A SEVEN INCH SPECIAL, VOL. 3: Hard & heavy

 UPPÅT VÄGGARNA – Jag hatar politik / Jag färdas (Efel, 1971)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: ***

One of the best Swedish heavy rock singles ever! No wonder originals are dead expensive. ”Jag hatar politik” was also on the third volume of ”Who Will Buy These Wonderful Evils” as well as ”The Essence Of Swedish Progressive Music 1967-1979”, the 4CD box set released in conjunction with Tobias Peterson's progg encyclopedia. But the B side is almost as good with an inescapable riff and great soloing. Thankfully, the single was reissued in 2022 by Regain Records as a 12”. Not only that, Regain also unearthed two previously unreleased tracks, doubling Uppåt Väggarna's frustratingly slim discography. The two ”new” tracks, one sung in English, are from a radio session, and while the second of those aren't up to snuff, it's great seeing them out. Let's hope someone will find more archival material soon – Subliminal Sounds?

AFTER LIFE – Help Me / Into The Fire (Playback, 1971)
English vocals
International relevance: ***

Another classic single and another ”Who Will Buy These Wonderful Evils, Vol III” selection, namely ”Help Me”. It's a decent track, not on the same level as Uppåt Väggarna, but it's better than the unnecessary and pretty tame Deep Purple cover ”Into The Fire” on the flip.

ZANE – Step Aside / Damage (MM, 1976)
English vocals
International relevance: ***

If After Life found their inspiration in Deep Purple, then Malmö's Zane are closer to Black Sabbath. With their seedy underground vibe, both tracks were comped on different volumes in the often great ”Brown Acid” series successfully exhuming obscure raw and rare hard rock singles from near and far. Both tracks are good, especially ”Step Aside”. A third track was recorded in 1980 and released on ”Vykort från Malmö”, an Amalthea V/A compilation of wildly disparate bands. The song, ”Malmö City”, shows a Zane then a wee bit closer to punk. Still OK though. 

BARON BULT – 75 ton stål / Gamla hjältar (PETCLA, 1979)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

Baron Bult came from Stockkholm but sounds more like a Gothenburg band. ”75 ton stål” has some heavy aspirations but is essentially just dull rock typical to the turn of the decade. The B side is too close to youth center disco. It's not particularly expensive but I wouldn't pay even a small sum for it. They had another single out on RCA Victor in 1980 before fading into well-deserved obscurity. Prior to Baron Bult, main man Peter Wartin made an album with Claes Nordenskiöld in 1978, also on private label PETCLA.

E.F. BAND – Night Angel / Another Day Gone (Aerco, 1979)
English vocals
International relevance: **

E.F. Band, where E stands for bassist Pär Ericsson and F stands for guitarist/singer Bengt Fisher, became a rather successful band with some longevity, releasing three albums and as many singles during their lifetime. They were part of the FWOSHM, i.e. The First Wave Of Swedish Heavy Metal, the domestic equivalent to NWOBHM, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. Only their debut 45 ”Night Angel” is remotely relevant to this blog, simply because it's a pretty effective track with an unexepected almost-Hawkwind drive to it. B side ”Another Day Gone” isn't too exciting though.

THE WAGABOND – This Is Life! / Wagabond (Grisbäck, 1979)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Released on Ulf Bejerstrand's Grisbäck label, a fact that should put you off immediately. ”This Is Life!” is a clumsy attempt at hard rock with faint punk elements. B side ”Wagabond” seems to aim for a more progressive style with tempo changes that they handle with the same elegance as if they were a poo snake in their hands. Terrible.

TIDEN LIDER / IMPULS – Norrland Export / Andetag (Manifest, 1979)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

A split single on the Northern Manifest label. ”Norrland Export” by Tiden Lider is a rather ambitious track perfectly ruined by Helena Tewolde Berhan's painfully piercing vocals. She sounds like Savage Rose's Anisette on 78 rpm. ”Andetag” by Impuls may or may not have a Pink Floyd influence, depending on what you're references are. Non-descript vocals are a relief after Tewolde Berhan's ear assault, but the entire track is uninteresting with an overlong guitar solo that leads nowhere.

TONVIKT – Samma batonger / Morgontankar (HRM, 1979)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

Somewhat expensive 45, possibly because of the guitar playing which probably is the best thing about it. The A side is an anti-police brutality statement with clichés well-known from a plethora of punk songs of the same era. ”Morgontankar” is a kind of a ballad which is better than ”Samma batonger” but still not very good. An album's worth of 1978-80 material, some of it better than the 45, has been added to the single on guitarist Hans Hogedahl's Youtube channel. The band came from Kungälv outside Gothenburg.

