Ralph Lundsten And The Andromeda All Stars - "Discophrenia" (1978)

Gather Jan Schaffer, George "Jojje" Wadenius, Björn J:son Lindh and some other heavy dudes, give Ralph Lundsten free hands to steer this ship. Can such an all-star attendance fail? The result that this Swedish music elite came up with 1978 was named Discophrenia. But is it disco? Is it good? Is it top of the pops, crème de la crème? And, not least, can you dance to it?

Ralph Lundsten was born in 1936 near Luleå (nothern Sweden) and is one of Sweden's leading innovators in electronic music. He started his journey in this genre already in the 50's and built his own studio, Andromeda, where most of his music has been recorded. His studio is now located at his home in Tollare, Stockholm, where he has lived in his pink villa Frankenburg since 1970.
Ralph has done everything from difficult, avant-garde, minimalistic music to new age to ballet to symphonies, both with electronic and classical instruments. On some of his albums he invites guest musicians, as the above mentioned, which expand the sound in the music. Ralph's discography is large and his music has reached outside of Sweden. Within his relatively narrow genre he is, in my understanding, a pretty big name.

Personally, I've got a somewhat strange relationship to Ralph's music. In my CD collection, I have probably a dozen of his albums I bought during my teens. I don't remember how I discovered him, probably I bought one of his records based on an enigmatic cover that attracted me. I liked "deep" music at that time and it seemed to me that Ralph might give me what I was looking for. Exactly what I wanted I could not define which made the search a little harder. I thought so-so about every Ralph album I bought, but all the time I had the idea it was close to this mystical thing I was looking for, so "the next album ... there I will find it." And so I bought another one of his albums, thought it was OK, but not more, saw a glimpse of this shimmering light again, bought another one in hope of salvation, then another one and so on ... Suddenly I had lots of Ralph Lundsten albums in my shelf, more than of any other artist, and people thought I was a real Ralph Lundsten fan. But the truth was I really didn't think he was better than many other artists I was listening to. Sure, there were a lot of beautiful creations and it was different than many other albums I had, but honestly, I thought it was too much new-age over it. Eventually I found a CD I fell for, and that perhaps was what I was looking for - Cosmic Phantasy - a musical journey into cosmos. Then I bought no more Ralph Lundsten albums, except today's theme which was hard to resist when I found it on a flea market for a reasonable price, on vinyl.

Discophrenia is not disco, at least not the way we usually define disco. It is an instrumental album throughout, except for a woman's suspected moaning on Luna Lolita, maybe Ralph's own Love to Love You Baby? On some songs, you'll get quite a funky sound, such as on the title track, and with some good will you can hear some Talking Heads in one song or two, mainly thanks to Ralph's use of a synthesizer sound that's also commonly used in many of TH's songs. Personally, I like the parts best where Ralph steps back and let his fellow musicians play the lead role, then you get really beautiful and groovy creations, such as Spring Fever. The opening track Andromedian Nights is also a nice song.

Ralph often creates playful music, I have in principle nothing against playfulness in music, but in Ralph's case, I think he often takes it too far. It's as if it's playing/joking with a musical touch, instead of music with a playful touch. The music ends up in the background and you just hear a musical jester, unfortunately, often with a different sense of humor than I have. For example, Cat Symphony with Jojje Wadenius on bass and guitar. This could perhaps have been something really good, but since the guitar has to imitate a cat meowing you loose a lot of the music. Or am I boring?

Many of Ralph albums are compilations, and many tracks appear on several different records. However, I think, but am not sure, that most of these songs (if not all) are recorded for this album. I let it be a little unsaid. The mentioned Andromedian Nights is on the later album Cosmic Phantasy and also some of the other songs on Discophrenia I have seen on later albums, but not at any earlier ones.

So, an album that is a little different than many other Ralph has done, as it is a bit funkier, relatively many of the "mainstream" rock instruments are used (although they also show up on some of Ralph's other albums) and is a visit to the then-modern disco genre, showing an openness to new influences that should be admired and respected, even if the result is not so much disco. There are some nice songs that I can fully appreciate, but also a lot of stuff that I don't particularly like. Not a must-have in your album collection, in my opinion. For fun I took a look on what prices the album generates on auction sites, and noted to my delight that prices around $ 100 are not uncommon. And my album is in perfect condition. A good financial investment, in other words. And it's always fun with albums released on Harvest.

And can you dance to the album? Yes, sure you can, I guess the question to ask is whether there is music you can't dance to.

