GERD – Radio Ellen Special (Radio Ellen, 1982)

 

 Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: **

Radio Ellen was an important feminist show on Swedish national radio aired between 1981 and 1995. They did interviews with unknown women at ordinary jobs, and the content was sometimes controversial for its time. The program broadcast from three cities originally, Luleå, Umeå and Gothenburg, and presented female artists in special studio sessions. The first of those was Gerd Sjöblom-Ulander who appeared on the very first episode, from Umeå in September 1981. A full album of songs she performed on the show was eventually released on Radio Ellen's one-shot label, according to some sources in 1982 although no release date is specified anywhere on the cover or label.

Simply called Gerd on the album, she has quite a fine voice, a bit jazzy and a bit folkish. As a matter of fact, she sometimes reminds me a little bit of UK indie/folk singer Heidi Berry. A few songs are originals, but the majority are covers of the likes of Chi Coltrane, Carla Bley, Laura Nyro and Violetta Parra. Some are acoustic and some feature a band backing. It's not a masterpiece, but it's certainly better than I expected from the album cover. And like I said, her voice is really enjoyable.

Interesting to note is that Gerd's husband also appearing here was saxophonist Lars-Göran Ulander who had previously been in Berndt Egerbladh's quartet, has albums out with free jazz pianist Per-Henrik Wallin, and later joined forces with Mats Gustafsson in his free jazz powerhouse outfit Fire! Orchestra.

No links found

GRASSROOTS – Grassroots (Hit-Records Of Sweden, 1981)

 Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: **

Seemingly entirely unknown local release from Landskrona in the Skåne county by an equally unknown eight-piece who only had this one LP out on a shortlived regional label. Singer, guitarist and songwriter Hans Greebach (sometimes Grebach) did some production work in the area and also released a solo single in 1983. The other guitarist and songwriter Sven Kikukel also played on B.L.Magnell's ”Idyllen” some years earlier, and it might be him firing off all those great, heavy leads on ”Grassroots”.

Half of the album is funky rock and has a vibe similar to several American mid/late 70s solo artist private pressings while the other half is decent reggae. It wouldn't be unreasonable to expect a Peps Persson involvement because of it, but the album is actually produced by Hans Greebach, Sven Kikukel and his brother Woffe. Being just a 4-track recording, the production is quite impressive. Although the songs are decent without being excellent, it's the warm sound I enjoy most about the album.

No links found 

GRUS I DOJJAN – I klackbaren (Metronome, 1978)

Swedish vocals, other languages, instrumental
International relevance: -

Just another Grus I Dojjan album. The only thing that differs their later albums from the earlier is that the later ones are better recorded. Other than that, it's the same cheerful, good-timey folk/bluegrass fare as always. The skewed ”Tokfans polska” is a bit fun though with the deliberate off-key playing that will surely drive some people nuts.

But whar's Jeff Lynne doing in cover shot???

Full album playlist

ELISABET HERMODSSON, LENA GRANHAGEN et al – Till Camilo Torres och revolutionen i Latinamerika. Röster i mänskligt landscape. (Proprius, 1971)

Swedish vocals, spokem word
International relevance: -

Camilo Torres was a catholic priest and a member of the Colombian geurilla movement. He urged for co-operation between marxists and Christians but was eventually executed by government troops in 1966 and was refused a Christian funeral, His burial place is still undisclosed.

This album with the very long title meaning ”to Camilo Torres and the Latin American revolution with the two sides named ”voices in a human landscape part 1 & 2” are as pretentious as the music within. It's a memorial mass composed by Alfred Jansson with spoken recitals by Elisabet Hermodsson, Lena Granhagen and Håkan Strängberg set a backdrop performed by the chamber choir of Gothenburg and a classical orchestra. The work's smugness is completely overbearing and I find it impossible to sit through the entire thing without breathing in a bag.

