ÅKE "KRÅKAN" NILSSON - Måste man va' poet (CBS, 1979)

  
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

There was quite some buzz around Åke ”Kråkan” Nilsson when he appeared in the spotlight in the late 70s. He earned his nickname Kråkan (=”the crow”) from his rough, gruff voice. Clearly inspired by early Ulf Lundell, Kråkan's lyrics were less romantic and dealt with the darker side of life. Speaking from his personal experience, Kråkan often sang about alcohol abuse and depression in a convincing manner, sometimes making me think of Kenta and Kaj R. Hansson (minus the criminal references). He was clearly a better singer than both of them with a strong powerful voice, somewhere between a smoother Rolf Wikström and a less foghornish Roger Chapman. Kråkan's full throttle approach to singing could surely have used some dynamics here and there, but his vocal urgency works in his favour now and then.

While his love for hard blues and stomping rock is perfectly obvious, he slows it down on a couple of tracks. ”Jag har spelat många roller” is a slow blues that captures the mood of the concrete city's murkier sides really well (a bit like Ulf Lundell's song ”Bente” does but from a different persepctive). ”Jag hoppas det inte är försent” (=”I hope it's not too late”) is another slow one, overflowing with remorse and contrition over what he's done to his friends and family when drowning in alcohol. While the music isn't straight up progg, the lyrics are – for those who can understand them – sincere and gripping on a personal level. Fans of the aforementioned Kenta and Kaj R. Hansson should listen up.

Kråkan made three more albums up to 1983 but they got gradually more commercial sounding, and it's really only this debut album that has enough no-frills proggish production to be of fringe interest to this blog. He's still active on a smaller scale level and is content with making his more recent efforts available on his website. It also has all his albums for streaming and download.

10 år sen sist / Jag vet hur du mår / Blunda och be / Jag har spelat många roller / Whisky och valium / Prestigeladdad kyla / 30-strecket / Jag hoppas det inte är försent / Rädd som fan

MONICA NIELSEN & TOMMY KÖRBERG – ...med hjärtat fyllt av trots: Arbetarrörelsens kampsånger (A Disc, 1977)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Monica Nielsen was mainly a busy movie and television actor but as a singer, she was the perpetual co-artist. She only ever released one album of her own and that was back in 1966, with her other vocal participations including merely the odd single, appearances on various artists and duo albums with high profile performers. ”Med hjärtat fyllt av trots” is one of those, focused on Labours movement songs and recorded with Tommy Körberg. Now an internationally widely celebrated singer, but back in the day best known domestically for his early pop albums, Solar Plexus, and the reformed Made In Sweden.

Körberg isn't the only renowned musician here. On the contrary, the credits are littered with names like Janne Schaffer, Ulf Adåker, Egil Johansen, Björn J:son Lindh, Pekka Pohjola and Rune Gustafsson, and the arrangements were written by much beloved bassist, composer and former Jan Johansson cohort Georg Riedel. While this all points to a thoroughly executed project, we have to remember that the album was released by A Disc, the Social Democrats' imprint known to dampen any kind of artistic enthusiasm. Thus the album title meaning ”with a heart full of defiance” seems like impossible wishful thinking, and it is. It's all very well played, well sung and well arranged – in short, technically and musically impeccable – but if you're looking for any inspiration to defiantly fight the powers that be, this is not the place to go. Unless authorities can be fought with sleep, but I for one have never heard of any revolutionary naps. It ought to be wellknown to all by now that I don't ask for any fistwaving loudmouths, but a little more oomph hadn't hurt...

Motsträvigt och med hjärtat fyllt av trots / Arbetsmannen / Oss alla unga / Kom med oss kamrat / Vårt vapen heter solidaritet / Ingen rubbar oss / Arbetets söner / Signalen / Ett enat folk / Det unga gardet / Solidaritetssång / Internationalen

JIMMY NIELSEN & KARMEL – Complete recordings 1980-1982

 

Försök förstå vad livet är... / Är du beredd??? (no label, 7" 1980)
released as Jimmy Nielsen

Swedish vocals

International relevance: **

Jimmy Nielsen came from Norrahammar, a part of Jönköping, the capital of the Swedish bible belt. It's no surprise then that Nielsen is a Christian singer, but his music is often heavier than your typical Jesus pop fare, possibly inspired by the commercial success of Christian hard rock band Jerusalem. Nielsen's debut came with this self-released 7” in 1980. The 'A' side isn't that heavy though, it's just a terrible perky pop tune. The flip's ”Är du beredd???” is better, although it's too light to fully work as the boogie rock Nielsen and backing band Karmel attempted.

