DAN TILLBERG – Complete albums 1979-1981

Another name from the ”you may also like” list at the end of Tobias Petterson's book ”The Encyclopedia of Swedish Progressive Music”, but unlike some of them, Dan Tillberg at least has some progg bearings, if not so much stylistically so historically. He was, for instance, in Änglabarn. 

Gatstenar (Bellatrix, 1979)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

An album consisting exclusively of Rolling Stones covers translated to Swedish by Mats Zetterberg (Fiendens Musik) and Dan Hylander (Raj Montana Band). This is one bizarre beast of an album and probably one of the most uninhibited albums you'll hear in a while. I wouldn't exactly call it good, but the over the top energy, perhaps more akin to punk than progg, is perversely fascinating. Eyewitness reports from the studio sessions promise no intoxicants were involved but they manage to give the whole thing a sloshed street fight vibe, even on the slower tracks. Try ”Hur var det med din morsa, tjejen (kom hon i skymundan)?” (=”Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadows?”) or ”Din första kollision” (=”19th Nervous Breakdown”) and I think you'll see what I mean.

Two sleeve variations exist, one brownish yellow and one turqouise with the brownish one being the original.

Mors och fars kärlek (Axiom, 1980)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: -

Mostly originals second time around with only a couple of stray covers of Bob Dylan, Swedish garage rockers Problem, and a Chip Taylor penned number. A couple of tracks are co-written with Ronny Carlsson of Rockamöllan and Onna Taas Band. Nowhere near as hysterical as ”Gatstenar” which unfortunately means the skewed appeal of the predecessor is all gone. ”Mors och fars kärlek” most of all sounds like a bad Raj Montana Band album. Best track by far is ”Det är okej” still has a very long way to go to even lick the shoes of Problem's original version, even though Problem main man Stefan Ahlqvist appears on guitar. Partly recorded in Silence's studio, but you couldn't tell from the cold, bony, artificial production.

Kärlek minus noll (Axiom, 1982)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: -

Back in covers land again, this time Bob Dylan. But it's better to read the album than to listen to it (if you know Swedish, and even so if you don't). The production is as 80s as it gets already in 1982 – unbearable. But some of the translations are among the best Swedish Dylan interpretentions you'll ever see. Two of them are by Ronny Carlsson, one by Dan Hylander, but most of them – the best ones – are by man of words Mats Zetterberg.

Dan Tillberg made a few more albums in the 80s.

Gatstenar full album playlist
Mors och fars kärlek full album playlist
Kärlek minus noll full album playlist

ONNA TAAS BAND – Allo' (Bellatrix, 1980)

Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: **

Ronny Carlsson was a well-kept secret to most but hailed as a hero and a legend by many having heard his music. He first made his mark with the band Rockamöllan in the late 70s, and after their demise, he started Onna Taas Band before launching a long solo career. He was in possession of one of the gruffest voices ever heard on a Swedish album, strangely warbly and grainy like a gravel road. Singing in his native Southern dialect (similar to Peps Persson's) only added to the air of world-weariness. He sounded as if he had seen it all, been burnt by it all and finally rejected it all. In his own words from the track ”I ett rum någonstans på stan”, translated here for international understanding: ”It's not hard to break a lonely man”. His voice was of the kind that comes back to haunt you when you switch off the light at night.

Needless to say, a voice like that will dominate any album it appears on. If you take the music on Onna Taas Band's debut album, it's not that dark. There are hints at reggae, cajun music, pretty straigh-ahead rock, John Holm influenced balladry, blues, even faint dashes of post punk (it was, after all, 1980)... But once Carlsson's voice enters the mix, the mood changes in an instant and everything becomes something else, something more, and something decidedly darker. There's so much pain at work here it's impossible to turn away from it. At its best, this is every bit as gripping as John Holm's depictions of a reality cracking slowly but irreversibly. And the thing is, even if you don't understand Carlsson's poetic words, you still sense their exact meaning. Ronny Carlsson didn't just sing, he WAS his lyrics, they're inseperable and it's impossible to not understand.

Despite the stylistic diversity, nothing here seems out of place. Even the highly Ronny Åström inspired ”Säporerad cirkus” slips in nicely between the mild Dylan funk of ”Ord som blev över” and the brooding folk of ”Den välkände soldaten”. On any other album, ”Säporerad cirkus” would be the track to skip, but not here. It has its place.

This is just a deeply human album. Like humans it might scare you with what it has to say or it might comfort you with its honesty and intimacy. (Like Swedish music journalist Bengt Eriksson said about Carlsson: he sang between pain and comfort.) But most of all, it's just a brilliant album.

Carlsson made several more albums under his own name up until 2013, the last one consisting of recordings made in the years before its release. One more was in the making, but he died in 2014 before it was finished, at the age of 62 and marked by a hard life. A life that came through unfiltered in his voice.

I ett rum någonstans på stan

ROCKAMÖLLAN – Var ska du ta vägen? (Sonet, 1979) / Tron om varann (Marilla, 1980)

Rockamöllan was a reggae band from the small town of Eslöv in the deep south of Skåne, initially fronted by charismatic singer Ronny Carlsson.

 Var ska du ta vägen? (Sonet, 1979)

Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: *

The first album by Rockamöllan recorded in late 1978, and the first album to showcase the talent of the troubled and raspy voiced singer Ronny Carlsson, with his lyrics dealing with social issues and the hard side of life (see the album's front cover picture). Reggae demands good playing, especially from the drummer, but Rockamöllan was credible enough. ”Var ska du ta vägen?” indeed has some fine songs, closer to the UK brand of reggae than the original Jamaican one. It's certainly not on Peps Persson's level, but it's OK.

Tron om varann (Marilla, 1980)

Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: *

Carlsson left Rockamöllan before their second album to form Onna Taas Band, leaving the songwriting duties to the other Ronny of the band, Jönsson. Unfortunately, that meant weaker songs and not as good vocals. ”Tron om varann” tries hard to convince but fails too often.

Vart ska du ta vägen full album playlist

Tron om varann full album playlist