Full album playlist

THOMAS MERA GARTZ – Luftsånger = Cloudsongs (Silence. 1984; rec. 1978-82)

Instrumental, wordless vocals
International relevance: ***

Those expecting anything like Träd Gräs & Stenar or Thomas Mera Gartz's solo album ”Sånger” will possibly be disappointed and definitely surprised by ”Luftsånger” (or, if you prefer its English subtitle, ”Cloudsongs”). Mixed and constructed in 1983 and released the following year through Silence Records, it was recorded during the course of four years just prior to that. It's much more of a kaleidoscopic mood piece than a song oriented collection. Not divided into separate tracks, the two untitled album sides combine field recordings, ambient sections, chunks of percussion of unknown origin, humming drones... From the liner notes: ”You can hear stormwinds, sheet-metal tub with water, happy birds in a forest glade, wooden gardenchair, grass being eaten by sheep, wheel-barrow, crickets (both normal and speeded down), a dead pine-stem, the circular sawblade of a firewood cutter, tubes rolling at the floor, kerosene tank, 'play-it-yourself' music festivals, the sound of a cigarette being rolled, the song of retarded Lasse, the vast sky in which an airplane is disappearing and much more”. There's only one segment that resembles music in the traditional sense, a kraut-like section fading in (or rather, coming out of the storm) halfway through side 1, sounding like an unusually energetic Popol Vuh rehearsal.

”Luftsånger” is one of those albums that, much like Joakim Skogsberg's ”Jola Rota”, is so set apart from everything else that it's pointless to even try measuring it by any good/bad scales. It's an entity of its own, not music of harmonics, melodies or metres but more like a state of mind. Some parts are indeed enjoyable, others (particularly the percussion bits) are terribly annoying, but they're all part of the uncategorizable whole. If you take one bit out of it, it won't be the same anymore and there's a certain strength in that. Make what you will of it, but it's certainly worth hearing at least once.

Full album

KARIN GREEN – Brinn (Nacksving, 1982)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: -

Karin Green made her debut already in the early 60s with a 45 on the Cupol label but the follow-up didn't appear until 1982! ”Nattfjäril” was the pilot single for ”Brinn”; the album followed shortly after on Nacksving with Bengan Blomgren (Nynningen et al), Mikael Krönlein (Skrotbandet), Niels Nordin (Skrotbandet, Sundance) and Olle Nyberg (Motvind) backing. And there end the progg credentials. Well-received upon its release (but without sales to match the reviews), ”Brinn” is dull singer/songwriter rock best avoided.

Green (who has a decent enough voice herself) is now a voice coach and has released several more albums on her own label, as well as a couple of books.

Full album playlist

MATS GLENNGÅRD – Violin Race (Bastun, 1980)

Instrumental, English vocals
IRG: **

The expression ”don't be fooled by the name” has rarely been as appliable as here. If you expect anything close to Kebnekajse violinist Mats Glenngård's first solo album, the lovely ”Kosterläge” from 1972, then you'll be sorely disappointed. This is closer to Kebnekajse's last album ”Vi drar vidare” which had Glenngård at the helm as Kenny Håkansson had left the group by then. ”Vi drar vidare” is an insult to the band's once glorious name, with limp fusion jazz, and that goes for ”Violin Race” as well. This is an equally bloody awful piece of shit, with fretless basses (and ”funky” slap bass), appalling keyboards and even electronic disco handclaps, featuring members of EGBA, Häxmjölk, Wasa Express and Hörselmat. It's almost scary thinking that this is what an ex-member of one of the greatest Swedish progg bands really had in him.

I hate this album so very much.

Full album playlist

HARALD ”BAGARN” ANDERSSON, ANNA-LISA GRÖNHOLM & SVEN TJUSLINGS TRIO – Stjärnsmällar och tjuvnyp (Proletärkultur, 1978)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: -

Another leftleftleftwing release from Proletärkultur to go along with compilations ”Stöd de strejkandehamnarbetarna”, ”Hör maskinernas sång”, and albums by Dan Berglund and Maria Hörnelius. The 'star' here must be Harald ”Bagarn” Andersson, a baker, actor and local character who shares the vocal duties with sometime actor Anna-Lisa Grönholm. Unless you count the political message, there's not much progg to expect here. The music is more towards 30's and 40's couplets with that overdone singing style verging on speech. It's otherwise well played and the sound is professional (recorded in Nacksving's state-of-the-art studio) but it's incredibly boring – definitely one of the weaker Proletärkultur outings. It's best left untouched in the cheapo bins where you're most likely to find it.

