Backing Vocals, Piano, Synthesizer – Helmut Zerlett
Bass – Rike Gratt
Bass, Grand Piano, Synthesizer, Zither – Matthias Keul
Congas, Drums – Stefan Krachten
Congas, Percussion – Olek Gelba
Guitar – Dominik Von Senger
Oboe, Saxophone – Wolfgang Schubert
Percussion, Timbales – Reiner Linke
Vocals – Damo Suzuki
Barely pausing for breath after 1983's Colours And Soul, Dunkelziffer delivered In The Night the following year, their revolving line-up prompting an evolving sound. Though the playful elements of their debut remained through a trio of sun-blushed dubbers, the album also housed the ensemble's most dense, intense and serious tracks to date. The core septet of Zerlett, Linke, Krachten, Von Senger, Keul, Gelba and Schubert returned as well as the new bassist Rike Gratt, each in their own flow state on this seven track LP. But it was all change behind the mic for In The Night, as Coco Claus and Josefa Martens moved on, while Rebop Kwaku Baah, whose deep and rhythmic vocals decorated most of their debut, had sadly passed away while on tour with Jimmy Cliff the previous year. Luckily a perfect reinforcement was waiting in the wings, and the unmistakable Damo Suzuki led the charge with Helmut Zerlett taking double duties on backing vocals. The loose limbed reggae of 'Watch On My Head' offers the warmest of welcomes on the A1, a swaying bassline underpinning breezy woodwind and synthetic fanfares with Suzuki's treated vocals forming the final instrumental layer. Things take a jazzier turn on 'Sunday Morning', in which cascading harps and glistening arps clearing the way for a snaking rhythm piano to take the lead. Twisting and turning through its four minute runtime, the track sees Wolfgang Schubert's sax sparkle while Suzuki's voice has never sounded so tender. Shifting through the gears as we approach the midpoint, Dunkelziffer drop into 'Retrospection', thirteen whole minutes of pulsating and powerful psych-rock retooled for the new wave era. Leaving the fuzzbox back in Haight-Ashbury, the group layer chorus-drenched guitars and bright keyboards into a sky-scraping groove. Yelped mantras and untamed horns add a new found intensity balanced by the limber bassline and nuanced percussion which steals the spotlight during the final quarter. The B-side brings a moment of breezy beachfront cool via 'Q', a sun-kissed stroll from Methaniac fusion into ska-tinged art rock before plunging headfirst into the abrasive psychobilly of '(Do Watch What You Can) Prof.', a sub-three minute headfuck of atonal horns, off kilter percussion and overlapping vocals from Suzuki and Zerlett. Invigorated after that short sharp shock, the group lay a love song on us, the sweet nothings of 'I See Your Smile' bobbing on a Caribbean tide. Pure, playful and hard to resist, this moment of pop perfection was the ideal candidate for the album's single. There's room for one more mood swing as we reach the finale, closing cut 'Oriental Cafe' upping the intensity to deliver ten minutes of tribal percussion and Eastern influence in the same vein as 'Still Der Neuen Zeit' on their debut. Slashing wah-guitars and tumbling toms form a dislocated rhythm beneath the haunting trio of eerie oboe, warped electronics and shamanic vocals, sustaining the tension until the mutant funk monster cometh.
Welcome to the world of Dunkelziffer - a hip hive mind who buzzed away in the post-industrial decay of K?ln's Stollwerck complex. Taking a radical approach to sound, style and group dynamics, this loose collective of musicians and artists blazed an experimental trail through the 80s, offering an alternative vision of German pop fit for a decade of constant change. Emerging in the wake of Can's late seventies supernova, Dunkelziffer became the centre of gravity for a new era of creativity in K?ln. Embracing the stylistic freedom of this fresh start alongside the time and space offered by their residency in the Palazzo Schoko, their jam sessions, often including associates from the Food Band, Phantom Band and Catalans Dream Band as well as anyone passing through, soon segued into a (slightly) more formal ensemble, though free-thinking and free-movement remained central ideologies. Leaving egos well outside the door, Dunkelziffer wrote and recorded with no hierarchy, offering each member an equal stake in songwriting and sonics. Unsurprisingly the result is a wild stylistic fusion, equal parts art-rock, dub, soul, and jazz which, to the eternal credit of the collective comes together with an unconventional brilliance.
On their 1983 debut, Colours And Soul, Dunkelziffer offered an hour long odyssey through the fringes of the pop landscape, creating a kaleidoscopic journey through sun-kissed skank, coastal funk, demented drum circles and tachycardic new wave. Appearing from the chaos of an outboard explosion, opener 'Kedema' lays the foundations for the seductive strangeness which follows, rewiring a lilting dub rhythm with skewed synth tones and curious percussion as late-Can man Rebop Kwaku Baah's unique vocals form a lopsided melody. Island undulations give way to angular excitations on 'Bleib Night So Lang Im Schatten Stehn', a propulsive piece of new wave alive with Wolfgang Schubert's skronking horns and some poised female vocals. From there the group bask in the light of their own miracle, surrendered to the seven minute groove of 'This is How You Came', a sublime psychedelic blend of hypnotic bass, frazzled guitars and jazz-rock interludes. 'Keine Python' signposts the way to Babylon by autobahn before tribal electronic trio 'Dark Number', 'Stil Der Neuen Zeit' and 'Zufall In Der Wirklichkeit' take us to the midpoint in a polyrhythmic trance. 'S.O. 36' opens the B-side with an overload of adrenaline as a lurching AKAI-ready half time transforms into the fast paced motorik stomp of a jazz-punk freakout. The dance-floor friendly 'Strom' follows, embracing a similar strain of sticky industrial funk as Unknown Cases' anthemic 'Masimba Bele', while 'Free' leads us back into the light, riding the thermals over a sparkling shoreline as the cannabis psychosis gives way to the purest reggae high. The playful 'Colours And Soul' serves some hip and horizontal diy-dub on the B4, beachballs splashing into the surf before interlude 'Arche Noah' nudges into
Almightily obscure when you consider that Jaki Liebezeit was drummer and Damo Suzuki contributed vocals and it's probably the most interesting record either made post the Future Days.
Very much in thrall to the post punk sounds coming out of the UK and Reggae, it's very mixed bag both musically and artistically. But it is rather fascinating. Damo definitely can't sing Reggae...but the most successful songs here are the Reggae ones particularly Python, a cut up female vocal enchanting on a sinuous post-punk type Reggae groove. The addition of 80s sax on many tracks will divide opinion.
