VARIOUS ARTISTS – Festen på Gärdet (Silence, 1971; recorded 1970)

Featured artists: Original Homesick Band / Östan Sol, Västan Måne / Fire / Stockholms Spelmansgille / Love Explosion / Låt Tredje Örat Lyssna In & Tredje Benet Stampa Takten / 2000 Spenar / Det Europeiska Missnöjets Grunder / Turid / Samla Mammas Manna / Grönsakslandet / Solen Skiner / Charlie & Esdor / Fläsket Brinner / Gudibrallan / Brownsville Jug Band / Södra Bergens Balalaikor / Old Timey Stringband / NJA-gruppen / Handgjort / Träd, Gräs Och Stenar

Swedish vocals, English vocals, instrumental

International relevance: *** 

It's hard to imagine an album with a greater symbolic significance than the 2LP set ”Festen på Gärdet”, recorded at the second of the two festivals held at the Gärdet field in Stockholm in 1970, with Träd Gräs Och Stenar and especially Bo Anders Persson as the driving force behind them both.

Those festivals are often regarded as the starting point of the music movement. It's convenient having a fixed date of course, but as with any historical event, it was the product of a process, with one thing evolving into something else. So while the date isn't historically valid, the Gärdet festivals' importance to the music movement is unquestionable. This was the first time that several of the soon to be most important bands presented themselves to a larger audience. Most bands didn't have a record contact at the time, and some of them would never get one, such as Det Europeiska Missnöjets Grunder and Låt Tredje Örat Lyssna In & Tredje Benet Stampa Takten.

With the huge cultural impact of the festivals, it may be a bit hard to separate the actual music from the historical importance of the recordings included herein. How does ”Festen på Gärdet” actually sound if the layers of legend are peeled off and the music is judged solely on its own terms?

First of all, it's a lot more varied than one who's never heard it may think. It's not all Träd, Gräs Och Stenar, Fläsket Brinner and Samla Mammas Manna. For instance, the album suggests there was a pretty lively American old-timey music scene in Sweden during this period, here represented by The Original Homesick Band, Brownsville Jug Band and Old Timey Stringband.

Second of all, it's full of the joy of playing and pioneering spirit.

Third of all, the sound quality isn't very enjoyable.

Fourth of all, the music ranges from the unlistenable to the great. Love Explosion and NJA-gruppen/Fria Proteatern are crap as usual. Turid is more annoying than usual. Låt Tredje Örat Lyssna In... sounds like a drunk acoustic Velvet Underground. Träd, Gräs Och Stenar sound like they always do. Gudibrallan might not be featured with their finest hour but they're still as who-gives-a-shit anarchic as I want them to be. Samla Mammas Manna's in their infant stage and it's interesting hearing them this early on. Fläsket Brinner are great but their appearance (with ”Bosses låt”) unfortunately suffers a fair bit from the low fidelity. Etc.

So, all in all, the documentary value is impossible to deny, but the music often leaves a whole lot to be desired. It sure has its moments, but they are few and far between.

A radio documentary about the Gärdet Festival was broadcast in 1970 with otherwise unavailable performances and is included in "Progglådan". A 30 minute TV documentary was also made and can be seen on Youtube (part one, part two).

The album was released in two editions, the first in coloured vinyl with inner sleeves, the second in black vinyl and no innersleeves.

Fire - Nu är det sommar

Samla Mammas Manna - Tripp Harley

Fläsket Brinner - Bosses låt

GREG FITZPATRICK – Det persiska äventyret (MNW, 1977) / Bildcirkus (Mistlur, 1978)

 

Swedish vocals, instrumental

International relevance: ***/***

Beverely Hills born Gregory Allan FitzPatrick was the son of director and documentary maker James A. Fitzpatrick who began making movies in the 20's and whose career spanned five decades. He left the States in 1966 and spent a year in Finland before settling down in Sweden. He earned his living as a street musician, and eventually formed a band with Jan Bandel and Sten Bergman. They turned into Atlantic Ocean and recorded one album in 1969 (released the following year), then FitzPatrick left for Asia. Upon returning to Sweden, he initiated Handgjort that in turn spawned the Tillsammans project with a line-up large as a small city. In 1976 he teamed up with Samla Mammas Manna for ”Snorungarnas symfoni”. His first solo album appeared in 1977.