Varför är din blick så negativ? (Karmel Musikproduktion, 1981)
Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: **

After the weak debut 45, Nielsen and his band now renamed Karmel -81 went for a full length album. With a better production they come closer to what they aim for. The sound is better and the band is tighter, but the songs still aren't very good. The pedestrian blues rock and boogie stomp is diluted with some absolutely dreadful funk moves including the then fashionable slap bass technique that those who use it certainly won't get into heaven for. Neither will drummers wasting space with drum solos à la the two and a half minute ”Smurd” on side 2. Best track is ”Fort fort springer du”, a surprisingly garage-y track that was recycled for the band's final 7” in 1982 along with another album track, ”Heroin där fick du tji”.

This turned out to be Nielsen's and Karmel's only album, but it had a second pressing as Jimmy Nielsen Band with a different artwork, so I guess it was fairly successful among their Christian peers.

 

 

Maxi-EP (no label, 12" 1982)
Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: **

This four-track 12” is probably the best thing Nielsen released, even though it rehashes the disgusting slap bass jazz funk instrumental ”Funk My Soul” from the LP. But apart from that, he had the good taste of dropping the constipated boogie blues for a more singer/songwriter oriented material which suits him better. Not that any of it is particularly imaginative, but I think the last track ”Misslyckad” is at least passable.

Full 1980 single playlist
Varför är din blick så negativ? full album playlist
Maxi-EP full 12" playlist

NYNNINGEN – 50 (Eggmusic, 2023; rec. 1972-2021)

   
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

I never understood what the fuss with Nynningen was all about. I've always thought they were a more overtly political but less talented little brother to Nationalteatern. A couple of OK songs, most notably ”För full hals”, but mostly just mediocre Gothenburg progg rock. Furthermore, I think their canonized singer Totta Näslund was a bore. Still, Nynningen's music has such staying power to many that they reformed by the end of 2016, even releasing new music to this day (obviously without Näslund who passed away in 2005).

”50” is a compilation album released in 400 copies to celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2023 (which is odd as their first album came in 1972). It contains previously unreleased recordings, both old and new, with five out of the eleven songs being recorded between 1972 and 1979. Only one track has been available before albeit in a longer version, ”Ungkarlslåt” which was released on Nacksving comp ”Ett samlat grepp från Götet”.

The strange thing about ”50” is that I think it's much better than any of their proper albums. Even more surprising is that some of the tracks from 2016-2021 are among the better on the album, especially a vivid, extended live take of ”Atlantiska oceanen” (originally on ”För full hals”). But more interesting to this blog are of course the 70s tracks. We get a loose and unleashed ”För full hals”, and a much more urgent ”Balladernas konst” from a 1972 radio/TV simulcast, with hard lead guitar substituting the album version's flute. Also, an unexpected Swedish cover of Roy Harper's ”I Hate The White Man”, recorded in 1979 and named ”Jag hatar maktens herrar”.

Given the broad time frame, the sound variations, and the fact that new tracks are mixed in with old tracks, ”50” is pretty inconsistent and doesn't hold up as a cohesive album. But it was never meant as such to begin with but as an alternative overview of Nynningen's career. It's not intended as a substitute but as a complement. The jumbled chronology bothers me a bit, but with a few relevant and/or superior versions of some of their better tracks, it's still well worth hearing. 

Full album playlist 

STINA NORDSTRÖM – Blandade känslor (Wisa, 1980)

 

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Second full length album from Stina Nordström. The first one was released on Kjell Höglund's Alternativ label, whereas this was out on the Wisa imprint.

The Turid similarities established on her debut ”Skugga i din pupill” persist on ”Blandade känslor” (=”mixed feelings”). There's no clear highpoint here on the level of ”Vildöga, grönöga” on the first album, but there's a couple of rather appealing tracks including the folksy ”Vem e' du” and ”Hildas hemliga visa”.

The album in general displays a wide range of styles including blues, jazz and rock but not to great results. Tracks like ”Röda gubben” and ”Flytvästblues” are downright terrible much because of Nordström horrific vocal overacting. Best neglected.

