is a group effort; no member gets a single songwriter's acknowledgement as all tracks are credited to the band collectively.

I haven't been able to confirm any live recordings by the band which is a pity since the album's style suggests they must have been a blazing stage act. They did however plan for a second album, but before those plans materialized, Dunder's break-up was announced by a local paper in June 1979. A single with English versions of album tracks "Strul" and "Stormvarning", retitled "Struggle" and "Dreams" respectively was about to be released but never got beyond the test pressing stage. They did a (one-off?) reunion in 1982 when they performed a local show, gracing the setlist with old Dunder chestnuts along with a couple of new songs. Unfortunately, these were never commited to vinyl.

Curiously enough, Dunder was offered the song "Skateboard", a translated version of The Carvells' "L.A. Run", but rejected it why it was given to disco pop band Magnum Bonum instead. Magnum Bonum scored a huge hit with the track, thereby annoying every Swede with a functioning brain in 1978.

Drummer Carl Moser later joined heavy metal band Pegasus which later evolved into Lynx, as such releasing a full length album in 1985 along with a self-released 45 and a bunch of tracks on a various artists compilation.

Full album playlist

MIKLAGÅRD – Miklagård (Edge, 1979)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***  

Miklagård (the old Norse name for Istanbul) were an obscure Gotland based symphonic trio without a guitar player. It's tempting to call them keyboard led, but due to an oddly diffuse production, no instrument seems to take the place up front. Not even the vocals, but regardless of the vague production, they are surprisingly weak for a symphonic album anyway. The line-up is fleshed out by some violin and trumpet, but they too fail to make the music distinct enough.

As suggested by the album cover, Miklagård moves in the territory mapped out by the likes of Genesis, Le Orme, perhaps even Klaatu. Then, throw in a bit of Kaipa and a tad Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Thankfully, Miklagård steer clear of the most annoying quasi-classical moves, focusing on mellow songs and not very complex arrangements. This is symphonic prog at its simplest, for both good and bad. The longest track is ”Soldaten”, almost reaching the 13 minute mark, but that is just more of the same albeit over a longer time.

Truth is, they weren't a very skilled or talented band, and the music seems to lack ambition. The lyrics are often silly, something that will hardly bother any foreign listener as all songs are sung in Swedish.

Sweden had several gifted symphonic bands in the 70's, but Miklagård weren't one of them. As there seem to be no other albums released on the Edge label, I assume that Miklagård's sole album, recorded during three months in 1979, was a private release. It's said to have had an original run of 1500 copies, but it's still fairly easy to find pretty cheap. There is also a Japanese CD reissue from a few years back on the Tachika label.

Full album

ERIK ASCHAN – Så länge ni vägrar att lyssna (E. Aschan, 1979)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: **

You'd be hard pressed to find anyone any more egomaniacal than Erik Aschan (pronunced Askhan). I doubt any other artist has ever managed to mention his own name as many times on an album than Aschan. But then again, Erik Aschan is no ordinary guy. He's a true outsider.

Child of a Dutch father and a mother working as a teacher and an actor, Erik Aschan (later Zürcher) was born in Stockholm in 1953. He moved to Västerås (the town made forever famous for being Pugh Rogefeldt's hometown) at an early age. He spent a great deal of his youth in foster care, socialized with biker gangs, before eventually attending art school in Västerås. After a stint in Lund in the south of Sweden, he ends up in Linköping. In the early 70's he started writing his own songs, and after being turned down by several record companies, he put out his debut album by himself in 1973.

His music has always had a strange, offbeat feel, portraying Aschan as someone who never quite fits in with society, always slightly incapable in terms of relations with other people. I can't put my finger on exactly why, but there's something eerie about a lot of his songs, something so alienated that you can't help but feel uneasy listening to them. Actually, I've never been able to quite get my head around the Aschan character. Sometimes it's hard to take him seriously, but as he sings: ”You might think I'm ridiculous, but I'm dead serious, I mean every word I say”. 

His first two albums are four years apart, whereas ”Så länge ni vägrar att lyssna”, his third, appeared two years after his second, in 1979. The lyrics, all sung in Swedish, range from the pathetic and downright untalented to the poetically sensitive. The arrangements are sparse with Aschan's acoustic guitar at the core, laced with a soft electric bass and the occasional fragile electric guitar. 

Aschan is certainly progg in feel and execution (maening, it's more important to express yourself than to do it perfect), yet he's so far removed from anything typical to progg. He's far removed from just about everything. He's a rare bird, seemingly completely unaware of what's actually ”appropriate” to sing about. Or how to write a lyric. I doubt there's ever been anyone coming up with a song title like ”Du går fram som en slåttermaskin” - ”You go on like a mower”. Erik Aschan simply doesn't look upon the world as most others do. A lost soul in a cold world.