”Det persiska äventyret” is an unintentionally funny album. FitzPatrick sings in Swedish – or he thinks he does. With an American accent so thick you could chop bricks out of it to build a house with, it's sometimes almost impossible to understand what he says. You've got to admire his linguistical braveness though, more than the album itself. It's more peculiar than good due to his lack of proper Swedish. For some reason the album has a several cover versions of songs by Hoola Bandoola Band, Bo Hansson/Fläsket Brinner, Stenblomma, Robert Broberg, Gläns Över Sjö Och Strand and Philemon Arthur & The Dung's ”Du var min enda vän”. His passion for Sweden and the then contemporary music is endearing for sure but ”Det persiska äventyret” is actually rather dull apart from the curious pronounciation.

For his second album ”Bildcirkus”, released under his full birthname, he dropped the lyrics altogether in favour of an all instrumental semi-symphonic music that's closer to ”Snorungarnas symfoni” than ”Det persiska äventyret”. His pioneering infatuation with synthesizers shows. He uses them a lot on the album, making it sound dated and sterile. Parts of it remind me of Samla Mammas Manna member Lars Hollmer's solo albums, but ”Bildcirkus” isn't as heartfelt as say ”XX sibiriska cyklar”.

Greg Fitzpatrick later became an in-demand session player, and opened a synthesizer shop in Stockholm in the 80's. He then turned to jingles making for commercials, and he's also worked in the field of music pedagogy.

Det persiska äventyret full album playlist
Bildcirkus full album playlist

HANDGJORT – Handgjort (Silence, 1970)

Instrumental, English vocals

International relevance: ***

Few bands live up to their name as Handgjort do; the word means ”handmade” in English. At least as far as album covers go. Every individual cover were painted by hand so each of the initial 901 copies are all different. A further 226 copies were then pressed in 1973. (The picture above is from a reissue.)

The music on the album has a 'handmade' feel too. It's masterminded by Greg FitzPatrick who uses different pseudonyms on the album due to his lack of a Swedish work permit. FitzPatrick had just returned from an Asian trip, picking up musical influences on his journey, as exemplified by the extensive use of sitar, tablas and flute. Björn J:son Lindh, Jan Bandel, Guy Öhrström and of course FitzPatrick himself appear on the album.

It's a pleasant album, but the question is why I should listen to ”Handgjort” instead of authentic Indian and other Asian music. It pretty much falls in the same category as UK band Magic Carpet (only without the vocals), i.e. a bunch of people soaked in hippie mysticism. It's a strange album insofar it's cheesy and appealing to equal parts. I'm never really sure what I actually think about it. I like it and I don't like at the same time.

The album has been reissued a couple of times (in hand painted covers), and in 2010 it was expanded with a number of previously unreleased subpar tracks recorded at the Gärdet festivals. Their track ”Farmer Jack” can be heard on ”Festen på Gärdet”.

Greg FitzPatrick later initiated the voluminous project Tillsammans.

Full album playlist with bonus tracks

TILLSAMMANS – Tillsammans (Silence, 1973)

International relevance: ***

Swedish vocals

Tillsammans means ”together” and they could hardly have chosen a more appropriate name. There are so many people involved in the project including several members of Fläsket Brinner, Arbete & Fritid, Kebnekajse and other major early progg acts, that were I to mention them all, I'd expand the Internet's total amounts of data by half.

Headed by Greg FitzPatrick, ”Tillsammans” is a Handgjort spin-off, with several of the tracks originally written for them. Needless to say, the sound of Tillsammans is nowhere near as sparse as on Handgjort's legendary 1970 album, but the songs still have a sweet delicacy, be it the frail grandeur of ”Söner frågar fäder” (which sounds a bit like a slowed down ”Sympathy for the Devil”), the Leo Kottke/Jorma Kaukonen inspired ”Brev till Radionämnden”, or the tender ”Cathrine” highlighted by Kenny Håkansson's ever so beautiful guitar. Or any track really.

That's the thing about ”Tillsammans”: the multitude of players is used economically, timbres are never overused, only implemented when really needed to ensure the album to turn out as lush and rich as possible. Harp, accordeon, clarinet, bagpipe and cello all help creating a beautifully crafted web of characteristics, but a particularly nice touch is the appearance of balalaika orchestra Södra Bergens Balalaikor adding a unique texture to a very adorable album.

Two years in the making, it's no wonder this massive undertaking was a one-off thing. Omnipresent visionary FitzPatrick's next major venture was writing ”Snorungarnas symfoni” for Samla Mammas Manna in 1976, then releasing a couple of mildly entertaining solo albums before becoming in-house synthesizer wizard for pop duo Adolphson-Falk in the 80's. The lyrics (which are on the political side but not intrusive) were written by Christian Diesen who abruptly switched careers and is now a criminal law professor at the University of Stockholm. He's also author of crime fiction.

(Please note that the band Tillsammans who released an eponymous album in 1976 on the Kompass label is an entirely different Christian outfit.)

Full album playlist