JOJJE WADENIUS – Puss puss sant sant (Sonet, 1978)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

”Goda' goda'” is one of the GREAT Swedish childrens' records of all time, a fantastic LP chock full of brilliant songs and Jojje Wadenius and his Made In Sweden pals at their very best. The lyrics were written by children's author Barbro Lindgren, and she did the same for ”Puss puss sant sant”, recorded almost ten years after ”Goda' goda'” as a kind of sequel. But times were different and so were the musicians, and the childlike joy that permeated the original album wasn't to be repeated in 1978. The band tracks sound like an ordinary day at work, very studio musicians-like, and Wadenius himself often sounds as if he just goes through the motions vocally. Some songs are fine though, with the best one being the beautiful and ironically enough instrumental ”Vintervisa” which is close to what John Renbourn Group did on their albums from roughly the same time, complete with tablas. But compared to the album ”Puss puss sant sant” was styled after, this is a real disappointment.

Full album playlist

CORNELIS VREESWIJK – Poem, ballader och lite blues (Metronome, 1970)

 Swedish vocals, spoken word
International relevance: **

Cornelis Vreeswijk came to Sweden from The Netherlands as a 12 year old, well in time to learn Swedish to the point he mastered the Swedish language better than many native Swedes. His debut album ”Ballader och oförskämdheter” hit like a bomb upon its release in 1964 and more or less kickstarted the wave of new Swedish troubadours and visa singers. No-one could touch his excellence though, and up to his untimely death in 1987, he had released dozens of albums of sharp-witted observations, great acoustic guitar playing and brilliant songwriting. Not a lot of it is within the progg realm however, but he did have some friends in high progg places as proven by his albums around the turn of the decade 1969/71. Looking closely at the musician credits from these years, you'll find names like Kenny Håkansson, Lasse Wellander and Slim Borgudd. Borgudd is also on ”Poem, ballader och lite blues” along with Jojje Wadenius and Bosse Häggström meaning the entire Made In Sweden is present here. Add to that Björn J:son Lindh and Sten Bergman, and you have an album with progg credentials enough.

The title is self-explanatory. It translates to ”poems, ballads and a bit of blues”, and that's exactly what you get. The poetry recitals may be short but they're nevertheless distracting and interrupts the flow but the strictly musical parts are, for the most part, simply brilliant. You could argue that it would have been an even better album if the double album had been trimmed down to a single disc omitting a few out-of-place numbers, but that's essentially hairsplitting. Not only does it feature some of Vreeswijk's best songs of all time, the musicianship is absolutely great on tracks like ”Rosenblad, rosenblad”, ”Cool Water – på den Gyldene Freden” and the really heavy blues ”Ett gammalt bergtroll”. Eveyrhing adds up to Cornelis's best album and thus, one of the great Swedish albums.

Full album playlist

STEN ASGER-JENSEN – Clown (CBS, 1973)

 Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

Little known singer/songwriter (information is scarce), but he was assumably of Danish descendance judging by his name. He released only one album in 1973 plus one single the following year. Only Janne Schaffer and Jojje Wadenius get musicians credit on the cover but it must be Björn J:son Lindh on flute.

Asger-Jensen was a rather talented songwriter with a clear inspiration from folk rock as evident on ”Färden” and the title track. He supposedly had a couple of Jethro Tull albums in his record collection too as some tracks have tastefully proggy touches. More generally speaking, ”Clown” falls roughly between ”Lagt kort ligger” John Holm and B.L. Magnell meaning this is actually quite good. Whoever plays on it, they all seem to have enjoyed their session work too because the backing sounds genuinely inspired. Try for instance ”Den femte visionen” which keeps building until it gets rather heavy with Schaffer (presumably) going stringbending crazy towards the end. 

Not a too common find but apparently rather cheap and well worth picking up if you find it. I do like it quite a bit. 

Full album playlist 

RALPH LUNDSTEN & THE ANDROMEDA ALL STARS – Complete albums 1977-1982

A curious character, this Ralph Lundsten guy. His career somehow parallels that of Ragnar Grippe, as Lundsten started out as an electro-acoustic composer and then gradually moved towards more commercially accessible music. A wider attention came in the mid 70's with his series of so called nature symphonies taking inspiration from Swedish nature and folklore. Lundsten became something of a new age music pioneer, recording many of his albums in his Andromeda studio in a house painted pink. He was on a massive ego trip, seemingly only liking his own music. Most of his many many albums are cheesy and aimed at the crystal healers market. To be fair, a lot of his un-commercial early stuff (from the late 60's and early 70's) is quite superficial too but at least somewhat more interesting to listen to.

With the 70's drawing to a close, Lundsten assembled an amorphous band called The Andromeda All Stars and rarely has the term ”all stars” been more to the point. Plenty of name performers passed through, too numerous to mention in all, but a few would be Bernt Rosengren, Ahmadu Jarr, Tommy Körberg, Jojje Wadenius, Monica Dominique, Wlodek Gulgowski, Björn Inge (November et al), Björn J:son Lindh, Janne Schaffer, Tomas Ledin, and renaissance music flag-bearer Sven Berger. This massive lot of people helps the four Andromeda All Stars albums into the progg realm.

Universe (Harvest, 1977)
Instrumental, wordless vocals
International relevance: **

The first All Stars album (housed in a truly eye-catching cover) is one of Lundsten's best, although I hesitate to use superlatives when talking about Lundsten's albums, no matter what line-up they flash. It's uneven and still very cheesy, but it has some entertaining moments of gurgling and bubbling sounds where Lundsten probably just fools around with the crazy sound effects because he enjoys it. As typical to his post-EAM albums, there are plenty of synth washes. The best tracks are those that have a rhythmic structure, like ”Harvest In Heaven”, ”Space Funeral”, and the space rock sounding ”The Planet Of Winds”.

