At Left: A band you will definitely NOT be hearing on RA#11, Swedish Prog And Psych. One of the great national insults ever suffered by any nation, Abba does NOT in any way represent the genius of the Stockholm scene and its relentless rocking.
This week, Radio Anthrocide journeys to the far frozen North, where translucent pubic hair and gelatinous fish are an everyday occurrence (and hopefully part of the diet) and the people of Sweden make their claim to being the hardest rocking race on Earth. I had this one pegged from the time Jeff agreed to give me a show on Radio23- no doubt I was going to do a Sweden Rock program, no doubt at all. But only in the past week as I finalized the setlist did I realize just how epic and all-consuming was the scope of the Swedish rock sound, ca. the early 70's. Springing from seemingly one or two ur bands that provided the musicians for dozens after the originals broke up, the Swedish scene was both cannibalistic and incestuous; but man, the results speak very highly for kin fucking kin. Tons of great bands sprung from the original, anarchic Psych scene- centered around the Parson Sound, who split and branched into, eventually, bands including International Harvester and Trad Gras Och Stenar. The Mecki Mark Men opened for Jimi Hendrix and Algarnas Tradgard took things to the Cosmos; and Sweden was home to a unique Left-leaning bunch of musicians collectively known as playing "Progg" (note the second "g") which ran the gamut from Country sounds to Protest Folk. We'll be hearing a little bit of all of that tomorrow night on RA. As well, RA#11 pays notice to the genius Fusion Jazz scene that erupted from the Stockholm clubs, and since the other Scandinavian countries also had some great bands...we'll be hearing from a few of them as well. Including an epic Prog track from Sven Gruneberg's awesome Estonian creation, Mess.
I am already proclaiming this the best Radio Anthrocide ever. An entire other show could have been made just from the acts who split from November (featuring one of the great vocalists of the era, Christer Stalbrandt) and Mecki and Parson; as it stands, there is enough of the Rock to please the most demanding of Hard Heads. If you miss it as it happens, that's ok; the Podcast will be up by Sunday. But for god's sakes don't miss it altogether; no doubt, this will be the best compilation and avalanche of Swedish Rock ever made. A heavy statement- but I just listened to it altogether, and there is no doubt that's what I have here. - TKR
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