SPJÄRNSVALLET – Spjärnsvallet (MNW, 1976)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Ranked #19 on the blog's Top 25

Why this isn't considered a stone cold classic is beyond me, a power meeting with saxophonist Christer Bothén, drummer Bengt Berger, bassist Nikke Ström and everythingist Kjell Westling. Breeding eruptive free jazz with reflective and ethnically coloured music, ”Spjärnsvallet” sounds like a blend of Archimedes Badkar, early Arbete & Fritid and Berger & Westling's ”Spelar”. The playing is intuitive but structured and tight like a sailor's knot, the music is forceful yet lyrical, violent yet serene. Whoever keeps this album from being properly reissued will have a rough time on judgement day.

Thankfully, there's another album to satisfy at least some of the desperate need for a reiusse. ”Again & Again” (Country & Eastern, 2014) is a mix of outtakes from the original sessions and newly recorded tracks and believe me, those recordings are absolutely excellent and essential stuff.

The original Spjärnsvallet broke up shortly after the debut album was released. Bengt Berger took off for Ghana. After his return, Spjärnsvallet reunited (sans Nikke Ström, plus Sigge Krantz) for an album with Bella Ciao/Låt & Trall singer Fred Lane entitled ”Till soluppgång och till lycka” (Krokben, 1982).

Full album playlist

ÄLGARNAS TRÄDGÅRD – Framtiden är ett svävande skepp, förankrat i forntiden (Silence, 1972)

Instrumental, Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

Ranked #19 on the blog's Top 25

Perhaps Gothenburg's Älgarnas Trädgård should have been German because they were more 'kosmische' than most. Träd, Gräs & Stenar's music have been declared 'meditative', but that's an adjective I'd rather save for Älgarnas Trädgård. Because their kind of meditation works without serial flubs and fuck-ups. They even manage to use sitar and tablas on ”Det finns en tid för allt, det finns en tid då även tiden möts” without getting silly and cheap-sounding.

”Framtiden är ett svävande skepp, förankrat i forntiden” sounds just like band member and painter Jan Ternald's absolutely stunning artwork looks. The album is a trip deep into inner space, an intergalactic mind journey but at the same time firmly rooted in ancient soil through the folk sounding passages as ”Möjligheternas barn” with vocals by Margareta Söderberg, and ”Tristans klagan” based on the renaissance dance ”La Rotta” (title corrected on later editions). The music's an altered state full of secrets, conundrums and enigmas, reaching out in all directions, inwards, outwards, upwards, downwards, sideways, ahead and back – its scope is almost unfathomable. ”Framtiden är ett svävande skepp” is a work of wonder.

When reissued on CD, the album was expanded with live recordings made at Gothenburg's Museum of Art in 1972. More live recordings exist, including one from Stora Teatern in Gothenburg in 1973. A second Älgarnas Trädgård album was also recorded, but as the band dissolved during the mixing sessions, the release was cancelled. Silence eventually put out it out as ”Delayed” in 2001.

Full album playlist with bonus tracks

ROBERT BROBERG – Tolv sånger på amerikanska (RKOB, 1978)

English vocals

International relevance: ***

Ranked #17 on the blog's Top 25 list

Robert Broberg left Sweden for the States after ”Vem är det som bromsar & vem är det som skjuter på”. He began planning for ”The Rise amd the Fall of the Plastic Messiah”, an ambitious stage show meant to include movies, stills, theatre, masks and music. As far as I can discern, only the music was finished, and released on Broberg's private RKOB label. Recorded with noted session musicians Stefan Brolund (bass), Jan Tolf (guitar) and Claes Wang (drums) in the legendary Studio Decibel, the album still has a 'homemade' aura to it, as if it was recorded in a small living room.

The lyrics emphasize the music's claustrophobic feel (that always reminds me of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band's 'tree' album). All of them deal with the superficial modern society where humans are first reduced to consumers and then a disposable commodity with no second hand value. In the end, ”Tolv sånger på amerikanska” (”twelve songs in American”), is a deeply existential record, taking Broberg's self-doubt to a higher universal level (or a deeper one, depending how you look at it). It's an album of generalized anxiety; an unease that has become an integrated part of an uncertain being. I'm convinced that Broberg's bipolar disorder is the foundation of this album (he spent some time in a psychiatric hospital during his U.S. years), and that the American socety's fixation with the glamourous surface further provoked the self-detachment that was evident already on Broberg's previous albums. The album cover captures this perfectly: A naked human being against an empty but over-saturated background.

There's something scary about the album; once you actually hear it and not just listen to it. It's like staring into the darkness knowing it stares back at you from a constantly elusive, dissolving place you didn't even know existed in the first place.

So maybe it's not that surprising that ”Tolv sånger på amerikanska” was one of Broberg's most neglected albums for such a long time. The album doesn't fit in with the simplified image the casual listener has of him as a funny chap delivering word plays to hummable tunes. This album doesn't really fit in anywhere and that's one of it's true strengths. It's a one of a kind album that doesn't blind you with flashes to your face, but creeps up on you until it has you all wrapped up in its emotionally and mentally tangled web.

And ”Song to a Plastic Messiah” is one of the greatest songs ever released on a Swedish 70's album. Actually on any Swedish album ever.