Discophrenia (Harvest, 1978)
Instrumental
International relevance: **

With the disco wave sweeping the world in the late 70's, plenty of musicians jumped the danceable bandwagon. Even the self-loving Ralph Lundsten got bit by the bug, but his interpretation of disco is of course different to others. He either mess with it deliberatly, or he misunderstands everything. The title track is in fact rather interesting as Lundsten seems to predict the synth pop still a few years away from public recognition. It actually reminds me a bit of the early Human League albums (those before the girls joined the group and they became MTV darlings with ”Don't You Want Me”) and they hadn't been released yet when ”Discophrenia” came out. The album even spawned a single (with an extended remix of the title track), a rather rare thing in Lundsten's discography.

Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (Harvest, 1979)
Instrumental, English vocals
International relevance: **

The third Andromeda All Stars album falls somewhere between the first two, with characteristics spilling over from both. ”Rendezvous With A Washing-Machine”, ”Ego Love Song” (appropriate title for Lundsten!) and ”Horrorscope” are still discophrenic, while other chunks stick to the wishy-washy synth layers. The album is very inconsistent, and it sounds as if it's cooked up from leftovers from the previous two discs. The all stars concept is beginning to wear thin.

The New Age (Harvest, 1982)
Instrumental
International relevance: **

After a couple of electronic/symphonic works in the beginning of the 80's, Lundsten returned in 1982 with the final album credited to The Andromeda All Stars. Largely new-agey as the title lets you know, but a more coherent work than ”Alpha Ralpha Boulevard”. But it does sound as if the steam had run out altogether of the All Stars project. It's less colourful and crazy than the initial trio, there's no real push to it.

From "Universe"
Universe Calling / The Space Sneaker / In The Shade Of The Purple Moon / The Hot Andromedary / The Blue Planet / Harvest In Heaven / In The Erotosphere / The Celestial Pilgrim / Rhapzodiac / The Planet Of Winds / Lunatic Safari / Space Funeral / Cosmic Song

From "Discophrenia"
Andromedan Nights / Discophrenia / Luna Lolita / Robot Amoroso

From "Alpha Ralpha Boulevard"
Alpha Ralpha Boulevard / Rendezvous With A Washing-Machine / Space Flower Dance / Ego Love Song / Happy Earthday / Horrorscope / Computerful Love / Dancing In A Dream / Lifetide

From "The New Age"
Morning Of Creation / Time Storm / Future Carnival / Trance-Action / The Remembering Castle / Garden Of Delight

BEFORE PROGG - A SPECIAL FEATURE ON SWEDISH 60'S POP, ROCK & PSYCH

It is of course very convenient declaring the two Gärdet festivals the starting point of Swedish progg, but as with any 'movement', progg is the result of what came before it. There's not one thing that appears completely out of the blue with no ties to the history. Besides, claims of the Gärdet festivals as the real beginning of progg exclude bands such as Hansson & Karlsson and Baby Grandmothers from the equation which needless to say is plain revisionism. But the roots of progg go deeper and further back than that too. Several prominent and important characters of progg or, if you will, 'the music movement', were in bands long before progg was a thinkable concept. Therefore, and despite the 1967-1982 scope of this blog, I think it's time to go back a bit in history and shed some light on what went on in Sweden in the 60's.

I don't think anyone actually ever counted how many active bands there were between 1962 and 1968, but likely several hundreds. Some of them hit big while others had just a single or two released, while others in turn never rose above the amateur level playing to friends and rehearsing in their parents' garages and basements. Needless to say, it's impossible to mention even a fraction of all those bands here, why this is merely a small overview of some of the domestically better known bands. Bands familiar to Swedes but not necessarily to anyone outside our borders.

Just a linguistic note before plunging ahead: Swedish 60's bands rarely used the grammatical article 'the' in their names. It's ”Namelosers”, not ”The Namelosers”; ”Mascots”, not ”The Mascots”. While it may appear inadequate to English speakers, and although exceptions exist, I've decided to keep in line with the original and most common band name procedure.

As in most Western countries, the impact of The Beatles were massive on the Swedish youth. Through pirate radio stations such as Radio Syd ('Radio South') and Radio Nord ('Radio North'), and through national broadcasting radio show Tio i topp ('Top ten'), the new melodic sounds from the UK reached our domestic listeners. A pop band craze took on swiftly, although those new amateur bands from all over the country were called twist bands early on. A wimpy name but truth be told: many of the bands were pretty wimpy sounding anyway. Some started out even before The Beatles broke big, but The Beatles and, to a not negligible extent, also The Rolling Stones and The Who had a huge impact on the majority of the Swedish beat groups.

TAGES

With limited knowledge of the English language (including some truly awkward pronunciation) and a not necessarily natural penchant for songwriting, many of those bands relied on covers of UK bands and American rhythm & blues standards, but some creatively fortunate bands featured good songwriters and above-average skills. Most notably Gothenburg's Tages (pronunced 'tah-gehs', not 'taygs'). After a weak start with a couple of less than impressive 45's, they got the chance to record and release an impressive amount of five LP's before disbanding (or rather evolving into Blond who also had one full length disc out, in 1969). Tages won a battle of the bands contest early on and became known as ”The Beatles of the Swedish West coast”. Soon freeing up a considerable amount of songwriting skills and a genuine sense of creative studio work, their last two albums are exceptional for a Swedish 60's band. Both ”Contrast” (featuring the psychedelic workout "Fuzzy Patterns") and especially their final album ”Studio” are landmark efforts of very elaborate pop psych. Add to that their final singles among which "Fantasy Island" is a beautiful example of how far the band would go before the saga ended.

