RALPH LUNDSTEN & THE ANDROMEDA ALL STARS – Complete albums 1977-1982

A curious character, this Ralph Lundsten guy. His career somehow parallels that of Ragnar Grippe, as Lundsten started out as an electro-acoustic composer and then gradually moved towards more commercially accessible music. A wider attention came in the mid 70's with his series of so called nature symphonies taking inspiration from Swedish nature and folklore. Lundsten became something of a new age music pioneer, recording many of his albums in his Andromeda studio in a house painted pink. He was on a massive ego trip, seemingly only liking his own music. Most of his many many albums are cheesy and aimed at the crystal healers market. To be fair, a lot of his un-commercial early stuff (from the late 60's and early 70's) is quite superficial too but at least somewhat more interesting to listen to.

With the 70's drawing to a close, Lundsten assembled an amorphous band called The Andromeda All Stars and rarely has the term ”all stars” been more to the point. Plenty of name performers passed through, too numerous to mention in all, but a few would be Bernt Rosengren, Ahmadu Jarr, Tommy Körberg, Jojje Wadenius, Monica Dominique, Wlodek Gulgowski, Björn Inge (November et al), Björn J:son Lindh, Janne Schaffer, Tomas Ledin, and renaissance music flag-bearer Sven Berger. This massive lot of people helps the four Andromeda All Stars albums into the progg realm.

Universe (Harvest, 1977)
Instrumental, wordless vocals
International relevance: **

The first All Stars album (housed in a truly eye-catching cover) is one of Lundsten's best, although I hesitate to use superlatives when talking about Lundsten's albums, no matter what line-up they flash. It's uneven and still very cheesy, but it has some entertaining moments of gurgling and bubbling sounds where Lundsten probably just fools around with the crazy sound effects because he enjoys it. As typical to his post-EAM albums, there are plenty of synth washes. The best tracks are those that have a rhythmic structure, like ”Harvest In Heaven”, ”Space Funeral”, and the space rock sounding ”The Planet Of Winds”.

Discophrenia (Harvest, 1978)
Instrumental
International relevance: **

With the disco wave sweeping the world in the late 70's, plenty of musicians jumped the danceable bandwagon. Even the self-loving Ralph Lundsten got bit by the bug, but his interpretation of disco is of course different to others. He either mess with it deliberatly, or he misunderstands everything. The title track is in fact rather interesting as Lundsten seems to predict the synth pop still a few years away from public recognition. It actually reminds me a bit of the early Human League albums (those before the girls joined the group and they became MTV darlings with ”Don't You Want Me”) and they hadn't been released yet when ”Discophrenia” came out. The album even spawned a single (with an extended remix of the title track), a rather rare thing in Lundsten's discography.

Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (Harvest, 1979)
Instrumental, English vocals
International relevance: **

The third Andromeda All Stars album falls somewhere between the first two, with characteristics spilling over from both. ”Rendezvous With A Washing-Machine”, ”Ego Love Song” (appropriate title for Lundsten!) and ”Horrorscope” are still discophrenic, while other chunks stick to the wishy-washy synth layers. The album is very inconsistent, and it sounds as if it's cooked up from leftovers from the previous two discs. The all stars concept is beginning to wear thin.

The New Age (Harvest, 1982)
Instrumental
International relevance: **

After a couple of electronic/symphonic works in the beginning of the 80's, Lundsten returned in 1982 with the final album credited to The Andromeda All Stars. Largely new-agey as the title lets you know, but a more coherent work than ”Alpha Ralpha Boulevard”. But it does sound as if the steam had run out altogether of the All Stars project. It's less colourful and crazy than the initial trio, there's no real push to it.

From "Universe"
Universe Calling / The Space Sneaker / In The Shade Of The Purple Moon / The Hot Andromedary / The Blue Planet / Harvest In Heaven / In The Erotosphere / The Celestial Pilgrim / Rhapzodiac / The Planet Of Winds / Lunatic Safari / Space Funeral / Cosmic Song

From "Discophrenia"
Andromedan Nights / Discophrenia / Luna Lolita / Robot Amoroso

From "Alpha Ralpha Boulevard"
Alpha Ralpha Boulevard / Rendezvous With A Washing-Machine / Space Flower Dance / Ego Love Song / Happy Earthday / Horrorscope / Computerful Love / Dancing In A Dream / Lifetide

From "The New Age"
Morning Of Creation / Time Storm / Future Carnival / Trance-Action / The Remembering Castle / Garden Of Delight

TOMAS LEDIN – Restless Mind (RCA Victor, 1972) / Hjärtats rytm (RCA Victor, 1973) / Knivhuggar-rock (RCA Victor, 1975)

Some probably think this is one of the most controversial post ever here on the blog. (That's OK, I've been bashed by purists before.) Tomas Ledin is usually considered the very anti-thesis to all things progg, the epitome of commercial thinking and too successful to be credible to the 'right' crowd, and entertaining to too many 'ordinary people'. He even married ABBA manager Stikkan Andersson's daughter Marie in 1983 – good grief, the ultimate treacherous act!

