Time for the fifth installment of the 30 records I decided to listen to and review for you before buying another vinyl album. Albums in my collection that I have listened to only once or not for a long time. All reviewed in English, except Swedish-language ones that are reviewed in both Swedish and English. This has been such a fun challenge, and I know some have already followed my example. That’s fun too. Here we go again!
Dags för femte batchen av de 30 vinylalbum jag beslöt lyssna igenom och recensera innan jag köper ett enda nytt vinylabum till. Album från min samling som jag bara hört en gång igenom eller för länge sedan. Alla recenseras på engelska, men svenskspråkiga album både på svenska och engelska. Det här har varit en riktigt kul utmaning, och jag vet att några redan har följt mitt exempel. Också det kul. Nu kör vi igen!
Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterfly (2 LP)
One of the Big names in hiphop, Kendrick Lamar, was early on a contender. By this album, To Pimp A Butterfly, he was already an A List superstar. King Kunta, with its cool early 80’s funk vibe, is a first highlight. And there’s some obvious Prince-vibes on These Walls. It’s an album that is theatrical at times, whimsical, and then sharply focusing. U - with its ”loving you is complicated”-mantra, broken voice theatrical rap and a jazzy support band soundscape - starts the B-side, followed by some real concious rappin’ on Alright.
Lamar takes steps in all directions, all at once, on this interesting album. He balanced from spoken-word, jazz, funk, concious rap, soul, whimsical elements and sudden stop-start silent moments. It’s not the easiest commercially digested album, but, of course, it has those moments too. Like Blacker The Berry, I, and a funky King Kunta. Still, more experimental album than simplistic top-ten-fodder. It speaks to his brilliance. Suddenly you point your ears to whimsical, loose moments, and then turn to sharply focused concious rap lyrics, and often it’s all this at once. Layers upon layers, meaning it takes a few listenings to decode the whole soundscape, if ever.
Hood Politics starts side C with a funky dunkin’ groove, perhaps exactly as expected, but it soon changes groove and Lamar raps away. Great lyrics, but a little too high-pitched voice to be great. How Much A Dollar Cost feat. James Fauntleroy and Ronald Isley, is a stronger track. The Blacker The Berry, then, is a focused, stand alone funky, hiphop track with strong conscious lyrics. It’s a given hit. It has both a great beat, and a great lyric. This is Lamar at his most commercial here, even though also this track takes a mellower side-turn just before ending. I guess Lamar doesn’t like being predictable. The guest list on the album is fairly heavy too, and include Isley, George Clinton, Snoop Dogg and others.
While I respect Lamar, and readily acknowledge his brilliance in combining sounds and genres in a way that sounds almost coincidental at times, but is of course deeply taught out, I am generally more into old school.
But it’s of course impossible not be drawn in and shaken up by the disco-grooving I, with its catchy but somewhat narcissistic I love myself-chorus. Or perhaps rather, in ecstatic moments of joy, it’s at least temporarily easy to lose yourself in the moment and to love yourself. It’s love yourself in order to love others here, I guess, not an outbreak of trumpian narcissistic self-importance. It’s a brilliant and insanely catchy track.
Mortal Man follows, which, again, moves in different directions. It’s some strong hiphop lyrics and rappin’ again, over a jazzy backtrack, then more jazz-funky and at times a capella. There’s strong spoken-word moments of consciousness here too. It all ends in a reflective political and philosophical dialogue, like a radio program, over a jazzy background soundscape lower in the mix, which then suddenly is mixed up to the fore and abruptly stops. It’s an effectful ending, leaving the listener waiting for more (that will not come).
Pimp A Butterfly has been called an instant classic, also chaotic, but classic nevertheless, which is understandable. And while I perhaps wouldn’t go that far, to name it a classic, there is no denying that it certainly is a great album. It grows on you with each listen, and it grows during listening to the album. Some potential question marks on the first sides of this double album are then straightened out to exclamation marks, while listening to the second record.
Agit-Prop: Laulu Kaikille.