Full album playlist

BO HANSSON – Sagan om ringen (Silence, 1970)

Instrumental 

International relevance: ***

 Ranked #3 on the blog's Top 25 list

The beauty of Bo Hansson's solo debut is unfathomable. Few albums are as evocative and visual as ”Sagan om ringen”. It's no wonder that Anders Lind founded Silence for the simple reason of releasing it. (Gudibrallan's ”Uti vår hage” was recorded earlier but released after ”Sagan om ringen” was out.)

Based, of course, on J.R.R. Tolkien's ”Lord of the Rings” trilogy, Hansson's music takes my mind on a much longer and a much more vivid journey through the fantastic and the splendorous than Tolkien ever has and ever will. It's the sound of one spectacular man's spectacular vision, so perfectly moulded that it's impossible not to get carried away by it. So richly textured that you could almost touch the sounds with your fingers, smell the scents of that other world he shows you through notes and timbres, hear the sounds that will forever surprise your ears in utter wonder.

Hansson already used his Hammond organ like a painting tool as one half of the psych prog jazz duo Hansson & Karlsson, but compared to ”Sagan om ringen”, the Hansson & Karlsson albums sound restricted and two dimensional. Here he opens everything up to a dynamic experience of brooding darkness and jubilant light.

So much has been written about this album, so much has been said, so much love has been poured over it, and still no-one has been able to fully explain its grandeur. Neither have I. The only way to approach it properly is to listen to it, to give in to it, to fall in love with it again and again and again. This is a masterpiece of a magnificence that time can never diminish.

However, be aware of the different versions of ”Sagan om ringen”. Its release history is a mess, but I'll try to explain it to the best of my knowledge. Corrections/clarifications are much welcome!

First Silence pressing with the first and exclusive mix lacks ”En vandring i mörkret” and has no musicians credits on the back cover. The 1971 reissue adds the missing track, and has the credits, but is remixed. The international versions retitled ”Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings” have track titles in English, and a different cheesier cover that makes it look like rejected Genesis cover art. Some tracks are also shortened, and the album is remixed by Bo Hansson himself. Subsequent releases have this version. International cover variations exist.

 Original international version

First Swedish CD release from 1988 has a new remix version of the album, adding unnecessary and bad reverb, plus bonus tracks from Hansson's subsequent albums, plus the worst cover version of them all. Later CD reissues have the 1988 mix, but also previously unreleased bonus tracks recorded around the same time as the original album, plus the original cover art.

1988 CD version

The 2018 Silence CD is a reissue of the previous one including the unreleased track but with the international 70's cover art scaled down to fit within a too large and cheap looking frame.

 

 2018 CD version

Full album playlist 2018 CD version with bonus track

SEVDA – Jazz i Sverige '72 (Caprice, 1972) / Live at Jazzhus Montmartre (Caprice, 1972) / Live at Fregatten (Sonet, 1974)

Jazz i Sverige '72 (Caprice, 1972)

as Maffy Falay, Sevda
Instrumental

International relevance: ***

 

Ranked #9 on the blog's Top 25

One of my all time favourite bands operating on the progg/jazz scene, led by Turkish trumpeter Maffy Falay and featuring fellow countryman and drummer Okay Temiz, Fläsket Brinner saxophonist Gunnar Bergsten, and jazz pianist Bernt Rosengren to name a few of Sevda's original members.

Sevda was a very powerful unit, strikingly vital, organic, dynamic – everything you could ask for from a top notch jazz outfit. The Turkish harmonies enrich the music immensely, creating a tension field that is almost unique to Sevda (almost, because Okay Temiz's albums under the Oriental Wind banner were rather similar to Sevda). 

I've included only one album by each artist on the Top 25 list, and I picked this one to represent Sevda, but I could easily have chosen any of their albums because all of them are absolutely brilliant. They're all so good they're basically beyond criticism.

Live at Jazzhus Montmartre (Caprice, 1972)
Instrumental 

International relevance: ***

 

Recorded on legendary Copenhagen jazz ground a mere week after ”Live i Sverige '72” and released in the same year, this is like a companion volume to the previous album. ”Live at Jazzhus Montmartre” captures Sevda in an even more expressive mood; the music is rawer and with an even greater Turkish emphasis. The playing is so intense it's almost dangerous – when at their most frenzied, I almost want to duck not to get hit in the head from the debris and splinters flying off the music. An incredible album.

Caprice combined ”Jazz i Sverige '72” and "Live At Jazzhus Montmartre to the lovely "Exclusive Collector's Edition" box set in 2011, adding a bonus DVD with the television performance also documented on the ”Jazz i Sverige” album. An essential edition of two essential albums. 

Live at Fregatten (Sonet, 1974)

as Maffy Falay and Sevda

Instrumental

International relevance: *** 

 

All Sevda albums are recorded live, this one at Stockholm Jazz Festival in August 1973. Like their previous albums it opens with a taksim (an improvisation) by the wonderful violinist Salih Baysal, and then all hell breaks lose again. ”Live at Fregatten” has an altered line-up, with Björn Alke on bass instead of Ove Gustavsson, and Tommy Koverhult replacing Gunnar Bergsten on sax. Maybe that changed the musical chemistry of the band, as the album again has a different feel than Sevda's previous albums. Actually, this is very much Okay Temiz's album – he pushes the music ahead of him like a powered up high speed bulldozer, drumming away like a raging madman. I can almost see the faces of the other members while they're playing – ”man, Okay's really on tonight!”. ”Live at Fregatten” is every bit as essential as the ”Jazz i Sverige '72” and ”Live at Jazzhus Montmartre”, another a masterpiece from an almost unrivalled band. It should have been a great inclusion in the Caprice box set, but ”Live at Fregatten” was an original Sonet release.

