MYGLARNA – Du liv (A-Disc, 1977)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

The great looking album cover with its folk rock private pressings vibe led me to believe that this perhaps would be something as uncommon as a decent A-Disc release. Well, it is a bit folkish, mostly covers with mainly acoustic instruments, and it isn't one of A-Disc's very worst. But good it's certainly not.

Some tracks are potentially OK, especially a couple on the first side, but what could have been better in the hands of some more spirited combo is effectively asphyxiated by annoyingly twee harmony vocals. Myglarna seem to have taken their cues from commercial harmony groups of the 60s and early 70s such as Marie Bergman's Family Four, a style that was hard to endure to begin with and definitely outdated by the time ”Du liv” was released. Some typical Social Democrat marching music find its way into the yawny blend of styles but even they sound weary.

Drummer Johan Dielemans was previously in Folk Blues Inc. 

No links found.

AMANDLA – Amandla (A-Disc, 1980)

Other languages, English vocals, instrumental, spoken word
International relevance: -

Man, does the A-Disc curse go deep! Not only did they release train loads of emotionally debilitated rock music and pseudo progg, they also managed to sneak out this entirely redundant slab of ANC themed South African music.

Now, I'll readily admit I'm not a fan of South African music in general (I very much prefer the hard-boiled grooves of Northern Africa), but I can nevertheless discern when South African music is passionate. And this just isn't. It's amazing really how A-Disc could turn everything they touched into cosmic dullness.

If I am to say one nice thing about it (although I'm certainly not obliged to), ”Ngwaba Wanga” (=”my child”) is a half-decent slightly jazzy thing that could have been released on a lesser Black Jazz Records disc. But don't take that as an excuse to check this album out. I just said it to look kind. 

Welele Mandela
Ngwana Wanga 

BJÖRN ARAHB & MONICA NIELSEN – Sjunger Ture Nerman (A-Disc, 1979)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Ture Nerman was a journalist, radical social democrat (sometimes communist), anti-militarist, dedicated teetotaller, and for his time something as unusual as a vegetarian (he was born in 1886 and died in 1969). He was also a poet, and harbouring such sentiments as the ones mentioned above, his poems were well equipped for being set to music in the progg era. Some of the songs use older melodies by for instance Joe Hill, while several were written specifically for this project by Björn Arahb.

Being released on the Social Democrats' in-house label A-Disc, this is every bit as boring as you can imagine. There's no doubting that the sentiments of Arahb and fellow singer (and actor) Monica Nielsen are honest and genuine, but once again, whatever emotional impact this could have had with less self-righteous performances, soulfulness is substituted with oversinging. The musical framework is also typical of the ilk; it's either semi-cabaret-like or it sounds like The Labour Day Marches Greatest Hits.

Full album playlist

FRED LANE – Vi smida (A Disc, 1977)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

U.K. born singer Fred Lane moved to Sweden in 1970 and is in possession of a wonderful folk voice heard on albums by Låt & Trall and Bella Ciao. A multi-instrumentalist, he also plays accordeon on the Tillsammans album. ”Vi smida” however isn't his finest hour. It's a concept album with the concept explained by the subheading ”Proletariatets visor före och under industrialismen” (”songs of the proletariat before and during the industrialism”), and it shouldn't take much imagination to figure out what these songs sound like. It's not surprising that it's on the Social Democrat house label A Disc, quite possible the dullest of all Swedish 70's imprints. Some skilled players appear alongside Lane though, such as Hans Alatalo (Norrlåtar), Lasse Englund and Kjell Westling, but it's not enough to save the album which is best left in the era that made it possible.