Legendary Finnish progressive singing quartet, that also were internationally acclaimed in the political 1970’s. Agit-Prop (or Agit-Prop Kvartetti) leave no uncertainty about their political position. They had their international breakthrough among progressive groups at a festival of political songs in Berlin 1971 and were also famous supporters of Allende’s Chile, having also performed there before the coup and on a joint single with Allende’s last speech on the single A-side. Quite a few of the songs on this album are Chilean songs translated to Finnish, like the catchy, swinging Neljä Rikollista, with its more sinister lyrics under the catchy melody. One song here is actually called Allendelle (To Allende). It’s of course an album of its time and radical political movement, and in that way also historically interesting, a document of that time, meaning that some lyrics are outdated. For example Haluatko Venäläiset Sotaa? (Do the Russians want war?), where the answer would be very different in our times than what Agit-Prop sang and believed in 1974. However, what no change in world politics or ideology can change is the beauty and clarity of this gifted quartet’s performance, with beautiful voices that brilliantly complement each other.
The absolute highlight here is Oppimisen Ylistys, with its exceptionally clever bass rhythm, an astonishing rhythm to die for, perhaps one of the catchiest ever put on record. And of course the wonderful vocals by all four, with gifted Sinikka Sokka on lead vocal. The lyrics were originally by Bertold Brecht and translated to Finnish. It’s a track celebrating the importance of learning, especially civic learning, and learning to participate, taking place and making your voice heard. Here then meets now, in a theme that is as contemporary today as it was in the 1970’s. The undisputed highlight of the album, and possibly the best Finnish song of 1974.
Otherwise, the lyrics are partly fairly dated today, not least because Agit-Prop were very progressive and far-left even in their own time. Oppimisen Ylistys reaches over the times and all party politics though, and is a timeless classic preaching the importance of learning, as the pen is mightier than the sword. It’s such a catchy, grooving, growing and positive tune, that makes you wanna dance, while simultaneously taking notice of the powerful and important message of universal civic learning processes. Sadly, in a way, it is at least as contemporary today as it was back then, perhaps even more so, in these times of dumbing-down social media channels, fake news and mad kings Orwellian new-speak. A brilliant song, followed by a sweet and beautiful love song, Kahden Laulu, and a straight political statement, Olen kommunisti, set to another sweet melody. The album closes with Sydämestä Hulmahtavat Liput, a song by the Chilean martyr musician Victor Jara, arranged by Quilapayun together with Eero Ojanen, and translated to Finnish.
I find the genre progressive political music remarkable in the way it so clearly documents a movement, a zeit-geist, and musical expressions of a particular era. The same can be said, perhaps to an even larger extent, of Swedish ”progg” (progressive music). Progg included a vast amount of musical styles and even theatrical ones, all united by a progressive political positioning, some more and some to a lesser extent. The Swedish progg movement controlled the music scene to a much larger extent than in Finland, and Sweden was then also so much more internationally oriented and, well, further developed concerning new youth trends in music.
Laulu Kaikille (A Song For Everyone) is an interesting, always beautifully sung and played, album and musical documentation of and from a time and genre that is no more. It is history now. The album is by a then very acclaimed quartet, that reunited and performed up until 2018. They were greated as rock stars when they performed live on the large domestic rock festival Provinssi-Rock in 2003 and have influenced among others Ultra Bra, who themselves reunited and last summer (2025) filled the Helsinki Olympia stadium for a mammoth stadium concert. Now that’s rather cool.
Kraftwerk: Live At Tribal Gathering, Luton, UK 24 May 1997.
The undisputed kings of electronic music. Yes, there can only be one Kraftwerk. And let me immediately confess, I’m a huge fan. I’m a fan since 1984, when I bought The Man-Machine in Brighton, UK. But first I was slightly disappointed to hear The Model. What, no extreme synthetic sounds? But then I heard The Robots. And the world, my musical cosmos, was not the same again. The Model, of course, has since then grown to be a favorite track, also absolutely brilliant. A minimalistic masterpiece, in my opinion. And in terms of musical visions and futuristic soundscapes, the album trio Trans-Europe Express/The Man-Machine/Computer World simply can’t be beaten. And for the record, I prefer the German versions, Trans-Europa Express/Die Mensch Machine/Computer Welt. They are even better.
