”Ulf Lundell's not progg!!!” I hear the outraged voices cry. But if
John Holm and
Ola Magnell should be here, then why not Lundell? Any objections to the inclusion fall in the
Tomas Ledin category, i.e. only the prejudicial ear trying to dictate what's right and what's wrong.
Ulf Lundell sent his demo tapes to both MNW and Silence. They rejected him. And
it's the same old story: he wasn't political enough. Again the overlords
had spoken. So instead, he went to EMI who recognized Lundell's
potential and offered him a deal with their progressive subsidiary
Harvest. In early September 1975, seven months before his debut novel
”Jack” was published, ”Vargmåne” hit the shops.
Vargmåne (Harvest, 1975)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **
Recorded in only four days with
Finn Sjöberg (
Kvartetten Som Sprängde) as an arranger and guitarist, and
Mats Ronander of Nature on harmonica. Reputedly, Lundell was unhappy
with the finished album, but it's a prime example of mid 70's Swedish
rock, with classic tracks such as ”Stockholms City” and
”Sextisju, sextisju”. ”När duellen är över” should be as
classic. But the best track is ”Bente”, a claustrophobic tale of
a prostitute trapped in the big city netherworld. going down slowly
but mercilessly on drugs. The song ends with a chilling question,
made even more icy by Sjöberg's guitar, objective like steel, glass
and concrete. His arrangement is perfect, and apart from being one of
the best songs I know of written in the Swedish language, it's a
billion times more thought-provoking than anything to ever come out
on labels like Nacksving, Proletärkultur or, for that matter, MNW.
But exactly that might the problem here – they didn't want any
questions and independent thinking, they only wanted pre-fabricated
answers.
With a song like ”Bente”, it
doesn't matter that ”Sniglar och krut” and ”Jesse James möter
kärleken” are pure crap.
Törst (Harvest, 1976)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **
There's an equivalent to ”Bente” on
Lundell's second album: ”Birgitta hon dansar”. It could almost be
the sequel to ”Bente”, with the main character having lost her
grip of reality and gotten locked up in a psychiatric ward. The
claustrophobia is even denser here, like blinding smoke so thick you
could touch it like bleeding fingertips rub against a raw surface.
This isn't nice and kind music, it stares you straight in the face
with reality's bloodshot eyes.
The ambivalent ”USA” deals
with the nation of the song title in a credible 'can't live with it,
can't live without it' way that's completely foreign to the militant
anti-imperialist lot collecting double standards as if it was
baseball cards.
The title track and ”Cobra Rax” in
turn offer a peek into the same shady regions of the capital city as
depicted in ”Stockholms City” off the first album.
”Jag vill ha ett lejon” might be
too lightweight, but thankfully that and ”Och går en stund på
jorden” provide some relief on an album that otherwise is as dark
as the cover art is white. ”Törst” is often overlooked in Ulf
Lundell's oeuvre but to me, it's his best and most gripping album.
Finn Sjöberg is still on board here,
and
Mats Glenngård appears on violin.
Natten hade varit mild och öm
(Harvest, 1977)
as Ulf Lundell & Nature
Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: **
This one usually gets general bashing, and I agreed before but I've come to re-evaluate a whole lot with time. It was recorded with blues band
Nature (one of
Pugh Rogefeldt's signings to the Gump label) on their
mutual ramshackle tour of 1976-77. It mixes cover versions of rock
standards – ”Route 66” and ”My Generation” sung by Mats
Ronander – with chestnuts from Lundell's first two albums plus
otherwise unreleased songs. ”Natten hade varit mild och öm” is
to Lundell what ”Hard Rain” is to Dylan, i.e. a peculiar and
sloppy live document with inferior sound and odd song choices. But that's what makes so intriguing and different to any other Lundell album out there. It's the sound of scruffy hobos thundering across the nation. "Progglådan" contains a Tonkraft show from the same period but while still OK (Lundell sounds nervous), it's a more polite document than this beautiful mess.
”Natten hade varit mild och öm”
was reissued on CD in 2000 with five bonus tracks including ”USA”
and ”Bente”.
Ulf Lundell went on to record numerous
albums and write several books. He's one of the most well-known
artists in Sweden.