Vi smida Side 1
Vi smida Side 2

KATAS DÖTTRAR – Kvinnor sjung ut! Två sidor av Katas Döttrar (A Disc, 1979)

 
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Another feminist album to add to the previous lot of ”Jösses flickor”, ”Tjejclown”, ”Sånger om kvinnor” and the rest. Meaning: lyrics with plenty of message; clumsy lyrical metres negligent of melody; idiotic pastiches; annoying vocals, and too many people singing at once, religious style. (Religion and politics often do the same thing to people's heads anyway, so why not...). Soundwise it's a bit slicker than the standard political/feminist outpourings, a bit more towards ”Sessornas sånger”. Some songs are OK-ish, such as the title track and the semi-folk rock of ”Visa i 70-tal”, but as with most albums in this ilk, there's a cultish vibe running through it that quickly becomes unbearable unless you're part of the cult. Short songs, mostly around 1 to 2 minutes in length but if that sounds hopeful to you, remember there are 19 of them...

Side one
Side two

ELD & LÅGOR – Mot ljuset (A-Disc, 1978)

 
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Few A-Disc releases are worthwhile, but this has got to be one of the worst, if not the worst, with the typical to A-Disc political lyrics, presented in a way that sounds like any Christian group which never got beyond their own local church fanbase of three. The metronomical backing is so stiff that no-one could possibly find ”Mot ljuset” stirring in the slightest bit. The 'sing it everybody' ethos is irritating from the first track, a cover of Swedish visa singer Thorstein Bergman's ”Alla tillsammans” which, as it happens, means ”everybody together”, to the last one ”Du stora värld”, a completely passionless take on ”Amazing Grace”. In-between you get an endless string of equally dead Swedish takes on ”La Marseillaise”, Malvina Reynold's ”Little Boxes” and a couple of songs made famous by Joe Hill. And of course, the regular slew of labourers' anthems.

I don't expect any high-grade masterpieces to appear out of nowhere thus late in this blog's history, but a part of me hoped that the worst musical mishaps were out of the way just the same. Not so, as proven by this twelve inch slab of pure Valium.

Comes with a lyric inner sleeve if you want to sing along but I know you don't.

Alla tillsammans
Arbetes söner
Internationalen

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Glimtar II (A Disc, 1978)

Featured artists: Jazzgrupp & stråkkvartett / Carlstad Jazzquintet / Panik / Mantra / Nannie Porres / Ingegerd Nordell / Gothenburg City Pipe Band / Bo Thalén / Sibinović / Eva Waldemarsson / Slumpens Skördar / Göteborgs Visgrupp
Instrumental, Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: **

Similar in style and disposition to volume 1 except that this is a single disc release as opposed to the preceeding double LP. Some artists are featured on both such as Ingegerd Nordell, noted jazz vocalist Nannie Porres, Mantra, and Göteborgs Visgrupp (of ”Riv alla stängsel” fame). ”Glimtar II” suffers from the same inconsistency as the first volume, with a hodge-podge of political progg, smooth jazz, folk and even a pipe band. Among the better efforts is Panik's lone track ”Ingenting” featuring some melodic fuzz guitar, althought it would have been more interesting hadn't it been an instrumental – in this state it sounds like a backing track rather than a finished track. Mantra's contribution is another stale fusion number, this time with a surprisingly spacey synth (or moog) driven middle section; "Two Cats in My Fantasy" might be mildly interesting to seriously devoted fusion heads.

The album was recorded in 1977 but not released until the following year.

No links found

FRISKT VATTEN – De é vi (YTF, 1978) / En svensk tiger (A Disc, 1978) / Lee Highway (A Disc, 1982)

Hailing from working class city of Södertälje, Friskt Vatten was a rather succesful outfit with connections to the Social Democratic sphere – two of their records were released on A Disc, and they got quite a few gigs through ABF (the Workers' Educational Association). Singer, guitarist, flugelhorn player and Sweden's best kept secret Göran Wiklund shed some light on the band's political afilliations when I interviewed him in 2017:

– We saw ourselves as a progg band, although perhaps in the second division except when it came to fees. You can always debate ideology vs. money, but what the heck, we never felt ashamed and we were never close to what Mikael Wiehe and Björn Afzelius [of Hoola Bandoola Band] charged. We always got decent pay when we toured and made records, much thanks to ABF. I must admit it was pretty cool to play to large audiences who knew our songs and sang along with us!