Full side A 
Full side B  

NORRTELJE ELITKAPELL – Oskapliga låtar (Oktober, 1978)

  
Instrumental, Swedish vocals, other languages
International relevance: *

Second album by a largely unsatisfactory folk group with an emphasis on fiddling. ”Oskapliga låtar” sounds like a mix of Norrlåtar and Skäggmanslaget but much more lightweight and less finesse than any of those. The best track in this lot is ”En gång i min ungdom” which sounds a lot like Folk & Rackare's mid-period albums with crumhorns added.
 

”Oskapliga låtar” was originally released by Oktober but reissued in the mid 80s by Sonet. The reissue has a different cover (see above), confusingly enough similar to the one used for the band's first album ”Luffarschottis” from the previous year.

Noteworthy guest appearance: Malanda Gassama on percussion. Per ”Puma” Hedlund is now a fairly wellknown key harpist.

Full album playlist 

PETER WARTIN & CLAES NORDENSKIÖLD – Claes Nordenskiöld & Peter Wartin (PETCLA, 1978)

 

Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: *

Claes Nordenskiöld isn't a too familiar name, but Peter Wartin was in semi-hard rockers Baron Bult who released two 45s, and later still in the imperatively ignorable synth poppers Super Tele Group.

This duo album shows only little of what was to come in only a few years. The foundation is vocals and acoustic guitars – no drums – with some electric guitars, piano, soprano sax. One track even have a fusion violin that sounds like a garage take on Jean-Luc Ponty. The few short (semi-)instrumental tracks scattered across the album has a slight relaxation music vibe, but there are in fact a couple of boogie styled numbers that reveal that Wartin had some premature Baron Bult inclinations already at this stage. But apart from those, there's very little resembling actual rock music here. 

Being recorded in the internationally renowned Decibel Studios in Stockholm the sound and production is on a high level, but the album nevertheless retains a slight underground feel I can't quite put my finger on (I guess the homemade looking album cover helps). The songwriting is indistinct, some lyrics lightly political, and the album as a whole feels vague and unsharp. And with neither Wartin nor Nordenskiöld being particularly memorable singers, the album just passes more or less unnoticed.

Hur mycket är lagom 
Väntan 

NÄVGRÖT – Nävgröt (MNW, 1980)

 

Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: **

A strange album, almost like an all African Archimedes Badkar stripped of everything except the percussion with (sometimes call-and-response) vocals added. Too bad the vocals are really bad. There are a lot of people involved in Nävgröt, and too many of them sing in an uninteresting, everyday manner. They make it sound like a children's program from the 70s; the kind where ten people sit in a ring dressed in plush dresses in poo brown, dirt orange and murky green with a backdrop of badly painted cardboard supposed to look like exotic trees and with crosseyed lions with weird proportions and a guy in a bowl cut and a beard that looks exactly like the bowl cut so if you turn him upside down he looks exactly the same telling you traditional tales from the curious continent of Africa. And then they play good and sing badly. ”Nävgröt” would have been much better if it was all instrumental, because the playing is indeed good with captivating rhythms. It's not surprising that Bengt Berger appears on one track – it actually sounds as if he could have been on the entire album. If only they would have shut up...

No links found 

NOVEMBER – Live (Mellotronen, 1993; rec. 1970-1971)

  
Swedish vocals
International relevance: ***

Habitually hailed as the best Swedish heavy rock band of the 70s, I'm not that big a fan of November. They had a few great tracks, but they also had a lot of formulaic power trio stuff that Cream had already done much better. So in all fairness, I'm not the target audience for an archival live disc of theirs, even if it's from their golden era of their first two albums.

Released in 1993, ”Live” was one of the first albums on the Mellotronen label (and a few years later reissued as a picture disc LP by Record Heaven). It features tracks from three different dates, one from 1970 and two from 1971. The first seven were recorded in 1971 for the Swedish Radio show Midnight Hour, the forerunner to the long running Tonkraft series that spawned so many excellent recordings. This live session was later included in truncated form in ”Progglådan” but in better sound.