All Kraftwerk albums from Autobahn to, well, Electric Cafe are simply brilliant, far-reaching and innovative. There has, sadly, been much less innovation thereafter, mostly remixing and re-arrangements of the golden oldies. I have seen Kraftwerk live twice, and they were superb shows. Didn’t bother to see them live in 2025 though, because only Ralf Hutter remains of the great line-up. Don’t really know why I didn’t go, however, as I still am a huge fan. Live at Tribal Gathering in Luton 1997 was how they sounded live some almost 30 years ago. It was released on vinyl, but was actually a radio broadcast. For me Kraftwerk is not Kraftwerk without the powerduo Ralf Hutter-Florian Schneider, and they were on stage in Luton. The quintessential version of Kraftwerk added also electronic rhythm section Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flur. The latter two were not present at Luton, and I unfortunately have not seen the original 4 perform live, but at least the later Hutter-Schneider version, twice. This album from 1997 is only an edit of the live set, unfortunately, but good enough to make me miss the rest of the set. What we get is some fine live tracks by a clearly in-form Kraftwerk.But unfortunately also some bad and clumsy editing.
It begins as it should and always does, with the welcoming electronic spoken-word greeting before here jumping right into Numbers. That was not the concert opening track but Numbers is in fact a great album opener, followed by Computer World and a Radioactivity/Trans Europe Express ”medley” that continues on side B with Trans Europe part 2. The medley is no medley as the sound is faded after Radioactivity and then Trans Europe Express starts. On the B-side Pocket Calculator follows TEE, before the album closer The Robots. The included tracks are well-chosen, central, and of course a live staple like Autobahn would be too long for a single live album, but would be a given on a double. The Man-Machine would too, and a few other classics, like The Model and Music Non Stop.
Radioactivity is the most heavily reshaped song in the Kraftwerk catalog. Originally a song about radio waves, it has later transformed into an astonishing anti-nuclear power anthem. It’s quite a transformation, and only for the better. Listening to this album is a revelation, even though it’s not with the almost absurd clarity and perfection in sound that Hutter demands on KlingKlang-produced albums, but a more muffled affair. It’s stll a rather nice sound, but bizarrely Trans Europa Express is just cut off mid-tone when the side A ends. No editing, mixing or even attemp to fade, so it is simply an awful and clumsy solution. And it throws away seven rather fine prior minutes of the song. Side B begins with a section that luckily doesn’t feel cut in at the start. It works, but it’s just an ending without connection to the major part of the track, so it doesn’t feel that motivated. Then the audience sound is again clumsily cut, before a quite weak version of Pocket Calculator. Never a favorite of mine, it still has value for its visionary idea of pocket calculators already in 1981, years before any saw the light of day, and really what our smart phones of today are all about. This version grows nicely during the instrumental section to defend its position here. Finale The Robots is always a highlight on Kraftwerk concerts, and it’s a highlight here as well.
So, this album has its highlights, but also its weak points, the worst being how side A ends. It’s not a record I have listened much to, I would always prefer a double album from the 1997 tour, one without the worst mistakes on this recording. However, We Are The Robots is, as always, fantastic. Here in a much clubbier and dancefloor-friendlier version than the magnificent original. It’s such an energetic, sweaty and clever end-note to the album. And it excuses the earlier misses, because I wouldn’t want to miss this. Stunning.
Joakim Berg: Jag Fortsätter Glömma (2 LP).