Essential for CAN fans I reckon and seemingly one of the better 80s album by former CAN members.
Taking a radical approach to sound, style and group dynamics, this loose collective of musicians and artists blazed an experimental trail through the '80s, offering an alternative vision of German pop fit for a decade of constant change. Emerging in the wake of Can's late seventies supernova, Dunkelziffer became the center of gravity for a new era of creativity in Köln. Embracing the stylistic freedom of this fresh start alongside the time and space offered by their residency in the Palazzo Schoko, their jam sessions, often including associates from the Food Band, Phantom Band and Catalans Dream Band as well as anyone passing through, soon segued into a (slightly) more formal ensemble, though free-thinking and free movement remained central ideologies . . . On their 1983 debut, Colours And Soul, Dunkelziffer offered an hour-long odyssey through the fringes of the pop landscape, creating a kaleidoscopic journey through sun-kissed skank, coastal funk, demented drum circles and tachycardic new wave. Appearing from the chaos of an outboard explosion, opener 'Kedema' lays the foundations for the seductive strangeness which follows, rewiring a lilting dub rhythm with skewed synth tones and curious percussion as late-Can man Rebop Kwaku Baah's unique vocals form a lopsided melody. Island undulations give way to angular excitations on 'Bleib Night So Lang Im Schatten Stehn', a propulsive piece of new wave alive with Wolfgang Schubert's skronking horns and some poised female vocals. From there the group bask in the light of their own miracle, surrendered to the seven-minute groove of 'This is How You Came', a sublime psychedelic blend of hypnotic bass, frazzled guitars and jazz-rock interludes. 'Keine Python' signposts the way to Babylon by autobahn before tribal electronic trio 'Dark Number', 'Stil Der Neuen Zeit' and 'Zufall In Der Wirklichkeit' take us to the midpoint in a polyrhythmic trance. 'S.O. 36' opens the B-side with an overload of adrenaline as a lurching AKAI-ready half time transforms into the fast-paced motorik stomp of a jazz-punk freakout. The dancefloor friendly 'Strom' follows, embracing a similar strain of sticky industrial funk as Unknown Cases' anthemic 'Masimba Bele', while 'Free' leads us back into the light, riding the thermals over a sparkling shoreline as the cannabis psychosis gives way to the purest reggae high. The playful 'Colours And Soul' serves some hip and horizontal DIY-dub on the B4, beachballs splashing into the surf before interlude 'Arche Noah' nudges into the highlife heat beat of 'Don't Ask Me'. Finally it falls to 'Beside The Light' to close out the set, a hazy piece of ecstatic pop equally informed by each of the diverse influences which came before.
Guitar, Synthesizer, Keyboards, Flute – Dominik Von Senger
Percussion – Olek Gelba, Reiner Linke
Saxophone – Wolfgang Klangenbert
Synthesizer, Piano – Helmut Zerlett
Voice – Kelly Ancel (tracks: A3, A5)
Active in Cologne’s Krautrock scene in the early ’80s, Dominik von Senger was a member of the post-punk groups Dunkelziffer and Phantom Band, both of which also included Can’s Jaki Liebezeit, Damo Suzuki and Rosko Gee.
Right out of the '70s, Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit formed a new band, Phantom Band, obviously to carry on where a creativity-depleted Can had left. Yes, the group's eponymous debut, released in 1980, has the "Krautrock goes worldbeat in the cold wave" feel found on Can's last two or three records. Phantom Band would make three albums, and this first one is the weakest of them, mostly due to the presence of bassist/singer Rosko Gee. Once a member of Traffic, Gee contributes the blandest pop songs on the album, and his slightly androgynous vocals simply don't fit the dub-ish mood of the music -- however, his bass work does. For this project, Liebezeit recruited (in Cologne) percussionist Olek Gelba, keyboardist Helmut Zerlett, and guitarist Dominik von Senger. Can alumnus Holger Czukay makes an appearance on horn. The drums take center stage; it is obvious that each song has been assigned a carefully designed beat, and Liebezeit is exploring most of his interests in music here, from repetitive Krautrock pummeling to complex Afro-funk and reggae-dub patterns. The arrangements are dark but clear-cut. Liebezeit's songs are the most interesting, from the tense "No More Fooling" (although Gee's falsetto mars it) to the funky vamp of "Absolutely Straight." Zerlett also contributes strong compositions in the spacy "Pulsar" and "I'm the One," the most expansive song of the set at six minutes. The two songs penned by Gee, each opening an LP side, have forgettable melodies and mediocre lyrics (they are also the most dated tracks production-wise). Despite Liebezeit's long and strong experience by 1980, Phantom Band bears all the signs of a debut album by a band that still hasn't gelled. Can fans who diss the group's final albums will definitely not like this one. In any case, skip forward to the group's second effort, Freedom of Speech, a much stronger proposition recorded after Gee's departure.
A combination of spacey electro-pop, dub and dark avant-rock influences, Phantom Band is one of the most authentically weird, essential and yet surprisingly overlooked organisms orbiting the Can universe. This is the third and final album from the project, masterminded by Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit.
I totally dig this album, especially as it features 'Helmut Zerlett' who in his time, has produced some great music on the german ambient label; Recycle Or Die!...projects such as; '9 dream' & 'Baked Beans' just to name a few...are undeniably brilliant...though this project,(phantom band) i feel is targeted at the wrong audience, as people who enjoy 'CAN' probably arent going to get this release at all, however if your from the other side of the genre fence, and have an appreciation for german avant/amb electronica, then the 'Phantom Band' is well worth checking out!
Things changed a lot for Phantom Band in less than a year. Original bassist/singer Rosko Gee left and was replaced by spoken-word artist Sheldon Ancel, remaining bass-less. This lineup change made it possible for the band to align its actual sound with its experimental leanings. The situation can be summed up by comparing the first two albums' opening tracks. The lead-in track on the group's 1980 debut LP was the Gee-penned midtempo song "You Inspired Me," clearly meant as a crowd-pleaser and potential hit single. The lead-in track on "Freedom of Speech" is the title track, a vocodered rant on how the government knows what's best for us, presented over a disquieting rhythm track. The tone is set: Freedom of Speech is a darker, edgier record. It retains the Krautrock-gone-dub feel of the first album, but drops all pretensions of charting to present a more mature, better asserted group sound wrapped in a production that has aged much better than the debut LP. Ancel is not a rapper, but a spoken-word performer: he embodies characters, and uses effects to dress up his voice. It works very well, especially on the dub-laden "Brain Police," the angry "Gravity" (a love story at its sour end), and the electro-freak "Dream Machine." Freedom of Speech is a stunning avant rock record informed by the New York no wave scene and the European reggae/dub scene, with Can's history in genre-pushing repetitive rock serving as the foundation.
