Nachdem ja unter "Was ist Prog Rock" "symphonic prog" erörtert wird (gelle Mr. Grillarden-Mister
), lasse ich mich hier nicht weiter dazu aus, sondern bringe endich auch mal einen Beitrag mit ebenfalls einer echten Rarität:
RADIOMÖBEL - Tramseböx + Gudang Garam, 1975/78, Sweden
Die Infos musste ich aber doch aus dem Netz zusammensuchen und habe zur Arbeitseinsparung weitestgehend die Texte übernommen)
Huvudmusiker:
Andrus Kangro Gitarr
Carin Bohlin Sång
Göran Andersson Bas
Mikael Skoog Trummor
Richard Moberg Keyboard
Their first LP
1975, Chockskivor 1 (Privatpressad)
2066, BOR-TRANS01-4
Debut album Tramseböx from Swedish psych / prog band. 9 tracks of ambitious, spooky 1970s psychedelia with atmospheric and cosmic sounds. With Swedish lyrics and focus on guitars, that are often quite fuzzed out. Compared to their 2nd album, "Gudang garam", this is more in the direction of hippie psych, at times remiscent of both ALGARNAS TRADGARD as well as TRÄD, GRÄS & STENAR. Even seen them being compared to KENNELMUS and BENT WIND. The sound have been cleaned up from the mastertape, and of course we add the history behind RADIOMÖBEL in the booklet as well !
It is available e.g here (
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9A5GMUZ1)
(auch als CD u.a. bei ebay)
Näheres:
This first LP by Swedish psych/prog band Radiomobel is a rare delight indeed. Even among hardcore local collectors only a handful copies are known to exist, although one did sneak its way into Hans Pokora's "Collector Dreams" books. Beyond that attention is scarce, not to say non-existent, despite this being undoubtedly one of the top 5 LPs out of our tiny corner of the drug music world.
Radiomobel was a 5-man outfit from Lund, which is an old university town in southern Sweden. The members went on to other musical adventures after cutting two albums with this band, but did not receive much fame or fortune in any incarnation. The line-up is your standard rock'n'roll setting, but the music is pretty far from your standard rock'n'roll. It's ambitious, atmospheric, possibly progressive -- if it weren't for the fact that the band began recording (in a basement, no less) when they were still in a discovery mode; before the forms and ideas had ossified into some flawless King Crimson nightmare. No, Radiomobel was a garage band on drugs, which is how a lot of great music has been created. The drummer isn't quite as good as he thinks he is which makes for a truly psychedelic fractional time displacement; the rest of the band sounds like they're getting the songs right for the very first time. The lead guitar explorations are full of curiosity and wonder, as though the guy has no idea where he is going to go next. Behind this a completely undistorted rhythm guitar puts you right into a high school assembly hall gig.
This isn't precisely a "jam" LP, though. The songs are fairly short, and obviously carefully crafted, as if the band had written tunes that they must work hard to live up to. Of the nine songs, six are vocal numbers, although it's usually a case of two verses and then a long guitar freakout. Except for "Three miles", the lyrics are in Swedish and it's a crying shame that non-Scandinavians won't be able to catch them, because these words are totally out there, man, and the smooth Lund accent is perfect for spooky 1970s psychedelia. The rhymes are carefree or non-existent, the lines do not fit the musical rhythm terribly well, and the metaphors are so spaced out I can only surmise that this was the product of a few nights in the company of our local psilocybe shrooms... although several of the lyrics actually were written by the band leader's dad!
Some of the words is big cosmic stuff, other tracks deal with environmental and social issues, and I'm still trying to figure out what the hell "Three miles" is about; a local streetcar? The suicide trip of "Baksidan i moll" ("Backside in a minor key", roughly) is perhaps the most remarkable track lyrically:
Sewer vultures circle overhead in heavy sweeps
And the symbol of death hangs from the trees
The rumble of death planes and the sulphur oxide
Where everything turns to gray
Where every tiny hollow
Becomes a dusky abyss
Where every mountain top
Is hidden in the mist
Where your love is a punishment
And your life is a threat
Where your death becomes a friend
At whose feet you collapse
[loosely translated]
The preceding "Hav" ("Ocean") is my (= Autor aus dem Netz) favorite track on the LP. I have to look to the best of Algarnas Tradgard to find something equally stunning out of the Swedish hippie-psych scene. After a deranged voice yells the title a couple of times, crashing cymbals and big fat acid chords fill the universe, while the atmospheric voice sings a cosmic hymn to the ocean. This gives way to a slow, deliberately amateurish musical build-up reminiscent of American band HOOTCH, crescending in a "European Son" frenzy, before a spacey Quicksilver '68 jam takes off, then is abruptly abandoned. What can I say?
Side 2 is slightly weaker than side 1 due to an atypical folk/troubadour number, which is the only spot on the album that is vaguely reminiscent of the political singer/songwriter garbage that was going on in mainstream rock circles in Sweden in the 1970s, while bands like Radiomobel, Algarnas Tradgard and Trad Gras & Stenar created world-class psychedelia. If I were to gaze across the ocean for something reminiscent of Radiomobel the answer would be the KENNELMUS album as performed by BENT WIND, and do not doubt for a minute that this is just as good as the two of them. On a personal note, I can hear echoes of my childhood in the moods and vibes ringing through this LP -- and Sweden in the 1970s was a strange, eerie place to be. For a foreigner it may sound even more unearthly, almost like an Eastern Bloc album perhaps.
Radiomobel followed this extraordinary debut with the "Gudang Garam" LP, which is a more well-known and undeniably weaker trip, bringing in extensive use of moog and a flat-sounding female vocalist, although some of the crude eeriness from "Tramsebox" is retained. News flash: one of this album's most longtime advocates, Stefan Kery at Subliminal Sounds, tells me that he's planning a CD reissue for the second half of this year. Let's hope and pray that it happens.
CD
1. Vi Hatar Stenar (4:52)
2. Den Nya (2:10)
3. Hav (8:55)
4. Baksidan I Moll (4:18)
5. Dagen (8:22)
6. Den Sista Vännen (3:04)
7. Three Miles (3:56)
8. Våra Ord (5:01)
Total speltid: 40:38 (A
LP
Sida A:
1. Vi Hatar Stenar (4:52)
2. Den Nya (2:10)
3. Hav (8:55)
4. Baksidan I Moll (4:18)
Sida B:
1. Dagen (8:22)
2. Den Sista Vännen (3:04)
3. Three Miles (3:56)
4. Våra Ord (5:01)
Total speltid: 40:38 (
First released as a private press in 1978, the 2nd album is a classic slice of Swedish, keyboard driven prog with a very DIY production. Almost symphonic in its execution and performance, and with great swathes of classic synth and guitar work, the overall sound is reminiscent of bands like Camel, or Van Der Graaf Generator in their more contemplative moments. An excellent hidden slice of undiscovered prog taking the musical journey to it’s highlight in the 15 minute "Flugornas morgon".
Get it here (
http://rapidshare.com/files/13457705/ra ... __swe_.rar) (auch als CD u.a. bei ebay)
Beispiele (warum da 1975 steht, obwohl das Album 1978 erschienen sein soll, weiß ich nicht)
Ich weiß nicht mehr warum und woher, jedenfalls hatten wir damals (zu Zeiten meiner letzten Band) die Platte Gudang Garam und bekamen davon Einflüsse in unsere Musik (die aber deutlich rockiger wurde - wie andernorts mitgeteilt, bringe ich dann mal Beispiele hier; kann aber gut sein, dass es eher auf dem Forumstreffen ist
).
Nachfolgend noch die beiden Covers
