Yo! Time for the third installment of the 30 archive finds in my record collection that I will listen to - and review for you - before buying any new vinyl albums. Yes, I’m talking exclusively about vinyls here (some other formats might follow). Here are vinyl albums 20-16, just numbers counting down, not positions on a top-30-list. Swedish records are reviewed in Swedish and English, all other in English. Let’s Go!
Och samma på svenska: Dags för tredje satsen vinylskivor från samlingen, 30 arkivfynd totalt som jag ska lyssna igenom - och recensera för er - innan något nytt vinylalbum köps. Ja, vi talar exklusivt om vinyler här. Här är album 20-16, och det här är bara en nedräkning, inte placeringar på en top 30-lista. Bara svenskspråkiga album recenseras på svenska och engelska, alla övriga på engelska.Vi kör!
Lars Wnnerbäck: Neutronstjärnan
När albumet just kommit ut hörde jag de första omdömena på besök i Linköping. Winnerbäck hade just spelat några spår live i Bengans skivbutik och jag hörde tyvärr om det först en halv timme efteråt. Men jag har sett fyra riktiga spelningar tidigare, alla superba, till och med den i extremt hällregn och den i en skolgympasal. Neutronstjärnan då? De två första omdömena jag hörde gav ingen vink, det ena tyckte albumet lät gubbigt, det andra att det var ett av hans allra bästa. Och jag?
Neutronstjärnan är ett strålande album, med underbara höjder, när det är som bäst. Ett absolut måsteköp. Lasse W är en favoritartist och det här albumet är dessutom producerat av Joakim Berg och Martin Sköld. Ni vet, dom från legendariska Kent. Snacka om allstar-kedja. Och Neutronstjärnan gör en inte besviken. Endel spår är väl inte så märkvärdiga, ganska Lasse Winnerbäck-typiska, och redan det är ju bra. Albumet startar starkt, men på tredje spåret, Nåt som verkligen är bra, händer någonting exceptionellt. Nåt som verkligen är bra är faktiskt verkligen just så jävla bra. Och där, just då, kommer kören med Jocke Berg och Martin Sköld in, och det är plötsligt oförglömliga, djupt saknade Kent i en Winnerbäck-sång och det är sagolikt, underbart bra. Och det är en träffande låttitel, som verkligen håller vad den lovar.
Vi rullar på den winnerbäckska rälsen genom resten av albumet, med musik att omfamnas av och underfundiga, välskrivna, berörande vardagsorienterande texter. Det är en stämning av reflekterande medelåldersstillhet över albumet. Vi är rätt många år från tempofyllda testosteronstänkare som Jag vill gå hem med dig. Och när han avslutar med en annan av albumets höjdpunkter är det en bitterljuv och reflekterande Vår tid, som eftertänksamt sammanfattar intryck av nutiden och lämnar lyssnaren med sina egna tankar om vår tid och våra liv. Missnöjd med tiden, men nöjd och mättad av musiken på ett utmärkt album.
Neutronstjärnan is a great album, with superb highlights, at its best. A must-buy. Lasse W is a favorite artist and this album is produced by Joakim Berg and Martin Sköld, yes, the ones from legendary Swedish band Kent. What an allstar-line. Neutronstjärnan doesn’t disappoint. Some tracks are not exceptional, rather quite typical Winnerbäck-tracks, and that’s already good in itself. The album also starts well and on third track, Nåt som verkligen är bra, something exceptional happens. It’s already a wonderful track, and then the chorus sets in, with Berg & Sköld, and suddenly it is the sorely missed beautiful Kent sound, on a strong winnerbäck-track and it’s pure magic, almost unbelievably good. A stunning song with a title to match.
From there on we are comfortably riding on the Winnerbäck rail, with music that embraces us and lyrics that are well-written, witty and touching. Winnerbäck delivers a reflective vibe of middle age-calmness, quite far from younger day testosteron-outbursts like Jag vill gå hem med dig. The album closes with another highlight, the bittersweet reflection on our time, Vår tid, which leaves the listener thinking of our times and our lives. Disappointed with the times but satisfied and well-fed by the music on this great album.
Dr. Dre: Compton - A soundtrack by Dr. Dre (2LP).