– We were hired by Kulturnämnden (The Cultural Board) to make a show about school. So we did, and we played in schools regionally. We gigged at Social Democratic Youth Association meetings several times, and eventually got signed to the labour movements' own label A Disc.

Friskt Vatten also collaborated with the then Södertälje based independent theatre group Musikteatergruppen Oktober.

De é vi (YTF, 1977)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

Göran Wiklund had not yet joined Friskt Vatten when they released their debut album in 1977. The album is mostly conventional pop/rock. Tobias Petterson compares them to Rekyl in his progg encyclopedia, and that's not entirely wrong, except that Rekyl had a greater amount of The Rolling Stones in their music whereas ”De é vi” sometimes leans more towards Contact's and Norrbottens Järn's jollier moments. Still, the progg factor is low.

En svensk tiger (A Disc, 1978)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

Recruiting Göran Wiklund was a wise move because he's one of the few G-R-E-A-T singers on the progg scene and one of extremely few with a bit of genuine soul in his voice. (The lack of truly good progg singers is conspicuous. How many of those are there? Ten? Probably down to a five. Perhaps less.) Here he's best heard on ”En gång förut” and ”Människor som inte lyssnar”. ”En svensk tiger” is an overall more mature effort than the debut LP with better songs, but still not interesting enough. Tomas Ernvik (of Christian band Vatten) appears on guitar.

Lee Highway (A Disc, 1982)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

After a non-album 45 in 1980, Friskt Vatten returned to the album format in 1982 with their third and final album. There's more blues to this album than their previous ones – the drummer here is the excellent Stefan 'Stoffe' Sundlöf who was in several of blues master Sven Zetterberg's bands, from Telge Blues to Chicago Express. However, the best feature is – again – Wiklund's vocals, especially on album highlights ”Ombudsman” and ”Skulle kunna berätta”. This is Friskt Vatten's best album.

Thanks to Göran Wiklund for sharing memrories!

De é vi full album playlist

En svensk tiger full album playlist

Lee Highway full album playlist 

KURRES KAPELL – Kurres Kapell (A Disc, 1979)

Swedish vocals, instrumental

International relevance: **

 

Kurres Kapell hailed from Boliden, a northern town known for its mining industry. They had connections with the Social Democratic youth organisation SSU, and their sole album was released accordingly through the party's own label A Disc. The music is well crafted and muscular, much thanks to the heavy guitar solos and riffing courtesy of the three in-house guitarists, why ”Kurres Kapell” might have a limited appeal to fans of (semi) hard rock. Both the male and female vocals are weak however and don't quite match the musical backdrop.

The most interesting tracks are ”Teve” which relies a bit more on groove than heaviness, and the instrumental ”Semestervecka i Brutorp”, the most progressive track on the album, but neither of them manages to rise above the 'mediocre' mark.

Kurres Kapell released one further disc in 1985, a 45 with two songs from a stage play.

Långväga-Sven

A VARIOUS ARTISTS SPECIAL: 4 POLITICAL COMPILATIONS

While several of the communist-run labels are held in higher regard by collectors of political progg, the Swedish Social Democratic Party also established a couple of imprints to get their message out to the record buying audience. A Disc in particular released a few memorable albums in the 70's and 80's, but as in the case of for example communist flagship label Proletärkultur, the message a bit too often got in the way of the music itself. Here are three releases related to the Social Democratic Party.

ARBETARRÖRELSENS SÅNGER (Pogo Plattan, 1976)

Featured artists: Per Myrberg / Ulla Sjöblom / Giovanni Jaconelli / Alf Petersén / Sone Banger and others

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

Pogo Plattan was the short-lived record division of Pogo Produktion, formerly Pogo Pedagog, publishers of educational material widely used in Swedish schools in the 70's and 80's. (Anyone who grew up in those days remembers Pogo Produktion with a blend of nostalgia och terminal boredom.) The double album ”Arbetarrörelsens sånger” were made with the same ambition, to educate people, in this case on songs of the labour movement (like the Swedish title says). ”L'Internationale” is featured twice.