Musically it's OK I guess but I don't know what Mellotronen did to the original tapes to sound this strange and murky. It's as if they've gone through some fake stereo processing even though the source recordings are true stereo as proven by ”Progglådan”. And it's not only the Midnight Hour tape that has this mucky fidelity; everything here sounds the same. Add to that the cheesy cover art, and ”Live” feels more like a bootleg than an authorized release. Real November fans are probably delighted by its existence regardless, but I think this is just a sloppy release in desperate need for a restored and more credible reissue.

Full album playlist

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Festplatsen 1974 (Happy Cop & Hiphop Bee, 2024; rec. 1974)

 Featured artists: Monica Törnell / Risken Finns / Nynningen / Mikael Ramel / Peps Blodsband / Cornelis Vreeswijk
Swedish vocals
International relevance: ***

”Festplatsen 1974” follows obscure label Happy Cop & Hiphop Bee's overwhelmingly brilliant ”Hälsa på som förr” by Mikael Ramel & Unga Hjärtan, and what it is is best explained by the liner notes: ”Festplatsen (='the festival grounds') was an entertainment show made for both radio and TV and recorded live at small festival grounds in July and August 1973, The music and the talk should, as much as possible, reflect the locality by mixing local talents and invited national and sometimes international personalities.” The show was aired in five episodes and was hosted by Mikael Ramel and Bengan Dalén of Fläsket Brinner and at the time also member of Ramel's band. Satirical duo Risken Finns were musical regulars on the show.

This album has selections from three of the five episodes, and apart from the obvious inclusions of Risken Finns and Ramel himself, there are appearences from Monica Törnell, Peps Blodsband, and Sweden's prime troubadour Cornelis Vreeswijk. There's also an unusual example of Nynningen backing Risken Finns in a wonderfully raucous version of Risken's chestnut ”Du känner väl mig”. If Nynningen's own albums would have been that unhinged they'd have been way better! Risken's two other contributions are good too although more in their usual acoustic vein.

Mikael Ramel's songs with Dalén are more low-key than those on ”Hälsa på som förr” but still absolutely great. These four tracks are an essential addition to his regular albums and the splendid live album mentioned earlier.

I'm a bit disappointed with Peps Persson and his Blodsband though. This was around the time when Peps switched from blues to reggae, and here they occasionally sound as if they're not sure which to choose. Both ”Falsk matematik” and ”Djupt i mitt hjärta” sound confused, especially with the addition of accordeon which seems to have a hard time finding its place in the mix. The Swedish cover of ”Little Red Rooster” – ”Liden rö tocke” – fares better by being a straight-ahead blues, but all four Peps tracks seem a bit off.

The sound quality is excellent mono all through and the album was released in a minimal edition of only 100 copies on vinyl, no CD.

The full fifth episode of ”Festplatsen” is available for streaming on Mikael Ramel's website and has a couple of Kebnekaise tracks not on this album. 

 No links found

BJÖRN ARAHB & MONICA NIELSEN – Sjunger Ture Nerman (A-Disc, 1979)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Ture Nerman was a journalist, radical social democrat (sometimes communist), anti-militarist, dedicated teetotaller, and for his time something as unusual as a vegetarian (he was born in 1886 and died in 1969). He was also a poet, and harbouring such sentiments as the ones mentioned above, his poems were well equipped for being set to music in the progg era. Some of the songs use older melodies by for instance Joe Hill, while several were written specifically for this project by Björn Arahb.

Being released on the Social Democrats' in-house label A-Disc, this is every bit as boring as you can imagine. There's no doubting that the sentiments of Arahb and fellow singer (and actor) Monica Nielsen are honest and genuine, but once again, whatever emotional impact this could have had with less self-righteous performances, soulfulness is substituted with oversinging. The musical framework is also typical of the ilk; it's either semi-cabaret-like or it sounds like The Labour Day Marches Greatest Hits.

Full album playlist

LENNIE NORMAN – Transport (GMP, 1978)

English vocals
International relevance: *

Son of Swedish boogie woogie pianist Charlie Norman and often bass player in dad's band, but these days best known nationally as Swedish stand-up comedy's grand old man, Lennie Norman is hardly someone to you'd think of as progg. 

Also, record label GMP, short for Great Music Productions, has notoriously avoided coming up with anything to live up to its pompous name. Proggwise, they have the lacklustre 7” EP by Fem Älgar I Ett Badkar and the decidedly crappy album by Måns Mossa. And that's about it. The rest is comically bad country singers, rheumatic rock & roll acts and loads of that particular brand of evil called Swedish dance bands.