Tages featured one Göran Lagerberg on bass, who later became a stahlwart on the progg scene, generously sharing his abilities with bands such as Kebnekajse, Fläsket Brinner, Jason's Fleece and Egba. He was also an oft-hired studio musician why his name can be found on albums by Joakim Skogsberg, Sam Ellison, Bernt Staf, Pugh Rogefeldt, Bo Hansson and the likes.

MASCOTS

The decidedly second best Beatles influenced beat group was Mascots. As with Tages, Mascots had an excellent flair for short, catchy pop tunes appropriate for the 7” format. They did however release two full length discs, the eponymous debut album in 1965, and ”Ellpee” the following year. Their best track by far was however first issued on a flexi disc that came free to subscribers to the premier Swedish pop magazine Bildjournalen (the song later released on a proper 7"): ”Words Enough to Tell You” is where Mascots let all their melodic expertise shine the brightest. It even beats Tages in their own game, with lush harmony vocals and an absolutely irresistable melody line moving in perfect ways somewhere between The Beatles and The Hollies. It's no wonder that ”Words Enough to Tell You” has found its way to several various artists comps over the years, both nationally and abroad. It certainly deserves it.

It's a sad fact that a burgeoning interest in politics brought Mascots to their demise. The band evolved into the unfathomably abysmal political band/theatre ensemble/general break-every-record-with-their-name-on-it-inspiring Fria Proteatern. What an utter waste of almost unrivalled pop sensibilities!

SHANES

Predating both Tages and Mascots were Shanes. They first tried their luck as an instro band in the Ventures vein in 1963, but as pop mania spread like a wildfire across the nation, the Western twang of their very earliest 45's changed in favour of a more typical beat group sound. When they went for a rougher, more garage or freakbeat inspired style, as on the pounding and hard-driving ”I Don't Want Your Love”, and when they at the very end of their career moved a step or two towards pop psych as on the very nice Yardbirds influenced ”Faces, Faces”, it really worked in their favour. That said, their shamelessly poppy ”Chris Craft No. 9” is a prime example of Swedish 60's beat. Shanes compilations exist but tend to focus on their most familiar hits and not necessarily on their most worthwhile tracks why it's a pretty frustrating task approaching the band's output. You need to sit through a fair amount of crap to save the nuggets.

OLA & THE JANGLERS

The same can be said about Ola & The Janglers. A graphic diagram of the quality of their output would look conspicuously similar to an ECG curve. Their bad songs were really bad and their good songs were really good. At their rawest they were a rather convincing garage rock band, and their stabs at psychedelia – most notably the Eastern-tinged track ”No One Knows What Happens Round the Corner” – were credible enough. Their good stuff would fill an LP length compilation, but a good one doesn't exist, only a couple focusing on their hits, including pointless Johnny-come-lately covers of Del Shannon's ”Runaway” and Chris Montez's ”Let's Dance”. I wish compilers would cast off the demon of nostalgia and go for the truly good stuff instead. There's one pretty great album hidden in Ola & The Janglers' ouvre but that has yet to see the light of day.

One of the Janglers' most prominent members, Claes af Geijerstam, recorded one underrated popsikey album in 1970, ”Out of My Hair”. The Ola of the bunch, Håkansson, went on to fame and fortune with bands like Secret Service who scored big with their single ”Oh Susie” in the 80's. He also became an influential music business honcho.

LEE KINGS

Lee Kings' output is relatively slim. Apart from a slew of singles it consists of one and a half LP only (the half one being shared with the forgettable band The Sunspots which contribute three tracks). Lee Kings were obviously sensitive to the changing times, constantly trying to come up with a song that would sit particularly well with the adolescent record buyers. You can easily say their vision, if ever they had one, was shaped by the whims of Tio i topp. That said, they did put out some memorable tracks, especially when psychedelia was slowly becoming the new worldwide fad. From Lee Kings' last year in existence, 1967, it's well worth lending an ear to ”Coming from the Ground” (backed by a surprisingly rowdy and fuzz fuelled "Day Tripper") and the highly endearing "The Trees Are Talking".

Singer Lenne Broberg later scored a brontosaurus sized hit with ”Mälarö kyrka”, a soft sounding predecessor of sorts to Contact's ”Fyrvaktarens dotter” and something of a 'guilty pleasure' of mine. And of course: guitarist Bengan Dahlén went to Fläsket Brinner.

STEAMPACKET

Steampacket, a.k.a. Steampacket II, a.k.a. The Longboatmen were also stylistic grasshoppers, even more so than Lee Kings. Their eight 45's present a wide array of styles, from the moody balladry of ”Bara ett par dar” to the fiery freakbeat of ”Take Her Any Time”, with stops at psychedelia, country music and straightforward pop along the way. But with the great Rolf Scherrer and the exceptionally talented Mikael Ramel (both vocals and guitar) in the band, they were well equipped to dabble in whatever they felt like. Their complete recordings were released on the print-on-demand CD ”The Singles and More 1965-68” in 2015, and although it's far from stylistically lucid there's certainly not much to object to as far as quality goes. Having already mentioned Scherrer and Ramel, it's obvious why Steampacket are crucial to the pre-history of progg. Scherer was an early member of Kebnekajse and can also be heard on several Bo Hansson albums. And Mikael Ramel – well, he's Mikael Ramel, i.e. a genius solo artist of ”Till dej” et al fame, plus a one-time member of Fläsket Brinner.