Tracklist

Side A
1. Andromdian Nights 2:46
2. Discophrenia 7:10
3. Luna Lolita 3:20
4. Cat Symphony 3:56

Side B
1. Robot Amoroso 5:50
2. Spring Fever 6:10
3. The Celestial Sphinx 4:07

Frida Hyvönen - "To The Soul" (2012)

And so it happens, yours truly makes a visit to reality and purchases an album that is so smoking hot that it almost burnes. But only almost. Music fans read reviews on this album a few months ago. It feels almost odd to be in the frontline of the music world ...

Frida Hyvönen, born in 1977 in Robertsfors (northern Sweden), released her fifth album this year, To The Soul. She has made four albums under her own name, and one is a collaboration with the photographer Elin Berge that was released as a book with a CD. Personally, I associate Frida with a brittle sounding piano and dark, odd songs. It was probably her first album I heard through videos on TV. But that was before I heard this album, and this is something completely different (and better). I haven't heard the albumes in between.

To The Soul takes the listener on a varied journey - calm and speed, darkness and light, joy and sorrow, humor and seriousness. Many reviewers have described this as more of a pop album than her previous ones, this may be true, but you can't call it a pop album. You would probably call Terrible Dark a pop song, but it's pop with some sort of twist and a sound that gives you the vibes of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. Many songs are on the calm side and many texts feels quite personal. Farmor (Grandmother) is, I suppose, about Frida's late grandmother and it's clear how important the grandmother was to her. I, who earlier in life have spent some time in Bali, of course listened a little extra to the song The Wild Bali Nights. My experience of Bali was that magic mushrooms were a big part of the visitors' time on the island. If Frida sings about such experiences, however, I leave unsaid. But I know what I suspect.

We also hear thoughts about the lack of own children, found love in spite of doubts about this, and Frida often conveys an image of herself as someone who feels she's standing somewhat outside life and what it offers people. She writes a lot about self-doubt, life-doubt and the uncertainty concerning her own person. I'm impressed by the courage to show the world these feelings, as most of us probably try to hide these parts of ourselves.

I rarely resort to analyze and interpret texts, but since I have carefully followed the lyrics as I listened to the album, I can't help it. Usually, I focus mostly on the melodies and the sound when I listen to albumes. And the songs on this album, from this perspective, are really good. There are varied melodies, often travelling on a more calm and soft road although not all are ballads. The album is some sort of mix of Kate Bush, Regina Spector and a few pinches of Kate & Anna McGarrigle, finally, all spiced with some brittleness, darkness and vulnerability. Strings are used here and there on the album which adds to the variety.

I like this album and recommend it. It contains not really any weak tracks or songs with the intention just to fill out time, instead it's quality all way through. It works well as background music when you're doing something else, but it's also an album you can listen to focused in headphones. The quality and variety makes you never loose interest or become bored. The only thing I can complain about is that the inner sleeve is already broken on two sides despite the fact that the album is brand new. The hardware was of better quality in the old times.

The album is recorded in the Benny Andersson's (from ABBA) new studio Rixmixningsverket in Stockholm, Sweden.
It may be mentioned that Frida today mostly lives in Paris and that she is the cousin of the drummer in the band Sahara Hotnights.

So here you are, a swedish pop artist who doesn't give you the mainstream music, but isn't too difficult to enjoy. A perfect balance!

Tracklist

Side A
1. Gas Station 4:29
2. Terrible Dark 4:30
3. The Wild Bali Nights 4:42
4. California 2:03
5. Saying Goodbye 4:54
6. Farmor 6:59

Side B
1. Picking Apples 2:58
2. Hands 4:07
3. Enchanted 3:50
4. Postcard 2:47
5. In Every Crowd 3:56
6. Gold 5:46

It's Immaterial - "Life's Hard And Then You Die" (1986)

The hit Driving Away From Home was played frequently on the radio in 1986, I was 14 years old, was in eighth grade and my more ambitious interest in music was starting to form. I still had no clear direction in my musical taste and I was open to suggestions and influences. With some confusion, but also great curiosity, I searched my way through the big forest of music, trying to find out what path was mine. Life's Hard And Then You Die was a station on this search.

At this time in life a purchase of a record was a big deal. Due to financial reasons it didn't happen often (yes, I bought my records and didn't shoplift them, as some others ...) with the result that each album became extremely valuable, and the relationship that was formed with each record was deep. After some time, thanks to regular, focused listenings, you knew every inch of the album, all of its strengths and weaknesses, and of course could sing along to almost every song.

The Liverpool band It's Immaterial was created in 1980 and consisted at the time of the recording of Life's Hard... by John Campbell (vocals) and Jarvis Whitehead (guitar and keyboard). This was their first album of two (read about the latter album here). If you compare the two albums, Life's Hard... is a little more fast-paced and varied than the latter Song, though the melancholy regularly makes an appearance also on their debut album.

