NISSE SANDSTRÖM GROUP – Öppet Ett (Caprice, 2023; rec. 1965-67)

  
Instrumental
International relevance: ***

”Öppet” (=”open”) is a series of releases curated by free jazz saxophonist and standard-bearer Mats Gustafsson and archivist Roger Bergner, with the ambition to unearth previously unreleased, high quality recordings from the Swedish jazz and avantgarde underground 1965-1975. The series was initiated in 2023 with the very hands-on help from Caprice Records who release the albums in vinyl-only editions and for streaming.

The first volume was by Nisse Sandström, a saxophonist whose 1972 album ”The Painter” in 1972 has become an awarded Swedish jazz classic. Sandström's been more of a sideman, working with numerous performers over the years including Björn J:son Lindh, bassists Red Mitchell and Sture Nordin, Cornelis Vreeswijk, Bernt Rosengren, Monica Törnell and American born piano player Horace Parlan. ”Öppet ett” is notable for several reasons. The recordings predates ”The Painter” with several years, and it features musicians then largely unknown but soon-to-be progg heavyweights: Erik Dahlbäck (Fläsket Brinner), the aforementioned J:son Lindh, and Bella Linnarsson (Baby Grandmothers, Kebnekajse).

The two tracks on the 'A' side predate the time range of this blog, being taped in 1965 and 1966. Nevertheless, they're prime examples of early Swedish free jazz; a must-hear for anyone interested in its regional development. But side 2's ”Bränn fläsket” is something out of the ordinary. Not only does it fit here because of the 1967 recording date, it's a massive 21+ minutes chunk of free-thinking, explorative, explosive free jazz that transcends its own genre. Thanks to Erik Dahlbäck's hard-hitting drumming, it's a visionary, ahead-of-its-time mergence of avant jazz and rock music unheard of in Sweden in 1967. It's the 1960s equivalent to what Mats Gustafsson himself would do some 35 years later with The Thing and Fire! Orchestra. With Linnarsson's electric bass, J:son Lindh's tape treatments and what have you, it almost predicts noise rock in a time when nobody could imagine such a thing (except perhaps for two or three New Yorkers around Angus MacLise).

”Bränn fläsket” was recorded by Swedish Radio for broadcast in early autumn 1967. Had it actually been released back then, it's not unlikely it would have changed the course and sped up the evolution of experimental rock as we know it today. And not only does it significantly move the historical markers, it's bloody great too with the energy of a nuclear power plant!

”Öppet ett” is a top level release, a must from every perspective.

Full album playlist 

ÅKE SANDIN – Förlorad i toner (Subliminal Sounds, 2002; rec. 1965-70)

 Swedish vocals
International relevance: -

I don't have many rules for this blog, but one unwritten law is to include all artists mentioned in Tobias Peterson's ”The Encyclopedia Of Swedish Progressive Music”. That includes the 100 artists mentioned as ”suggested further listening”. Some inclusions in the book, especially among the extra 100, are puzzling. Sometimes I wonder what Peterson's selection criteria was.

That certainly goes for Åke Sandin. True he was a solitary original, recording his weird songs with idiosyncratic vocals and strange lyrics and releasing them himself. But the musical style was a remnant from the popular songs of the second world war and after. His songs, including those from his sole album ”Rariteter i kokäkta konvolut” with an album cover made of cloth and released in 1968, fit the Incredibly Strange Music tag. I can appreciate such myself as it's often so weird and off that you sort of have to learn to listen anew. And yes, I'm somehow fascinated by Sandin, but progg it is not. Not even with my otherwise generous definition of progg. So this post is merely to fulfill my own blog law.

Subliminal Sounds released "Förlorad i toner" in 2002 which collects everything Sandin recorded between 1965 and 1970.

Full album playlist

CYMBELINE – 1965-1971 (Guerssen, 2017)

English vocals, Swedish vocals
International relevance: ***

It happens ever so often that a band who released a good – even great – single severaldecades later instigates archival releases by labels specializing in reissues and archival releases. Sometimes those releases are best left ignored, while others actually unearth something worthwhile. This album offers a bit of both.

Norrköping based duo (sometimes trio) Cymbeline had only one 45 out on MNW's subsidiary Green Light, with ”New York” backed with ”Sixth Image” in 1970. ”New York” is an excellent slice of melodic fuzz-laced proto power pop in English (back when it was still OK to sing in English!) whereas the 'B' side has a dreamier mood akin to transient UK folk/psych/prog of the era.

With Guerssen's overview of a career that never happened dating back to 1965, it's obvious it has some poppier and less successful mid-60's moments. ”Fifth Image” is overall pretty bad while ”Look at the Stars” is sweet enough. ”Imagination” is rather evocative despite being a bit underdeveloped. Cymbeline did have a promising melodic sense already early on although it never reached the heights of highly talented Swedish beat groups such as Tages and Mascots.

There are also a few other later tracks that burden the compilation, like the painfully wimpy ”Mary Anne” and the second version of ”Stolta vingar”, decidedly inferior to the first recording of the song. The Swedish version of Jimi Hendrix's ”The Wind Cries Mary”, ”Vinden viskar Mary”, is a bit on the embarassing side too.