Exclusive Collectors Edition including full Jazz i Sverige and Jazzhus Montmarte playlist

Live At Fregatten no links found

PEPS PERSSON – The blues years 1968-1975

Although his albums aren't uniformly excellent, it's absolutely impossible to overrate Peps Persson. Not only is he a top-notch performer, an excellent lyricist (and translator) and in possession of one of the greatest backing bands ever to come out of Sweden, he's also a highly influential character who more or less single-handedly introduced blues and reggae to Swedish audiences. His first band was rock & roll and instro band Pop Penders Kvartett. In 1966-67 he made a name for himself locally with blues and rhythm & blues band Down Beat Crowd. Around that time, Peps left Hässleholm in Skåne in the south of Sweden and moved to Stockholm where he hung out in the legendary psychedelic underground Club Filips. He released a couple of unimpressive singles for the Olga label before his career took on. His discography is vast and varied, also including production work and collaborations with other artists.

Blues Connection (Gazell, 1968)
as Linkin' Louisiana Peps

English vocals
International relevance: **

After the Olga Records 45's released as Linkin' Louisiana Peps (named so after a misunderstanding; it should have been Limpin', not Linkin'), he made his album debut with this pedestrian set of Chicago blues. Peps was simply too derivative in his early days, the song choices – all covers – are unimaginative in retrospect.

Sweet Mary Jane (Sonet, 1969)

as Peps & Blues Quality
English vocals

International relevance: ***

 

Peps teamed up with Örebro band Blues Quality for one album. (They later evolved into Nature.) ”Sweet Mary Jane” is much more interesting than his debut but it's pretty fuzzy around the edges. Even magnificent drummer and long-time Peps cohort Bosse Skoglund plays surprisingly sloppy, and I suspect that the band had gotten a bit too friendly with the Mary Jane of the album title and Sture Johannesson's cover art... (The 70's reissue was housed in a less controversial cover, see below.)

After "Sweet Mary Jane", Peps returned down south to Skåne.

The Week Peps Came to Chicago (Sonet, 1972)

English vocals
International relevance: **

Any non-American Chicago blues singer would have been extremely delighted by a trip to Windy City to play with some of the city's top blues names including guitarist Mighty Joe Young and pianist Sunnyland Slim. So was Peps, but ”The Week Peps Came to Chicago” proved to have an entirely different long term effect on him. He realized it was a bit silly coming from Sweden to the U.S. to play the blues to the people who were basically born into the genre. Peps realized he wasn't adding anything original singing the blues in English. He had to do it in his native tongue. While Peps had developed into a very good singer at this point, the album is indeed redundant compared the the sound of the original artists. ”The Week Peps Came to Chicago” was the end of an era, and the beginning of another.

Peps Blodsband (Sonet, 1974)

as Peps Blodsband

Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

Ranked #10 on the blog's Top 25

Suddenly, everything fell into place. With Peps switching to Swedish lyrics, his music became so much more powerful. It's still blues in the classic urban style, but now Peps step inside the words and music in a much more credible way. The two translated covers (Don Nix penned ”It's the Same Old Blues” and Elmore James' ”The Sky Is Crying”) fit in seamlessly with Peps' original material, and everything's delivered with so much conviction and prowess that the results are absolutely irrefutable. The lyrics are often political but descriptive, never proselytizing. Peps shares his brilliant observations of the capitalist society but trusts the listener with his/her own conclusions. With not one single inferior track, ”Peps Blodsband” is a 24 carat masterpiece, still as relevant as when originally released. And so it will remain as long as greed and egotism run the world.

Blues på svenska (Sonet, 1975)
as Peps och Slim
Swedish vocals

International relevance: **

 

An album split with pianist Per 'Slim' Notini; five tracks by each, all translated covers of blues standards by the likes of Muddy Waters, Eddie Boyd, Elmore James, Willie Dixon, and Lowell Fulson. Although Peps' contributions are fine enough, the LP's a bit disappointing following the perfect ”Peps Blodsband”. Slim Notini's also better with his Blues Gang on the 1971 album ”The Blues Ain't Strange”. In short, a little too mediocre to be fully recommendable.

"Progglådan" features a 1973 Tonkraft recording with Peps and Blues Set.

from Blues Connection

"Shake Your Moneymaker"

"Rooster Blues"

"Dimples"
"Dust My Blues"
"Five Long Years"

Sweet Mary Jane full album playlist
The Week Peps Came To Chicago full album playlist with bonus tracks
Peps Blodsband full album playlist
Tonkraft 1973 full album playlist

Blues på svenska full album playlist

G.L. UNIT – Orangutang! (Odeon, 1969)

Instrumental
International relevance: ***

Ranked #15 on the blog's Top 25

First of all, I'm not even going to start mentioning names of those heard on this album because everybody's on it. The album's a veritable who's who of the top players of the Swedish jazz scene at the time; a true big band effort but of course it's not classic big band jazz with a band leader constantly smiling at the audience, tux dressed players and decorated music stands in front of them. No.