For fans of pioneering Krautrockers Can, the band’s later years can be a touchy subject. The final three LPs—Saw Delight (1977), Out Of Reach (1978), and Can (1979)—found the group embracing a much more radio-friendly sound than ever before. They even had something of a hit single with the disco track “I Want More.” Die-hard adherents to their early, arch avant-garde material abandoned them during this time, and it was all over by 1980.
One of the more obscure groups to rise from the ashes of Can were Phantom Band. Phantom Band were led by one of Can’s founding members, drummer Jaki Liebezeit. They recorded three albums in the early 1980s: Phantom Band (1980), Freedom Of Speech (1981), and Nowhere (1984).
In addition to Liebezeit, the initial incarnation of Phantom Band included vocalist/bassist Rosko Gee (who had also played with Can), keyboardist Helmut Zerlett, guitarist Dominik von Senger, and percussionist Olek Gelba. All were leading lights of the underground music scene of Cologne at the time, so it is surprising to hear the direction they took with the debut.
Phantom Band opens with “You Inspired Me,” which sounds like nothing so much as a contemporary R&B single. If a radio station had slotted the song in between some George Benson and Grover Washington Jr. at the time, nobody would have noticed it. Phantom Band is all about the rhythm, in fact. “Phantom Drums” is a short 1:21 showcase for Liebezeit, and acts as something of a prelude to his “Absolutely Straight.” I was more than a little surprised to recognize the bass line of “Absolutely Straight,” as a near-exact replica of the one from “Bad Luck,” by Harold Melvin And The Bluenotes.
Freedom Of Speech was released just a year after Phantom Band, yet it sounds almost like it's by a completely different group. Rosko Gee had departed by this time, leaving the quartet with no bass or vocals. They soldiered on without a bass, using keyboards at times in its place. For vocals, they used spoken-word performer Sheldon Ancel, with some unique results. “Freedom Of Speech” kicks things off in a typically bizarre way. The drumhead military beat is enlivened with some nearly indecipherable proclamations from Ancel, while wild sound effects fill in the empty spaces.
Repetition is a key quality of Freedom Of Speech, and is the driving force behind “Gravity” and “Brain Police.” The loss of Rosko Gee is most keenly felt on “E.F. 1” and “Experiments,” both of which nod toward reggae, and would have benefited greatly from an actual singer.
Brain Police has a fairly obvious antecedent in Frank Zappa’s “Who Are The Brain Police,” and even shares a musical mood of paranoia. One of the more interesting parallels occurs in “Experiments,” which at times sounds almost like a carbon of “Ghost Town,” from The Specials. Since both were released around the same time, I think it is just coincidence, but the similarities are somewhat striking. While Freedom Of Speech is certainly Phantom Band’s own work, I also hear elements of Funkadelic, Talking Heads and the great Afro-beat pioneer Fela Kuti at times. Which proves they had great record collections, if nothing else.
Phantom Band and Freedom Of Speech are both key pieces of the post-Can continuum. For obsessive fans such as myself, their release on CD is a cause for celebration. As always, Bureau B have done a great job, with plenty of information and pictures in the packaging. These are a couple of records that definitely merit a listen.
Released in 1981 on Sky Records, The second album by Phantom Band, By this point in the band's history, ex-Can bass player Rosko Gee (earlier Steve Winwood's bassist in Traffic) had left the band. The surviving quartet managed without a bass for the most part (or substituted a keyboard) and invited spoken-word performer Sheldon Ancel to step up to the microphone. And while the debut album revealed many Caribbean or African influences and a generally positive frame of mind, Freedom Of Speech is a somewhat darker avant-garde rock manifesto, interspersed with individual dub or reggae pieces. Regular Phantom Band members alongside Jaki Liebezeit included keyboarder Helmut Zerlett, known to a wider television audience in Germany through the Harald Schmidt Show, percussionist Olek Gelba and guitarist Dominik von Senger, all drawn from the deep pool of Cologne musical talent which has given rise to so many projects over the past thirty years: Dunkelziffer, Damo Suzuki Band, Unknown Cases ("Masimba Bele"), Club Off Chaos, and Trance Groove, to name just a few.
Who or what is the Phantom Band? Unknown, or unheard, by even the most die-hard CAN fan, this side project by founding CAN drummer Jaki Liebezeit and late-CAN era bassist (and ex-Traffic member) Rosko Gee finds them exploring the most trance-inducing part of CAN’s music – their reggae and African musical influences – to surprising results. It’s all these things: jazzy, funky as hell, and astonishingly accessible. Not everyone can go down into the keyhole of post-Future Days CAN tripped-out polyrhythmic music (think Soon Over Babaluma), but this can serve as a great gateway back to those headier days.
Featuring future members of CAN-influenced German New Wave band Dunkelziffer – Dominik V. Senger (lead vocalist and guitarist) and Helmut Zerlett (keyboards) – as Michael Karoli and Irmin Schmidt stand-ins, Phantom Band allowed Jaki Liebezeit, specifically, to sprawl out in rhythmic directions later-day CAN was struggling to fully integrate. Recorded by visionary producer Conny Plank in 1980, their whole self-titled debut bounces from one hypnotic number to another. The closest analog I can think of is this being a German Cedric Im Brooks The Light of Saba; reggae filtered through all kinds of more uptempo dance styles. Although, truth be told, the best numbers are the one’s where the band sidesteps their lead vocalist altogether and just stick to their CAN-in-Lagos sound.