No links found

RAGNAR GRIPPE – Sand (Shandar, 1977)

Instrumental
International relevance: ***

Ragnar Grippe was originally a EAM composer who studied for musique concrète pioneer Pierre Schaeffer in Paris in the early 70's, and also recorded some works in Luc Ferrari's electronic music studio that was released on ”Electronic Compositions” on Swedish classical label BIS in 1977 along with other earlier works. It is however his other 1977 album that gained most recognition over the years (and the only one to fit this blog), ”Sand”, released on Shandar, a French imprint made legendary by a back catalogue including Gong affiliate Dashiell Hedayat, Pandit Pran Nath, Steve Reich, Karlheinz Stockhausen and several free jazz luminaries such as Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler and François Tusques.

The reputation of ”Sand”, inspired by the abstract art of Indian artist Paris Viswanathan, has grown with time, and it's easy to see it's appeal to fans of the kosmisch side of krautrock à la the Roedelius/Moebius camp, Ralf & Florian, and Tangerine Dream circa ”Phaedra”. It certainly fits in with that lot yet never quite sounds like any of it. Heavily echoed electronic sounds hover above a simple and persistent rhythm before it evaporates into distant remnants thick with delay. Never dense but transparent almost simplistic, it holds a certain charm. Not on par with the German stuff, but if you aren't used to more ambitious electro-acoustic music that can be quite rough on the unaccustomed ear, this would still be an easy and inviting listen. It should be pointed out though, that both parts are a bit overlong at 25 minutes each. They could have been shortened a bit without losing essence.

"Sand" is the only Grippe album that fits here, and his later activities are pretty puzzling. After "Sand", he recorded a new wavish disco (!!!) album in 1980 entitled "Lost Secrets", showing no resemblance whatsoever to his previous work. What was his ambition? To become a Swedish low-calorie Giorgio Moroder? Even later, he turned to soundtrack composing, making music for plenty of Swedish movies including blockbuster movie "Jönssonligan".

Full album

JANNE GOLDMAN ROCK UND ROLL GRUPPE – Janne Goldman Rock Und Roll Gruppe (R&P, 1980)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Janne Goldman is one of the unsung figures of the progg era, simply because he never was an out-and-out progg artist. But there was often something freewheeling about his music, even at its most traditional sounding, that has me including him here (previously as one half of Gin & Grappo).

This album was his first under his own name. Along with his backing band Rock Und Roll Gruppe he indeed delivers a rocking album with a certain seedy vibe that at times reminds me of Ensamma Hjärtan at their sleaziest. It's definitely not to everyone's tastes being very much in the straight-ahead rock mould, and it's not an album I long to hear over and over again, but I have to admit that the music's scruffy demeanor is oddly appealing and entertaining once I put it on. Even more surprising then that Clarence Öwferman is credited as 'conductor' on the front cover – Öwferman later became a star producer and hit it really big with his appallingly slick and bombastic production work for Roxette!

Regnrockar och pisspottor

GRUS I DOJJAN – Slarvigt men säkert (Sonet, 1974) / Högt spel (Sonet, 1975)

Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: *

Third and fourth album by Grus I Dojjan, previously featured on the blog with their debut album. These albums are simply more of the same: cheerful mix of old-timey Western folk traditions including Great Britiain, America and Sweden, performed in a devil-may-care fashion. ”Slarvigt men säkert” translates to ”sloppy but surely” which is the best description of Grus I Dojjan you'll ever see. ”Högt spel” is a little more professional sounding which in a way contradicts Grus I Dojjan's homegrown nimbus. If you're one of the two last people (there can't be any more than that left) who still absolutely love this style, you'll love these albums too. 