This makes John Coltrane's ”Ascension” sound like a hummable little ditty.

This is TNT.

”Orangutang!” is the most powerful Swedish 70's free jazz album, great on an international level, up there with Alan Silva, Globe Unity Orchestra, François Tusques and the lot. Great jazz hurts, and no other Swedish album hurts as good as this one does. But just like any good free jazz album, it has a sense of elevated beauty, a serene lyricism, an intense burning light with your mind being its focal point. And it's dynamic, effortlessly moving from full blast detonations to jittery reflection. Of course it's not easy listening, it's not at all the perfect aural backdrop to a nice barbecue in the garden but it's got the spark to set your soul ablaze.

I save words like 'masterpiece' for albums like this.

Full album

NYA LJUDBOLAGET – Nya Ljudbolaget (MNW, 1981)

International relevance: ***

Instrumental, Swedish vocals

Ranked #13 on the blog's Top 25

Nya Ljudbolaget's name means ”The New Sound Company” in English and implies there was an old Sound Company too and there was. Before the late and sorely missed cellist Ove Karlsson joined Arbete & Fritid, that was his band. With Arbete & Fritid's last album ”Håll andan” being released in 1979, Karlsson was free to resurrect his old outfit, now with Samla Mammas Manna drummer/percussionist Hans Bruniusson, Samla relative Kalle Eriksson on trumpet, saxophonist Ulf Wallander (Ramlösa Kvällar, Samla Mammas Manna, Renhjärta et al), and on one track, Marie Selander on vocals.

”Nya Ljudbolaget” is like an extension of late era Arbete & Fritid, with a drone foundation supporting the sometimes Eastern, sometimes Swedish sounding melodies. But the album has more on offer than just that; "Chal Chal Chal" and the three-part suite ”Cellohalling/Putenska marschen/Ramlösa mammas fritid” have a strong air of Samla Mammas Manna and other RIO bands; ”Continuum Prometheus” is Terry Riley styled minimalism, while ”Minnesvisa” sounds like an old mournful Swedish folk song (but isn't). The entire album is wrapped in a dark kind of shimmer, wonderfully evocative, and should be considered mandatory by Arbete & Fritid fans, particularly those with an admiration for their later post-Roland Keijser period.

Full album

JOHN HOLM – The 1970's albums

The music of John Holm is very dear to my heart. Writing about him is more than anything something private. His darkness touch on a personal darkness I don't necessarily want to be reminded of. But that's also his strength. He sees when I do not dare to see for myself. But for the same reason, his music is also a consolation, a spell to cast at the unconsolable. How do you measure something like that? How do you turn that into a simple post to a blog? How do you put that to word without bargaining with your integrity?

I, for one, don't. I, for one, can't. But maybe it doesn't matter.

Sordin (Metronome, 1972)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

After releasing an album with The Underground Failure and two marvellous solo singles for small label Tibet -46, John Holm scored a contract with Metronome thanks to producer Anders Burman's reliable ear for unique talent and original voices. John Holm had both. David Bowie's description of Bob Dylan's voice, ”like sand and glue” fits John Holm even better. His voice isn't exactly nasal, but peculiarly thin and raspy deep at the same time. It's a voice of experience, the voice of the incurable soul. It adds an imperative truth to the dark and riveting lyrics, may they be of longing spurred by loss, or the icy loneliness of someone dying in a hospital bed.

”Sordin” is dimly lit, like a single candle in a room caught by the night. You're allowed to pass through, like a hardly visible ghost. Perhaps you'll find yourself trapped there.

Lagt kort ligger (Metronome, 1974)

Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

Ranked #7 on the blog's Top 25

”Sordin” is softer around the edges whereas ”Lagt kort ligger” is heavier. More desperate. The lyrics are even bleaker than before, cutting through the heart like a surgical knife. ”To pity the child with the entire life ahead” (my translation) to mention just one line, from ”Min mening”. Then there's the five minute rebuke of the Christ John Holm doesn't believe in, ”Frågor bland många”. Holm asks questions, knowing there are no answers, just more or less fruitless attempts at enduring.

Most people seem to prefer his debut album to ”Lagt kort ligger” but the latter is the John Holm album that I have no way whatsoever to defend myself against, even if I wanted to. ”Sordin” grabs me by the heart, but ”Lagt kort ligger” grabs me by the heart and throat.

Veckans affärer (Metronome, 1976)

International relevance: **

Swedish vocals

John Holm is said to have been infuriatingly hard to work with, always seeking impossible perfection. He had several fallouts with Anders Burman over sound and arrangements – Holm was so much of a nitpicker that he even impressed Frank Zappa with his live sound when he supported Zappa in the 70's.

Somehow this excessive attention to details got the best of Holm on ”Veckans affärer”. Everything here is so perfect, every sound so impeccable that it makes the album cold. I'm sorry to admit it, but ”Veckans affärer” fails to touch me, fails to move me. I want to love it, but Holm doesn't leave anything for me to be part of. ”Veckans affär” exists without really caring if I'm there or not.