Det var en underbar stund 2022, när Joakim Bergs soloalbum Jag Fortsätter Glömma kom ut, det första riktiga, egna livstecknet sedan Kent så uppmärksammat packade in karriären på topp, 2016. Utan tvivel det mest förbluffande och imponerande sätt som något band någonsin, någonstans, har tagit avsked och lagt av. Annonseringen på hemsidan att nu är det slut, efter sista albumet och sista turnen, har gått till historien. Sen kanske det blev lite överdrivet med Den Sista Sången som avslutade det sista albumet och den sista konserten. Men det får man, och kan man, ta. Det var ju annars så otroligt bra och vemodigt och upp-pumpat och vackert. En video och dokumentär och album och konserter att minnas och återvända till. Och sedan blev det tyst. Sex år senare kom Jag Fortsätter Glömma, sååå efterlängtat. Det är en strålande mellantidsrapport, bygger på där Kent slutade, och det låter ganska Kent, utan att vara Kent. Men Joakim Berg stod för texterna och musiken då och han gör det nu, och med Kent-basisten Martin Sköld igen vid sin sida. Det ligger ett behagligt lugn över och i den välproducerade ljudbilden. Det här en platta att luta sig tillbaka till och låta den sjunka in, djupt.
Inledande Barn Av Vår Tid är en vemodig tillbakablick, fylld av den vuxnes nostalgiska saknad och återkopplande reflektioner. Tonen är naket utlämnande, men också med en förhållandevis bekväm nutidsorientering. Barn Av Vår Tid är redan värd att kalla en klassiker, ett hjärtskärande återseende, och lika bra som det bästa Kent gav ut. Som lyssnare förblir man andlös, uppmärksam och lättad över att höra att Joakim Berg fortfarande levererar över förväntan. Han sjunger om avsked, och förhoppningsvis är det inte soloartistens avsked som samtidigt aviseras utan en återblick på Kents avsked.
Vi har inte hört mycket Jocke Berg efter Jag Fortsätter Glömma, som ju redan låter lite som en programförklaring, men Kent gjorde några reunion-konserter ifjol och stämsången av Berg och Sköld på Lasse Winnerbäcks Någonting Som Verkligen Är Bra fick nackhåren att resa sig, så bra var det.
Hursomhelst, Barn Av Vår Tid sätter tonen för det här albumet, där vemod, saknad, nostalgi och självreflektion finns med i varje ton, och snart sagt varje ord, men också en tillbakablickande tillförsikt, det har ju gått helt bra ändå. Så Berg har ju snarare fortsatt minnas än glömma, och det tackar vi för. I Begravningsbål ser han tillbaka på en brusten relation och ångerfullhet över hur den sköttes och med förmåga att också nostalgiskt urskilja det som varit gott. Berg - och sångens subjekt- har gått vidare, och i Aniara uttrycks en stark tillförsikt om att de som kommer efter och tar över är en bättre generation. Kanske det också är en rak passning från fadern Joakim Berg?
Låtsasvärlden lyfter i sin tur blicken mot samhället och är kanske albumets mest politiska spår om sin samtid; det är en tragisk aktualitet i rader som ”Världen balanserar/på en masstillverkad rakbladsegg/Ett enda felsteg gör slut på pinan”.
Berg kan skriva också om politik på ett odramatiskt men avväpnande lyriskt sätt som gör texten tidlös. Kommer osökt att tänka på Kents Elite och textraden ” Ett tusen överklasspoeter/kan inte ge mig någonting, nej, nej, nej”, eller de associationer det ger när han sjunger om ett ”iskallt Ikea-land” i Pärlor på samma album, Vapen och Ammunition. Helt briljant. I Låtsasvärlden är han textmässigt närmare stämningen i låten Sverige, och sjunger tänkvärt: Var på din vakt när ord och gester blir för stora/Snälla akta dig för män som mig/på höga hästar med en gloria/Undvik de som pekar ut de onda och de goda/de som viskar sagolandet e förlorat”.
Den personligt nostalgiska och melankoliska Legender tar sedan vid innan Berg knyter samman i Ingenmansland, en vemodig tillbakablick med politiska undertoner.