Often you hear Campbell "talk-sing" through the verses and then lets his beautiful singing voice blossom in the choruses. These choruses are often sweeping, grandiose and beautiful, which is a nice contrast to the more restrained verses. Personally, I'm weak for such choruses.

The album is strongly associated with my early teens which to some extent affect my experience of it, but if I try to ignore this relationship and listen to the record more objectively, it's a really great album. I usually complain about the music from the '80s, but here is an exeption. Here and there you can hear some Pet Shop Boys, even if It's Immaterial feels a bit more melancholy, and with some good will you might hear a little of the English band James, primarily in the sweeping choruses.
The production is nice and the sound is impeccable. Even the drum machine that is heard in certain songs feels OK. I was actually a bit surprised by the great sound, but it probably says more about my prejudices and expectations of the music from the '80s.

In summary, I recommend this album. It's a relatively laid-back album with a rather large variety and beautiful songs. It feels like It's Immaterial could have become bigger than they did, but the market apparently wanted different.

Tracklist

Side A
1. Driving Away From Home (Jim's Tune) 4:12
2. Happy Talk 5:29
3. Rope 3:37
4. The Better Idea 5:42
5. Space 3:59

Side B
1. The Sweet Life 4:38
2. Festival Time 3:52
3. Ed's Funky Dinner 3:05
4. Hang On Sleepy Town 4:20
5. Lullaby 6:21

Donna Summer - "Love To Love You Baby" (1975)

You get a sudden urge for porn, but you have neither a magazine, a film or internet access. What do you do? One solution could be to play today's record and close your eyes. The epic title track that fills up the entire A-side is a disco trip into the land of sexuality. Donna Summer's moans and groans leave little to imagination, or perhaps the opposite, awaken the imagination and take your thoughts to forbidden places.

Some may be surprised that I have a Donna Summer album in my collection (I have actually two). But no record collection is complete without some classic disco from the 70s, so I'm not ashamed of this album. As I also found it quite cheap in Quebec's vinyl record stores, where I purchased the album, there was no hesitation.

This was Summers' second album and a collaboration with none other than Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, the latter listed as the producer. Summer had gotten the idea for the song Love To Love You Baby and went to see these two men to do something with it. Especially Moroder was interested in developing the new disco sound and got the idea to make the song into a very sexy musical journey. Summer was not entirely up to his idea to excitedly moan throughout the song, but eventually she went along with it as a way to make a demo for someone else to record. After the recording was completed Moroder managed to persuade Summer to release the song in her own name, which she reluctantly agreed to.


Summer and Moroder

The song was released in Europe in a shorter version and when it was time to release it in the US, the label Casablanca asked Moroder to mix it into a 17-minute disco monster version. And so it became a big hit around the clubs in the states. Of course some radio stations banned it and Time Magazine reported that Summer simulated 22 orgasms during the song's 17 minutes.

Regarding the recording of the title track Summer has said that she imagined herself being Marilyn Monroe, acting out the role of someone in sexual ecstasy. Say what you will about sexually explicit songs, but the title track, which the album is strongly associated with, is a pretty groovy, laid-back song with a cool 70's sound. I realize that the 70's dance floor must have been a more relaxed place compared to today's, as the songs' BPM seem to have been much lower and there's often no clear base puls (like a thudding bass drum) that dominates.
As a former amateur bass player, I enjoy the cool base that hypnotically drives the song forward, and combined with the laid-back guitar at least I get some vibes of the classic soundtracks of the Blaxploitation films, even if there is more disco here. I played the title track once when my 8-year-old son was present and he wondered why the woman who sang sounded so strange. I told him to ask his mother instead.

However, the record is of course more than the A-side. There is a B-side too. It consists of five songs of which the last one is a reprise of the first one. The B-side is not as much disco, but good nonetheless. The listener is offered a few ballads and some song with a little more soul feel. The A-side and B-side is quite different from one another but both offer something interesting, the risk is always with this kind of album that the B-side gets in the shadow, which is somewhat of a shame.

Moroder and Bellotte have written all the songs on the B-side and are also named as the composers to the title song together with Summer.

To me it's a bit strange to see the Casablanca label on the album as my childhood experiences created a strong link between this label and KISS. The connection is apparently still there as some confusion arises when I read "Donna Summer" on the record. Also sudden feelings of nostalgia are brought up inside from seeing the Casablanca logo. Perhaps Love To Love You Baby is powerful enough to break this linkage.

Donna Summer died May 17 this year from lung cancer, 63 years old.

Tracklist
Side A
1. Love To Love You Baby 16:50

Side B
1. Full Of Emptiness 2:22
2. Need-a-Man Blues 4:30
3. Whispering Waves 4:50
4. Pandora's Box 4:56
5. Full Of Emptiness (Reprise) 2:20