First of all: Lennie Norman is not a very good singer. His voice is uninteresting and his English pronunciation pretty much sounds like when you mock Swedes for their terrible English pronunciation. And musically, most of what's on ”Transport” is either bad country music or rheumatic rock & roll. Add to that some typical-of-the-time disco moves that were representative to that particular brand of evil called Swedish dance bands.

The cover choices aren't exactly dazzling either; a pointless attempt at pointless singer Tommy Roe's pointless Buddy Holly pastiche ”Sheila”, a discofied take on The Box Tops' chestnut ”The Letter” and a limp version of Mose Allison's ”Parchman Farm” are hardly stuff to spark my enthusiasm.

That said, album opener (and Lennie Norman original) ”Street Roller” is surprisingly heavy with some gritty guitar playing, but it would have benefitted from better vocals. ”Haven't Got A Mother” has a laidback J.J. Cale funk to it with some rather cool guitar picking. The guitar playing is generally the best thing about the album, courtesy of Rune Furén who'd previously been in really appalling rock revival-cum-comedy act Rockfolket and Swedish rock & roll has-been Rock-Ragge's band – stuff I've spent a whole life avoiding.

But two half decent tracks don't make an album, and if the inclusion in "The Encyclopedia of Swedish Progressive Music" piqued your interest (like it did for me), then a word of warning might be in place.
Street Roller

PETER NORDSTRÖM – Ensam och fri (Bastun, 1980)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Little known rock singer/songwriter that worked hard on his Ulf Lundell look on the album cover but sounding more like a lesser version of Swedish country/soft rock singer Lalla Hansson.

Peter Nordström debuted in 1978 with one-off single ”Det kommer nya tider”/”Salongsbolsjeviken” featuring Björn J:son Lindh on piano. He appears on the ”Ensam och fri” album too, plus Kebnekajse's Mats Glenngård, Berndt Egerbladh and a number of seasoned studio musicians such as Jan Bandel, Ola Brunkert and Peter Lundblad.

The album is insignificant and Nordström's lyrics are full of ”lonely man drifting restless through the world” clichés that are quite irritating as he doesn't sound at all like somebody with a romantic hobo lifestyle. Rather like a perfectly ordinary bloke who sends his kids to school in the morning and walks the family dog named Fluffy when he comes home from his boring work at the local insurance agency xeroxing papers no-one really needs.

The best track is ”Det här är mitt liv” but that's a Swedish cover of Danish band Gasolin's hit ”This Is My Life” from a few years earlier. In short, this is a redundant album and the only one Nordström made.

Full album

JAN HAMMARLUND & KJERSTIN NORÉN – Några här, några där... (Amalthea, 1981)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

I've already written about Jan Hammarlund's entire 1970's catalogue here, but he continued making records long after that, with a discography reaching well into the 2010's. Never foreign to working and performing with other (predominantly female) artists, there are several releases co-credited to others. This is one of them, made together with Kjerstin Norén. She was one of the original members of Röda Bönor, and subsequently had another band called Kjerstin Norén & Damorkestern with members from Husmoderns Bröst.

”Några här, några där” – with the unweildy subtitle ”Jan Hammarlund Och Kjerstin Norén Sjunger Sånger Av Il Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano: Ivan Della Mea - Giovanna Marini - Paolo Pietrangeli” – consists of songs by contemporary Italian songwriters (as the subtitle says) translated to Swedish. The vocals are split rather evenly beteween the two singers, and although Norén might not be the greatest voice ever heard, her songs are still a welcome break from Hammarlund's always annoying warbles.

The album as a whole has a somewhat different feel than many other Hammarlund albums which has a lot to do not only with Norén's involvement but also the arrangements. The most different-sounding track is ”Balladen om Ardizzone” with its renaissance-styled framework. A well seasoned line-up surely helps too; how about Kjell Westling, Fred Lane, Lena Ekman, Ale Möller and his mate from various constellations Dan ”Gisen” Malmquist to name but a few? Recorded in Copenhagen, a couple of Danish musicians get on the payroll too.

But all in all, this remains too much of a Jan Hammarlund album, and unless you're a fan of his, you may just as well pass on it.