Slarvigt men säkert full album
Högt spel full album playlist

GEORGE T ROLIN BAND – The Grunden Recordings 1980 (Flymama, released 2019)

English vocals
International relevance: **

Archival release from a band with a pretty solid progg provenance. Three members had been in Scoop, a Södertälje band which also featured Kenth Loong from Blueset. Christer Åkerberg of Trettioåriga Kriget not only brought his guitar to the band, he also let them rehearse at Trettioåriga Kriget's rehearsal space named Grunden (where this session was recorded, hence the album title). George Trolin in turn had made a good impact as a singer for Panta Rei.

But to be perfectly honest: the band's progg connotations are far more impressive than their music. Although tightly performed and executed with serious intentions, they end up rehashing 70's Stones licks and some washed-up Mott The Hoople ideas. And as impressive Trolin was in Panta Rei, well, here he sounds more like a Mats Ronander of Nature doing hungover Mick Jagger impersonations. It's Åkerberg who's the star here, stealing the show with some really elegant and soaring guitar work, on ”Hey Girl” in particular.

While ”The Grunden Recordings” may seem interesting on paper, it's pretty redundant in reality, with their pre-history raising wrong expectations.

George T Rolin Band had one 45 out in 1983, "Sommaren kommer" b/w "Elenor". It's on the CTR label and is neither expensive nor very sought after.

Full album playlist

GREAT AD – Deep Down Death (Subliminal Sounds, recorded 1975-1976, released 2022)

 English vocals, instrumental

International relevance: ***

Malmö trio Great Ad only managed to release two 45's during their existence, both on the Scam label famous (or infamous) for Solid Ground's exceedingly rare ”Made In Rock” LP. With the singles issued in tiny editions of 100 each, in 1975 and 1976 respectively, they too are gargantuan rarities. Both singles are featured on Subliminal Sounds' archival release ”Deep Down Death”, fleshed out with more primitive but for the most part OK sounding recordings (especially in the 'basement' category) made before the band broke up as an even more confident five-piece due to military draft.

The four singles tracks open the compilation with classic mid-70's hard rock with progressive moves. But it's the unreleased material that truly reveals Great Ad's potential and explains why they once were dubbed 'Northern Europe's most violent band'. Tough riffing and unhinged-to-the-point-of-transgressive guitar soloing, plus: surprisingly convincing vocals! The fidelity even emphasizes the band's inherent rawness that sets them apart from several other hard rock bands of the era that may have had weight but not necessarily grit. Great Ad had both, and at times they could whip up a menacing, intimidating sound that almost makes me think of Blue Cheer in their heyday. Not in style, but in power.

There are plenty of albums that should have been kept forever hostage by oblivion and not being reissued. And there are many archival tapes that should never have been excavated from whatever putrid abyss they originated from. That's certainly not the case with ”Deep Down Death”. The question here is not why this was released. The question here is why this wasn't released before. Hadn't fate had other plans for Great Ad, they could have been legends. In a way they were. It only took us almost 40 years to find out.

Full album playlist (Bandcamp)

GRUPPKORSBANDET - Hör och häpna (no label, 1976)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

The liner notes read:

This isn't an ordinary record. We're neither skilled nor commercial - you have to be that to get an album released by an established label. That's why we've made this record ourselves. /.../ We can't allow the music being taken over completely by a flock of professional musicians while the rest of us hardly dare play to ourselves, let alone to others. MUSIC BELONGS TO ALL OF US!

How cute. Too bad it's all progg baloney. It sounds just like something those nine members of Gruppkorsbandet had repeated like a mantra to get it right like a quote from Mao's little red book, probably in front of the mirror so that they could strike the perfect progg pose while parroting the tired old progg credo to any old person unlucky enough to be around to hear. It's all nonsense, because nobody stopped anyone from playing anything. Not even in the 70's.

Take a look at the cover. The typeface looks like something off an information brochure from the official Don't Have Fun Institute saying Eat Brown Rice And Be Boring. Look at the nine regular people and their regular people postures. Look at the dull, washed out greyness of it all. Take the record out, put it on. It sounds exactly like you'd expect from the yummy-yummy brown rice munchers with regular people postures pictured in forty shades of grey. Nothing wrong with regular people or brown rice or even the colour grey, but hey...