Dr. Dre, first famous as the sound and rhythm mastermind of N.W.A. and in every respect a major hiphop superstar, revisits his home district Compton, L.A., composing and producing his own soundtrack to the district. It’s a love story as such, or love-hate story perhaps being more correct. An interesting album with a long line of great guest MC:s, including Kendrick Lamar and Snoop Dogg (on two tracks), Ice Cube and Eminem, to name just a few. It’s not on level with N.W.A. or The Chronic, but, that said, the soundtrack to Compton rolls on fine, right from the splendid Intro, a great short history lesson that sets the stage for the album and positions Compton socio-geographically. A superb one minute introduction. Dr. Dre goes on to serve some impressive and cool recollections of Compton in sounds and lyrics. There is much to enjoy here, It’s All On Me for example. Dr Dre lays it out, how it is and how it was, with the help of some ace MC:s. Snoop on One Shot One Kill, Kendrick Lamar on Genocide and IceCube on Issues. There’s even a touch of the late great Tupac here - some notes reminds us of California Love in Just Another Day, that features The Game and Asia Bryant. Other guests include, for example, Marsha Ambrosius, Justus and Anderson .Paak.
This is an album that draws you in. Not just as an album about a legendary place, made by a legendary vinylspinning DJ/producer, but also because it’s a spell-binding and well-produced album. Compton, a legendary district also in hiphop history, deserves of course its own hiphop soundtrack album, fittingly by living legend Dr. Dre. Even an average album by Dr. Dre would be worth to notice, and an album soundtracking Compton even more so. An impressive list of guests certainly doesn’t make it less interesting either. To quote a disco classic, this is hot stuff.
Misfits: If you don’t know this song…What the fuck are you doing here?
Quite a self-explanatory title on legendary punk band Misfits live album, recorded 1984. This version adds 7 superb additional tracks, that were first published as Beware (mini-LP). Love the confrontational, uncompromizing title, it gives a hint of where Misfits, and this album, takes the listener. 20 Eyes is an early highlight and with 11 songs on side A you know you are in for some fast, and short, outbursts of adrenaline. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, If you don’t know this song sounds fine, which unfortunately can’t be said of all punk live albums, as production often is D.I.Y. This can very well add to the charm, but usually not to the sound quality. This album is alright soundwise, and it sure is intense. However, there is silence between each track and I really don’t like that on live albums. And especially on albums that otherwise provide a soundscape of uncompromizing power and fierce energy. Silence just kills the tension build-up. The Beware material here (track 14-21) is a superb bonus, It’s recorded in studio, not live, and soundwise it is therefore far superior to the live cuts. Attitude comes to its full right here, just amazing, and way better than the live version on side A. And Misfits certainly have attitude. Horror Business and Teenagers From Mars are also both in live and studio versions on this record, and both are far superior in the Beware studio versions. In all, a very interesting album documenting Misfits live and in studio at a certain moment in time. The live cuts are fine, but it’s the Beware material that lifts the listening experience far above average. Great.
Sven Wollter: Nån sorts man.
En legendarisk och saknad skådespelare, som tyvärr gick bort under Covid-19 krisen. På Nån sorts man visar han en strålande känsla för det starka låtmaterialet på ett oförtjänt ”glömt” album. Höjdpunkten är I kvarteren här, som ligger gömd som nästsista spår på B-sidan, en helt underbar låt med fullständig närvaro i framförandet. Sagolik. En annan höjdare är den vackra, släpande Sången om blindheten, som slutar med en viktig reflektion: ”för värre än att inte se, är detta att inte bli sedd”. Så sant.
Men det stannar inte där. Albumet Nån sorts man skildrar insiktsfullt kärleken och politiken och den medelålders mannens fördjupade självinsikt.
Sångtexterna är i huvudsak utmärkta översattningar av original som skrivits av bland andra Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits. Dårarna (har tagit över kliniken) är i sin tur i original av Specials-trion som senare bildade Fun Boy Three. För de utmärkta svenska texterna står Kent Andersson, Peter Ericson, Rikard Wolff och Klas Östergren. Och att Cohen och Waits återfinns bland originalartisterna är förstås ingen slump det heller. Wollters släpiga, djupa, mörka, nästan talande stämma för just tankarna ditåt. Något av samma totala närvaro och känsla hör vi också här. De här låtarna passar Wollters röstresurser väl. Han har inte Cohens musikaliskt vackra stämma, men resultatet är ändå ett sympatiskt och begåvat album, som är bättre än bra. Överraskande bra, faktiskt. Och för det lyfter jag på hatten för den geniale Sven Wollter. En värld utan både Cohen och Wollter är en mycket tristare värld.