So what about their multiple band names? Well, in Sweden they were called Steampacket II for their first three singles to avoid being confused with Rod Stewart's band Steampacket. For the same reason, ”Take Her Anytime” was released in the UK as The Longboatmen. Later they were domestically known simply as Steampacket.

SHAKERS

Say what you will of Tommy Rander – later to become main leftwing fundamentalist operator on Gothenburg's progg scene and eventually the nemesis and relentless decapitator of progg's unkempt creativity, and recently taking an unnerving turn towards ideas sampled from the extreme rightwing (after all, politics aren't a linear scale but a circle where the extreme right and the extreme left are much closer neighbours than a lot of people have the guts to admit) – but he indeed had a strong vision of what Shakers were supposed to be. More precisely a snotty Rolling Stones/Pretty Things styled, abrasive rhythm & blues band. If you don't mind his fonetical gibberish (English in Rander's mind) on early tracks and only slightly bettered in time for the band's final releases, you have quite a few highlights to discover. Shakers were also one of the earliest and most eager condoners of psychedelia, as evident on excellent numbers such as ”Who Will Buy (These Wonderful Evils)” and ”Tracks Remain”. All their recordings are decidedly rough-hewn which is a welcome change of pace after delving into the discographies of the more polite sounding bands. And if you pretend there's no Rander involvement whatsoever, it gets even better...

NAMELOSERS

In terms of rawness, Malmö's Namelosers gave Shakers a run for their money. Few Swedish 60's singles rock as hard and brutal as Namelosers' throat-grabbing rendition of ”Land of a 1000 Dances”. Of all the recorded versions of that old chestnut, Namelosers' version is hands down among the top 3. I mean, seriously, that fuzz guitar can simply melt concrete walls! It's hard to fathom the fact it was recorded and released in Sweden as early as 1965 when fuzz boxes were a brand new thing only just heard on Rolling Stones and Beatles records. Namelosers were truly in with the in-crowd.

Founded already in 1962 as Tony Lee & The Fenders, they soon changed their name to The Beatchers. As such they released their debut EP in late 1964 with Gary U.S. Bonds cover ”New Orleans” as the lead track. A Gothenburg band called The Beachers, without a 'T' in the middle, wasn't too happy having another similarly named band around, and threatened The Beatchers, with a 'T' in the middle, with a lawsuit. The now nameless band needed to come up with something catchy to call themselves, and a name contest was arranged by pirate radio station Radio Syd. I've no idea what other listener suggestions there might have been, but whoever came up with Namelosers (with an obvious reference to the recent Beachers debacle) won... ”New Orleans” was hastily reissued (on a new label) with the substituted band name on the cover. The name mess proved advantageous however, bringing a fair amount of attention to the band, and the song went straight to No. 3 on the Tio i topp chart. Fans were frantic, causing havoc at Namelosers shows, and the band quickly earned a bad boys reputation, Rolling Stones style. Restaurants wouldn't let them in because of their long hair and scruffy looks. (Those were the days...) To further nurture their hoodlum image, they told Bildjournalen that one of their favourite pastimes was to go to Malmö's local dump and shoot rats. Probably nothing more than a publicity stunt, although their best singles indeed sound as if they could kill a diversity of rodents...

Namelosers released a total of fourteen tracks from 1964 to December 1965. One further song appeared on a Bildjournalen flexi disc in 1966, the storming ”Do-Ao”. For some odd reason, the impossible-to-overrate ”Land of a 1000 Dances” failed to enter Tio i topp. Taken by surprise and hugely disappointed, Namelosers called it quits shortly after. In 1989, rare records shop and record label Got To Hurry issued a compilation of Namelosers complete studio recordings. Still possible to locate in used condition, a reissue is nevertheless long overdue.

ANNAABEE-NOX

In the small but loud legion of more garage infused bands you can't ignore the curiously spelled Annaabee-Nox. As with Shakers, no label trusted them with an album contract. Seven singles and a track on a Bildjournalen flexi disc are all that officially remain from their 1965-1968 lifespan. A rare surviving live tape confirms what people lucky enough to have seen them in concert have said ever since: they were one wild stage act. Not all of their studio recordings retain that same high level fervor, but you really don't want to mess with ”I'm Not Talking” and ”Bo Bo Boggie Pack” [sic!] if you love your mother. If you love your wife/husband and yourself, you don't want to pay the prices for the original 45's either – if they ever appear in playable condition that is. Thankfully, their complete discography received the compilation treatment in 2014 by Allatiders Skivhandel, and it's also easily obtainable in digital format courtesy of Parlophone.

LEA RIDERS GROUP

Of all 60's bands, Lea Riders Group is probably the one that most notably bridges the 60's and the progg era. They were also one of the most technically mature rock bands Sweden spawned during the entire decade. Led by Hawkey Franzén and featuring Slim Borgudd and Bosse Häggström, they were the embryo of Made In Sweden. Without Jojje Wadenius, the jazz elements were a lot fewer, although you could still hear jazz strains in their best known track ”Dom kallar oss mods” (the leitmotif from Stefan Jarl's [semi-]documentary of the same name). Without a doubt the band's high point, with wild screeching guitars, frenetic staccato vocals dissolving into stoned and paranoid groans, drums pounding out a disintegrating beat that is hazy and hard as rebar at the same time, a full frontal psychedelic assault leaving only smoke and dead bodies behind. A lot of people are familiar with it from being famously included on ”Pebbles Volume 3” (and subsequently on other comps as well). A track like that obviously raises the expectations for Lea Riders Group's other outpourings, but they might leave you disappointed at first. Which is not to say that the rest of their material is bad. Not at all. On the contrary, a lot of it is hard-boiled, thick-skinned, jailhouse badass rhythm & blues of international stature with all the chops needed to pull it off with brilliant precision. Just not from the same mould as ”Dom kallar oss mods”.