It's all acoustic folk styled songs with a typical political bent (needless to say, there's an Eisler/Brecht track, mandatory to albums like this). Several members sing simultaneously, Vietnam-solidarity-action-group-with-righteous-placards style. If you want to sing along yourself, a lyric sheet is included. Just yell away.

And, the final nail in the coffin of a stillborn album: a Fria Proteatern cover.

Music belongs to everybody. Fine and dandy, but please keep me out of this.

No links found.

MADS VINDING GROUP - Danish Design (Sonet, 1974)

Instrumental
International relevance: ***

 

It's albums like this that makes me question my vocation. Why do I do this? How far am I willing to go with this blog? Is it really just a karmic punishment for mistakingly killing a squirrel in a previous life by sitting on it thinking it was a small cushion? Am I a bad person? Is it only right that I suffer?

For a long time, I've put off writing about "Danish Design". Yeah, you've already figured out why. It's Danish. The title already says so.

Or so I tried to convince myself, ignoring the cold, hard facts. And they are as follows: The album is recorded in Sweden. It's produced by a Swede, Rune Öfwerman. Engineered by another Swede, Lasse Gustavsson. All musicians except Mads Vinding himself are Swedish (he's, you know, Danish). Sabu Martinez, percussion. Ola Brunkert, drums. Jan Schaffer, guitar. Keyboards, they're played by Kjell Öhman -- very Swedish. Released by Sonet Records? Ah yes, a Swedish label.

You see where this is going, don't you?

I can run, but I can't hide. It's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it. Tough shit it had to be me.

[insert inappropriate word referring to sexual intercourse]

Let's put it this way: This album is so boring, so relentlessly tedious that I consider playing Coste Apetrea's "Nyspolat" seven times in a row while breathing inside a very small plastic bag.

This is fusion at its worst. Soulless. Impotent. Clinical. There's more life in a lab grown bacterial culture than on this album.

I hate the album cover too.

Full album playlist

GRAPES OF WRATH – Deserter U.S.A. (HB Artist, EP 1969)

English vocals, instrumental
International relevance: ***

A very rare EP featuring Janne Schaffer and Jojje Wadenius on guitars, and Ola Brunkert on drums, consisting of four tracks taken from the movie ”Deserter U.S.A.”. The movie is a documentary about that exactly, Americans that fled to Sweden to escape the Vietnam draft.

There's a dash of horn rock on the first song ”Tell Me the Reason”, which despite not being very good is the best of the lot. The remainder of the EP consists of instrumental jazz rock that might sounded fresh then but unimaginative now. Sometimes Grapes of Wrath sound like a lightweight version of Made in Sweden which after all isn't that surprising given Wadenius involvement.

The EP's certainly not worth the money asked for it; it's reputation is solely built on scarcity and the musicians' names, and not on musical merits.

Schaffer and Brunkert went on to form the equally shortlived Opus III soon after.

Pi + Tell Me the Reason

THE GIMMICKS – Mixed Up Lydia's Pickin' Up Painted Ping Pong Balls (Polydor, 1970)

English vocals
International relevance: ***

”Mixed Up Lydia's Pickin' Up Painted Ping Pong Balls” (say that fast) is to me what people say Tropicalia spearheads Os Mutantes are to them. It's a flowering mix of everything available – psych, easy listening, bossa nova, jazz, baroque pop and then some. All tossed into the air and then put back together again in kaleidoscopic patterns with the healthy craziness of mavericks and wild curiosity, all for the love of music and all for the fun of possibilities.

Before and after ”Mixed Up Lydia”, The Gimmicks were a pretty straight-forward Latin loving lot à la Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66, but everything exploded in 1970. It actually exploded twice, because also in 1970, they released the equally whimsical ”Make Feel Good” 45 with ”Bermuda Inn” on the flip – two tracks that would have blended in perfectly with the others on the album.