FROZEN FIRE – Den mogna kvinnan / Eller hur (Pang, 1982)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

Released on the shady Pang Records. ”Den mogna kvinnan” is little less than a revamp of ”Ballroom Blitz” and the B side is a bit too much boogie rock. Most surprising feature is an organ rarely associated with this kind of music. Pang had a few hard rock releases out, some more sought after than others. 

VAMPA – Plugget E.P. (BMP Produktion, 1982)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

An extremely rare three-track EP with an adolescent take on punk inclined hard rock/heavy metal but not without progressive touches. Title track ”Plugget” is a hate song to school and the weakest song on the seven-inch. ”Tåget” is pretty effective with a couple of tempo changes which is a far cry from anything Yes plus an endearingly bad guitar solo. Best track is the 6/8 instrumental ”Blackout”. Not for everyone but I find it all pretty charming. Reissued with new cover art in 2021 by Swedish reissue label On The Dole Records. 

CHRISTER NAHRENDORF 
 Sju minuter kvar (Återblick på år 2003.2) / En existensiell blues (Musiklaget, 1978)
Då e're alright / Hard Rock (Metronome, 1982)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **/*

Solen Skiner frontman Christer Nahrendorf made three solo singles between 1978 and 1986. None of these two here is that interesting but ”Sju minuter kvar” and ”En existensiell blues” both have a a slight symphonic vibe to them that might attract some listeners. At least if you can stand Nahrendorf reciting the dystopic lyrics of ”Sju minuter kvar”.

His second single has back-up band Hårt Regn (=”hard rain”) and is entirely ignorable. ”Då e're alright” sounds like a blatant attempt to get airplay. The B side's ”Hard Rock” in turn sounds like a parody ot exactly that.

Baron Bult full single
E.F. Band full single playlist
The Wagabond full single
Tiden Lider - Norrland Export full single
Impuls - Andetag full single
Tonvikt full single playlist + bonus
Frozen Fire full single playlist
Uppåt Väggarna full single playlist + bonus tracks (Bandcamp)
Vampa full single playlist (Bandcamp)
After Life:
Help Me
Into The Fire
Zane:
Step Aside
Damage
Christer Nahrendorf:
Sju minuter kvar / En existensiell blues full single playlist
Då e're alright / Hard Rock full single playlist

DRÖMPOJKARNA – Drömpojkarna (Grisbäck, 1979)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: -

Featured here mainly because of the label Grisbäck run by Ulf Bejerstrand, and because it's included in the '100 bands that didn't make the cut' in The Encyclopedia of Swedish Progressive Music. Very little here could possibly be called progg, although there's a couple of references to the Music Movement mentality in one of the lyrics. Mostly "Drömpojkarna" is just straightforward pop, or perhaps 'rural new wave' if such a thing exists. I suspect it was some of the lyrics that appealed the most to Beijerstrand's prepubescent toilet humour.

The album was reputedly recorded in just 17 hours and it's probably true. If you can ignore the weak vocals and some of the most embarrassing lyrics (which is hard if you're a Swede), some of the songs are in fact rather good and wouldn't have been out of place on some early outing on the seriously amiable Svenska Popfabriken label. (As a matter of fact, Drömpojkarna went to the village of Klippan in Skåne after this debut album was released to record their final two 45s in the Svenska Popfabriken's legendary Studio Bombadill.) "Vagabond” is a catchy enough psuedo-country number, and the band's theme song ”Drömpojkar” is a nice slow garage rock inspired track, while a basement organ adds an ethereal, almost psychedelic touch to ”Äppelpaj med vaniljsås”. But the flat production and the general uniformity of the songs makes the album too one-dimensional to sit through in a single session. And, like I said, there's not much here for the progg-head.

However, a completely remixed version of the album appeared in 2023. The remix is so different it also turns "Drömpojkarna" into a new and better album. There's more depth to the new mix, and the narrow soundstage, previously more or less mono, has widened to great benefit.

After releasing the two aforementioned singles, Drömpojkarna members went on to join other Svenska Popfabriken bands (including the obscure Hugh Scott Band who re-recorded "Vagabond") and Aston Reymers Rivaler.