For an annoyingly long time, Lea Riders Group's recordings were just about impossible to find. Swedish label Garageland Records tried to rectify that in the late 80's when they released a vinyl comp, later reissued on CD as ”The Forgotten Generation”. However, the Garageland CD is best forgotten too as the sound is so dull and hissy that I suspect the tracks were taken from a fourth or fifth generation cassette dub. That hack job was thoroughly pushed into the depths of redundancy when Universal (for once!) did a good thing and released the collected singles on a Record Store Day LP in 2018. Although losing the bonuses from the Garageland CD (all of them live recordings and/or rehearsals in dubious fidelity from what I recall) and not including the additional instrumental tracks from the soundtrack to Jarl's movie, Universal's ”The Singles 1966-68” is absolutely essential from any perspective.

FRIENDS

When Garageland put out the unsatisfactory ”Forgotten Generation” CD, they concurrently reissued two other titles from their back catalogue, one by Panthers, and one by the rather peculiar band Friends. The Panthers release is best ignored altogether, but the Friends CD ”Talkin' 'bout Us” is well worthy of attention. At least to some. They're probably a band in the 'love it or hate it' category, all depending on what you think of Anders Peedú's vocals which admittedly is an acquired taste. The pronunciation heard on the early Shakers singles is Queen's English compared to the sometimes indecipherable syllables coming out of Peedú's mouth. But if that doesn't bother you (and I've learnt not to let it bother me although it took some time and persistance), then Friends were a rather remarkable group who despised the commonly overt Beatles and Stones influences. Their take on rhythm & blues was quite frankly unique among Swedish bands. ”It Ain't Necessarily So” and ”Empty Handed”, both taken from Friends' 1965 debut 45, are as raw as any of the American garage bands, untrained to the nth degree but nevertheless consistent and chock-full of self-assured and cocky attitude bordering on the nihilistic. Despite all Friends' obvious shortcomings (like having a twelve year old drummer, but so did Ornette Coleman), the three singles released during their short lifetime as a band are some rather exceptional stuff. The Garageland album fleshes out the short playing time those singles make for with some previously unreleased tapes which add nicely to the dizzying experience.

Although having Karusell, a major label with a thorough experience of bringing fame to their acts, backing them, nothing could catapult Friends to the commercially viable level of Tages, Mascots and Shanes. An appearance on the biggest (actually, only) TV talk show Hylands hörna generated gigs but no impressive record sales. Friends' fan base was largely made up of outcasts and mods from Stockholm's underground circuits, people often sharing the hard-living Friends' destructive lifestyle of drugs and alcohol. Years after the demise of the band – it was all over in 1966 – two of the members died from substance abuse. A unique band with an ever so inspiring integrity, but with a tragic story attached to it.

HEP STARS

I've not yet mentioned the biggest act of all: Hep Stars. Still heralded among a lot of people, I refuse to believe their position in people's minds is anything but pure nostalgia. Because man, did they suck! The only thing worthy of acknowledgement is their smash hit cover of Vince Taylor's ”Cadillac” which remains a stone cold classic. Albumwise, the only remotely amusing thing they did was the undeniably frantic live document ”On Stage” where they rush through their repertoire at breakneck speed in front of hysterical teenage girls. It's not a good album by any stretch, but yeah, it is remotely amusing. Hep Stars member Benny Andersson later became a mega star with ABBA.

COMPILATIONS

There are several shortcuts to the Swedish 60's if you don't want to take the long and often disappointing road to it. For a general overview there are two vastly different editions of ”Stora popboxen”. The first one leans towards the poppier side, while the second edition is more towards the rhythm & blues sounds. Both of them are a bit much to chew for the average listener, why I'd rather recommend the almost flawless one disc comp ”Searching for Shakes”. Originally released on vinyl by Amigo Records in the mid 80's, the CD reissue is graciously expanded with meticulously chosen tracks in the same garage/freakbeat vein as the original album. Some of the songs I've specifically mentioned above are featured on this five star compendium of Sweden's rawest sounds from the 60's. A similarly styled 2 CD set was fairly recently put together by UK's RPM Records, entitled ”Svenska Shakers”, accurately subtitled "R&B crunchers, Mod grooves, Freakbeat and Psych-pop from Sweden 1964-1968". There's some overlap with ”Searching for Shakes”, but the RPM release has several hard-to-find nuggets not on the Amigo artefact and vice versa, so if you like one of them, chances are you'll want the other one as well. The RPM set looks pretty nice too.

There are several minor acts that released utterly mindblowing one-off singles that are very rare and seldom comped. The six-volume series ”Who Will Buy These Wonderful Evils” does a brilliant job bringing several more psychedelic sides together. Well-known bands such as Tages, Shanes, Ola & The Janglers and Mascots rub shoulders with more obscure acts like The Outsiders ("On My Magic Carpet" is a killer track!), T-Boones (featuring a very young Kenny Håkansson, as on the devastating "I Want You"), the garage punk of The Other Side's "Out My Light", the brilliant Members Blues Band (whose ”P.S. Elic” is quite possibly the trippiest single ever released in Sweden), New Creation (Christian outfit whose ”He Is There” is a jawdropping slice of proto-progressive late night psych), The Junk's & The Angels, Älgarna etc etc etc. Reaching into the 70's, the ”Who Will Buy These Wonderful Evils” volumes are mandatory to readers of this blog. I'm not sure of their current availability but I assure you it's worth some effort to track them down, the first four volumes in particular.

