PANTA REI – The Naked Truth (Mellotronen, 2012; rec. 1973)

English vocals, instrumental

International relevance: ***

The live session included in ”Progglådan” was a welcome addition to Panta Rei's uneven yet worthwhile album – the only thing they released – and their small output was further expanded when Mellotronen put out ”The Naked Truth” in 2012. Four tracks recorded in concert in Kummelnäs near Stockholm 1972 , with another '72 excerpt from a show in Panta Rei's hometown Uppsala. The Kummelnäs tape shows Panta Rei at their vivid best and has songs not on their album (including one Chick Corea composition), but the sound quality is questionable. I'm not too sensitive when it comes to the fidelity of archival releases, but the mono sound here is flat, and the lack of dynamics doesn't really do Panta Rei's intricate music justice. The Uppsala track is in even lesser fidelity, with a rather intrusive distortion on especially the vocals.

Mellotronen's original idea was to reissue the original album, but Portuguese label Golden Pavillion beat them to it, so ”The Naked Truth” is a kind of 'plan B' solution. I'm not sure if there even exists any better sounding tapes of the original Panta Rei, maybe this is the best there is, but it would benefit from a cleaned up reissue. With the modern AI technology, it could surely be remixed in stereo and better dynamics be extracted from the source tape. It's also a bit disappointing they re-used the cover art for the original album. One of progg's most stunning sleeves, it feels a bit lazy not bothering to come up with something more imaginative.

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GEORGE T ROLIN BAND – The Grunden Recordings 1980 (Flymama, released 2019)

English vocals
International relevance: **

Archival release from a band with a pretty solid progg provenance. Three members had been in Scoop, a Södertälje band which also featured Kenth Loong from Blueset. Christer Åkerberg of Trettioåriga Kriget not only brought his guitar to the band, he also let them rehearse at Trettioåriga Kriget's rehearsal space named Grunden (where this session was recorded, hence the album title). George Trolin in turn had made a good impact as a singer for Panta Rei.

But to be perfectly honest: the band's progg connotations are far more impressive than their music. Although tightly performed and executed with serious intentions, they end up rehashing 70's Stones licks and some washed-up Mott The Hoople ideas. And as impressive Trolin was in Panta Rei, well, here he sounds more like a Mats Ronander of Nature doing hungover Mick Jagger impersonations. It's Åkerberg who's the star here, stealing the show with some really elegant and soaring guitar work, on ”Hey Girl” in particular.

While ”The Grunden Recordings” may seem interesting on paper, it's pretty redundant in reality, with their pre-history raising wrong expectations.

George T Rolin Band had one 45 out in 1983, "Sommaren kommer" b/w "Elenor". It's on the CTR label and is neither expensive nor very sought after.

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PANTA REI – Panta Rei (Harvest, 1973)

English vocals

International relevance: ***

If you regard the city of Uppsala (situated some 60 kilometers north of Stockholm) from a certain angle, it looks very much like a 70's progg epicentre. For instance, Uppsala had one of the first and most important music forums. The music forums were non-profit associations crucial to the progg movement, arranging concerts and generally inspiring people to come together and do their own thing regardless of – and opposed to – any commercial aesthetics.

Out of the fertile Uppsala soil grew one of the most influential progg bands of all times, Samla Mammas Manna. Founded as early as 1969, the Samlas appeared at the second Gärdet festival in 1970 alongside stellar acts such as Träd, Gräs & Stenar and Fläsket Brinner. The Samlas may be the best known Uppsala band but they were far from being the only one. Panta Rei was another.

When Panta Rei released their eponymous album in 1973, for many years their only release whatsoever, they had been together for around three years. Now highly regarded, the album failed to make any significant impression upon its release. Sales were poor – was it the fact that Panta Rei had scored a deal with major label Harvest that turned people away from them in a time when MNW and Silence had already established the do-it-yourself ethos preferred by the many proggsters?

Sometimes categorized as symphonic rock, sometimes as jazz rock (two former members of monstruous free jazz act G.L. Unit were hired specifically for the album sessions), ”Panta Rei” is in fact much too varied to pinpoint stylistically. Often good, it doesn't quite live up to its reputation. Side 'A' fares better than side 'B', with three well composed tracks with enough melodic sensibilitues to ensure a rewarding listening experience. ”Five Steps” is a jubilant way to open the album, followed by lush album highlight ”White Bells”, richly ornate with flute and acoustic guitar and quite similar in mood to UK band Traffic. The heavier ”Five O'Clock Freak” on the other hand points to both Hendrix and Soft Machine as well as Austria's Krokodil and ”Weasels Ripped My Flesh” era Mothers of Invention.

Side two is more problematic. ”The Knight” is way too ambitious for its own good, with Panta Rei unable to combine the many song segments to a cohesive unit, ending up with a sprawling, overlong mess. ”The Knight” would certainly have benefitted from a more thoughtful disposition. Oriental flavoured ”The Turk” is better, rounding the album off in playful mood, somewhat akin to city mates Samla Mammas Manna.

Despite its shortcomings, it's easy to why the album has become such a sought-after collectors item. It has more going for it than sheer scarcity. Panta Rei were a skilled bunch with a flair for combining inspirations drawn from credible sources into something original.

In 1974, the band changed their name to Allting Flyter (Swedish for ”panta rei”), and after disbanding, drummer Tomo Wihma who joined Kontinuerlig Drift who released one rarely seen album, while bass player Zeke Öhrn played with Arbete & Fritid for a short while.

In 2012, the Mellotronen label unearthed a couple of 1973 live recordings and released them on ”The Naked Truth”. A session made for the Swedish radio show Tonkraft appeared in 2013 as part of the massive 40CD box set ”Progglådan”. Recently, singer Georg Trolin initiated Panta Rei 2.0, releasing the album ”Last Ticket to Heaven” in 2016.

Full album