PURPLE HAZE – Det är så man undrar... (Plebb, 1981)

 

Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: **

Purple Haze were the continuation of Plebb who released the excessively rare ”Yes It Isn't It” on their own label in 1979. The hard rock leanings of Plebb were mixed up with an AOR style in Purple Haze. Although ”Yes It Isn't It” wasn't a particularly great album, it was better than ”Det är så man undrar...”. The vocals are still the weakest link – I hear what Purple Haze are trying to do, but they don't get there because of the lacklustre singing.

Originally a mini album of six tracks, ”Det är så man undrar...” was expanded with four songs when reissued on streaming platforms in 2013. There's no info on when those were recorded but they sound similar to the original album so perhaps they were outtakes left off to cut pressing costs. Ironically enough, their best track ”Koppla av” is among them. It's not great, but a tad better than anything on the original release.

Full album playlist with bonus tracks

A SEVEN INCH SPECIAL, VOL. 10: Rock

  
RESPEKT – Den stora bron / Rebellernas afton (Respekt, 1977)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

It looks like an biker hard rock single but it sounds more like average singer/songwriter rock. ”Den stora bron” is quite OK (although overlong at 6+ minutes), with an acoustic rhythm guitar and a harmonica solo to put it firmly in the Ulf Lundell/Bob Dylan/Neil Young tradition. ”Rebellernas afton” is musically weaker and particularly suffers from singer Bengt O. Johansson's attempts at sounding Ulf-Lundell-as-John-Wayne macho.

 

MOTVIND – Plockepinn / Törst (Nacksving, 1979)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

First ever single by Motvind, released between their third and fourth album, and their only 1979 lifesign on vinyl. The style is typically Motvind with two songs approaching boogie rock and hard rock. Typically Motvind also means typically ignorable.

 

DRÖMPOJKARNA

 Sofi / Ny i stadens ljus (Musiklaget Slick, 1979)
Final Single (Svenska Popfabriken, 1980) as F.D.Drömpojkarna
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Featured here for the sake of completion as Drömpojkarna's only LP is already included. Both singles have some of their better songs, and doesn't suffer too much from the contrived 'controversial' tone that was evident on the album. The 1979 single was produced by Pål Spektrum, an underground legend responsible for most of what was released on Svenska Popfabriken, a label that was hot as a waffle iron in the late 70s/early 80s thanks to the strong regional air to their many pop and rock'n'roll styled releases. For the aptly titled ”Final Single” (actually released as F.D. Drömpojkarna – ”f.d.” meaning ”ex-” – signalling the band had split up before its release) they took the full step and became a Svenska Popfabriken act. I personally have a weak spot for Svenska Popfabriken and what they stood for, but neither of these singles are at all recommended to progg fans.

FRONTALROCK – Nattens barn / Angår oss inte (Gadd, 1980)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Sometimes classified as punk or hard rock, this has very little of either. It was taped in 1979 but not released until 1980 at the band's own expense in a 500 copies edition. ”Nattens barn” shows very faint traces of the then popular neo-ska of the British 2 Tone label, but is basically a mid tempo rock song which is quite good with a discreet but ornate piano and a rather fiery lead guitar. The title of the B side means ”Doesn't concern us”, and that's how I feel about the song too. It sounds more like a Kylans Rockorkester throwaway, a silly rock'n'roll pastiche that is has none of the decent songwriting qualities of ”Nattens barn”. 

Bassist Christer Höglund was also in Musikgruppen ACP and Istid. 

 

DJUSH BAND – Just nu / Lilla Lisa (no label, 1980)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Categorized as hard rock on Discogs, but that's wrong. It's a private release with a somewhat quirky track on the A side and the more straightforward proggish ”Lilla Lisa” on the flip. ”Lilla Lisa” sounds a bit like a later Nationalteatern song and deals with at-risk youth and related social issues. The phrase ”livet är en fest” even appears in the lyrics (alluding to one of Nationalteatern's best known tracks, meaning ”life's a party” which is purely ironic). Several clues lead to Gothenburg as the band's origin, which would further explain the Nationalteatern influence.

RENDEZ-VOUS – Plugget är slut / Åh dessa dagar (GMP, 1980)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

An outlier on the GMP (Great Music Production) label that was more into Swedish dance bands than the budget kind of commercial sounding symphonic rock of Rendez-Vous. Singer and keyboardist Thomas Nanor had an MNW single of classical interpretations out in 1971, a semi-rare space electronics album in 1982, plus another 7” in 1986. Needless to say, both ”Plugget är slut” and ”Åh dessa dagar” are heavy on keyboards. The latter is in fact a half-decent ”dramatic ballad” in itself, but I find Nanor's high pitched vocals with a threating vibrato quite irritating. Perhaps the symphonic vibe is too light to appeal to seasoned symph fans, but then again, I'm not sure who else would be very interest in this. Judging by the low market value and the fact it's fairly easy to come by, the answer is: no-one.