A cancelled tour made John Holm put off music until 1988 when he made comeback album ”Verklighetens afton”, a very bad album so caught up in a seriously terrible 80's production that it's simply unlistenable. Then it took him another eleven years before releasing the country inspired ”Vägen till Californien”, a much better album than its predecessor, but nowhere near the albums of Holm's heyday in the 70's. Box set ”Främmande natt” includes all his original albums up until ”Verklighetens afton” plus a number of rarities and previously unreleased recordings. A great concert for Tonkraft is featured in ”Progglådan”. In 2017, 2CD set ”Kuriosa” was released with previously unreleased demos, live tapes and early mixes from 1971 to 1999.

"Sordin" full album playlist

Lagt kort ligger full album playlist 

Veckans affärer full album playlist

Tonkraft 1975 full album playlist (tracks 8-12) 

45's:

Svarte kungen/Nalen blås (1971)

Ett enskilt rum på Sabbatsberg (1972)

PÄRSON SOUND / INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER / HARVESTER / TRÄD GRÄS OCH STENAR – 1966-1973

What can be said about Träd Gräs Och Stenar (hereafter referred to as TG&S) that hasn't been said before? They're one of the most renowned progg bands, both domestically and internationally. Their career is well documented, from the earliest days to their more recent activities as a recording outfit, so there's no real reason for dwelling upon any detailed biographical facts. Just a quick background check: Their original 1967 line-up consisted of Bo Anders Persson (guitar), Thomas Tidholm (vocals, sax, flute), Torbjörn Abelli (bass), Thomas Mera Gartz (drums), Urban Yman (violin) and Arne Ericsson (cello). Bo Anders Persson was already a noted avantgarde composer, and his idea was to fuse the minimalism of Terry Riley and La Monte Young with the rock'n'roll of The Rolling Stones. Initially operating as Pärson Sound, they changed their name to International Harvester in 1968.

Sov gott Rose-Marie (Love, 1968)

as International Harvester
Instrumental, Swedish vocals, English vocals 

International relevance: ***

 

Tracks like ”Klockan är mycket nu”, the pointlessly short ”It's Only Love”, the overlong ”How to Survive” and a couple of others should have been substituted by the 25 minute ”Skördetider” that was saved for bonus track on the 2001 CD reissue. But those tracks are massively overshadowed by, for instance, the punkish ”There Is No Other Place”, the imperative ”Ho Chi Minh” and the great ”I Mourn You”. Oddly enough, the classic ”Sommarlåten” fades out after only a couple of minutes while it could stretch out to a forever when performed live. My personal favourite however is the captivating title track, also way too short with its mere three and a half minutes. But despite a few weak spots, a very good album.

Hemåt (Decibel, 1969)
as Harvester
Instrumental, Swedish vocals 

International relevance: ***

 

With their name shortened to Harvester, the band released ”Hemåt” in 1969. A mess of good, underdeveloped and undevelopable ideas, in a sound quality that ranges from the wonderfully confrontative basement fidelity of ”Sov gott Rose-Marie” to the plain unlistenable. Sound and intent coincide fully only on ”Kristallen den fina”. TG&S's interest in Swedish folk music shines through on ”Kuk-polska”, an early but heavyhanded and rheumatic attempt at folk rock. All in all, ”Hemåt” is frustrating and inferior. And again, one of the best tracks were left to unreleased until the early 00's CD reissue – especially odd as it's the album's title track!

Träd, Gräs Och Stenar (Decibel, 1970)

Instrumental, English vocals, Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

Harvester lost original member Thomas Tidholm already in 1968 (they would reunite briefly as Hot Boys for one lovely album in 1974), and the band reformed in 1969 as Träd, Gräs Och Stenar, releasing the first LP bearing that name in 1970. The first side is devoted in full to two tedious cover versions of Bob Dylan's ”All Along the Watchtower” and the Stones' ”Satisfaction”. The Dylan song in particular is too wrapped up in the 'everybody can play' ethos. Obviously, everybody can not play – Bo Anders Persson's guitar solo is way off at times. And no, I don't think it's charming. I cringe every time he fires off a bum note. And that happens a lot.

”Sanningens silverflod” is the album's high point (later bettered and immortalized by rock reggae band Dag Vag) but Persson proves that slide guitar isn't quite his thing either. Thomas Mera Gartz's ”Svarta pärla” is shaky but evocative enough to come in as the album's second best track. With ”Tegenborgsvalsen”, TG&S digs deeper into Swedish folk with as bad results as on ”Hemåt”. Sound quality is again down the drain. ”Allt makt åt folket” is six long minutes of people blowing whistles, clapping hands and chanting. Man, this communal trip is really getting on my nerves...

Rock för kropp och själ (Silence, 1972)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

TG&S may look like the archetypical Silence band, but the only album originally made for the label was ”Rock för kropp och själ”. Includes a studio version of TG&S's classic cover of Philemon Arthur & The Dung's ”In kommer Gösta”, premiered at the Gärdet festival two years earlier. Most of the album slides around in a mud pool of nothingness; the title track is a 24 minute jam that reaches its climax much too late, ”Våran vila” is lead-footed boogie, and ”Solen går upp, solen går ner” is two long minutes of audience chanting. The best track is ”I ljuset av din dag”, sung by Gartz.

