Flying Norwegians - 1976 - Wounded Bird

Flying Norwegians 

1976 

Wounded Bird

01. Crazy Eyes Go Blind 4:19

02. Turn The Page 3:27

03. Taste Of The Money 4:27

04. Let's Walk To The River 2:14

05. Evening Prayer 3:40

06. Wounded Bird 4:35

07. Tangles 4:26

08. It's Over 4:21

09. Old Lady 2:50

Bass – Johannes Torkelsen

Drums – Gunnar Bergstrøm

Vocals, Guitar – Cato Sanden

Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica, Banjo – Rune Walle

Vocals, Keyboards – Jarle Zimmerman

Recorded in July, August and September 1975.

An album that is so convincingly good, in every conceivable way, that it was almost released by A&M Records. But it’s also an album that serves as a classic example in which everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. And at the worst possible time.

“Almost” will serve as the keyword here. First the good news: Flying Norwegians released their first LP in the autumn of 1974 and was quickly hailed as an extraordinary Norwegian band. The album was proof that a Norwegian band could, in fact, compete with American artists in the same genre, country ock in this case. Therefore, the expectations surrounding the follow up album were huge. But these expectations were resoundingly met. The ten songs recorded for Wounded Bird showed a maturity in musical expression, as well as the lyrics—many of these written by the painter, Per Helge Hansen. And once again, the album featured some provocative cover artwork: a dead bird on a dinnerplate.

Wounded Bird was released in early 1976. The rest of the year should have been one long victory parade for Flying Norwegians, culminating in a release of the album overseas in the United StatesInstead, the band and its fans were witness to a series of “almost” events. Almost a breakthrough, almost . record-breaking sales, almost released in the USA and almost nominated for a Spellemann. That last one was a mistake - no one remembered to send the record in for an evaluation, so the best Norwegian rock album of 1976 was not even considered for the award. It’s a sad ending, but in some ways, it turned out good for one member of the band: Rune Walle.

A&M Records was distributed in Norway by Arne Bendiksen AS (LTD) and was the reason the company received Wounded Bird for evaluation. A&M had a band called Ozark Mountain Daredevils on their roster, who visited Norway during a tour of Europe in 1976. Flying Norwegians played support at one of the gigs and the American cowboys noticed the young Norwegian, Walle, playing guitar as proficiently as Lowell George in Little Feat. Faith would have it that the Ozark gang was looking for a new guitarist for their band. In a small community-centre north of Bergen, the shaggy ensemble from the USA listened to Flying Norwegians play and subsequently decided to invite Rune Walle to join their band. He was given three days to pack his bags and travel across the Atlantic to live out his boyhood dream of playing in a professional band, with a huge record company backing them up. He couldn’t say no. The rest of his band members in Flying Norwegians continued without him, but that’s a story we’ll return to during the next re-release. (words:Bård Ose, fan and friend ).