EGBA – Live In 75 (no label, 2017; rec. 1975)

 Instrumental, Swedish vocals, other languages
International relevance: ***

A streaming-only release from EGBA's missing year between the first and second album. Professionally recorded at Bullerbyn, a music pub in the middle of Stockholm. with transitional line-up of Ulf Adåker, Ulf Andersson, Ahmadu Jarr, Bjarne Roupé, Harald Svensson, Göran Lagerberg and Åke Eriksson. It's closer in style to ”Live At Montmartre” from 1977, meaning a heavy African influence, but the kick-off track, the otherwise unavailable ”14 ton trotyl” is unusually heavy and the collection's high point. EGBA fans should really treat themselves to this obscure release.

Full album playlist (Spotify)

TRETTIOÅRIGA KRIGET – Archival releases 1998-2020 (rec. 1970-1981)

Trettioåriga Kriget's archives have been trawled through several times over the years by mainly Mellotronen. Together these releases make up a parallell history of the band, with both live tapes and other sorts of material, covering Trettioåriga Kriget's entire lifespan, also including the years following their reformations in the 90s and the 00s. 

Glorious War (Mellotronen, 2004: rec. 1970-1971)
English vocals, instrumental
International relevance: ***

The most interesting of those archive clear-outs is ”Glorious War”, for the sole reason it doesn't sound much like we know Trettioåriga Kriget's style. Consisting of tapes from the very earliest days of their existence, they hadn't yet taken to the adolescent philosophical rants of their later Swedish lyrics, and they were still too sloppy performers to live up to their own musical pretentions that make most of their records sound so constipated. They try hard, but fail which is relieving to hear. Not that ”Glorious War” is very good – parts of ”Konserten”, overlong at its ridiculous 18 minutes are OK – but it's amusing to hear them make such fools out of themselves. The bass solo of ”Assimilation” is the worst I've heard since Malaria. The track ”Thirty Years War” sounds like a nod to the early Mothers Of Invention but without Zappa's brain. ”Gloriwas War” is 53 minutes of pure spiteful fun.

War Years (Mellotronen, 2008; rec. 1971-2007)
Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: ***

The entire second disc of this double CD is dedicated to the 00's so I leave that aside. Disc 1 covers the band's original ten years. It starts off with a crappy sounding 1971 live recording in the same klutzy vein as ”Glorious War” before moving on to a couple of 1974 selections. The Trettioåriga Kriget sound is beginning to fall into place but the recordings are unbalanced and out of tune which hardly makes the band a favour. Remaining recordings on disc 1 are from '76-'77 amd '79-'81 and tell us what we already knew, that the band went from ostentatious prog rock stuck up on its own holiness to bad new wave.

War Memories (Mellotronen 1998, rec. 1972-1981)
Swedish vocals, English vocals, wordless vocals, instrumental
International relevance: ***

The first compilation of Trettioåriga Kriget's unreleased material appeared already in 1998 and is a mish-mash of studio recordings, radio sessions, live tapes and what have you. So inconsistent and haphazard it's hard to make any sense of it. An early stab at hard rock, later era synth pop and yodeling. (Literally, that is – I'm not talking about Robert Zima's twisted scrotum falsetto.) It does however have early song ”I've Got No Time” which sounds like at least a half decent late 60s/early 70s American rural rock band.

Konserten -73 / King Eric (no label, 2010; rec. 1972-1973)
Instrumental
International relevance: ***

A CD-r single released in 100 copies. ”Konserten” is a trimmed down 1973 recording of the piece from ”Glorious War”, slightly better because it's shorter. ”King Eric” is a crap-fi 1972 recording which starts out as bad jazz before ending in a complete unlistenable mess.

War Diaries, Vol. 1 (no label, 2018; rec. 1974)
War Diaries, Vol. 2 (no label, 2020; rec. 1976)
Swedish vocals, English vocals, wordless vocals
International relevance: ***

Two volumes released through Trettioåriga Kriget's Bandcamp only. The cover for volume 1 says 1974 but some of it is actually from 1975. The four tracks from ”Progglådan” are here too which means that ”Progglådan's” 1973 date is wrong (as is a lot of info in that mess of a box set). Mostly live recordings in good radio sound, plus one demo in OK rehearsal space fidelity.