But when it's good, it's really good, and that goes beyond the seven-inch tracks. ”Third Image” (spot a title pattern here?) is unpolished but crunchy freakbeat with an understated chugging beat and howling guitars. ”Motala Ström” comes off like a semi-funky crossbreed of Pugh Rogefeldt and Anders F. Rönnblom. ”Flicka” in turn sounds like something a more psychedelically inclined John Holm could have come up with (although the tucked on jazzy ending is as illogical as it is unnecessary).

”1965-1971” is obviously inconsistent, with said inconsistency further emphasized by the bewildering track order. Members Michael Journath and Anders Weyde might have dreamed of putting out an album for some 40 odd years, but had they been given the opportunity to do so before their breakup soon after their lone 45 was released, it would definitely have been a more cohesive record. But that said, and with the primitive nature of many of the recordings firmly in mind, this is an essential trophy of previously unrecognized talent. The good bits easily make up for the lesser moments here.

Full album playlist (Bandcamp)

ROLAND VON MALMBORG – Räck din hand (RCA, 1966) / Vårt klotrunda fosterland (Globalist, 1969)

Swedish vocals, other language

International relevance: */*

Roland von Malmborg has his fans but isn't widely acknowledged by the general progg audience. Maybe because he never really became part of the movement, despite being vocal against nuclear energy and pollution early on, and embracing many concepts that were at the core of the progg movement's realm of ideas. Once the Swedish Green Party (Miljöpartiet) was founded in 1981, Malmborg became a member, happily performing under their banner. Through the years, he's written numerous songs on environmental issues, but without too much blatant proselytizing and sometimes adding a light spiritual (but not necessarily religious) touch to his lyrics.

He debuted in 1965 with a Swedish version of ”Eve of Destruction” that was a hit by Barry McGuire the same year; ”Vår värld ska gå under” too was a minor hit domestically, which delighted major label RCA who released Malmborg's first full length album ”Räck din hand” the following year. The album reflects the artist's interest in folk songs from around the world, and includes Swedish translations of North American tunes such as ”Keep Your Hands on the Plow” (the top track on ”Räck din hand”), ”We Shall Overcome” and ”Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream”, plus songs of German, Indian, Japanese, South African and Jewish origins, sometimes partly sung in their original languages. The renditions are sincere enough, but marred by the Pete Seeger hootenanny feel that runs through the entire album. The choir prevalent on many of the tracks further emphasizes this in a rather off-putting way.

RCA wanted to push Malmborg in a direction he didn't agree to and he in turn had ideas that didn't sit well with the label's commercial formula. In 1969 he re-surfaced with the privately released ”Vårt klotrunda fosterland”, beating even Kjell Höglund to the punch (Höglund's self-produced debut ”Undran” didn't appear until two years later). Although released on von Malmborg's own Globalist imprint, it's a surprisingly lavish affair, properly recorded in Philips' studio during two sessions in November 1969 and housed in a laminated sleeve designed by the artist himself. According to Malmborg, the album was pressed in an edition of 1,700 copies, a staggering number for a self-paid release. He distributed the album himself with little or no support from regular record shops, but actually managed to get his invested money back. Again an achievement as the expenses were in the 40,000 SEK region (almost €4,000) – in today's currency an almost shocking cost for an album released with no involvement from an established label.

”Vårt klotrunda fosterland” has favourably a bit less production sheen than its predecessor, but it still shares several characteristics with ”Räck din hand”. Some tracks are just terrible, like the silly ”Nalles fredsvisa” and the unbearable ”Rapa på, du Välfärdssverige!”, but the best songs here are better than anything on the previous album. Highlights include the catchy opening track ”Vägen är kort” (good enough to even make the interfering ”Räck din hand” styled backing vocals forgivable) and the brooding ”Oförrätter glöms så lätt” and ”Krigets herrar” (the latter being a thinly veiled reworking of Dylan's ”Masters of War” lyrics set to original music). Worthy of note is that Hélène Bohman (later of Stenblomma fame) appears on the track ”Sov mitt bar i ro”.

None of Roland von Malmborg's albums are essential but they may be of passing interest to fans of Swedish vocal trio Jailbird Singers, Pete Seeger or even Witthüser & Westrupp.

”Räck din hand” can sometimes be found with lyric inserts, originally available from von Malmborg himself. (Why, one wonders.as the lyrics are already printed on the back cover). Signed copies of ”Vårt klotrunda fosterland” are common.

Roland von Malmborg only made these two albums but he can be heard with one track on the anti-nuclear power various artists album ”Vi kan leva utan kärnkraft” on Silence in 1975, and on one further 45 from 1980. He still performs live though, sometimes as a street musician, and he also dabbles in comedy.

from Vårt klotrunda fosterland
"Vägen är kort"

"Rapa på, du Välfärdssverige"

"Krigets herrar"

from Vi kan leva utan kärnkraft

"Stoppa all atomkraft"

From V/A: "Vi kan leva utan kärnkraft":
Stoppa all atomkraft