But let's go back in time a bit. Ledin was born into a working class family in Östersund but they moved around a lot and eventually settled down in Sandviken in the early 60's. His parents were the first in his family to receive a proper education, and his dad later became a teacher himself. His granddad on the father side was one of the workers demonstrating in Ådalen 1931, when five workers were shot to death during the protest manifestation, killed by the military under police command. A traumatic incident never to be forgotten, and one of the most important incidents in the entire history of the working rights movement and a powerful socialist symbol. That's the family history of Tomas Ledin – now suck on that, all you self-righteous leftist upper class theorists of the music movement (and beyond)!

In 1969, Ledin spent a year in the U.S.A. as an exchange student. He missed the Woodstock festival by a week, but got a close look at the hippie movement still in full bloom, and he saw the best minds of his generation rot from drugs (to paraphrase Allen Ginsberg). He saw the Vietnam protests in full swing, and participated in 'un-American' demonstrations that almost had him thrown out of the States. Now suck on that, all you anti-imperialist pamphlet writing FNL velour academics in your safe little Swedish homes!

Upon returning to Sweden, Ledin noticed that a lot of what he had experienced in the States also was happening in his native country. He felt comfortable with what was going on here, and he wanted to be a part of it. He wrote songs, he was a singer/songwriter, and he assumed there would be a place for him in the burgeoning music movement. After all, he was the perfect person with the very same credentials the movement idealized. But instead and to his bafflement, they turned him away.

Why wouldn't they let him in? The answer is, of course, the poison of politics. Tomas Ledin was recently back from the U.S.A. and wrote songs – in imperialist English!!! – without a clear political agenda, and that was enough to accuse him of rejecting the 'correct' teachings. As the music movement turned him down, he seeked out major labels to have his music released, and in 1972, multinational RCA Victor put out Ledin's debut album ”Restless Mind”. Which of course did not make him any more acceptable to the leftist coteries.

This is a textbook example of the bigotry of the Swedish leftist movement in the 70's, and the reason why so much of it looks even more mendacious in hindsight. The double standards, the trickery, the expulsion of imagined traitors, the complacent fundamentalism, the bloated smugness – all that was counterproductive then and is disgusting now. That's what killed the music movement, that mentality was the vampire that sucked every drop of lifeblood out of progg.

Restless Mind (RCA Victor, 1972)

English vocals

International relevance: **

Did anyone within the music movement even bother to listen to ”Restless Mind”, or did they just hate it anyway?

I suspect they just hated it anyway, because had anyone put it on, they would have discovered Tomas Ledin was a pretty OK songwriter, neither better nor worse than anybody else in his genre. Well, if anything he was better if you compare him to Jan Hammarlund or Bernt Staf. And a better singer, even if his voice was (and still is) a bit too nasal.

And had anyone cared to step down from their own political pedestals and listened to the album, perhaps they too would have discovered that tracks like ”I've Been Waiting for the Summer”, ”Both Sides of the River”, ”Come Home to Me” and most of all the excellent ”Black Knight, the Faker” could outprog quite a few of the movement authorized artists of the time.

The songs are well crafted, often augmented by unexpected chord changes and shaded with a melancholy. It's not a perfect album – ”Follow the Highway”, ”Wait for Me” and the title track are less than impressive – but it's a good album nevertheless, deserving to be heard by those courageous enough to shuffle off their political principles and prejudicial pride.

Of course, one might dislike this and any of Tomas Ledin's early albums, even venomously. But please, listen to it with an open mind before you judge. Hear what it sounds like and not what you think it sounds like.

Hjärtats rytm (RCA Victor, 1973)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

For his second album, Ledin switched to Swedish lyrics. Not that it mattered to the music movement – he was doomed from the start. ”Hjärtats rytm” has a tighter sound and more straightforward songwriting. Fine guitar playing from Janne Schaffer (who also appeared on ”Restless Mind”) and some heavy Göran Lagerberg bass. ”Utslagen man” has a good arrangement permeated by anxiety. ”Här kommer morgonen” almost suggests Nature. ”Följ med mig” is heavy rock with electric fake sitar (for those who care for such things). ”Blå, blå känslor” is Ledin's best known track from his earliest days and a fine number richly textured with heartfelt melancholy (and later covered by Mikael Wiehe).

Knivhuggar-rock (RCA Victor, 1975)

as Tomas Ledins Band

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

A lot less interesting than his first two albums, but it does have two great tracks. ”Luftballongen” almost sounds like November (albeit with less heavy production), and ”Ta av dej masken” which is the most progressive track Ledin did, with a wonderfully floaty feel interrupted by some fat wah wah solo work from Ledin himself.

For his next album, Ledin signed with Polydor and made the terrible ”Natten är ung”. After that, he went artistically downhill fast as his sales figures went up – another plausible/probable explanation for why his early albums are reflexively ignored. Today, superstar Ledin is very involved in aid agencies and charity work. How many old Stalinists like Knutna Nävar can say that, and how much good did they do for the world staring up their own ideological arses?

Restless Mind full album playlist with bonus track

Hjärtats rytm full album playlist with bonus track 

Knivhuggar-rock full album playlist