Full album playlist

NEXUS – Nexus (Four Leaf Clover, 1978)

Instrumental
International relevance: **

Excessively boring fusion leaning jazz album from this Malmö quartet. Most interesting fact is that drummer Anders Lagerlöf used to be in rowdy garage gods Namelosers in the 60's. Nexus released a couple of more albums in the 80's including one together with Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava, and made another one 2020. "Nexus" was reissued in Japan in 1978 with a new (and better) sleeve.

Full album playlist

ANN SOFI (NILSSON) – När kommer dagen (Oktober, 1977)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Ann Sofi Nilsson has an appealing voice in the region of Maria Hörnelius, and hadn't it been for the ever so suffocating politics, this would probably had been an OK album.”När kommer dagen” ends with the millionth recording of Brecht/Eisler's ”Einheitsfrontlied” (as "Enhetsfrontsång") which says just about everything you need to know about the album. If you for some reason still need more information, it's released on Oktober, the very same label that gave us Fria Proteatern, Arbetets Söner & Döttrar and – for that they will forever burn in the most incinerating parts of hell – Bruksteatern. If you consider Mao's Little Red Book pornographically arousing, then ”När kommer dagen” will be Viagra to you.

All these albums with totalitarian, in-denial brainwashing politics are becoming more and more problematic and repulsive the more I hear, especially in times when totalitarian, in-denial brainwashing politics are the order of the day all around the world. Left or right doesn't matter because as I've said before, politics aren't linear but circular. At one point they meet, and it's digusting.

The most interesting thing about "När kommer dagen" is probably that Stefan "Stoffe" Sundlöf plays drums on the album. Sundlöf was the drummer of Sven Zetterberg's Telge Blues (that later developed into the highly successful Chicago Express). The album is produced by Gunnar Rosengren which was the bass player of Telge Blues.

No links found

TOMMY KÖRBERG, ANDERS LINDER, LILL LINDFORS & ANN SOFI NILSSON – Barn i stan (Folksång, 1980)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

The featured booklet explains the album: ”This album deals with the condition of children. Some of the songs are newly written, but most of them date back to the turn of the century. You can learn a lot from history. Knowledge of the historical context can help us to greater power of action today.” Needless to say, the lyrics have a strong political bent, and while it's hard to object to the sentiment, the wiseacre approach is as tiresome here as always.

The most interesting thing about the album is the all-star lineup with several of prog stellars including Tommy Körberg (Solar Plexus, Made In Sweden), Anders Linder (all-round performer well-loved for his many children's shows on national TV), Stefan Nilsson (De Gladas Kapell, Kornet, Hörselmat and later on stahlwart with Tommy Körberg), Stefan Ringbom (Mascots, Fria Proteatern) and of course, the everpresent multi-instrumentalist maestro Kjell Westling (Arbete & Fritid, Harvester, Gunder Hägg/Blå Tåget, Vargavinter, Spjärnsvallet...). Still, the music itself isn't very interesting, and ”Barn i stan” stands most of all as merely a historical document from the tail end of the progg movement.

Folksång was Fria Proteatern's label.

No links found.

NEW CREATION - Sing Out My Soul (Hemmets Härold, 1970)

English vocals
International relevance: **

Little did I know that one day, a Pelle Karlsson album would get high up on my 'must hear' list.

Some background info:

Pelle Karlsson was an unbelievably popular Christian singer in Sweden in the mid 70's. His popularity reached far beyond the religious circuit when he had a smash hit of unexpected magnitude with his version of Elvis Presley's "There Goes My Everything", transformed into a song of religious praise and devotion as "Han är min sång och min glädje". In 1973 and the years to come, he was everywhere, doing television performances and getting frequent radio plays like any secular artist. The album sold in impressive amounts, but Karlsson was a reluctant star. As a matter of fact, he hesitated to even record it, thinking he should go all in as a pastor, preaching to his likeminded on the Pentecoastal Church scene. But fate -- or God if that's your inclination -- obviously had other plans for him.

Which means that now, as the era of Jesus music as we know it is long gone, you see his breakthrough album in every flea market and charity shop all over Sweden. There are in fact so many of them that you'd be honestly surprised if you walk into a junk shop with only five crappy albums on offer and Karlsson's album isn't one of them. This in turn has led to a peculiar cult among crate diggers with a particular sense of humour: When you find the album (lovingly nicknamed "Pelle's green one" due to the cover art's background colour) in a charity shop, front the album, i.e. put each copy you find in the very front of each record crate. Thus you can easily tell if a 'fronter' has been there before you.

