Kaipa
is one of the most cherished Swedish progressive bands. They grew out
of the fertile progg soil of Uppsala, but their roots go back to 1964
and cover band The Shakemen with future Kaipa keyboardist Hans Lundin
in their line-up. The Shakemen soon changed their name to St.
Michael's Sect and released a few singles before making their album
debut in 1970 with their name shortened to San Michael's. As such,
they also appeared as a tour band for a few popular artists.
SAN
MICHAEL'S – San Michael's (California, 1970)
Swedish
vocals, instrumental
International
relevance: ***
For
their first and for a long time only album, the band dropped the
'Sect' part from their name. It's an organ driven album with pop
sensibilities and Swedish lyrics. The playing is tight but the album
isn't too interesting in a British Procol Harum and The Fox vein with
unimpressive vocals from Hans Lundin. ”Drömliv” most obviously
points to the band's Kaipa future with multiple time signatures and
an extensive use of dynamics, and is the best track in this lot.
SAN
MICHAEL'S – Nattåg (Transubstans, 2009; recorded in 1972)
Swedish
vocals, instrumental
International
relevance: ***
San
Michael's became a rather popular live act in Sweden and Norway, and
in 1972 they recorded their second album with touring member Nane
Kvillsäter now a permanent guitarist. However,
the album went unreleased at the time but was unearthed almost 40
years later by Swedish label Transubstans. It's a more mature effort
than ”San Michael's” showing that the band benefitted from
Kvillsäter joining the band. The songs are better overall and the
performances are heavier than on their debut. The thin vocals are
still the weakest link though. All in all, it would have made perfect
sense releasing ”Nattåg” in the early 70's, as intended.
KAIPA
– Kaipa (Decca, 1975)
Swedish
vocals, instrumental
International
relevance: ***
In
January 1973, San Michael's split up and Hans Lundin formed a new
band with San Michael's bassist Tomas Eriksson, and drafted Thomas
Sjöberg as a drummer. As Ura Kaipa they released the ingratiatingly
catchy 45 ”För sent”, closer to San Michael's than later Kaipa
in style, with The Nice/ELP inspired instrumental ”Bay-E, Bay-O”
on the flipside, both originally recorded for San Michael's aborted
second album. The original Ura Kaipa changed as Sjöberg was struck
by cancer, and Ingemar Bergman took his place, and adding guitarist
Roine Stolt. With a new line-up, Kaipa found their vision and the
conditions to formulate it. With Lundin being a fan of Merit Hemmingson, ”Kaipa” displays a penchant for traditional Swedish
folk melodies, tastefully incorporated with the band's strong
symphonic leanings, most notably on ”Ankaret” and the beautiful
”Skogspromenaden”. Symph rock more often than not becomes
unwieldy with its overblown ambitions, but ”Kaipa” is a nicely
balanced piece of work that stands out as the band's best album.
Reissued on CD with two bonus tracks.
KAIPA – Inget nytt under solen
(Decca, 1976)
Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: ***
”Inget nytt under solen” shares
many of its characteristics with Kaipa's debut, but something has
decidedly changed here. ”Skenet bedrar” is a side long suite and
that sets my alarm off. And yes, it's as pompous as the scope
suggests. Synthesizers crop up everywhere on the album, and the album
lacks freshness that made their first outing as appealing as it is.
”Inget nytt under solen” sounds dull and calculated and the rare
fine moments drowns in the pretentiousness that is the album's
hallmark.
KAIPA – Solo (Decca, 1978)
Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: ***
”Solo” (curious titel for a band
effort) is as appealing as coming home from a five day trip realizing
you forgot to take out the garbage before you left. You want to open
the windows and let some fresh air blow into the music. If ”Inget
nytt under solen” felt calculated, this is even worse. ”Solo”
is cerebral to the max and the production is lifeless and stale. A
textbook example of bad symph prog.
KAIPA – 1974 Unedited Master Demo
Recording (Decca, 2005; recorded in 1974)
Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: ***
Released as part of the 5CD Kaipa box
set ”The Decca Years”, and recorded as demos in the summer of
1974 prior to their debut LP, with plenty of tracks unreleased
elsewhere. The songs were recorded to two-track but it doesn't matter
that the sound quality isn't professional because Kaipa never sounds
this fiery on any other release. It's a pity this has never been
released separately.
KAIPA – Live (Decca, 2005; recorded
in 1976-1978)
Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: ***
Another box set exclusive compiling
selections from three Swedish Kaipa shows and one from Copenhagen,
Denmark. It's better than both ”Inget nytt under solen” and
”Solo” but only marginally. Not a reason enough to fork out piles
of cash for ”The Decca Years”.
ROINE STOLT – Fantasia (Svenska Love,
1979)
Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: ***
Kaipa's rising popularity lead to
extensive touring in the late 70's, in turn creating conflicts within
the band. A failed attempt to write new music in 1979 led to Roine
Stolt's and bass player Mats Lindberg's departure. Stolt soon began
working on his first solo album which appeared in 1979. While the
restructured Kaipa moved into radio friendly and sometimes semi new
wavish territory with two absolutely horrendous albums ”Händer”
and ”Nattdjurstid” in 1980 and 1982 respectively, Stolt stayed
closer to the symphonic area with ”Fantasia” but with equally bad
results as his former band. Appalling symph synths, underwhelming
songs that sometimes sound like TV themes and a production so unhealthy
sounding it needs medical care. Ugly album cover, ugly music.
A live Kaipa session recorded for radio
show Tonkraft in 1978 was included in ”Progglådan”. Further
Tonkraft recordings from 1974 and 1978 can be found in great sound
quality on the Japanese bootleg ”Stockholm Symphonie”.
Kaipa reformed in the early 00's, and
Roine Stolt has led a successful career, performing with for instance
The Flower Kings and Kaipa off-shoot Kaipa DaCapo. Hans Lundin
released two solo albums in the 80's and has one album out as Hagen
with folk fiddler Anders Rosén.