Djungelns lag (Tall, 1972)

 Instrumental, Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

A live album recorded on tour in Sweden and Norway. The sound quality isn't quite as atrocious as one would expect but the music is a bit hit and miss. A powerful ”Sanningens silverflod” opens the album and ”Drammen export” closes it in a fine way. The acoustic ”Dibio” and ”Munfiol” are crap; ”Vår vila” suffers badly from lousy guitar soloing. Even worse guitar canbe heard on the drowsy ”Tidigt om morgonen” (the title means ”early in the morning” and these people obviously couldn't get out of bed at all). CD includes the 31+ minutes bonus track ”Amithaha” seguing into ”In kommer Gösta”, meaning a lot more fumbling guitar noodling.

Mors mors (Tall, 1973)

Instrumental, Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: ***

 

Another live album (decent sound), this time recorded in Sweden and Denmark in 1972. There's not much to set this one apart from their previous albums, with the possible exception of what might be the dullest Rolling Stones cover ever, ”The Last Time”. Other than that, it's the usual extended jamming, some OK, some of it sleep inducing. Best track: ”Dansa jord”. CD bonus: 26 breathing minutes of ”Sommarlåten” – should have been on the album.

ARCHIVAL RELEASES

PÄRSON SOUND (Subliminal Sounds, 2000; recorded 1966-1968)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Ranked #18 on the blog's Top 25

The first official peak into the voluminous TG&S vaults is also the best, not only of their archival releases but thebest TG&S album of all, recorded as a fledgling band in various locations. Outdoors performances blend with recordings made for Swedish Radio. The sound quality differs between tracks, but the music is incredibly powerful and overwhelming. The impact is bone crushing! Their drone rock never worked better than in their early Pärson Sound days, and I'd be hard pressed to come up with an international band or artist in the same vein that can actually compete with Pärson Sound. TG&S themselves couldn't, that's for sure.

Gärdet 12.6.70 (Subliminal Sounds, 1996; recorded 1970)

Instrumental, Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

The TG&S performances at the two legendary Gärdet festivals – arranged by themselves in June and August 1970 – are progg landmarks, and it's surprising it took so long before anyone made them publicly available in full. (A track from the second festival was featured on the ”Festen på Gärdet” album.) Subliminal Sounds unearthed a recording from the first festival and released it on CD in 1996. The mono sound is a bit muddy and distorted but OK for a 1970 audience tape. The music is standard TG&S. Lots of jamming, sometimes propulsive, sometimes at a standstill, some notes shouldn't be there, and another version of ”Satisfaction” certainly shouldn't be there.

The album was re-released in 2011 on double vinyl and expanded with a previously unreleased sidelong water-treading jam entitled ”Låt oss tänka ett par dagar”, recorded some time in the winter of '69/'70.

 

Live 1972 (1/2 Special Skivor & Trams, 2001; recorded 1972) 

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Recorded in February and March 1972, this basically sounds like a bonus disc to ”Mors mors” that was recorded around the same time, although this has a bit weaker sound and weaker performances. For completists only. (Reissued with bonus tracks by Anthology Recordings in 2016.)

Kom tillsammans (Anthology Recordings, 2016; recorded 1972)
Instrumental, Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

 

Released as part of the ”Träd, Gräs Och Stenar” 6LP/3CD box set only, i.e. not sold separately. (Picture above shows the box set front.) The main discs in the set are expanded double disc versions of ”Djungelns lag” and ”Mors mors”. and ”Kom tillsammans” consists of more live recordings from 1972, some of them with vocals. ”Medan vinden vänder sig” is OK and combines a reflective mood with a movement forward. The sound quality leaves a lot to be desired, it appears that reverb was added which emphasizes the distortion on several tracks, most likely prevalent on the original tapes. Unless you need more samey sounding TG&S in your life, this is something you can ignore.

Another box set was released by Silence in 2018, focusing on the two original (International) Harvester albums, adding three LP's of unreleased live material. A Tonkraft radio performance with TG&S trading off tracks with a group four folk fiddlers is included in ”Progglådan”. Numerous unofficial live tapes in varying quality circulate. There's also the very interesting ”Love Is Here to Stay” Subliminal Sounds comp of Bo Anders Persson's pre-Pärson Sound pieces 1965-1967, including the up until then only released example of his early experimental work, ”Proteinimperialism”.

No-one can deny that TG&S were instrumental to progg's emergence, through arranging the Gärdet festivals and through their pioneering and influential musical work. But 'influential' isn't necessarily synonymous with 'good' or 'consistent'. TG&S have become the holiest of all holy progg cows – if you like progg, you're expected to like them, almost obliged to. I frankly don't think they're that good. ”Pärson Sound” is utterly brilliant, ”Sov gott Rose-Marie” is a very fine album, but a lot of the Harvester/TG&S ouevre is way overrated to my ears. Every album has its moments, but none of them holds up in its entirety. (A compilation of their best tracks would be more to the point.) Their jams drag on and get one-dimensional and predictable too often. Somebody once described their music as a journey, but to me a journey is a lot more than sitting on a train that doesn't leave on time and then suddenly derails at full speed.

TG&S's attempts to vary the style are usually not very successful and further reveal their ineptitude. You have accept the 'everybody can play' premises as fundamental, and if you don't their approach doesn't work as often as I wish it would. And the thing is, I always get the feeling that TG&S's ineptude is an end in itself, as if they're being bad on purpose, which live recordings by the reincarnated band suggest as well. That, to me, is a kind of pretentiousness which isn't better than any other kind of pretentiousness.