There's even a short radio documentary (in Swedish) made about the album itself and the odd phenomenon it later initiated.

I doubt that very few people too young to have experienced Pellemania partaking in this tongue-in-cheek cult has even heard the album. And most of us who indeed are old enough usually try to ignore that we did. Not that Pelle Karlsson was a bad singer. True he wasn't the most pitch-perfect singer ever, and true his vibrato might be just a little bit over-developed, but he was in possession of a sonorous voice with a wee bit of Elvis in it. It's just that the whole thing has become a standing joke and, well, you just don't listen to his albums. That's 'albums', in plural, because he released several before retreating to congregational activities which is still his primary occupation.

So, Pelle Karlsson is not someone you put on your want list.

But -

As the third volume of compilation series "Who Will Buy These Wonderful Evils" was released in the mid 00's, "He Is There" by New Creation featured on the album rose to admiration. All for a good reason -- "He Is There" is simply one of the most impressive psych tracks to emerge out of Sweden, ever. I know for a fact that my jaw wasn't the only to drop with a loud 'thud' when I heard it for the first time. My jaw was seriously disjointed once I learnt that the singer in this obscure band was one Per-Olof "Pelle" Karlsson.

I've been on the hunt for the album from which it - "Sing Out My Soul" was taken from ever since. People have found it in charity shops for next to nothing, but I'm not one of them. It's kept eluding me, slowly turning into a fixation: I'VE GOT TO HEAR IT! I was expecting heaven (after all, chances were somehow good for that...) but was prepared to be disappointed (because most Christian albums are crap, especially if they're Swedish). No way the album as a whole could possibly match the stunning grandeur of the doomy organ-laced "He Is There" with a fuzz guitar solo to knock buildings into dust.

And so, thanks to a friend of this blog, the album finally came my way. The waiting was over. The kingdom of the Lord was at hand.

But let's be frank: "He Is There" is in a league of its own. No other track here comes even close in mood, intensity and characteristics. The second best track is "I Surrender All", with surges of wah wah and soulful vocals. It's also notable for its blatant theft from Pugh Rogefeldt's "Här kommer natten" released on Pugh's groundbreaking debut album "Ja dä ä dä" a year earlier -- check that guitar line at the end!

The remainder of "Sing Out My Soul" ranges from the passable to the s. Among the better of the lesser songs is the title track, a relaxed blues gospel with some more Elvis inspired singing from Karlsson to a nice laidback beat. "Amen" is the old familiar song popularized by Curtis Mayfield-led Impressions in the early 60's, here in a version with psychedelic aspirations but not as developed as it should have been to really make a memorable impression. "I Know A Place" is a heartfelt ballad that too could have pushed it further but is held back by the somewhat restrained group effort. "Calvary" in turn is a surprising Christianization of "Yesterday" (yes, The Beatles song) and counts among the LP's weaker tracks.

The whole album has an appealing garage-like sound and several good intentions but it's generally kept down by the unnecessarily cautious band supporting him. My overall impression is that "Sing Out My Soul" is a missed opportunity. It could have been so much better had it been a little bit more in your face. It's better than any of Karlsson's solo albums but it lacks the final push to make it great. If you find it cheap, it's worth a go for "He Is There" and the rather nice album cover, but don't expect too much of the rest.

New Creation had another album out on Prim Records in 1971, "Jerusalem", this time with Swedish lyrics, plus another one (also in Swedish) credited to Pelle Karlsson in 1972, "Till alla" on the Signatur imprint. The latter one is mostly remembered for the title track that features some comically unskilled sitar playing.

Full album playlist

NAILBAND – The Most Remarkable Nailband (Columbia, 1972)

English vocals

International relevance: *

Stylistically speaking, this is a somewhat parenthetical inclusion, but seven of the songs on "The Most Remarkable Nailband" were written by Lasse Tennander, either on his own or together with Nailband main man Peter Lundblad. (Lundblad also appears on Tennander's 1972 debut album ”Lars Vegas”.) The album – the only one released under the Nailband banner – is far from as remarkable as the title suggest, but it's an OK effort if you're into early 70's West Coast stuff and singer/songwriter pop. Parts of it are somewhat similar to the very first few and unjustly and pettily slagged albums by Tomas Ledin. Two songs in particular are fine, album opener ”Lady of Lore” with a not too overt strain of turn-of-the-decade Moody Blues, and ”Dreamer” that wears its David Crosby influence on its sleeve and features some nice dreamy guitar. (Not a far-fetched reference as the album also includes a cover of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Ohio", however not particularly memorable.)