 

PER P – Ackumulerad skuld / Sabine / Novalucol / Hon var våt (Eko, 1980)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Per Paulsson had previously released the album ”Tro, hopp och kaffe” in 1974 while his backing band Ruff is featured on the various artists comp ”Ruff & Fukt & Suck”. This four track EP was released with two B sides according to the sleeve and labels and was pressed in red vinyl. It's pretty pedestrian rock progg although some of the lyrics are a bit peculiar. I've never heard of ”drunken guitar picks” before I heard the punk inspired ”Ackumulerad skuld”... Probably the best track here, and as that's not very good you can take this as an encouragement to pass on this.

 

ICTUS – Jag vill ut / Yesterday Song (Plebb, 1980)

Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: *

Released through the label run by Plebb/Purple Haze in an edition of reputedly only 285 copies, this might seem more interesting than it is. ”Jag vill ut” is a mediocre power pop track, so it's ”Yesterday Song” that has to offer up some progginess to justify its place here. It has a slightly off-kilter rhythm suggesting funk and reggae without being any of it plus some knotty guitar playing. The melody is oddly elusive. Elusive apparently also to the singer who seems to struggle with it. Rare yes, but that's really the only thing it has going for it. Avoid.

GRÖNA HISSEN – Statt! (Ori, 1980)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Although titled ”Statt!”, the two songs on this small label release are named ”Ute” (several meanings, here ”out of fashion”, ”unpopular”) and ”Samhällets fiende No. 1” (=”Public enemy no. 1”). Often considered a hard rock band, Gröna Hissen were a more a plain rock band with a punk/progg edge. ”Ute” borrows shamelessly from ”Jumpin' Jack Flash” while the bass line on ”Samhällets fiende No. 1” is reminiscent of neo-ska band Specials. Which is not to say that Gröna Hissen were mere copycats. Although they weren't the most original band around, ”Statt!” nevertheless has a certain appeal thanks to its strong underground aura. They're not the best players, and not always tight, but these two songs have an urgency to them which I like. Prices vary, but not being an established sought-after rarity, it should still be fairly easy to come by relatively cheap for those interested (as of early 2026).

SPINNROCK – Nighttime Is The Righttime / I Remember You (Hit-Records, 1981)

English vocals

International relevance: *

Although there's nothing particularly wrong with this – ”Nighttime Is The Righttime” [sic!] even has some mildly interesting harmonic turns – it's pretty mundane. The lead guitar has some hard rock glitz to them, and the harmony vocals are OK for a release like this, but both tracks leave me cold and a little bored, especially the ballad ”I Remember You”.

Respekt 
Rebellernas afton 
Motvind
Plockepinn / Törst 
Djush Band
Lilla Lisa
Rendez-Vous
Plugget är slut 
Gröna Hissen
Ute
Drömpojkarna
Sofi full single playlist 
Final Single full single playlist 

Frontalrock full single 
Ictus full single playlist 
Spinnrock full single playlist 

Per P no links found 

PLEBB – Yes It Isn't It (Plebb, 1979)

Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: **

The city of Mönsterås is famed for its long running Mönsterås Blues Band, but Plebb took it all one step further and went straight for a sound influenced by hard rock and the burgeoning New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

Founded in 1976, they made their debut in 1978 with a cassette released in a tiny edition of 40 copies, made by the band members themselves – all 16-18 years old – and sold to their eager local fanbase. The small but instant success prompted the band to make a proper LP only a few months later. 500 copies were pressed of ”Yes It Isn't It”, an album as primitively recorded as the cassette before it. Two locations were used for the sessions, a school and a biker club. The latter makes perfect sense – the album is a heavy affair that presumably went down well with the local bikers.

Peter Martinson's and Per-Martin Persson's fuzzed out dual guitars are up front screaming – a bit too up front actually, as it makes the overall sound appear a bit unbalanced. Especially the vocals suffer from being buried in the mix. Not that it's too much of a problem as the vocals are weak. The rhythm section is at least adequate but unexceptional, the songwriting's decent but unimaginative – most of the band's energy supply was obviously spent on the guitar amps.

Fans of UK band Dark (of ”Round the Edges” fame) may want to check out ”Yes It Isn't It” for the sake of it, but you probably need to be a die-hard heavy rock aficionado not to eventually dismiss ”Yes It Isn't It” as the bland album it is. There are several good 70's heavy rock album from Sweden but this is not one of them. It's debatable if this should even account for progg, but I decided to include it here since it's listed in ”The Encyclopedia of Swedish Progressive Music”.

Plebb later changed their name to Purple Haze and released a mini album in 1981. Plebb reunited briefly some years ago. Peter Martinson remains an active musician.

Full album playlist