If one could criticize this album for something, it’s that Dominik’s vocals seem to belong with another band altogether — maybe the Alan Parson’s Project? Although in “No More Fooling” this criticism actually works to his favor. So, don’t let what I’m saying deter you. Highlights like “For M.” featuring some of the deepest, most locked-in grooves of that era, blink and you’ll miss them ethno-experiments like “Phantom Drums” and “Latest News” – the latter being a track begging for someone to sample and take into the dance floor, or stuff that you could theoretically dance to – like “Absolutely Straight” – but end up sitting back and soaking in the atmosphere…simply scream of a band tapping into unexplored nooks and crannies still waiting for others to take the baton and run with. I mean, how many times in your life are you going to hear a Latin-tinged instrumental ballad, subsumed under the influence of modernist Cologne musical aesthetics?
Right out of the '70s, Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit formed a new band, Phantom Band, obviously to carry on where a creativity-depleted Can had left. Yes, the group's eponymous debut, released in 1980, has the "Krautrock goes worldbeat in the cold wave" feel found on Can's last two or three records. Phantom Band would make three albums, and this first one is the weakest of them, mostly due to the presence of bassist/singer Rosko Gee. Once a member of Traffic, Gee contributes the blandest pop songs on the album, and his slightly androgynous vocals simply don't fit the dub-ish mood of the music -- however, his bass work does. For this project, Liebezeit recruited (in Cologne) percussionist Olek Gelba, keyboardist Helmut Zerlett, and guitarist Dominik von Senger. Can alumnus Holger Czukay makes an appearance on horn. The drums take center stage; it is obvious that each song has been assigned a carefully designed beat, and Liebezeit is exploring most of his interests in music here, from repetitive Krautrock pummeling to complex Afro-funk and reggae-dub patterns. The arrangements are dark but clear-cut. Liebezeit's songs are the most interesting, from the tense "No More Fooling" (although Gee's falsetto mars it) to the funky vamp of "Absolutely Straight." Zerlett also contributes strong compositions in the spacy "Pulsar" and "I'm the One," the most expansive song of the set at six minutes. The two songs penned by Gee, each opening an LP side, have forgettable melodies and mediocre lyrics (they are also the most dated tracks production-wise). Despite Liebezeit's long and strong experience by 1980, Phantom Band bears all the signs of a debut album by a band that still hasn't gelled. Can fans who diss the group's final albums will definitely not like this one. In any case, skip forward to the group's second effort, Freedom of Speech, a much stronger proposition recorded after Gee's departure.
Originally released in 1980 on Sky Records, Bureau B reissues the debut album by Phantom Band, a Cologne combo assembled by Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit. In spite of continuing in the vein of the last three Can albums, the Phantom Band (recording three albums themselves) remained unknown to many who would count themselves fans of Can. All of their albums are quite different from each other, even though there was just a single change in personnel: while ex-Can bass player Rosko Gee (earlier Steve Winwood's bassist in Traffic, now with the Helmut Zerlett Band) played a significant part in both the music, vocals and the production of the first, he was absent from the next. Featured heavily here is Jaki Liebezeit's inimitable monotone polyrhythmic drumming and the Phantom Band's predilection for hypnotic (Jamaican) grooves. Regular Phantom Band members alongside Jaki Liebezeit included keyboarder Helmut Zerlett, known to a wider television audience in Germany through the Harald Schmidt Show, percussionist Olek Gelba and guitarist Dominik von Senger, all drawn from the deep pool of Cologne musical talent which has given rise to so many projects over the past thirty years: Dunkelziffer, Damo Suzuki Band, Unknown Cases ("Masimba Bele"), Club Off Chaos, and Trance Groove, to name just a few. The CD booklet features comments by Jaki Liebezeit, Helmut Zerlett and Dominik von Senger, bringing to life the creation and unique chemistry of the Phantom Band. Mixed by Conny Plank, guest appearance by Holger Czukay.
- Lennart Aberg / flute, sax (soprano), sax (tenor)
- Jan Bandel / violin
- Stefan Brolund / bass
- Jon Christensen / drums
- Nagi el Habashi / cello
- Malando Gassama / drums
- Björn J:son Lindh / flute, primary artist
- Peter Robinson / keyboards
- Janne Schaffer / guitar
- Peter Sundell / percussion
- Okay Temiz / percussion
- Georg Jojje Wadenius / bass
Recorded at Metronome Studio, Stockholm, June 19th-22nd, 1978.
Vynil LP Sonet SLP-2619 in 1978, later issues released under the name "A Day At The Surface"
After signing with Sonet, J:son Lindh appeared with this album which is marginally better than ”Raggie”, largely thanks to a couple of tracks with a pronounced Oriental feel like the traditional ”Billathi Askara”, enhanced by Egyptian Nagi al-?abaši fervent cello playing, and ”Ah Q” with a guest appearance from Okay Temiz on tablas. But it's ”A Day at the Surface”, ”Hotel and Drumsticks”, ”Colwyn Way”, and ”Boathouse Club” (the latter with an absolutely horrendous synth part) that define the album as just another bloodless fusion album, as stone dead as the granite bust on the cover. Released as ”A Day at the Surface” in the UK.
Take a look at the cover and you've heard the album. The pink fuzz and soft focus of the sleeve is also prevalent on the album itself and turns the music into an unengaging smear – smooth perfection over musical content. The sole exception is ”Anniversary March” with Mats Glenngård's fiddle adding a much needed spirit. The softer tracks try to capture the low-key sense of wonder familiar from the 'trilogy', but they end up as hopeless slippery new age drivel.
Things definitely began to slide with ”Boogie Woogie”. With it J:son Lindh took a further step towards the fusion amalgam, adopting a studio sound that pretty much killed the graceful mysticism of his previous albums. Only closing track ”Pivo” retains the Oriental influences to good effect, making it the self-evident high mark of ”Boogie Woogie”. Released as ”Second Carneval” in the US.
I love J:son Lindh's music and early 70's albums. At least that is true in parts. The whole jazz rock scene of the early 70's and late 60's fills me with gladness. The mix of jazz sensibilities and rock music results in a very enthralling combination of genres really not that far apart, yet still different.
J:son Lindh and Jan Schaffer are two of my favorite musicians from Sweden, though their musical output not always fits my taste but when it does it suits me in a splendid way. "Sissel" is the fourth album by Lindh and in my opinion his best. The combination of jazz, rock, prog and jams is excellent, really. Though the musicianship is flawless the result is a good but non-essential piece of vinyl.