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

SOLAR PLEXUS – Complete albums 1972-1975

In terms of sheer musicality, it's hard to beat Solar Plexus. Led by married couple Carl-Axel and Monica Dominique, and featuring Jojje Wadenius and Bo Häggström from Made In Sweden, they could play anything – and sometimes did. They were originally named Bäska Droppar, a name they shared with the traditional Swedish wormwood liqour.

Solar Plexus (Odeon, 1972)

Instrumental, Swedish vocals [Swedish version] / 

Instrumental, English vocals [export version]
International relevance: ***

Funky, jazzy, bluesy, progressive, folky, avant, silly, serious, dull, exciting – all of it is true at one point or another on the album. The sheer musicality of it all is the greatest thing about this album. Sometimes they're actually too clever for their own good, but when it works it's certaonly better than Made In Sweden.

Jojje Wadenius original Swedish vocals for the album were substituted with English vocals by Tommy Körberg for an international launch. Körberg made a guest appearance on the Swedish version of the album, but after re-recording Wadenius's vocals, Körberg became a full time member of the band. Which version you prefer is a matter of taste I suppose. Both have their advantages, but my impression of the export edition is that Körberg doesn't quite feel at home being only a hired gun.

2 (Odeon, 1973)

Swedish vocals, English vocals, instrumental

International relevance: ***

Their second album, aptly titled ”2” and without Jojje Wadenius who had just left Sweden to join Blood Sweat & Tears. Tommy Körberg in turn was here a fully integrated part of Solar Plexus. You win some and you lose some; the band won a powerhouse vocalist but lost some of their curious-minded experimentation. ”2” isn't as adventurous as their first album focusing more on soul styled songs to fit Körberg's vocals. I wish they would have gone further out on a limb like they did on their debut.

Det är inte båten som gungar – det är havet som rör sig (Harvest, 1974)
Swedish vocals, English vocals, instrumental 

International relevance: ***

The album kicks off with the great, funky title track, but loses steam after that. Most of the album lacks real punch; the sound and songs are too polished, and it sounds like just another day at the jazz rock work.

Hellre gycklare än hycklare (Harvest, 1975)

English vocals, instrumental
International relevance: ***

If the previous album was weak, this is even lamer. The band goes through the motions and true inspiration is hard to find. Körberg's vocals sound a bit detached and uninspired, with a style hinting at his future career in musicals. Great rhyming album title though, especially if think of "better a joker than a hypocrite" as a well deserved quib at the increasingly holier-than-thou factions of the music movement.

Solar Plexus appears on several albums outside of their regular discography, most notably on ”Progglådan” that features a radio concert, probably from 1974. (”Progglådan” compiler Coste Apetrea cared as much for proper dates and correct info as he did for liner notes proof reading...) Solar Plexus provided music to actor Beppe Wolgers's children's album ”Gullivers resor” in 1971, appears on one track on Abdo's album ”Salma”, and provided music to comedy duo Hasse & Tage's live radio broadcast ”Öppen kanal – eller stängd?” in 1975, released on LP later the same year.

Although I don't like everything they did, I have the deepest respect for them and particularly the Dominique couple. They had free souls and a huge non-discriminating love for music, which in itself is a grand source for inspiration.

Solar Plexus (Swedish version) full album playlist

Solar Plexus (English version) full album playlist 
Solar Plexus 2 full album playlist
Det är inte båten som gungar full album playlist
Hellre gycklare än hycklare full album playlist

GEORG WADENIUS – Georg Wadenius (Frituna, 1978)

English vocals

International relevance: **

Georg 'Jojje' Wadenius first true solo album (unless you count his children's album ”Goda' goda'”), recorded after his stint with Blood, Sweat & Tears and the reformed Made In Sweden – and you can tell. The album's so dry sounding it will self-ignite unless you store it in a bathtub full of water and so dull that your wallpapers will curl up and leave your house. Well, it's not Coste Apetrea boring, but it's extremely slick and soulless, like Steely Dan (which he also played with later). To add insult to injury, Kornet keyboardist Stefan Nilsson and drummer Peter Sundell, both of De Gladas Kapell, also appear. 

Full album playlist

JOJJE WADENIUS – Goda' goda' (Metronome, 1969)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

Probably the best children's record ever made and a perfect example of how kids were taken seriously back in the progg days. Released as Jojje Wadenius, ”Goda' goda'” is really a 'lost' Made In Sweden album with Bosse Häggström on bass and Tommy 'Slim' Borgudd on drums. And they play with the same eagerness and precision as they did when playing to adults. Greater precision, even.

The songs are just swinging wonderful and the affectionate lyrics – all in Swedish – by children's author Barbro Lindgren are from the child's perspective, always, never silly and certainly not condescending. They acknowledge all big emotions you have when you're small; joy, melancholy, loneliness, curiosity, the sense of wonder when beholding things that grown-ups just pass by in their busy grown-up world of boring grown-up things. And imagination. Puzzled self-reflection. Playfulness. Things adults should engage in a little more often.

Let's be frank: Made In Sweden never made another album this inspiring and delightful. Some of their most irritating mannerisms are prevalent here as well – I'm thinking of Wadenius's annoying habit singing along to his guitar solos – but the songs are so wonderful you can easily forgive them for it. To paraphrase an Archimedes Badkar title, these are songs for children of all ages.

Jojje Wadenius made a second album of Lindgren lyrics in 1978, the less successful ”Puss, puss, sant, sant”.

Full album playlist

SLIM BORGUDD – Funky Formula (Four Leaf, 1976)

English vocals

International relevance: ***

Originally drummer with Hawkey Franzén's great 60's band Lea Riders Group, then Made In Sweden, then Solar Plexus, Tommy ”Slim” Borgudd turned celebrity studio musician in the 70's and successful Formula 1 driver (hence the cover).

