VARIOUS ARTISTS – Låtar från Knuff (MNW, 1973)

Kabikiklas / Kenneth Nyström, Lars Garpenfeldt, Kurt Skoog & Finn Sörensson / Eftertryck Förbjudes / Urban Nilsson & Per-Olov Åström / Finkelmans Lakejer / Risken Finns / Hem Igen Med Maritha / Thomas Fahlander & Mats Rendahl / Konjak Och Ljummet Vatten / Halv Sex / Kul 67-gänget / Bristande Vardag
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

This early MNW release is most notable for featuring the vinyl debut of Risken Finns, predating their first LP. ”Knuff” was a TV series discussing ”sex, gender roles, unemployment, school, life in the big city, and what it is like being young, for example” as the liner notes read. The track ”På strövtåg genom björnens dungar” by Bristande Vardag had previously been featured in radio show Bandet går but wasn't included on the ”Blandat band” album. ”Låtar från Knuff” is like a cousin to ”Blandat band”, as most of the featured artists were non-professionals and never released anything beyond this volume. The three Risken Finns tracks aren't actually the best on the album – that award goes to the quartet of unknowns Kenneth Nyström, Lars Garpenfeldt, Kurt Skoog and Finn Sörensson whose ”Tacka mina vänner” is anti-capitalist storytelling at its musical best, while Hem Igen Med Maritha's ”Den stora maskeraden” is a feminist intervention, oddly catchy with its light groove – much better than what political pamphlets usually are. Eftertryck Förbjudet in turn delivers a slice of pretty heavy proto-punk on "Vi är ju endast produkter".

Obviously not a masterpiece, this is still a valuable peak into a bygone era (with some sentiments still valid). At least if you know Swedish. In the ear of a non-Swede, this will probably sound just like an occasionally bad, sometimes decent and in a few cases very good compilation of bands and artists mostly long lost to oblivion. Which it is.

Eftertryck Förbjudes - Vi är ju endast produkter
Hem Igen Med Maritha - Den stora maskeraden
Risken Finns - Sexualdebatten
Konjak Och Ljummet Vatten - Över-rock

LOLLO ASPLUND – Eldsjäl (MNW, 1981)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Lars Olof ”Lollo” Asplund is a rather overlooked figure now although he was a versatile, well-known character back in the day. He debuted to a wider audience already on a TV show in the early 70s, worked with a choir on one of his albums, wrote music for a movie in the 90's, performed regularly to and with children and released an album of children's music in the 80's. He wrote about music for a local newspaper and hosted several literary nights in his native town Linköping. He even scored something of a radio hit with ”Råckenråll till frukost” from his debut album ”Eldsjäl” recorded in 1980 and released the following year.

Despite being issued by MNW, ”Eldsjäl” sounds more like a Metronome album, like something by Ola Magnell. Asplund's slightly warbly voice and the occasional Latin American influence also make me think of Jan Hammarlund in places. The album has a well-rounded production courtesy of Thomas Almqvist, and a cast of musicians well acquainted to studio work including Stefan Brolund (Monica Törnell, Bernt Staf, Björn J:son Lindh, millions more), Malte Sjöstrand (Solen Skiner, Robert Broberg, Rolf Wikström and others) Ale Möller, Turid and of course Thomas Almqvist himself. The songs are well-written and there's nothing really wrong with it, not hard to listen to but essentially unengaging..

Full album playlist

KIM FOWLEY – The Day The Earth Stood Still (MNW, 1970)

English vocals
International relevance: **

Genius, svengali, entrepeneur, exploiter, starmaker, talent predator... Many are the words you can use to describe Kim Fowley but not all of them are positive. And what descriptions are used probably depends on who you ask. People who got in the way of his exploitative behaviour will most definitely have a few pejoratives to share.

Born in California in 1939, he worked in the sex industry in the 50's before becoming a self-made music manager, producer and songwriter in the 60's. Notorious for having created The Runaways in the mid 70's, and all along releasing bubblegum garage rock albums that walk the thin line between absolute crap and cheapo excellence. Unfortunately, the darker side of his mind and genitals too often came to the fore, and he was accused of unwanted sexual advances and rape by several women who worked with him. Ask the girls in NQB, the Swedish band that Fowley tried to pull his Runaway trick on (without succeeding), I think they have some stories to tell.