The two tracks which I listen to the most are "Bull dog" and "Storpolska". They are simply irresistable pieces of music and jazz rock at it's finest moments. "Storpolska" is a mix of rock, swedish folk and jazz all rolled up in one amazing stew of thundering musicianship, energy and inspiration. I love that track and rate it with five (5) stars while "Bull dog" is a certified four (4). The remaining tracks are good, just not that explosive and splendid.
nclusion: "Sissel" is a really good example of (swedish) jazz rock and holds moments of genius. The musicianship leaves nothing to be desired, though the album as a whole is not up to par with the two magnificent "Bull dog" and "Storpolska". If you are able to get a hold of this album, buy it and give it a try. It's worth every penny and I am waiting for it to be released as a CD along with the others of Lindh's 70's output.
Janne Schaffer - Acoustic Guitar, Guitar, Electric Guitar
Palle Danielsson – Bass
Mike Watson - Bass [Fender]
Nagi el Habashy - Cello
Kofi Aivor - Congas
Malando Gassanna - Congas
Bengt Berger - Drums
Ola Brunkert – Drums
Bobo Stenson - Electric Piano
Kenny Håkansson - Guitar [Electric]
Abd el Rahman el Khatib – Lute
Bahi Barakat - Tabla
Jan Bandel – Tabla
Arranged By - Abd el Rahman el Khatib, Björn J:Son Lindh
Producer - Anders Burman
Engineer - Rune Persson
Swedish flautist Björn Jayson Lindh (later Björn J:son Lindh) was pretty active in the 70s putting out quite a few good jazzfunk LPs with three of them being distributed by CTI. Here's his second and one which received better critical reception upon release than most others, as evidenced in this review over at Vinyl Vulture:
A more composed affair this one, as Björn gets his mate Janne Schaffer in to beef up the axework, which he quickly does on the opening workout 'My Machine': nice chunky funk and a great start. There is much contrast to this and the more laid back tracks like 'Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues', which boasts a certain mellowness and a lovely string arrangement of his own creation. On the same theme is 'El Henna', perhaps one of his most graceful cuts; floating gently along as multi-tracked flute lines weave back and forth like angel's pillow talk. Truly beautiful. This LP also finds Lindh at his most Bob James-like on 'Elastic Springtime', which really is disturbingly similar to the Taxi theme and pre-dates it by some years. Naughty old Bob! And then, just when you are just starting to wonder what has happened to the Turkish Delight, the album finishes with a 10-minute trip down just those streets, which is not at all bad. Could well be top of the heap this one.
Finding this album in the early 90s was a bit of a relief. It helped me deal much better with my secret shame of harbouring an appreciation for the first (and only listenable) ABBA record since Lindh sweded up the horn and string arrangements for his fellow countrymen. One of my musical sins absolved, I could sleep a teensy bit better at night.
01. Lastbrygga (5:52) 02. Daphnia (3:52) 03. Min tulpan (1:30) 04. Tuppa (6:36) 05. Benitos Hare (2:32) 06. Ramadan (3:43) 07. Love March (3:09) 08. Kullens fyr (6:10)
Congas – Kofi Ayivor Congas – Joseph Mocka Guitar – Hawkey Franzén Tabla – Jan Bandel Drums - Ola Brunkert Electric Bass – Georg Wadenius Electric Guitar – Kenny Håkansson Cello – Mats Hagström Flute, Electric Piano – Björn J:Son Lindh
Björn J:son Lindh was born in 1944, and majored in flute and piano at the Ingesund University College of Music. He continued his musical studies at A Björn J:son Lindh was born in Arvika, Värmland, Sweden in October 25 1944. He majored in piano and flute at the Ingesund University College of Music, in Arvika, Sweden. He pursued his musical training at Musikhögskolan, The Royal School of Music, during the latter half of the 60s, then went on to play free-jazz with NILS SANDSTROM and, with ABD El RAHMAN El KHATIB, who appears on Lindh's album, Cous Cous he played Arabic flute music. Lindh has collaborated with the esteemed jazz-rock fusion/ jazz gutarist, JANNE SCHAFFER - a man best known as a session guitarist for ABBA. Linsh and Schaffer formed the band HORSELMAT. Lindh has played on many RALPH LUNDSTEN albums, who is a pioneer in electronic music and an artist.
While Lindh has worked as a session musician on many albums (he played flute on MIKE OLDFIELD's Islands), he released 14 studio albums under his name between 1970 and 1999, and also has composed music for films and TV. His music ranges from jazz to Eastern, Indian and Arabic music, to folk to pop to classical to ambient electronic relaxation/ new age albums.
His first album, "Ramadan" is an Eastern flavoured jazz-rock Fusion (and folk) album. His second album, and my personal favourite of his, is the Eclectic "Från Storstad Till Grodspad", which combines classical, jazz, rock, pop and psyche. "Cous Cous" is Arabic/ Eastern inspired jazz-rock, and "Sissel" is a Krautrockish jazz-fusion album.
Lindh also collaborated with TRIANGULUS (in PA under Prog Related) for Triangulus' debut album, "Triangulus and Bjørn J:son Lindh".
Not only is Lindh an active musician (flautist and keyboardist who also works with synths and current technology) but he has composed music and produced albums for many well-known artists.
I do not know how many times I've listened to "Lastbrygga" and "Kullens fyr" and everytime I am blown away with the jazzy grooves of these two amazing tracks. Lindh's flute and electric piano are excellent in every way and always performed in a flawless fashion on every recording of his.
The music could be described as late 60's, early 70's movie soundtracks with it's kind of minimalistic grooves and funky jazz rock. At least that is true in the two tracks previously mentioned. For me that is musical heaven. It is something truly mesmerizing about that sound.
While "Lastbrygga" and "Kullens fyr" are excellent pieces of music the tracks inbetween are pleasent but not really to my taste. They are a bit too similar in sound, I find. The album is framed in the two groovy jazz rock tracks while the main body consists of more mellow pieces. I have always thought that the album would have done better if Lindh put one more groovy track in the middle, making it a more varied album.
For me Ramadan is, and always will be the different way of seeing the flute playing.
Dominantly influenced by Ian Anderson, Thjis Van Leer and Elio D'anna, in the moment I started to listen to J:son Lindh, the whole world of jazz flute open before me. I did memorize every track of this album - that highlights a great competence in making a variety of styles and melodies works, from begning to end.