As a sidenote, the rumour (supported by a Discogs entry) that there's a monochrome variation of the album cover seems entirely erroneous, originating from a cover scan posted on the Swedish Musikon/Progg.se website that had the bad habit of publishing brown & white pictures of record covers. 

Full album

NEON ROSE - Complete albums 1974-1975

Although a hard rock band rather than a progg band, I still think it's fair to include them here – if Rhapsody fits, so does Neon Rose. But they didn't fit in with the righteous music movement of the 70's. Too 'commercial' in sound, style, language and label choice, they were obviously never on good terms with the 'right' crowd. That, of course, let Neon Rose play whatever they felt like playing. If they wanted to support bands like Nazareth and Dr. Hook on their visits to Sweden, they did. (Scary, I know.)

A Dream of Glory and Pride (Vertigo, 1974)
English vocals
International relevance: ***

Neon Rose formed in Stockholm in 1969 as Spider. In 1973 they changed their name to Neon Rose, releasing their debut album the following year after signing with the Swedish division of Vertigo Records. ”A Dream of Glory and Pride” consists of seven tracks of competent heavy rock, including the ten minute title track that ends the album and that definitely has its share of progressive moves. Several of the songs are allowed to stretch out, with only ”Sensation” and ”Love Rock” being less than five minutes long. In many ways, ”A Dream of Glory and Pride” sounds more like a British effort of the day, and is a decent genre effort.

The album was later reissued on CD, expanded with four bonus tracks including a terrible cover of Eddie Cochran chestnut ”C'mon Everybody” originally released as a B side, two live songs and a previously unreleased studio track.

Two (Vertigo, 1974)

International relevance: ***

English vocals

Some time before Neon Rose's second album (released only months after their debut), Gunnar Hallin was handed the guitar duties by Roger Holegård who from now on wanted to focus on his vocals. Hallin plays a prominent role on ”Two”, a more typically riffing hard rock effort than the previous one, with the most progish track again being the longest one, the ten minute ”Bloody Wellfare” [sic!]. But there's still room for a couple of softer moments, most notably the ballads ”My Lady” and ”Thoughts”, the latter somewhat akin to David Bowie around the time of ”The Man Who Sold the World” and ”Hunky Dory”. The sound of ”Two” is denser than that of ”A Dream of Glory and Pride” and should have enough of appeal to genre fans, but it's a much duller album on the whole.

Reload (Vertigo, 1975)

International relevance: **

English vocals

Productive they were, you have to give them that. Two albums in 1974, with a third following already in 1975, featuring new drummer Thomas Wiklund (formerly of Uppåt Väggarna who released one fine 45 on Efel Records in 1971, ”Jag hatar politik” b/w ”Jag färdas”). But by the time ”Reload” was recorded, everything vaguely appealing on ”A Dream of Glory and Pride” was long gone. In its place, all standard hard rock moves inflated by a tiresome production. The track ”A Man's Not a Man” has a surprising power pop chorus reminiscent of Cheap Trick – no wonder it was chosen for a 45 release. (The single mix is included on the CD reissue as a bonus track.)

The most interesting thing to me is that the cover art is by Anders F. Rönnblom, a graphic designer and an excellent artist in his own right.

 

Roger Holegård joined Wasa Express following the demise of Neon Rose in 1975. Two years later, guitarist Piero Mengarelli opted for a Neon Rose reunion with him as the only previous member of the band. An unsuccessful venture – they disbanded after only recording a couple of demos. A further attempt at reviving the band (this time with Piero Mengarelli and his brother and bass player Benno) only got as far as to an unreleased single for the Rosa Honung imprint in 1981. In 2015, Piero Mengarello again tried to bring Neon Rose back to life, and again with him as the only original member. This version of the band, known as Neon Rose Chapter III, quit in 2017. Time to give up trying perhaps?

 

A Dream Of Glory And Pride full album playlist with bonus tracks
Two full album playlist with bonus tracks
Reload full album playlist