”Funky Formula” is indeed one funky affair –  Borgudd was obviously into James Brown and 70's hard funk. It features Jan Schaffer, Björn J:son Lindh, Jojje Wadenius, Göran Lagerberg and former Lea Riders Group/Made In Sweden bassist Bo Häggström. Three singers also join in: Björn Skifs (known to the whole wide world for fronting Blue Swede who scored a U.S. hit in 1974 with their version of ”Hooked on a Feeling”), Tommy Körberg (Solar Plexus, Made in Sweden) and – surprisingly enough – rock'n'roll singer Jerry Williams. Some might frown in disbelief at the vocalist choices (especially Jerry Williams) but they're all pretty solid in this setting. ”Funky Formula” isn't a top shelf effort but it's OK.

Full album playlist

MADE IN SWEDEN – Complete albums 1968-1970

Made In Sweden evolved out of Lea Riders Group, the most powerful rhythm & blues based Swedish 60's bands, responsible for the towering 1968 psych masterpiece ”Dom kallar oss mods” brought to world fame in 1979 when it was included on the third volume of the legendary compilation series ”Pebbles”. Actually, they did more than just evolve – the Made In Sweden trio was Lea Riders Group minus singer Hawkey Franzén, with Bo Häggström on bass, Slim Borgudd on drums, and Jojje Wadenius who replaced the original Lea Riders Group guitarist Sigge Ehlin one week before they disbanded in mid '68.

Made In Sweden (With Love) (Sonet, 1968)

Instrumental, English vocals

International relevance: ***

Made In Sweden's debut album was recorded in a mere six hours. Their 'groovy' pop inspired jazz rock was already in place, with an all around high level musicianship. The problem is that their core concept soon loses its freshness and becomes predictable. Also, Wadenius trademark style of scat singing along with his guitar solos quickly gets very annoying. There's something smuggish about the whole thing that I can't come to terms with.

Snakes in a Hole (Sonet, 1969)

Instrumental, English vocals

International relevance: ***

Aiming at a more psychedelic sound, Made In Sweden added some organ, strings and sound effects to their jazz/rock/blues blend. But it's basically the same thing as their first album, only dressed up in a new flashy garb. ”Snakes in a Hole” sounds empty and superficial, it lacks the substance to elevate it above the fancy surface.

The band made one further LP in 1969, children's album ”Goda' goda'”, released as a Jojje Wadenius solo album.

Live! at the ”Golden Circle” (Sonet, 1970)

Instrumental, English vocals

International relevance: ***

Just like the title says, this was recorded live at the legendary Stockholm jazz club Gyllene Cirkeln (The Golden Circle), and one would hope the live setting would provide the band's music with something substantial. It doesn't. There's more jamming and a rawer group sound, but everything I have against Made In Sweden's first two albums gets in the way even more here. Especially Wadenius's ego. I mean, he really loves his guitar style. It takes a whole lot of self-denial for me to get through this.

The CD features alternate takes.

Made in England (Sonet, 1970)

Instrumental, English vocals

International relevance: ***

For their fourth regular album, Made In Sweden went to the London to work with the engineers at Pye and Olympic Studios. It provided the band with a fuller sound – let's call it overproduced – but it hardly made the music any better. It's basically the same moves over again, only with a little more prog and pop to them, and a couple of extra musicians. Of all their forgettable albums, this is the most forgettable.

The album was released in Spain with a different cover (below left) and in the UK as "Mad River" in 1971 (avoveright), and again with new cover for the 2009 CD reissue. 

Regnbågslandet (SR, 1972)

as Made In Sweden, Olof Thunberg, Tommy Körberg
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

A soundtrack to a children's Christmas TV series that unfortunately doesn't work as a stand-alone disc. Some songs are OK, the instrumental "Ett stycke musik" and the Tommy Körberg sung title track are nice, and some are even psychedelic, but most of it is pretty silly, and not at all as successful as Jojje Wadenius's "Goda, goda".

Wadenius reformed the band in 1976 with entirely different musicians. The revamped Made In Sweden released one album, "Where Do We Begin".

For those who want to check out Lea Riders Group, a compilation of their complete singles from the master tapes was released on Record Store Day in 2018, aptly titled ”The Singles 1966-68”. Do avoid the late 90's Garageland CD of the same material, the sound is subpar, as if it was taken from fifth generation cassette dubs.

Made In Sweden (With Love) full album playlist

Snakes In A Hole full album playlist

Live! At The Golden Circle full album playlist with bonus tracks

Made In England full album playlist 
from Regnbågslandet
Blåsväder är en besvärlig sak
Ett stycke musik

SANSARA – Sansara Music Band (Sonet, 1978)

Instrumental

 International relevance: ***

 

An all-star line-up comprising a number of prominent jazz cats such as Bernt Rosengren, Fredrik Norén, Staffan Abeleen, Jojje Wadenius and Lasse Färnlöf captured on night in August 1977 at jazz club Fasching in Stockholm. The music is best categorized as soul jazz, with post bop playing over funky grooves. Some inspired playing but the music itself isn't particularly adventurous. I've never liked the kitschy soul jazz style, and there's a bit too much Wadenius for me here.

The album features a version of the title track from Färnlöf's legendary 1969 album ”The Chameleon”.