It is, perhaps, that kind of album thats speaks particularly with particular individuals. Well, it certainly did to me. And I do came back at Ramadan too often to consider this a simple and "just good" album. We're going with four on this one.
Björn J:son Lindh: conductor, piano, organ, Moog and flute.
Jan Bandel, Ola Brunkert & Rune Carlsson: drums.
Palle Danielsson & Bengt Linnarsson: bass.
Kenny Håkansson, Anders Nordh & Jan Schaffer: guitar.
Mats Hagström: cello.
Lucas Lindholm: electric bass.
Rune Gustafsson: guitar.
Hawkey Franzen: guitar, accordion.
Nisse Sandström: tenor saxophone.
Jörgen Johansson and Torqny Nilsson: trombone.
Bertil Lövgren & Beinth Gustavsson: trumpet.
Lars-Erik Rönn: oboe.
Bengt Olsson & Bengt Sundberg: horn.
To represent Swedish Radio in the international radio broadcast of the 1971 Prix Jean-Antoine Triumph Variete, a radio man, an actor and a musician were invited to depict reality through music.
The result was a large city. Based on authentic audio recordings of daily urban sounds in Stockholm, improvising musicians presented a vision of the modern metropolis. Cars, sirens, pile drivers, church bells mix into an inferno of music. From the treacherous calm of a city morning, these sounds eventually rise up to smother those sounds nature calls her own. This is a highly personal image of an environment to which millions of people are forced to adapt daily.
Björn J:son Lindh, 27, has one of the most significant profiles in the modern Swedish music scene. His compositions and arrangements have contributed (among other achievements) to the success of Cornelis Vreeswijk's double LP Poems, ballads and a little blues. Lindh can also take a great deal of credit for the attention given to Bernt Staf's debut. Together with Hawkey Franzen, Lindh wrote and produced the LP View from Djupvik, and he has been one of the central figures in the celebrated group Jason's Fleece.
In the late Summer of 1971, Lindh (a flute soloist) released his debut solo album. Rarely has a pop-jazz record received as much acclaim as Ramadam.
Besides a large number of record productions, Lindh has also written music for TV and stage. He studied flute formally at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and is also trained as a pianist.
In addition to "Music from a Big City", which received Second Prize in the 1971 Triumph Variete in Monte Carlo (and which occupies one side of this LP), this album shows Björn J:son Lindh further testing his composition and performance skills. "From Big City to Frog Sauce" is proof of how strongly a seriously trained musician and composer with a strong dramatic personality can handle modern pop music, whilst creating work that shows music a way forward in the 1970's.
Let me take you back to those Swedes, whom I've been rambling about a couple of weeks back. Not only do these snus addicted people have an amazing metal scene going on at the moment, which has been incredibly innovative and influential (sorry Caio), but way back in the day this country was spewing out progressive gems like a proper diamond dog suffering from bulimia.
If there ever was a clear cut case for a cd reissue, then certainly Från Storstad Till Grodspad must be it. I mean, going back to the 90s Sweden had a huge resurgence of progressive music with acts like Änglagård, Landberk and The Flower Kings just to name a few, and still they are dishing out acts that continue to gather fans from all over the globe. Yet albums I'd personally deem as long lost masterpieces - those records that will stand the test of time, these remain forgotten and unreleased. Sitting around in a shady corner waiting for the redeeming applause. I honestly don't get it, and it is a crime that albums like these aren't heralded the way they deserve.
I'll bet that the name Björn J:Son Lindh probably doesn't ring a bell? Even so, how many of you guys knew of Gentle Giant or Henry Cow before joining this forum? Names matter not - only the music. This man has made a lot of different tasting music spanning from these his early efforts where jazz, psych and all kinds of musical experimentation took place - to the way of disguising himself as the Swedish equivalent of Ennio Morricone creating soundtracks for such flicks as Mannen på Taket and Jägarne. Put another way: He's been around the block.
This album is the result of a highly imaginative meeting between The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Lindh, and if you're thinking: Aaahh yet another one of those rock albums that flirt around with the pomp and power of the symphony orchestra, then boy are you mistaken. Recorded on two separate occasions with but a few months in between, what you get is a side long suite that openly tears down all the prefabricated notions on how these collaborations usually pan out - and does so with an effective drill bit up front and in your face(I actually mean that in the most literary sense, but I'll get back to this), whilst the other side consists of shorter to the point tracks that still carries on that little aftermath of what went before it, like a long lingering hangover still emanating in your head.
The title track is many things. It is jazz - like te tsch te and through a multitude of alternating fusion like sections - and yet it is far away from being something you can incarcerate within any sort of black box. You have electronics buzzing, zooming, quacking away when Lindh decides to share with you his love of the moog synthesizer. It's never heavy on the ears, but I do occasionally hear it mimicking frogs and crickets - or just colouring the main events in futuresque Star Wars spices, that never feels out of place nor steal away the focus of the actual piece. Then you have the exotic psychedelic feel of the guitar that sounds strangely angular in texture - often counterpointing the nouveau symphonics in play here, that reminds me of modern composers like Stravinsky and Mussorgsky. This combination of the lone ranger guitar in heavy seas of cascading terrifying sweeps of the orchestra sends shivers down my spine, and truly feels like dancing with the grim reaper bathed in moonlight. The guitar and symphonics - man these things are unintelligible - like talking about the relationship between ice and water - even if they start as the same. They're juxtaposed forever - yet still manage to melt together as one big blurry sharp and organic beast. And just because I said that this album wasn't exactly the every day rock n symph collaboration, it still wields enough funky bass lines and masterly executed drum sections to hold the interest of the casual rock n' roller. Just you beware of the different sonic traps that lurk deep within this captivating suite. The name itself means (and don't take my word for it...) something like the voyage from the big city to the countryside, and what we get is all of the urban delights - such as drill bits(Especially the drill bit speaks to me, as it oddly enough seems to open up in what can nearly be described as true musical bloom - sounding like a whole range of different things, whilst still being a drill bit. At some point I mistook it for those insisting mating calls you get from lascivious frogs!), thundering cars, church bells, sirens - all of this crammed into the music - telling you about the horrific stress laden Zeitgeist of the modern civilisation through its very presence. It's a musical journey that takes you through all these factors, that still today feels as apt and relevant as the day of its birth. It's the fire breathing monster of every day life - the city dweller's cross. And still after all is said and done - the notes, city and nature each one has said their piece - everything ends in chaos and musical debris - with the dying whispers of a moog slowly emanating into birdsong.