Fowley moved to Finland in 1970, produced the album ”Tombstone Valentine” by Wigwam before leaving for Sweden. He teamed up with young band Contact and produced their debut album ”Noboby Wants To Be Sixteen”. According to one member of the band, much work was done against their will, and hand to heart, it might be more of a Fowley album than a Contact album. Consequentially, he used them as a straight-up backing band on his own album ”The Day The Earth Stood Still”. Probably much to Contact's chagrin, I think ”Sixteen” is their best album, and they sound excellent supporting Fowley's Lou Reed drawl complemented by occasional grunts and groans. You could easily mix the tracks from the two albums and they'd sound great together. Especially if you cut away nonsense like ”The Frail Ocean”, ”Prisoner Of War”, ”I Was A Communist For The FBI” and the eight minute studio jam ”Is America Dead?” from Fowley's album.

But the band sounds absolutely great on most of the tracks. I even like the cover of ”Cadillac” where they manage to sound like T. Rex with Lux Interior of The Cramps in the place of Marc Bolan. And the driving beat of ”Night Of The Hunter” and the self-satisfied autobiographical romp of ”The Man Without A Country” isn't something you'd ever hear from Contact again. Some songs are even downright pretty, like the title track (a distant relative to The Velvet Underground's ”Pale Blue Eyes” and ”I'll Be Your Mirror”) and ”Pray For Rain”.

Despite some duds, this is one of Fowley's most consistent albums, and you can thank Contact for that. Perhaps they hated their sessions with this American trashcan Spector (as outrageous as the more luxurious original counterpart), but maybe that's the very reason why they have such a spark to them. ”The Day The Earth Stood Still” is a hidden gem in Swedish progg history, even more overlooked than ”Nobody Wants To Be Sixteen”, and a curious but excellent complement to it.

Full album playlist

ABSOLUT – Absolut (Marilla, 1976)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

Only album from this religious band released on Hans Edler's curious Marilla label, and produced by Vatten main man Tomas Ernvik. That's probably the most interesting thing about ”Absolut”, because despite some decent westcoasty harmony vocals and background wah wah and soft fuzz, the songs are too undistinguished for the album to take off. Best track is ”Kurragömma”, but the album is generally typical mid 70's Christian rock, i.e. borrowing features from hipper genres but coming up flat and soulless. I'd rather recommend another, better Tomas Ernvik related album from the same year, Tillsammans.

Tomas Paulson, the brain behind Absolut, has plenty of solo albums since Absolut broke up, and he's also a fivefold Swedish champion of noughts and crosses (!). He's now known as Tomas Hagenfors, Hagenfors being his birth name.

Full album playlist

JAN HAMMARLUND – Järnvägsräls - Live (Silence, 1982)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

As always with Jan Hammarlund's albums, it's a lot more fun to see who appears on them than it is to listen to them. This time, Kenny Håkansson joins forces with Ye Olde Helium Warbler. A live document recorded on various locations in the early summer of 1982, it's a set of songs not appearing on any other Hammarlund albums up to that point. With mostly band accompaniment, it has a fuller sound than other albums of his, but as many of the musicians (Håkansson included) adopt an up-to-date early 80's sound, it still sounds slicker than a lot of his prior work, especially with Dane Niels Hofman on fretless bass (not a good thing).

The album is notable for featuring a first ”Jag vill leva i Europa” that became something of a signature song for Hammarlund, especially when re-recorded a couple of years before the Swedish EU referendum.

Full album playlist with bonus track

DYANI, TEMIZ, FEZA – Music For Xaba, Vol. 1 (Sonet, 1973) / Music For Xaba, Vol. 2 (Sonet, 1980) / Rejoice (Cadillac, 1988) (all recorded in 1972)

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

Turkish born drummer Okay Temiz is a true legend to me, partly for his involvement with the amazing Maffy Falay-led Sevda, and partly for his own ensemble Oriental Wind which like Sevda took the Turkish musical traditions into jazzy territories with great grandeur. But he also collaborated with other musicians as these three albums prove.