The second volume is a complete concert recorded Swedish Radio's Tonkraft series in November 1976. The dreaded yodel reappears, but it's still quite possibly the best ever live document of Trettioåriga Kriget, even to my ears, with a focused performance and a well-rounded sound. It's certainly the best to surface officially, head and shoulders above any of the Mellotronen releases. Why this wasn't released first of all is a mystery.

Glorious War full album playlist
War Years disc 1 full album playlist (Bandcamp)
War Memories full album playlist (Bandcamp)
Konserten -73 (first track only)
War Diaries, Vol. 1 full album playlist (Bandcamp)
War Diaries, Vol. 2 full album playlist (Bandcamp)

HAYENA BAND – Live In Studio '77 (no label, 2023; rec. 1977)

 

Instrumental
International relevance: ***

This is just about as obscure as it gets as this album doesn't even exist, only just a little. (Don't let the ringwear and price tag on the cover fool you.)

Hayena Band was a West Coast sextet that only ever released one track, on Caprice Records various artists comp ”Tvärsnitt (10 Unga Svenska Jazz- Och Rockgrupper 1978)” where they shared space with bands like Kattegatt, Boojwah Kids and Alter Ego (a.k.a. Alter Echo). After Hayena Band disbanded in 1978, two of the members – drummer Werner Modiggård and saxophonist Claes Carlsson – eventually ended up in Eldkvarn. The track on ”Tvärsnitt” is ”Puerto Tune” taken from a full length 1977 studio session held at Swedish Radio Gothenburg, and that session is what was sneaked out to various streaming platforms in 2023 as ”Live In Studio '77”.

The style is Latin infused jazz rock, and while that may not sound too appealing, this is not your usual dreary funk fusion. It's very intense and powerful with fiery guitars and hard blowing sax. It simply rocks hard! This band must have been a real firebomb on stage if they could work up such a frenzy in a sterile radio studio. I don't know if there's a viable market for their kind of music, but going only by the high quality of their stuff, this is so very worthy of a proper release. It just isn't fair it should just be swept into an unlit corner of the internet. I had no idea this existed until I stumbled upon it more or less by chance, and I'm afraid most people won't do it all. And ”Live In Studio '77” deserves so much better than that. It's a gem.

Full album playlist

FAGERSTA STADSMUSIKKÅR & BERÄTTARGRUPP – Norbergs-strejken 1891-92 (no label, 1980)

Swedish vocals, spoken word
International relevance: -

A virtually unknown double album documenting a stage play written by Sture Karlsson with music composed by Anders Lindström, and first performed in 1977. It deals with a miners strike in 1891-92 which is one of the labor movement's biggest conflicts. It started when the workers in Kallmora iron ore mine suddenly got less wages than promised and quickly grew to a nationwide concern when Sweden's then Prime Minister Hjalmar Branting came to Kallmora to appear for the workers. Military forces were called in against the strikers, but the soldiers surprisingly sided with the miners. The workers eventually settled for an agreement that didn't entirely fulfilled their claims.

It's a historically relevant incident, and so is the theatrical description of it as it inspired several more so called ”workers plays” around Sweden in the following years. But that doesn't mean it's fun to listen to on record, especially not a double album. It's virtually impossible to sit through ”Norbergs-strejken 1891-92” with its amateurish acting (I don't think any of the actors was a professional) and the terrible music. The songs are all in the typical vein of all acoustic political progg albums from the 70s. The message is the all-important thing here, so the songs are merely meant to carry the narrative and not necessarily to entertain. And they certainly don't. I can't see anyone getting a lot out of this album, except for possibly one or two local Norberg scholars wanting to dig deeper into the area's political history. 

Marie Selander also sang about the strike in the appropriately titled "Norbergsstrejken" on her fine album "Från den svenska vildmarken".

No links found.

A SEVEN INCH SPECIAL, VOL. 1: 3 POLITICAL SINGLES

Three political various artists singles with a strong local flavor.