Rolling and tumbling through the rest of the cuts are still these unfinished businesses, regurgitating melodies and strengths of the big kahouna. They feel like they're backing up the big boss in feel, and still they put up a relevant and slightly alternative way of looking at the music presented on the title track. There's more of a cohesive spirit for the tracks to hang their hats on though - to which the guitar is played with, and the way the drums roll together with the meatiness of the bass. One thing that doesn't fluctuate much is the way Lindh plays the flute, which is so soft and effervescent in nature that I had him picked for a woman the first time I heard the feminine touch of this wind instrument.
This is an eclectic venture to say the least. It plays on so many tangents that you forget about boxes and such. You've got bass, cello, guitar, drums, moog, violins, flute, trombone, horn, oboe, accordion, saxophone, the occasional Swedish sung vocals (which incidentally are beautiful and breezy), piano, organ and all those mentioned sound effects dropped in the mix for good measure - and there's still a somewhat harmonic feel to it, even if it speaks about the terrors of the urban inferno, and how we sometimes are afraid of the silence.
Susie Davis – keyboards on "Wolf in Sheeps Clothing"
Lisa Fischer – backing vocals
Mick Jagger – harmonica on "Take a Stroll"
Melle Mel – vocals on "See the Fire Burning"
Cindy Mizelle – backing vocals
A heavy stylistic shift for the Tackhead crew, Strange Things sees them almost completely swerve away from their unique blend of Industrial Hip-Hop and Dub/Reggae-stylings to rather straightforward Funk Rock with embellishments. I do mean that as well, aside from some tape-experiments and the occasional sample-work, this is the band going down on some rather normal Funk-grooves, sometimes rocking harder (Super Stupid), sometimes leaning harder on the groove (the title track), but it all just feels weirdly undercooked. Excuse the comparison, but a lot of this material sounds like Living Colour outtakes from their first and second albums, which to me kind of explains why Doug Wimbish would join them only two years later. However, in the last quarter there are some tracks that are closer to the previous Tackhead sound, Change and Positive Suggestion, and unsurprisingly they are the best tracks on the album.
This is the last album Tackhead would produce for a whopping 24 years, and I think I can tell why. There was obviously some tension in the band as to where to go next, as some people obviously wanted their Funk Rock, Adrian still tried to get the sound design and samples in order, some wanted to Rock harder, and others just wanted to write "normal" songs. The Tackhead crew wouldn't go defunct, not remotely, they would go through multiple different names and keep working with each other, just without much full-length projects. That's understandable, sometimes things grow apart like that. Strange Things is a weird end to the original Tackhead-era, but a fun curiosity all the same.
Piece of art, from one of the best dance supergroups, the album remastered in brilliant digital audio quality and all the 12" mixes and B-Sides from the singles and 12"s released alongside it. One of my favourite albums and a must for any fan, especially for the bonus tracks and well worth a listen if you're interested or into On-U-Sound stuff, totally recommended.
Recorded at Unique Recording, NYC, & Matrix and Southern Studios, London. Mixed at Southern Studios.
Genuinely bizarre genre-mixing, and not in the way you expect, Friendly as a Hand Grenade throws more straightforward Funk into Tackheads proto-Industrial Hip-Hop to... weird effects. The thing with genre-mixing like this is usually that you can really point to the certain elements and name where they are from, but with Tackhead, this feels way more directly mixed in together than with different acts. Sure, you got the drum-machines going haywire, the Industrial bleeps and bloops and occasional rattling percussion, the Funk guitar and the soulful singing, but the end-result sounds like nothing in their respective genres. No, it all comes together in these weirdly repetitive but detailed sound-pieces that Doug and Skip are singing on about South Africa, scammy churches, the military and way more, which should sound a bit more forceful, but ultimately goes into this weird pocket where it once again sounds like a call to action, but, like, more 80s.
How you define this album is kinda moot, because this is some of the most "post-genre" (I hate that term) music that came out of the 80s. If you are interested in some genre-mixing that truly goes off the rails in multiple unexpected ways with some thought-provoking lyrics, this is for you. Check out Airborn Ranger and Ticking Time Bomb to test the waters, though. Genuinely not for everyone, but a very, very fascinating listen all the same.
Prior to the release of this first album proper, the members of Tackhead (NJ slang for home-boy) possessed musical CVs (both individually and collectively) which would prick up the ears of any road-sore muso. While guitarist Skip McDonald and bassist Doug Wimbish’s beginnings in the spangled days of New York disco (playing on such cult classics as ‘Push Push in the Bush’… ahem) may not bode too well for a successful career in music, in 1979 they moved to the newly formed Sugarhill Records and were teamed up with a sensational young drummer called Keith LeBlanc. The three became the label’s house-band and provided the funked-out grooves for the three most seminal rap recordings: ‘Rapper’s Delight’; ‘The Message’; and ‘White Lines’.
At the same time LeBlanc was also recording solo work - his album ‘No Sell Out’ is credited as one of the first albums to employ extensive sampling (featuring numerous cut-ups of speeches from Malcolm X) – and it was this which drew the attention of London-based dub-afficiando, and On-U label owner, Adrian Sherwood. He invited the three musicians over to work on a new experimental project, eventually named Fats Comet. Once united in London, it quickly became evident that their studio forays were developing into two distinct strands; the less commercial of these strands they decided to release on an album called ‘Gary Clail’s Tackhead Sound System: Tackhead Tape Time’ – and the unique mix of dub, funk, rock and rap proved to be an instant cult success. Fats Comet was laid to rest, and Tackhead proper was born.
Meanwhile, the gang of four somehow also found time to provide backing for Mark Stewart (former Pop Group front man) as the Maffia. This resulted in what still remains some of the most freaky trashed hip-hop metal music ever envisaged – best evidenced on ‘The Game’ 12”.