”Mixed Up Lydia” is so vivid and vital and effervescent and playful and bright there's no way I couldn't love it. It's so beautifully void of dead serious pretentions; intricate yes, and acheiving, but always inviting and never exclusive. I can honestly say there's no other Swedish album sounding like this, not before and not after. A lovely little gem! (Great cover by Swedish horror painter Hans Arnold too.)

Full album playlist

7":

Make Feel Good + Bermuda In:n

GÖTEBORGS MUSIKKVARTETT – Göteborgs Musikkvartett (Svenska Jazzriksförbundet, 1974) / Aftara (LIM, 1975)

Göteborgs Musikkvartett (Svenska Jazzriksförbundet, 1974)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

A quartet featuring saxophonist Ove Johansson, later in Mwendo Dawa with Susanna Lindeborg who also engineered Göteborgs Musikkvartett's first album. It's not quite free jazz but it has some free moments; I guess you could call it free-spirited jazz. The tracks sort of emanate from a modal epicentre, and some of them are a bit similar to early Arbete & Fritid with a dash of Albert Ayler and mid 60's John Coltrane. While often good, they sometimes get stuck in a tonal rut. They know what they're aiming at but they don't always seem sure of how to get there, instead treading water. When they catapult themselves forward, it works just fine.

Aftara (LIM, 1975)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Their debut has faintly funky grooves, and they're more palpable on "Aftara's" side long ”Improvisation”. The pulse ought to give the music a momentum but has, oddly enough, the opposite effect. The others can't seem to get into the flow of Anders Söderling's drum patterns, and the water-treading feeling prevalent on some of ”Göteborgs Musikkvartett” is even more evident here. The two tracks on side 2 are in a freer mode but they too lack the push needed for the music to move forward.

A very good Göteborgs Musikkvartett track can be found on "LIM – Levande improviserad musik", "Bläck aut".

Aftara full album

G.L. UNIT – Orangutang! (Odeon, 1969)

Instrumental
International relevance: ***

Ranked #15 on the blog's Top 25

First of all, I'm not even going to start mentioning names of those heard on this album because everybody's on it. The album's a veritable who's who of the top players of the Swedish jazz scene at the time; a true big band effort but of course it's not classic big band jazz with a band leader constantly smiling at the audience, tux dressed players and decorated music stands in front of them. No.

This makes John Coltrane's ”Ascension” sound like a hummable little ditty.

This is TNT.

”Orangutang!” is the most powerful Swedish 70's free jazz album, great on an international level, up there with Alan Silva, Globe Unity Orchestra, François Tusques and the lot. Great jazz hurts, and no other Swedish album hurts as good as this one does. But just like any good free jazz album, it has a sense of elevated beauty, a serene lyricism, an intense burning light with your mind being its focal point. And it's dynamic, effortlessly moving from full blast detonations to jittery reflection. Of course it's not easy listening, it's not at all the perfect aural backdrop to a nice barbecue in the garden but it's got the spark to set your soul ablaze.

I save words like 'masterpiece' for albums like this.

Full album

MATS GLENNGÅRD – Kosterläge (Gump, 1972)

Swedish vocals, instrumental

International relevance: ***

Often praised, always expensive in its original Gump incarnation, Kebnekajse fiddler Mats Glenngård's first solo album is different to what one might expect, with a prominent Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young vibe and lyrics concerned with environmental issues. The folk influence of course shines through here and there, as on ”Berget heter bonden (Fiollåten)” and ”Tongång till Täby”, but there's little here to remind you of Kebnekajse (although they did occasionally perform the title track at gigs).

The absurd asking prices suggests ”Kosterläge” is a masterpiece which it isn't. It's a good album with several fine tracks, especially the title track, ”Allt på denna runda jord” and ”Djuret” (the latter with a ferocious guitar solo by Glenngård himself), but it's certainly not €300 good. However, the album has been reissued. And it's always great hearing Bo Skoglund drumming.

Glenngård made a second solo album in 1980, ”Violin Race”.

Full album playlist