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Historien går igen (Manifest, EP 1977)
Featured artists: Ted Ström / Thores Trio / Magnus Nilsson
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

A four-track EP released on Manifest – the premier label of Northern Sweden – to raise money for a feature length documentary on the fate of small town Karlsvik, directed by Kerstin Wixe and Ylva Mårtens. The subtitle for ”Historien går igen” is ”Stöd filmen om Karlsvik!” (=”support the Karlsvik movie!”). An early example of fundraising.

Karlsvik is a very small town, a village really, just outside of Luleå (home of the Manifest label), with a population of then only 280, and once dependent on the local ironworks before it was blown-up in the early 20th century which almost forced the village to shut down completely. The same thing was about to happen again in the late 70s (hence the title ”Historien går igen”, ”history repeats itself”) when the local grocery store was about to shut down. According to the EP's liner notes. a municipal commissioner says in the movie that they'd prefer if they just could let Karlsvik cease and desist altogether. This was actually not uncommon in Sweden during the 70s when many a rural area bled both financially and populationwise to the bigger cities in the South. Several artists, especially from the affected regions, dealt with it in their songs, most notably Bernt Staf and Ted Ström. Not surprisingly, Ted Ström contributes to the lead-off title track to this EP, an acoustic number also included on his ”Kärva lägen” album.

The remaining three tracks are shared between obscure band Thores Trio (who had one full album out in 1981), and Magnus Nilsson who gets two songs. Nilsson was actually a member of Gothenburgians Text & Musik, and although none of the tracks on this EP is any good, Nilsson's ”Den första butiken” is the best. The style of all four selections is rather typical political songs, and if I am to point out any certain value of this release, it would be exclusively historical.

If the movie and its accompanying EP had anything to do with it is beyond my knowledge, but the village of Karlsvik still exists; population 232 in 2020. 

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Norrbottenplattan 1 (Manifest, 1977)

Featured artists: Anton Swedbergs Swängjäng / Contraband / Thores Trio / Norrlåtar / Håkan Rudehäll
 Swedish vocals, other languages
International relevance: *

The second of the two volumes of ”Norrbottenplattan” is already on this blog. This first volume was released a year earlier than volume 2, in 1977. Featured on both releases are Anton Swedbergs Swängjäng, the nebulous musical collective who had different members on any given occasion. Their track here is one of their weakest – ”Playa Plannya” is several songs in one mixing show tunes with trad jazz, like a miniature cabaret.

Contraband is featured with a song named ”Euskefeurat” which soon also became the name of the band. As such they had a long career which earned their mix of folk sounds and comedy quite some popularity for reasons that will remain obscure with me.

Thores Trio is back again here with a track in the same sort of old timey folk vein and just as forgettable as the one on ”Historien går igen”.

Norrlåtar is the most credible band in this lot but their contribution is among their weakest tracks.

Håkan Rudehäll released at least one album on his own, and at one point contributed an essay on the lack of work in Northern Sweden to an anthology book published in 1973. His track on ”Norrbottenplattan” is a jolly ditty of which there are seemingly thousands in the field of political song. And none of them is worth hearing.

All in all, this is for local patriots only. Others should steer clear.

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Livet i Kvarnbyn / Vi bygger landet (no label, 1982)

Featured artists: Pär Holmertz / Leif Moe / Maria Samuelsson / Mats Sköldberg / Stefan Sporsén 
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Quite possible one of the most obscure and secretive releases on the blog, this was a local release from Mölndal, a neighbouring town to Gothenburg. The two songs on the single was culled from a stage play about the labourers movement's development in the Mölndal region in the early 1900s. Info on this release is scarce to say the least; it's not even listed on Discogs and I don't recognize most of the names on the cover either, but it appears that Leif and Ole Moe (brothers, assumably) later had a couple of private releases out, and Pär Holmertz (guitar, bass, drums) could possibly be the Per Holmertz who later did some engineering work for bands in the Gothenburg area. Trumpeter Stefan Sporsén however has had a long career afterwards, playing with several of Sweden's best known artists in more recent times. Not that any of this really matters because it's nothing worth hunting down. ”Livet i Kvarnbyn” is an undistinguished track that reminds me of equally undistinguished Christian singer/songwriter rock from the same time (but without the Christian message). B side ”Vi bygger landet” sounds like any old laborers movement song, and without any proper songwriter's credit here it might very well be. The production is pretty good, especially for a release like this, so I assume somebody put a little cash into its realization.