A legendary and sorely missed actor that unfortunately died during the covid-19 crises. On unfortunately ”forgotten” album Nån sorts man Sven Wollter also shows a magnificent musical presence. The album highlight I kvarteren här is hidden almost at the end of side B. It’s simply wonderful, with a strong presence in Wollter’s performance. Another highlight is the lovely Sången till blindheten. And there is more. Nån sorts man is an insightful album about love and politics and the self-awareness of a middle-aged man. Most songs are wonderfully translated to Swedish, from great English originals by artists like Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits. Dårarna (har tagit över kliniken) in turn is by the Specials-trio that later founded Fun Boy Three. Songs by Cohen and Waits are of course not by chance, because Wollter’s slow, dark, deep and almost speaking voice is reminiscent of Cohen’s and Waits’s. These songs are well-suited for Wollter’s voice. His voice is not on par musically with Cohen’s, but Wollter can (at least almost) match the same voice presence and feeling. The result is an album that is better than good. In fact, it is surprisingly good. And for that, hats off to the genius Sven Wollter. The world is a poorer place without Cohen and Wollter.
Black Sabbath: Live Evil (2 LP).
The Black Sabbath live album with Ronnie James Dio on vocals, not Ozzy Osbourne. Yes, that album. And it is also a good one. I think all can agree that both are fantastic heavy metal vocalists, even though it is more debated whether Dio also was a great Black Sabbath vocalist, or if it is only Ozzy that deserves that honor and position. Some, however, think this is the best Sabbath live album, while most argue that ”the real Black Sabbath” has Ozzy on vocals. And only Ozzy.
Undoubtedly, the first four Sabbath albums, with Ozzy, are the major classics, and Ozzy certainly was central in the classic Black Sabbath line-up. But, that said, Dio really does a fine job on Live Evil, as he also did on the great studio album Heaven and Hell. They are excellent albums, great Sabbath albums too. But even though Dio also performs the Ozzy era classics well enough here, they are Ozzy-era songs, and therefore better with Ozzy on the mike.
Live Evil is by a three-piece Sabbath (Iommi-Butler-Dio) with Vinnie Appice (drums) and Geoff Nicholls (keyboards) as guests. They are in fine form here, live on stage. This is an interesting album from the go, the instrumental build-up €5150, followed instantly by a thunderous Neon Knights. Of course all the biggest classics from Ozzy-era Sabbath are present too: War Pigs, Paranoid, Children of the Grave, Black Sabbath, Iron Man… Dio does them well, especially Paranoid, and on Mob Rules, a riff-heavy 11-minute version of Heaven and Hell, followed by a The Sign of the Southern Cross/Heaven and Hell (continued) medley for 7 mins, he is right at home. The instrumental session in H&H is well-performed, sure, but just a tad too long on record. I would have preferred for example a live Die Young in the setlist, and a shorter jam. But that’s a matter of taste. The finale with Paranoid (wonderful version), Children Of The Grave (riff-heavy, oh yeah) and Fluff (the ”let’s bring you down”-outro) leaves the listener wishing for more.
The uncompromising riffs of Tony Iommi, and the clever bass structures of Geezer Butler, are impressive throughout on Live Evil. Appice and Nicholls perform very well too, and Dio is, well, Dio. An A class heavy singer, who of course also was ace on classic records by Rainbow and, yes, Dio.
Even though Live Evil is not a live album by the legendary original Black Sabbath quartet, it is still an important part of the Sabbath history. And a very fine live album. Except, like on so many other heavy metal and hard rock live records, an incredibly dull drum solo. Perhaps enjoyable live, but intolerably dull on record. Vinny is by no means worse here than any other great drummer performing drum solos on other live records. It can be fine live, and is of course a breather for the other band members. But, sorry, they are all a bit of a nuisance to listen to on record. This one, at least, is not that long.
Black Sabbath were and are the true masters of heavy metal. Sorely missed. One of the bands I regretfully never experienced live in person. Sure wish I had. Luckily there are at least a few great Sabbath live albums to enjoy. This is one.
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