Full album playlist

DE GLADAS KAPELL – Spelar Nilsson (Svenska Love, 1978)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

With Kornet's Stefan Nilsson, Samla Mammas Manna's Coste Apetrea, Jojje Wadenius of Made In Sweden and Peter Sundell from new age synth guru Ralph Lundsten's Andromeda All Stars forming this super group, it's pretty obvious from the start what ”De Gladas Kapell spelar Nilsson” is about: über competent fusion with all tracks written by Stefan Nilsson. Those who want impeccable musicianship first and foremost will love it. And yes, it's better than anything Kornet ever released and yes, it's a little more lively than Coste Apetrea's devastatingly boring solo albums but I had low school grades in math so De Gladas Kapell's many intricate equations and complex calculations mean absolutely nothing to me.

Coste Apetrea made sure to include De Gladas Kapell when he compiled ”Progglådan”.

Cover art by Tage Åsén who painted several albums for the Samla Mammas Manna clan and others.

Full album playlist
Tonkraft 1978
Rio dejavu
Lösnäsor
Ockhams rakkniv

A CHILDREN'S PROGG SPECIAL

This post is different to other posts here as it contains no album reviews. Many – most – progg albums made for children have no international relevance because they often feature too many spoken word bits, and the music usually isn't very fun to listen to as an adult. Therefore there's really no point in posting links to the albums. (A brilliant exception would of course Jojje Wadenius' ”Goda' goda'” be, basically a Made In Sweden album with fine lyrics by children's author Barbro Lindgren, but that album deserves a post of its own.)

Still this is a very important Swedish Progg Blog feature, as children's culture was taken very seriously in those days and it's necessary to consider it in order to understand the progg movement from a wider perspective. Many artists were involved in kid's television, theatre, music, literature etc, always with an intent just as serious as when they were creating for grown-ups. Children were taken as seriously as anyone else.

One reason was of course political – it was considered important to teach kids what the society is like and present to them a socialist solution to economic problems and eradicate the inequality of social classes. It's a popular opinion today that children's television in the 70's was politically indoctrinating, and upon looking back at, for instance, Nationalteatern's highly successful double album ”Kåldolmar och kalsipper” (”cabbage rolls and underpants” – no, I don't know what that's supposed to mean, and neither did Nationalteatern), and TV series such as ”Huset Silfvercronas gåta”, (”the mystery of the house of Silfvercrona), ”Ville & Valle & Viktor” and ”Kapten Zoom” (”Captain Zoom”) (both with Anders Linder as lead actor), you have to agree it has a definite left-wing bent. 

However, I've never met one single person who took damage from watching those or any other 70's children TV series... with the possible exception of Staffan Westerberg's very disturbing ”Vilse i pannkakan” (”lost in the pancake”), already mentioned in my Thomas Wiehe runthrough. I dare say that everyone I know that grew up during the progg era has become caring people with a keen sense of justice and solidarity. So maybe the socialist aspect wasn't that hurtful after all...

Sometimes an album corresponding to a certain TV series was released, some of these albums are now moderately sought-after in good condition. (Children aren't known for taking care of records too well, so most copies that turn up are pretty mangled.)

Regardless of what one thinks of the political views expressed and transfered to the young generation of the day, the socialist stance was that education is an all important thing. Insufficient education is disastrous to society in the long run (which is indeed true – the world as we know it today should explain why). The Social Democratic Party of Sweden invested a lot of money in ABF, the Workers' Educational Association, but basic knowledge had to start with the children. 

There were several 70's TV shows without an obvious political agenda making great use of the pedagogical possibilites of television. The most notable example is mid-70's ”Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter” (”five ants are more than four elephants”), with music by jazz illuminary Bengt Ernryd and featuring actors Magnus Härenstam, Brasse Brännström and Eva Rameaus, the latter also active in Musikteatergruppen Oktober (an independent theatre group performing several plays for children) and Tältprojektet. ”Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter” is acknowledged as one of the best shows ever made for children, and rightly so. In a fashion similar to the famed U.S. show ”Sesame Street”, it taught young kids to read and write in a very entertaining way and showing young and old alike that learning things doesn't have to come from just dull books with boring black and white photographs.

Eva Ramaeus was far from the only progg personality to get involved with children's television. Carl Johan de Geer of Blå Tåget co-wrote ”Tårtan” (”the cake”) with Håkan Alexandersson, and featuring Blå Tåget's Mats G. Bengtsson as actor. ”Tårtan” was an incredibly funny and anarchic fourteen part 1972 series about three unemployed sailors opening a bakery shop where absolutely everything goes wrong. Still a splendid watch today! The following year, the Swedish broadcasting company aired ”Mumlan” (hard to translate, but something like ”the mumbler” will do), a very entertaining show hosted by much loved actor Gösta Ekman and actress Lena Söderblom in which musicians such as Kjell Westling and Bengt Berger appeared.

There was a large number of children's books published during this period too. Some of them aren't very different to 'ordinary' kids literature, while others took the pedagogical approach maybe a little too far, with sterile documentary photos of mum's giving birth and the gynecologist having a look, and titles like ”Chairman Mao Is Your Uncle”, ”A Fun Day at the Kolkhoz”, ”Say Hello to the Soviet Farmer Building a Factory All by Himself”. OK, so maybe I made up those titles myself, but they could have been for real. (Swedish readers who want to investigate children's progg books further are advised to check out Kalle Lind's ”Proggiga barnböcker”. He's got a somewhat condescending narrative style but the book is informative and sometimes very amusing amd clearsighted. Swedes who'd like to delve deeper into children's television may also want to check out Göran Everdahl's ”Kom nu'rå! Barnprogrammen vi minns – eller helst vill glömma”.)

I realize that most of what's been mentioned here is of little interest to non-Swedish readers, but like I said initially, all of this (and a lot more) was a very important progg element and influential to kids growing up in during the era. Bringing it up in a post of its own will hopefully shed some further light on how multifaceted progg in fact was.