One of
the most emblematic bands
of the progg movement, and crucial to understanding the spirit of progg. Not only did they fully embody the 'everybody
can play' ethos, they initiated it. They had a couple of
professionals in the band, such as the always excellent Roland
Keijser, but most of the members were musical novices.
Mikael Wiehe
once said that he thought Gunder Hägg sounded so horrendous that he
felt compelled to start
Hoola Bandoola Band. (In defense of Wiehe, it has to be said that he later admitted
that Gunder Hägg/Blå Tåget in retrospect was way more
musically progressive than ever Hoola Bandoola Band.)
The band emanated from the Stockholm
arts, theatre and literature circuits, with band members Leif Nylén,
Torkel Rasmusson and Mats G. Bengtsson already being published
authors. Heavily inspired by American underground band The Fugs
(although it could be argued they were closer in spirit to The Fugs'
ESP-Disk' label mates The Godz), they decided to start a band
combining performance art and music. They went by a couple of different
names (Tjalles Horisont, Sound of Music) before deciding on Gunder Hägg, after the legendary Swedish
athlete by the same name who objected to being related to the band,
why they choose Blå Tåget instead in time for their fourth album.
GUNDER HÄGG – Tigerkaka (MNW, 1969)
Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: **
It's easy to understand Mikael Wiehe's
frustration with Gunder Hägg's ineptitude when hearing ”Tigerkaka”.
The vocals are off, the English lyrics are demolished by bad
pronounciation, the playing is clumsy, the songs are amateurish.
Wiehe was right: ”Tigerkaka” really sounds terrible. But
that's not the point. The mix of styles – trad jazz,
singer/songwriter, semi-psych, cabaret etc – is daring to a band
that seemingly didn't know the difference between a guitar and a
hubcap, and ”Tigerkaka” is a statement of much greater importance
than sheer capability: A proof that you can get something across even
if you lack craftmanship. Instrumental insuffiency can make an album
disastrous and unlistenable, but if the band chemistry's right, it
can also make an album work in a way that professionalism not
necessarily can (there are several examples of both). And ”Tigerkaka”
works. Torkel Rasmusson's title track is wonderful, as is Mats G.
Bengtsson's ”I hajars djupa vatten” – one of Blå Tåget's best
songs ever. Not only is it a good album on its own terms, its
symbolic value simply can't be overrated.
GUNDER HÄGG – Vargatider (MNW, 1970)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **
Visual artist and film maker Carl Johan
de Geer began showing up at Gunder Hägg's rehearsals. He brought his
trombone with him, without really knowing how to use it, insisting on
playing with the band. They weren't sure if it was a good idea (with
their lack of musical comprehension, how could they tell anyway?) but
de Geer kept coming back and was soon a self-appointed member. He
didn't really elevate Gunder Hägg to a higher level of aptitude...
That ”Vargatider” sounds a bit less disjointed than ”Tigerkaka”
has probably more to do with the band having played together for a
little longer. ”Vargavinter” is an overall more powerful album,
highlighted by the two very Fugs inspired tracks ”Alienation” and
”Tio svarta pantrar”, the latter with some great sax from Roland
Keijser.
GUNDER HÄGG – Glassfabriken (MNW,
1971)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **
Their last album before the name change
is their most professional sounding up until then, which of course is
a relative thing when discussing Gunder Hägg/Blå Tåget. The Fugs'
impact on their music was less notable, and instead the album makes
extensive use of musical pastiches giving it a stronger cabaret feel
that I'm personally not very fond of. The best song by far is the
Rasmusson penned title track. A classic track, head and shoulders
above the rest of the material here.
BLÅ TÅGET – Brustna hjärtans hotel
(MNW, 1972)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **
With four increasingly self-assured
songwriters in the band, a double LP was destined to happen, and it
coincided with Gunder Hägg's forced name change to Blå Tåget.
Nylén, Bengtsson, Rasmusson and
Tore Berger had all developed their own
songwriter personalities, and that makes for a rich and varied album.
There's still a couple of pastiches here, but they're fewer and
blended in with other songs, and work better in this context than on ”Glassfabriken”. There are so many good songs here that
it's no wonder ”Brustna hjärtans hotell” is considered a true
progg classic. And ”Den ena handen vet vad den andra gör” is
perhaps the ultimate progg anthem, and later perhaps the ultimate
punk anthem as well when Ebba Grön retitled it ”Staten och
kapitalet” and released as an equally classic 7” in 1980. That
ought to settle the argument that progg and punk were two entirely
different and separated phenomena – they weren't! Punk was simply
progg's unruly offspring. I stand by that.
During the ”Brustna hjärtans hotell” recordings, Blå Tåget lost original member Roland Keijser. Keijser remembers:
- I play on a mere three tracks on the
LP, all of them taken from the radio play ”Fallet Ramona” that we
made in the autumn of '71. ”Winges vals” is the only one of
the four ”Ramona” tracks actually recorded at the Swedish Radio, the others are new studio recordings made in early 1972. The original idea
was to release them as a mini LP, but that never materialized. New
songs were added, and when studio work resumed in May and the
beginning of June – by then, yours truly was gone.
- You know that picture [by Carl Johan De Geer] where Blå
Tåget sits at a table at Winbergs Café in Vaxholm? There's an empty
chair up front to the right which I just had left... I'm pretty sure
the picture was taken during the ”Ramona” recordings in early
1972.
BLÅ TÅGET – Slowfox (MNW, 1974)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **
After their double disc tour de force,
it took Blå Tåget two years before making what would become their
final original album. Sometimes considered a disappointment following
”Brustna hjärtans hotell”, and I guess it's fair to agree –
but how could you follow up an album such as ”Brustna hjärtans
hotell” maintaining the same quality level? ”Slowfox” is a
decent enough album, but the spark isn't quite there anymore.
Although it feels a bit dutiful, it does have a couple of fine songs,
especially ”Under antaget namn” and ”Mannen på verandan”,
the latter written by Torkel Rasmusson together with original and
long standing Blå Tåget member Kjell Westling who took over all
horn duties when Roland Keijser left the band.
Blå Tåget disbanded in 1975 but they have
reunited several times over the years, also releasing a couple
of albums with newly recorded material (the first of those being the half-decent 1981 live album
”Blå Tåget på Fågel Blå”). A partial reunion came already in
1977 when Torkel Rasmusson, Tore Berger and Leif Nylén formed
Stockholm Norra who released one underrated album in 1978.
Special thanks to Roland Keijser for shedding some light on his departure, and Carl Johan De Geer for letting me use his classic picture.