Andra skivan är mera av samma eftertänksamma, finstämda, vemodiga, nostalgiska återblickar, utan att nå lika tydliga höjdpunkter. C-sidans 4 är dock en stämningsfull och sympatisk höjdpunkt, och Berg fortsätter balansera mellan saknad, nostalgi och förnöjsamhet med att livet gått vidare i låtar som Mer Än Ingenting (”D e lätt att slösa bort sin tid/När man tror att man har evigt liv”), Rubicon (”Jag vill ta en tripp tillbaks i tiden/leva livet en gång till”) och Då Var Allt (”Så många vänner som försvunnit/Deras fester slutade tidigt/För tidigt/Och jag ser att våra fotspår där i sanden/e på väg att sköljas bort”). Det är mycket medelåldersreflektioner om livet, döden, kärleken och världen här. En stark mellantidsrapport om livet och tankarna efter Kent. Och även om den skyhöga uppstartskvaliteten kanske inte riktigt håller samma superba nivå hela vägen är Jag Fortsätter Glömma ett ordentligt formbesked. Lyriken är högklassig rakt igenom, och med tanke på texterna hade kanske en titel som Jag fortsätter minnas varit mera korrekt. Men Jag fortsätter glömma låter kanske bättre som titel. Hursomhelst, Berg levererar. Och nu väntar vi på mera!
It was a wonderful moment in 2022 when Joakim Berg’s longed for first solo album Jag Fortsätter Glömma saw the light of day. It was the first real sign of life musically by Kent frontman Joakim Berg since that group called it a day in 2016, when still considered the greatest band in Sweden.
It took six years of silence before Jag Fortsätter Gömma, a celebrated return by Berg, the singer who also wrote lyrics and music in Kent. And this album sounds kentish, familiar in a positive way as well as original. He is joined by Kent-bass player Martin Sköld here and the result is a well-produced album with a chilled vibe of melancholia and nostalgia, it’s sometimes remorseful and always self-reflecting. It is a grown-up and rather middle-aged album, in the most positive way, where Berg reminiscences about days gone by and how life turned out.
Opening Barn Av Vår Tid sets the tone straight away and is also the highlight of the whole album. It is simply brilliant. Both lyric and music is equal to some of the best Kent songs, it’s really that good. The first plate is stronger than the second, when reviewing the full album, but put together as a whole it’s a great album. Nostalgia, melancholy, remorse, mixed with self-reflecting acceptance of how things turned out is a repeated concept throughout, from different perspectives, with love, lost love, friendships, politics, and the younger self, all figuring in the well-written and thoughtful lyrics. Joakim Berg always excels with great catch-phrases and lines, and does so also here.
Jag Fortsätter Glömma (I continue forgetting) should perhaps rather be called Jag Fortsätter Minnas (I continue remembering), as the whole album is a themed compilation of sweet and sad reflections in middle age, about lost youth, love, society, and on what was then and what is now. So, Berg has clearly not forgot, he reflects, and remembers, always set to a soundscape based on minor chords. Among the highlights, besides the instant classic Barn Av Vår Tid, I list songs like Låtsasvärlden, Begraviningsbål and 4. This is a very strong, and long awaited, solo debut release by Joakim Berg. Now we wait for more!
2Pac: All Eyez On Me (4 LP).
There’s room for a lot of 2Pac on a four record vinyl album, so this is also a great place to start listening to 2Pac, and some will not need to dig any deeper. For most, however, this is not the end, but the end of the beginning of finding 2Pac’s, Tupac Shakur’s, musical legacy. And, yes, it is a strong legacy in words, lyrics, sound. Mind-blowing stuff, and much of it is also here on All Eyez On Me. This album is generally considered a classic, and many argue that it is 2Pac’s best album.
For me, and for many more, California Love, for one, is the West Coast Hiphop party hit, just magic in every sense of the word. Here it is in the great remixed version. But 2Pac was of course so much more, a social commentator, a thug by his own account, a hiphop intellectual, and a radical, whose mother was a Black Panther during the civil rights movement and black consciousness era of the late 1960’s and 1970’s. 2Pac carried the torch of African-American consciousness to the next generation and into the 1990’s, right until his untimely death, in a horrific drive-by murder. Just imagine how he could have commented BLM or the second Trump presidency today.
