Ljus från Afrika (Silence, 1976)
Instrumental, other languages
International relevance: **
The later Kebnekajse albums are largely
ignored (the Kenny-less dung pile
”Vi drar vidare” should be
ignored,
with a vengeance). By the time of ”Ljus från
Afrika”, they had moved away from the Swedish folk rock that
brought them love and attention, and towards Africa as the title of
this 1976 album declare, ”light from Africa”. I don't have a
problem with that per se, but most of ”Ljus från Afrika” is too
close to West African highlife music for me. However, it does have
”Tigerdans/Wind”, a
Kenny Håkansson driven spaced-out track
firmly rooted in the darker side of afro funk, and heavy rocking
closing track ”Brudarnas parti” that is too good to be lost to
oblivion.
Elefanten (Silence, 1977)
Instrumental
International relevance: ***
Kebnekajse's last original album with
Kenny Håkansson on guitar (and new drummer Åke Eriksson taking Pelle Ekman's place) is much closer to prog rock than what
”Ljus från Afrika” is. The African influence is kept to a
minimum, but unfortunately, it has two horrible Mats Glenngård
tracks pointing towards the style of ”Vi drar vidare”, ”Saab
Mustang” and ”Grabbarnas afton”, totalling 18 painful minutes.
Also, Håkansson must have caught the fusion virus on ”Elefantens
strävan mot Nirvana”. Last track ”Halling från Ekshärad”, a
traditional tune, is a throwback to Kebnekajse's folk rock years and
is, after all, ”Elefanten's” high point.
”Elefanten” is the work of a band
who wants to take their music further but without quite knowing where
to go. The album does have its moments, but it would be a filthy lie
to call it a Kebnekajse classic. It's a billion times better then ”Vi
drar vidare” though...
A sleeve variation exist, with the 'J' in the band name being larger on some copies.