Sov gott Rose-Marie full album playlist with bonus tracks

Hemåt full album playlist

Träd Gräs Och Stenar full album playlist

Rock för kropp och själ full album playlist

Box set including Djungelns lag, Mors mors + Kom tillsammans

Gärdet 12.6.70 full album playlist

Pärson Sound full album playlist

Live 1972 no links found

FLÄSKET BRINNER – Fläsket Brinner (Silence, 1971)

Instrumental 

International relevance: *** 

Ranked #4 on the blog's Top 25 list

One of those albums just about impossible to overestimate. From the first notes of ”Gånglåten” to the last ones of ”Musik från Liljevalchs”, this is progg perfection with everything you could possibly ask for: bittersweet folk harmonies, exemplary jazz influences, organic groove, powerful performances, excellent and perceptive playing that never overtakes the musical content, and instrumental as it is: no politics. And one of the most striking album covers ever. (Graphic artist Hans Esselius designed the cover, and alluding to the band's name – ”the pork is burning” – he actually used a real pig's head in real fire for the photograph.)

Fläsket Brinner attracted a multitude of top notch players over the years. Kenny Håkansson was with them for a short time (a line-up documented on double LP ”Festen på Gärdet”). Mikael Ramel joined the band in time for their second album ”Fläsket”. Their ever changing line-up featured Bo Hansson for a while. Jazz pianist Bobo Stenson used to join them on stage. Sweden's finest drummer Bo Skoglund was recruited for a later incarnation of the band. Not to mention original members Sten Bergman (organ, flute); Gunnar Bergsten (sax); Per Bruun (bass); Bengt ”Bengan” Dahlén (guitar), and the exceptional Erik ”Kapten” Dahlbäck, a powerhouse drummer that had an inutitive musical understanding and a force extremely important to early Fläsket Brinner.

'Power' is a key word when discussing Fläsket Brinner. They generated so much electricity during a show that they alone could have supplied energy to any Swedish mid-sized city for a week straight. In 1970 they supported their source inspiration Frank Zappa at Konserthuset, Stockholm (selections from the occasion are featured on ”Fläsket Brinner”). They simply must have blown him off the stage into the Baltic Sea and watched him drift away to the shores of Finland.

Fläsket Brinner's telepathic inter-member contact and their instinctive musical understanding made for immensely dazzling music, so intense and brilliant that its glow can never wear off. This is music for the past, for the present, for the future, for all ages to come.

Full album

BIB SET – It Wasn't Meant to Happen... (Toniton, 1969)

English vocals, instrumental

International relevance: ***

 

Ranked #23 on the blog's Top 25 list

An unbelievably rare album from the time of psychedelia's transition into progg. A Toniton original in VG (listed as VG++ but the grading didn't match the description) changed hands for over €460 several years ago, and if a copy in better condition would turn up, who knows what it would go for. Thankfully, reissues exist.

It's also one of the best progg LP's from the turn of the decade, with a psychedelic atmosphere almost as dark as the album cover. The jazzy drums and swirling reverb drenched organs will probably remind you of Hansson & Karlsson, but piano, bass and good sincere vocals add an original flavour not quite prevalent on any other album (at least not from Sweden). The mix is almost three-dimensional with sounds moving above your head and in front of your eyes (the sound your eyes can follow), and timbres disappear in the murky distance before re-entering close to your ears. To get the most out of ”It Wasn't Meant to Happen...”, you ought to play it from start to finish, in the dark with headphones on. Only then it will reveal its subjugating tenebrosity in all its thrillsome splendour.

Full album

RESAN – Resan (Epic, 1973)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

Ranked #21 on the blog's Top 25 list

”Resan” is one of those incredibly rare major label releases, with copies in good nick being in the same rarity league as Life's 1971 album. Actually, ”Resan” is like the inofficial second Life album, with guitarist Anders Nordh, bass player Paul Sundlin and drummer Thomas Rydberg all appearing on the album. While both Nordh and Sundlin have co-written some of the tracks on the album, it's more than anything Rydberg's project.

Not as heavy as its informal predecessor, ”Resan” relies a lot more on a West Coast sound approaching Tripsichord, David Crosby and Quicksilver Messenger Service in style. The songs are well-crafted, here and there with rich harmony vocals enhancing their inherent dreamy qualities. Some tracks take use of Nordh's heavy guitars, such as ”Hunger och svält” (one of the lesser tracks on the album, much too similar to The Impressions' ”People Get Ready”) and ”Solens vän”, but the overall feel is far more laidback than that of ”Life”. And in the end, it's a much more rewarding and splendorous album than ”Life”.

I think of the collectors market as a stage often open to an utterly vulgar behaviour, with inflated prices causing sensible people to become competitive, greedy predators. At the time of writing, there's a NM copy for sale on Discogs at €1,500. That's appalling, no matter how rare an album. Still, I understand why collectors lose their minds over ”Resan” – it is, after all, a masterpiece. Thankfully, the album has been reissued, making it obtainable even to us without a fancy house to sell for big bucks or a mother to kill for inheritance.

Full album playlist

SAMLA MAMMAS MANNA – Samla Mammas Manna (Silence, 1971)

Instrumental, Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

Ranked #14 on the blog's Top 25 list

There's something special about debut albums, sometimes showing artists in their fledgling phase while still trying to find their identity. At best they capture a certain spirit lost already at the second try, for better or for worse. Or that's how it used to be. Nowadays, record labels more often than not expect artists to be fully finished, marketable units already before the release of their first single (or iTunes file). There's not a huge difference between artists and genetically engineered crops anymore.