from Historien går igen:
Ted Ström - Historien går igen
Thores Trio - Hit kom dom

from Norrbottenplattan 1:
Contraband - Euskefeurat
Anton Swedbergs Swängjäng - Playa Plannja
Thores Trio - Norrbottenssången
Norrlåtar - Lakkolaulu Pajalasta

Livet i Kvarnbyn:
No links found.

KLARA EXPRESS – 1975 (no label, 1975) / WASA EXPRESS – Live At Jarlateatern 1976 (no label, 1976)

Instrumental
International relevance ***/***

The seeds of Wasa Express were already in the ground by 1975, although their debut album wasn't released until 1977. They recorded an LP's worth of material as Klara Express in 1975 in the legendary Decibel studio in Stockholm where myriads of albums have been recorded. If these recordings were made as demos or if they were in fact intended for release I don't know, but they remained locked away for decades before getting a digital-only release.

Klara Express was a very different-sounding band than when turning into Wasa Express, and this incarnation featured EGBA trumpeter Ulf Adåker and trombone player Nils Landgren who both left early on. They were obviously a balancing force in the band, as those Klara Express tapes top everything made after their departure. Instead of the daredevil gymnastics that make Wasa Express such an overbearing band, Klara Express focused on the groove. Åke Eriksson is a drummer well-known for his skills, and here he pulls out every funky trick in the book to great success. The syncopes blare away with precision but also all of the feel it takes to make it swing, groove and funk. It's fusion music alright, but it's in the higher legion of jazz funk, much better than most albums in the same mould. It's a pity these recordings weren't released back in the day, and even greater pity what the loss of Adåker and Landgren did to the band.

”Live at Jarlateatern 1976” is an early document of Wasa Express, and while it still has remnants from their early Klara characteristics, they were already heading for their typical style where it was more important to dazzle and baffle the audience with instrumental acrobatics than to present something with emotional substance. And even in those moments where they emphasize the funk bits left over from the Klara Express days, it sounds dull and calculated. ”Jarlateatern” isn't quite as terrible as their later properly released albums, but it's still dead boring and clinical.

None of these albums have been released physically. Both of them were originally available for free download from Åke Eriksson's website, but are now available for streaming on the regular platforms.

Klara Express full album playlist (Spotify)
Live At Jarlateatern full album playlist (Spotify)

ROGER EKMAN – Ångest (no label, 1978)

 
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

This is an album I've been eager to hear for years, but being in the three-figure league pricewise, it's not one you easily stumble upon (or can afford if you, like me, are on a tight budget). It's been conspicuously absent from the Internet as well. As the years went by, my hopes for a true gem only got higher, but I was afraid it would in fact be another Axelsson dump of incompetence. Thankfully, it isn't near Axelsson's unfathomable crappiness at all, and despite its dark lyrical topics, it's not a fright trip into the mental abyss like Stephen David Heitkotter either. Instead, it's a surprisingly accessible and well-crafted piece of work.

”Ångest” means ”anxiety” in English, and the lyrics deal with the insufficient mental health care system from an indeed personal standpoint. Knowing the lyrics capture firsthand experiences of depression and anxiety, they hit harder than if they were only an outsider's proclamations to make easy political points. Better still is that Ekman was a talented songwriter and a good enough singer who also managed to assemble a line-up of able students from Stockholm's distinguished Adolf Fredrik's music school to get his ideas across. The arrangements often have a jazzy feel but with its acoustic framework including flute, sax and upright bass, they never fall into the dreaded fusion trap. Some songs have a Latin touch as opening track ”Väntan”, while ”Besök hos en allmänpraktiserande läkare (specialitet nervösa besvär)” is decidedly folksy. Tobias Peterson compares Ekman to Ronny Åström in his progg encyclopedia, but to be honest, I don't hear Åström as much as I hear someone like Mikael Ramel thanks to the album's versatile musicality and Ekman's melodic sense. The album was recorded live-in-the-studio and has a highly appealing organic well-balanced sound rather unusal to private pressings – the richness of the upright bass is particularly sweet.