Full album playlist
Full remixed album playlist

BOOJWAH KIDS – Med beat (Grisbäck, 1980) / Till skydd för minnet (Grisbäck, 1981)

I have something of a default appreciation for albums straddling the line of progg and punk. The ambiguity doesn't necessessarily equals great music, but the dual mindset of the combination sometimes makes it more interesting than just straight-up progg or plain punk. I have featured several bands in that ilk here before, most recently Hela Huset Skakar and prior to that Fiendens Musik, Ruff & Fukt & Suck and Kräldjursanstalten to mention some of the better ones, and there will surely be more in the future.

Från Boojwah Kids med beat (Grisbäck, 1980)

Swedish lyrics, instrumental
International relevance: ***

If Kräldjursanstalten are the prime example of Swedish Captain Beefheart-influenced angularity, then Boojwah (= bourgeois) Kids were the second tiers. Nowhere near as good and certainly not as heavy and tight as their competitors, they score high on the intention scale. ”Med beat”, released on Ulf Beijerstrand's Grisbäck label, is a 12” with six short tracks, the shortest clocking in on just 40 seconds. The arrangements are credible for what is basically non-professionals, but what holds it back is the vocals. Drummer Bertil Lundblad too often adapts a deliberately silly style. At the time, it might have seemed anarchic and tauntingly disrespectful to conventions, but forty years on, they sound stupid more than anything. The lyrics are often too contrived too, trying to hard to be ”different” and ”Beefheartish”. Foreign listeners won't notice however, but they don't ring very convincing or clever in the ears of a Swede. The best track is by far ”Med Oasen mot asen” a tribute to the punk joint Oasen in Stockholm suburb Rågsved from which also spawned Sweden's best known punk act Ebba Grön.

Till skydd för minnet (Grisbäck, 1981)

Swedish lyrics, instrumental
International relevance: ***

Boojwah Kids followed their mini-LP debut with a full-length album in 1981, also on Grisbäck. In the meantime, they'd got a tighter grip of the convoluted arrangements, but they unfortunately also recruited an additional singer named Marianne Stenstedt. With a true nerve-grater of a voice, thin and peculiarly timbre-less, she makes the album just about unlistenable. Her tuneless chanting sounds like an asylum intern which might have been the point anyway. Good for Lundblad though, whose tracks are far more digestable with Stenstedt's unmusical vocal spurts obscuring most of the other tracks here. Needless to say, the instrumentals – too few in numbers and including a remake of "Boojwah Bas-tu" originally in a shorter version on their debut – are the most appealing efforts in this could-have-been-a-lot-better selection.

An early live version of ”Med en duns slutar alla att hoppas” from the full-length album had already appeared on the 1979 various artists live disc ”Oasen – En dag måste nånting hända när allt slår in”, recorded at the very same Oasen stage they celebrated on ”Med beat”.

Boojwah Kids returned in 1983 with one further 7” EP entitled ”Fake Golden Palmtrees” on the Slick label. Fittingly enough, as their music had gotten a bit more straight-ahead and polished by then, and also sung in English. Thankfully they had lost synapse sniper Stenstedt – but also a fair bit of their relative relevance. A live tape from the Tonkraft radio session also exists but remains officially unreleased.

"Hatten av" + "Med Oasen mot asen"
"Trång tågkorridor"
"Boojwah Bas-tu"
"Spansk sluttning"
"Telepati"
"Med en duns slutar alla att hoppas" 

ULF BEJERSTRAND – Ett spel i röven (Grisbäck, 1978)

Swedish vocals, instrumental

International relevance: **

Even before the dissoluton of Kalmar band Kung Tung in 1979, bassist Ulf Bejerstrand released solo albums – this is his second. ”Ett spel i röven” sometimes sound like a proper album but too often Bejerstrand gives in to his sense of anal humour making him sound like a five-year-old with access to record equipment. A lot of ”Ett spel i röven” (the title may be translated to ”a freak-out in your ass”) sounds impertinent for the sake of impertinence only. Some people probably get off on burps and farts – Bejerstrand obviously do – but my humour isn't quite that infantile. But he payed for the release and if he enjoyed wasting his money on nonsense, that's up to him. (He used to toss his albums into the audience after 60 second guerilla gigs when he hijacked the stage after the headliners had left, so at least not to many people had to pay for his albums.)

The album isn't very good even if you don't understand his puerilities, but at least it has two good tracks, both instrumental. But it should be said that ”Min låt” and ”Mjäll i tårtan” aren't good only because Bejerstrand is kind enough to keep his mouth shut on those tracks.

Min låt
Ett spel i röven