The twin volumes of ”Music For Xaba” were recorded one evening in November 1972 at Theatre 9 in Stockholm, with South African pianist/bassist Johnny Dyani as leader. Mongezi Feza was also of South African descendance, and a trumpet player who made his mark on Swedish music with Bernt Rosengren among others.

I'm not too fond of the ”Xaba” releases. The trio uses a lot of force to drive the music forward but it's as if there's something keeping the musicians apart despite the best of intentions. The best moments occur on the second volume, in Feza composition ”Mad High” and Dyani's ”Witchdoctor's Son”. I've heard these albums a fair bit over the years, but they still don't make real sense to me.

”Rejoice” is recorded less than two weeks before ”Music For Xaba” at The Modern Museum of Art in Stockholm (and not released until 1988). The sound is a tad lesser here but it's a superior date, with the three musicians connecting much better, creating a flow and an intensity lacking from the other releases. ”Mad High” makes another appearance here, as do ”Makaya Makaya Makaya”, and even though the former was a high point on ”Xaba”, this one tops it.

”Rejoice” demonstrates what this trio was capable of, ”Music For Xaba” that these guys also had lesser nights.

Music For Xaba Vol. 1 full album playlist
Music For Xaba Vol. 2 full album playlist
Rejoice full album

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Blandat band (Tibet -46, 1974)

 

 Ragnar Borgedahl / Sanitetsgruppen / Leif Ljung & Lennart Andersson / Ralph Onegård, Rainer och Reino Santi & Dan Jedenfeldt / Jämmer & Elände / Sjön Suger / Per Lönngren, Roger Wannberg & Bernt Lööf / Bernt Lööf & Jan Eriksson / Jemerton Jönssons / En Liten Ters / Equador Trampe & EVRF / Jaj Magnusson, Tore Söder & Alice Eriksson
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

”Bandet går” (”tape's rolling”) was a Swedish radio programme riding the airwaves throughout the 70's, starting in autumn 1971. True to the 'play your own song' ethos of the then burgeoning progg movement, it provided a public slot for unsigned DIY artists who sent their often crude home recordings made on reel-to-reel or cassette tapes, hoping to get their short time in the spotlight presented by well-known pop presenter Kersti Adams-Ray and long time music asset Stefan Wermelin. Many – most! – never got any further, but a few artists later rose to fame and even fortune. Among the contributors were Philemon Arthur & The Dung (the epitomic band of home recordings), Per Gessle (later to become a international mega star with Roxette), Ulf Lundell and Joakim Thåström of Swedish punk legends Ebba Grön and arena postpunkers Imperiet.

With Stefan Wermelin's involvement and never-tiring passion for off-pist music, selections from the radio show were released on the Tibet -46/Musiklaget label co-operated by him. Most participants never released anything outside of ”Blandat band” (”mixed tape”), but Ragnar Borgedahl had great success with the irresistably catchy ”Hum, hum från Humlegårn” when re-recorded for his debut LP. Sjön Suger managed to release a full four albums in the years to come, while Jemerton Jönssons had only one album in 1975.

But the best tracks both feature Bernt Lööf. One along with Per Lönngren and Roger Wärnberg whose ”Alla här på jorden” has a slight Christian vibe but is a really good full band track. The other track is with Jan Eriksson entitled ”Kan ljuset vända åter?”, a semi-psychedelic jewel that was rightfully brought to new life on the excellent ”Swedish Meatballs” heavy rock compilation. Two really good songs that have me hoping for a full archival release of these guys. They certainly deserve it.

The rest of the material is, as suggested above, much less impressive. Choose between misguided stabs at humour that probably wasn't funny even in 1974, C grade singer/songwriters with hardly any merit at all, and some sing-this-all-together crap typical of its time.

Ragnar Borgedahl - Hum hum från Humlegårn
Bernt Lööf & Jan Eriksson - Kan ljuset vända åter?