”Ångest” had a run of only 100 copies in 1978 and has never been repressed. Most of them were given away to friends, but a batch of overstock copies was later discovered and sold with a newly produced booklet authorized by Ekman himself, as the original insert was missing in some of the covers. To keep the original manufacturing costs to a minimum, the album came in sleeves from other records turned inside out, and were re-glued and stamped with Roger Ekman's name along with the album title.

As the album's raison d'être is the lyrics, an important aspect is lost to non-Swedes so it might not appear as urgent to foreigners, but with Ekman's knack for songwriting and the empathic backing musicians, it's still an album several notches above the standard homemade progg album. Despite ”Ångest's” lyrical concerns, it's a beautiful album to listen to and one in a crying need for a proper reissue. Until then you might want to check out this website in case any copies of the re-circulated original are still available.

Full album

GRUPPKORSBANDET - Hör och häpna (no label, 1976)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

The liner notes read:

This isn't an ordinary record. We're neither skilled nor commercial - you have to be that to get an album released by an established label. That's why we've made this record ourselves. /.../ We can't allow the music being taken over completely by a flock of professional musicians while the rest of us hardly dare play to ourselves, let alone to others. MUSIC BELONGS TO ALL OF US!

How cute. Too bad it's all progg baloney. It sounds just like something those nine members of Gruppkorsbandet had repeated like a mantra to get it right like a quote from Mao's little red book, probably in front of the mirror so that they could strike the perfect progg pose while parroting the tired old progg credo to any old person unlucky enough to be around to hear. It's all nonsense, because nobody stopped anyone from playing anything. Not even in the 70's.

Take a look at the cover. The typeface looks like something off an information brochure from the official Don't Have Fun Institute saying Eat Brown Rice And Be Boring. Look at the nine regular people and their regular people postures. Look at the dull, washed out greyness of it all. Take the record out, put it on. It sounds exactly like you'd expect from the yummy-yummy brown rice munchers with regular people postures pictured in forty shades of grey. Nothing wrong with regular people or brown rice or even the colour grey, but hey...

It's all acoustic folk styled songs with a typical political bent (needless to say, there's an Eisler/Brecht track, mandatory to albums like this). Several members sing simultaneously, Vietnam-solidarity-action-group-with-righteous-placards style. If you want to sing along yourself, a lyric sheet is included. Just yell away.

And, the final nail in the coffin of a stillborn album: a Fria Proteatern cover.

Music belongs to everybody. Fine and dandy, but please keep me out of this.

No links found.

LÖTSJÖN – Ostbiten (no label, 1976) / Things That Never Die (no label, 1982)

Swedish vocals, English vocals, instrumental
International relevance: **/**

A band from the Stockholm area that released two privately pressed albums of twee usually acoustic and harmony driven folk rock in a mellow British style. Half decent vocals, some nice fingerpicking in the John Renbourn vein and some bad wah-wah guitar (but that alone probably triggers the instincts of collectors worldwide, then call it 'acid folk' and they'll cream their pants).

”Ostbiten” contains a rosy-cheeked cover of Jethro Tull's ”Mother Goose” and a pointless version of Stephen Still's ”4+20”. Second album followed six years later but is similar to the first only with an off-putting 80's sounding Tascam sound.

This is the kind of band that their friends say they love, giving them an inflated self-esteem and prompting them to release ”Live 1978-1979” with previously unreleased live recordings from the gap years between their two original albums. Only for streaming, but still.

I bet you can find Xian albums in a flea market near you that is more exciting than this. Or better yet, get some real UK folk. You don't need this.

From ”Ostbiten”:

Ostbiten

4+20 

Neptun

Mother Goose

”Things That Never Die”:

Full album playlist