On these four records that makes up this long album, then, all eyes are truly set on him, and All Eyez On Me is nothing but a magnificent collection of hiphop tracks. It is a clear proof of his significance and legendary status on the global hiphop scene. It is also much to take in, and sometimes a 4 LP set can feel a little overwhelming, but this is great stuff that will not tire you out. I like to listen to great albums from start to finish, but that might involve more than one sitting, as four LP’s takes some time. 2Pac excells on songs like the before-mentioned stunningly wonderful California Love (Rmx), Skandalouz (not for the lyrics this time, but for the infectious groove and rhythm), 2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted (with Snoop Dogg) and of course the title track, All Eyez On Me. It is an album to return to, filled with highlights to celebrate.
As a stand-alone album, All Eyez On Me, is superb, intense and powerful, and probably the best one to chose, if only one. But 2Pac made many more great cuts than those that are represented here. Besides the four fine vinyls of this album, I therefore recommend for example the collections Thug (Part 1) and Life (Part 2) as complements. Otherwise, other essential parts of 2Pac’s musical legacy, like for example Brenda’s Got A Baby and Ghetto Gospel, will be lacking, and may be sorely missed.
The second record starts strongly with the party groovin’ Can’t C Me. It’s a fat groove, but perhaps slightly overstays its prime. Overall a 4 LP album is a little too much. Sure, you get much great music for the money, but you would get an even tighter, and greater, album on 3 LP, and a world beater on 2 LP. That said, not much here is filler material, so 2Pac succeeded in making a very good 4 LP album, great even. I have heard that the Mammoth album is due to a three-record deal that Suge Knight held 2Pac to, and with this mega-double he fulfilled two thirds of that debt. Suge Knight’s name as Executive Producer certainly is unnecessary large on the back cover. Perhaps the record deal rumour is correct, then, or perhaps 2Pac just couldn’t kill his darlings to make this a truly colossal classic. Little like Swedish rock veteran Ulf Lundell, who repeatedly produced too long albums or wrote too long books. Good products that could have been great classics, with just some tighter editing. Understandably, it’s hard to skip material you have worked on and like. However, Bruce Springsteen could, and then later released much ”hidden away” material to great acclaim.
All Eyez On Me is just a little much of the goodies, even though hardly anything is bad. But, ok, let it be the soundtrack for a whole night then, it’s certainly very good and filled with groovy beats throughout, and more often than not great, even brilliant, at least at times. When We Ride, for example, another stunner that combines intelligent rhymes with killer rhythms. Picture Me Rollin’ smoothly rolls along with a nicely groovin’ beat. The last record of course includes the superb title cut and a sweetly delivered Rather Be Ya N… It’s hard to keep your ass in a chair when listening to all these smooth, infectious grooves and well- delivered, often thought-provoking, rhymes.
Unfortunately, the final, last, side is not the concluding ultra-intense or sensual album ending you would hope for. Side 8 starts with otherwise fine opener Run Tha Streetz, that is just a tad too long and drawn-out. After seven great sides, the album loses some class and pace on the final side, like it all became a little too much even for 2Pac. The album closes with Heaven Ain’t Hard 2 Find, a good song with a disappointing, faded, ending. After all these wonderful highs it sort of just vanish into silence.
Taken as a whole, though, All Eyez On Me, is a very strong album, an accomplishment, really. It’s quite a verdict that you can easily play eight sides, 4 LP:s, in a row, without having to change album or artist, and still, almost to the end, keep both the quality level and mood up, and to keep a good party going. Hardly any fillers here, just dance floor killers. 2Pac was a cool cat, and a full-blown musical legend. His life was cut way too short. Just imagine what he could and should have released on record today. Wow.
So that’s that. One batch remaining of the 30 vinyl albums. Stay tuned for the remaining 5!
Det var det. En sändning återstår av de 30 vinylalbumen. Håll koll här för de återstående 5!