While technically a concept album rather than a various artists comp, it utilizes a plethora of musicians, such as domestically well-known singers Per Myrberg and Ulla Sjöblom against a backdrop of multiple string and wind instruments. It's an ambitious high budget project, but also annoyingly self-righteous and rosy-cheeked with a slight touch of cabaret. Unless you're into that kind of stuff, the album is virtually unlistenable. The musical progg factor is lacking, but keep in mind that albums like this too were a part of the progg era and mentality.

 GLIMTAR (UR KULTURPROGRAMMEN VID ABF FORUM) (A Disc, 1977)

Featured artists: Aldekören / Carlstad Jazzquintet / Ransäterspöjkera / Kiko del Paraguay / Johnny Soling / Agö Fyr / Björn Ehrling / Doremikören / Göteborgs Visgrupp / Bo Harald & Prins Oskar / Ö-barna / Nannie Porres / Slumpens Skördar / Ingegerd Nordell / Tigris / Buddies (Södra Roslagens Big Band) / Carlstad Big Band / Barabbas / Pegasus / Dammet Yr / Mantra

 Swedish vocals, English vocals, instrumental

International relevance: *

Another double album, this time with a selection of performances recorded in conjunction with a forum meeting in Karlstad 16-19 April, 1977, and arranged by ABF, Arbetarrörelsens bildningsförbund (the Workers' Educational Association), founded in 1912 and the biggest educational association in Sweden today.

The album is a mixed bag of non-professionals and better known artists such as Göteborgs Visgrupp, Agö Fyr and noted vocalist Nannie Porres. It covers jazz (big bands and modern jazz and some points in-between), traditional music from several countries, rock, and funk. In short, it's all over the place both stylistically and qualitywise. Some of it is plain terrible, some is decent, jazz band Barabbas' ”Improvisation” is the best. Without any cohesiveness, ”Glimtar” as a whole doesn't rise above its snapshot intentions.

A second, single disc volume of ”Glimtar” was released in 1978, featuring some of the artists appearing on the first volume.

LÅT RÄTTEN FLÖDA FRAM (Vänster-vind, 1976)

Featured artists: Lena Hellström / Gunnar Kampe / Lars-Åke Lundberg / Ramon Anthin / Åke Andreasson

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

 

Socialism and Christianity might seem as uncomfortable bedfellows, but this album was initiated by Christian members of the Social Democratic Party. I'm not going to keep you in the dark: it's every bit as dull as the cover art suggests. Anyone familiar with standard Xian 70's albums from the US and the UK pretty much knows what to expect – haughtily performed semi-folksy singer/songwriter stuff by artists either unknown outside religious circles or entirely unknown altogether. 

Exceptions to this rule can however be found on this album. All of the participants was highly active within their field; the most prolific might be priest Lars-Åke Lundberg who has written plenty of psalms, released multiple albums, published many books, and was awarded with a prestigeous royal medal in 2009.

The best track here is Åke Andreasson's ”Amos”, but it's nowhere close to being an excuse for an album that mostly sounds like a third rate Peter, Paul & Mary or a conspicously untalented Dan Berglund. 

Comes with a lyric folder.

 NOTERAT (Frihets Förlag, 1976)

Featured artists: Vencemeros / Med Mera / Röda Flammorna / Progressiv / Unga Örnar Stureby / Facklan / unnamed artist

 Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

Frihets Förlag only released two full length albums, both of the various artists compilation, the first one was ”Så här är det” in 1975, the second was ”Noterat” from the following year, comprising six outfits (one unnamed) from the more radical spectrum of the Social Democratic Party's youth alliance SSU. Two of Vencemeros' four tracks, ”Fransisco Franco” and ”Ta nu min hand”, are the best in this heap of unimpressive folk pop.