Of his original albums, ”Så länge ni vägrar lyssna” is the best. It was originally released in 300 copies, but had a second pressing of a further 5-600 copies, making it his best distributed album. You can occassionally find it in thrift stories and second hand shops, but as interest in outsider music and Swedish progg continue to grow, it's getting harder and harder to come by. However, some songs from ”Så länge ni vägrar lyssna” (along with selections from his other albums) are available for download from Aschan's website. Unfortunately, the best track off the album isn't there, the decidedly creepy and Bobb Trimble-like "Det liv du stal ifrån mig (Black Mother)".

"Sedan länge"
"Jag har en vän"

KULTIVATOR – Barndomens stigar (Bauta, 1981)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Often lumped in with the Zeuhl bands, I still think Kultivator has a lot more to do with the British art rock style somewhere in-between King Crimson, Henry Cow and even Soft Machine, than with Magma or later generation Zeuhl act Kōenji Hyakkei. Kultivator's sole album ”Barndomens stigar” stands up well to any international comparisons, with tight and intelligent compositions, excellently executed with the nothing short of amazing Johan Svärd on drums and bass player Stefan Carlsson. Kultivator had a connection with the legendary Ur Kaos as keyboard player Johan Hedrén were in both bands for a while. Together they formed the core of the highly active art rock scene in Linköping, a city otherwise best known for its university and the vanguard hospital. With Lars ”Lach'n” Jonsson, highly talented musician and owner of the Bauta Records label, the scene had an obvious centre. Bauta Records is still active, providing the world with top notch Swedish progressive rock with a striking arty edge.

Recorded in 1980 but not released until the following year, ”Barndomens stigar” kicks off with the energetic ”Höga hästar”, one of the album's definite highlights, with Svärd going wild on the drums. Energy is like a code word for the album; even the title track which relies on a somewhat subdued folksy or baroque sounding themes has an inherent force that is anything but relaxing.

As mentioned above, Kultivator's compositional skills are proven again and again throughout the album. Some prog (and for that matter, progg) bands just don't seem to understand the cause-and-effect function of musical segments, haphazardly jumbling up a bunch of themes and time signatures, but Kultivator has a firm notion of structure.

The album has been released on CD twice. The first time around, two tracks were added to the original running order. ”Häxdans” connects well with the title track taking good use of baroque influences. ”Tunnelbanan” is a medley recorded live in their native Linköping two years prior to the release of the original album. Although not as focused as the remainder of the album, the track nevertheless shows they were on to something already in the 70's.

Some years ago, Mellotronen released a further enhanced version of the album, including not only a live version of album track ”Novarest”, but a bonus EP entitled ”Waiting Paths”, comprising four songs recorded by the re-united band in 2006. 

Johan Hedrén has been involved in several Bauta releases, and has also released a tranquil ambient styled solo album entitled ”Kretslopp” which also featured a set of paintings by Linköping born and bred artist Ola Freijd. Ingemo Rylander appears on J. Lachen's solo release ”Music for the Dying Forest”.

Full album playlist including bonus tracks

SPILLD MJÖLK – Svart mjölk (Spilld Mjölk, 1975)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

Spilld Mjölk is a curiousity that is completely unknown to most but in high demand among collectors. Privately released in 1975 on the band's own label, it is indeed amateurish but in a good sense. Their acoustic blend of psychedelia and folk-tinged music is oddly attracting, and might appeal to fans of UK folk rockers Stone Angel and Danish avant folkies Furekaaben. Lyrics are in Swedish and have a slight left wing touch. However, it isn't necessary to grasp the lyrics to enjoy the album as the strange mood of the music is the most striking thing about ”Svart mjölk”. The underground sound has a spooky vibe that gets to you on a deeper level.

The band members were pupils of Kalix Folkhögskola where the album was primitively recorded during a week in May 1975, but was founded in Luleå, a city in the Northern part of Sweden, by multi-instrumentalists Tommy Skotte and Erik Ahlstrand. Actually, almost all of the seven members play several instruments, such as flute, violin, cello, sitar and saxophone apart from the obvious guitars and percussion. None of them is a flashy player however; their strength is the collective sound fuelled by twisted improvisations and a dronelike flow, particularly prominent in the sitar driven track ”Till döden skiljer oss åt” (which, by the way, is not a cover of ”Norweigan Wood” as has been claimed). But ”Svart mjölk” is a state of mind perfectly illustrated by the evocative album cover, as much as a collection of distinct songs. Therefore, it's hard to pick any particular song as a favourite; the album works best as a whole. Once you get into it, it stays with you.

On the strength of the otherwordly mood and the fact that it was privately released in an tiny edition of 250 copies (distributed by Ahlstrand himself), ”Svart mjölk” has become a much sought after item, especially since a part of the edition was destroyed in a basement flooding. If you ever come across a copy of it, expect it to dig deep holes in your wallet.

Violinist and singer Lars Frykholm was also a member of the huge Luleå based rock band Anton Swedbergs Swängjäng (all in all they had 37 members!). Tommy Skotte later became the main man of Skottes Musikorkester who released two 45's in the late 70's. Spilld Mjölk however is their most original effort, and although a spiritual kinship with a few other international bands, ”Spilld mjölk” is very much an entity of its own. Anyone into 70's fringe folk should consider it a must-have, why a long overdue reissue is severely needed.

Full album