Their eponymous debut album would likely not be the first choice of the regular Samla Mammas Manna fan, but it's the one that remains my personal favourite. Recorded before percussionist Henrik ”Bebben” Öberg left the group and before guitarist Coste Apetrea joined them, the sound is very different to and more easy-going than that of second and third albums ”Måltid” and ”Klossa knapitatet”, more reliant on Lars Hollmer's keyboards, particularly his music box electric piano.

With less emphasis on intricacy, it relies more on mood and atmosphere. The well-known Samla playfulness is already evident (albeit in a not yet fully developed form), but the recordings have an almost basement-like ambience to them, making the album peculiarly ambiguous, charming yet oddly spooky. Although not similar in style, the feel of the album somehow reminds me of Czech underground band Plastic People Of The Universe. It's like peeking through the secret keyhole and what you see in there sets the album apart from more or less every other album there is.

”Samla Mammas Manna” is definitely a progressive album, but with less of the fireworks complexity typical to the later Apetrea line-up, I find it a more enduring listen.

Full album playlist with bonus tracks

PHILEMON ARTHUR AND THE DUNG - Philemon Arthur And The Dung (Silence, 1972)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: **

Ranked #20 on the blog's Top 25 list

Quite possibly the most peculiar progg album ever released, Philemon Arthur & The Dung's first (and for a long time, only) album still sounds as hilarious and bewildering as upon its original release in 1971. Philemon Arthur & The Dung caused an outrage when they won the Swedish Album of the year Grammy in 1972. So indignant was the music business establishment that no further national Grammy Awards ceremony were held until 1988. To add insult to the injury – at least as far as some people were concerned – Philemon Arthur & The Dung didn't even appear at the ceremony to collect their award. Instead, a reel-to-reel recorder was rolled onto stage, on which tracks from their self-titled album was played.

Thing is, there was no group. Or should I say, there were no group members known to anyone but a handful of people, including the staff of Silence Records and the members of Träd, Gräs & Stenar who had performed a cover version of Philemon Arthur's ”In kommer Gösta” at the Gärdet festival a year before Philemon Arthur themselves struck the unexptecting audience by baffled surprise.

The true identity of Philemon Arthur & The Dung remained a secret for decades, causing wild speculations as to who they really were. One of the most popular theories insisted that the name was a pseudonym for the Wiehe brothers Mikael (of highly successful Hoola Bandoola Band) and Thomas (with a a series of underappreciated solo albums under his belt). The idea was that the Wiehes had recorded the music while they were still kids. However, both have repeatedly denied it emphatically over the years. (Those who want a portrait of the artists as slightly younger men may want to check out the Moccers compilation released in 2004 – Moccers were a late 60's band featuring both brothers.) Others have suggested that Philemon Arthur & The Dung were in fact Risken Finns who released two albums in the 70's, while others in turn have named popular singer Dan Hylander as responsible for the eccentric, homemade recordings that caused the Grammy upheaval.

None of those assertions are, in fact, far-fetched as all suggested artists hail from the Skåne region in the south of Sweden, thereby speaking in a highly distinguishable Skåne dialect similar to the one heard on Philemon Arthur's album. However, Träd, Gräs & Stenar gave away a clue to the origins of the mysterious duo already with their Gärdet performance of "In kommer Gösta", when TG&S frontman Bo Anders Persson mentioned they got the song from someone in the small town of Torekov in the northwest part of Skåne. (Hylander and the Wiehe brothers are from Malmö, Risken Finns were from Lund.) In recent years, Philemon Arthur & The Dung have been identified as brothers Mats (today a school teacher) and Stellan Larsson from – you guessed it – Torekov.

Needless to say, the mystery surrounding them added to the public interest in Philemon Arthur & The Dung, but the truth is that even though the highly plausible identity of the band members has been revealed, the music they made has lost none of its quirky and bizarre appeal. Like many have done over the years, one could dismiss it as the ridiculous rantings of two kids in their mother's attic, and yes – ”Philemon Arthur & The Dung” is childish and silly and nonsensical, but the nonsense is incredibly uplifting, and the relentless banging of cookie jars instead of drums, the insane vocals and the unhinged hammering on guitars are all exhilarating and utterly exciting.

But more important, the songs are in fact good and irresistably melodic. The absurdist lyrics have serious strains, such as the eerie, post-apocalyptic ”Den sista veckan” (”the last week”), and ”Ingenting i din hjärna” (”nothing in your brain”) and ”Naturen” (”the nature”), both funny and cynical takes on the modern day consumerist society. Although entirely sung in Swedish, the uninhibited craziness of ”Philemon Arthur & The Dung” reaches far beyond any language barriers and reminds me of ”White Light/White Heat” by The Velvet Underground, albeit entirely free of distorted guitars. At least entirely free of distorted electric guitars.

A truly original act, Philemon Arthur & The Dung have inspired many Swedish bands over the years, including long running genre defying avant/dada band Dom Dummaste who covered "Men va fanken". Decidedly unpretentious and without the slightest ambitions to impress people, ”Philemon Arthur & The Dung” is a marvellous effort and an obvious inclusion on this blog's Top 25 list of progg albums.

Musikens historia del I & II full album playlist