‘Friendly As A Hand Grenade’ is where I discovered them. Not for the first time, it was the title which intrigued me (that and a lot of my crusty agit fanzine-writing pals recommended it). When I heard the first track, ‘Ska Trek’ (yes, the clue is in the title), my first thought was ‘somebody’s been widing me up’. My second thought, moments later, was ‘this is fuckin’ tops!’. When ‘Tell Me The Hurt’ kicks in the funk is fully resolved – trimmed and hung with the glittering soulful voice of sometime vocalist Bernard Fowler. ‘Mind and Movement’ and ‘Stealing’ plough similar funky sampled furrows to LeBlanc’s solo work. While ‘Airborn Ranger’ (definitely the album’s centre-piece) rocks a huge fat smoking one, taking the old US Marine chant and going to work on it. Every time Skip’s soaring “the animals went in two-by-two, hurrah! hurrah!” guitar line flies in toward the end, my feet leave the ground.
The album funks and rocks on through the dub mantra of ‘Body To Burn’, the kicking ‘Demolition House’, the spot-on political doublet ‘Free South Africa’ and ‘Ticking Time Bomb’, and is resolved with perfection by a reprise of ‘Ska Trek’. It’s really pointless to try and pick apart each track individually, not because I’m being lazy, but because I listen to this album so often that these songs have become friends. They all work so well, have so many strengths and so few flaws, that I just can’t subject them to the critical microscope. This album reflects every era of funk from the early 70’s, through disco, early rap, up to the touch-bass and sampling techniques of the modern-day. It is performed by musicians at the pinnacle of their creed. But does it rock?
Oh, it rocks. Tackhead achieve what Living Colour strived to achieve – but they do it without even trying, and then push on to further uncharted territory; and all this before breakfast.
They attained critical acclaim and a little commercial success with the slightly tame follow-up album ‘Strange Things’, but following this they have concentrated on side-projects such as Strange Parcels, Interference, and Little Axe (the world’s first dub-blues band). As well as providing session backup and remixes for the likes of George Clinton, James Brown, Miles Davis, BB King, Bomb The Bass, Depeche Mode, Jello Biafra, Seal, Brooklyn Funk Essentials, and ABC.
Live, they are unbelievable. The hard-to-find 1990 album ‘En Concert’ (released on Plus Au Sud), recorded live at the Ritz NY in 1988, testifies to this. With covers of ‘The Message’ and ‘Crosstown Traffic’ so fierce that they could cause cerebral damage with the right headphones. I saw them live back in 1990, at Leeds Coliseum, and I don’t think I’ve seen anyone rock so hard. I danced my little booties off all night!
I also remember going home, grinning about the video montage accompanying one of the tracks (‘Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’) which featured clips from ‘An American Werewolf in London’ cut with stock footage of that Thatcher creature.
Starting off with a Prince Buster cover and progressing through ten tracks of surprisingly slick funk-rock, Friendly as a Hand Grenade is a bit of a surprise after the harder studio effects of Tackhead-related projects like Major Malfunction and Tackhead Tape Time. The addition of vocalist Bernard Fowler (formerly of the Peech Boys) provides much of the soul.
Keith Le Blanc loves percussion. More specifically, Keith Le Blanc loves the drums. And drumming. And sampling, sequencing, cutting, and pasting. And he’s the man behind some of the earliest, most primitive, and most innovative drum machine-programming known to man. Keith Le Blanc’s obsession at times borders on the genius. All of those passions, and more, are evident on what I believe to be his most consistent piece of work to date; the 1989 album Stranger Than Fiction. (Although in saying that, his 1986 release Major Malfunction is more often cited by critics as his landmark work).
Well-travelled producer extraordinaire Le Blanc first made a name for himself as part of the original Sugarhill scene back in the early Eighties. He and the likes of Doug Wimbish and Skip ’Little Axe’ McDonald - both of whom also feature on here - worked closely with Grandmaster Flash and various other early iconic Rap artists. If I’m not mistaken, it was Le Blanc who provided the beats behind ‘The Message’ and he himself released one of the true Electro classics from that era - ‘Malcolm X:No Sell Out’ - on the then-fledgling Tommy Boy label. From there Le Blanc, Wimbish, and McDonald all went on to form the backbone behind the acclaimed hard Dub/Funk-orientated Tackhead, their output through the late Eighties and early Nineties being quite prolific - some of their best stuff coming out on Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound label. Le Blanc & co. have also released work under a variety of other aliases (see: Fats Comet, Strange Parcels, among others) and Le Blanc himself has been quietly working his way around the fringes of a whole spectrum of different electronic genres during two decades of huge technological expansion. Quite simply, the man’s a legend. Or at least he should be.
Although Stranger Than Fiction might be considered slightly flawed due to some of the sudden, almost cut-throat changes of pace it inflicts upon the listener, it is - rather perversely - an album perhaps best listened to in one sitting; that every track is well worth listening to means that you’d only end up missing some of the best bits if you attempted to pick and mix to any great extent. Le Blanc samples and namechecks a vast array of historic and iconic figures, everybody from Einstein (on ‘Einstein’ - oddly enough) to Count Basie (on ‘Count This’) to Lenny Bruce (on the superb and very funny closing track ‘Comedy Of Errors’). Vocalists - sampled or otherwise - include Gary Clail and the late Andy Fairley, while Le Blanc again surrounds himself with a first-class posse of top session musos who provide the multiple layers atop of his eclectic beats.
What we end up with is an album that almost defies description; moments of what can only be described as pounding industrial Hip-Hop followed by interludes of ambient spaced-out synth - such as on the track ‘Men In Capsules’. There’s even a Jazzy vibe to it in parts. A little bit of everything in fact. It’s also an album that (lyrically) doesn’t shy away from the various political and social issues of the day - thanks to plenty of clever sampling - but mostly it’s an album that contains a helluva lot of exceptional soundscaping work from the master himself. The fact remains - for all of his talent, for all that his work has had an enormous amount of influence across several of the more obscure genres in existence, and for all that he has worked with some of the very best names in the business, Keith Le Blanc is still relatively unknown (in a commercial sense). Now that really is stranger than fiction. Or perhaps not. I love this CD, a personal favourite, it sits permanently on the very brink of my all-time Top 25 albums, but that doesn’t mean everyone will appreciate it.
Another record with LeBlanc taking top billing, this is yet another exercise in Sherwood's wildly original Tackhead "empire." Unlike Major Malfunction, this is a little more restrained, but with people like Gary Clail and Sherwood involved, easy listening this ain't. LeBlanc gets all the writing credits, and he's done a great job of coming up with a challenging assortment of material. At times fiery and polemical, at others unhinged and dadaesque, Stranger than Fiction is another interesting, at times compelling work from this unique musical collective.
