Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1969)

From the back cover:

This is a joyous, bouncing and entirely successful piece of pop music, bursting with good tunes and clever words, yet having a musical continuity and wholeness which is quite new in the world where the differing sounds of Beatles, Cream and Doors explode and dominate. "Joseph" is, if you like, pop music moving towards its coming of age.

There you have it, this is heavy stuff, apparently. Personally I think the cover is worth a Nobel prize, if it would be awarded for album covers (which I think it should). That alone is worth the $10 I paid for this LP and makes me return to my ideas that we need to have a mural at home.

This is a musical on the theme of Joseph, you know, the one with the evil brothers who was going to kill him but instead sold him as a slave. After some adventures including a dream interpretation regarding seven good years and seven poor years in Egypt, he became Pharaoh's second man. There, he was finally reunited with his brothers during the famine years, when the brothers were seeking help from Egypt's Pharaoh (who did well thanks to good preparations before the famine). The brothers' initial ill will against Joseph was partially based on a nice colorful coat he got from his father. And they probably thought he was somewhat self-important, and also his father's favorite. Of course they had to kill him. If you want to read the original story, just check out the Book of Genesis.

This musical is written by no less than Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics), or Sir Tim Rice as he is addressed nowdays. Both were in their 20s when they wrote it and they did it on commission of Alan Doggett, music master of the school Colet Court. And it is as musicals tend to be, conceptual and theatrical music that sometimes is really great, but sometimes the music needs the visuals to really work. I'm no great connoisseur of Lloyd Webber but still recognize Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats and Phantom of the Opera in the music. Although both Webber's and Rice's careers at this point hadn't really got going, it feels like they already had found their way to make music (plagiarism and copying many claim in the case of Webber).


Webber and Rice

The first version of the music was a 15-minute concert by the choir at Colet Court, there was also an orchestra and the pop band The Mixed Bag which played along. It was the school's Easter concert 1968. Lloyd Webber's father felt this could become something really big and organized a concert in his own church, and now the show had become a bit longer. A third concert was made later that year and by this time it was a 35-minute show, thanks to some new songs. The Mixed Bag and the choir from Colet Court participated in these concerts and they also play on the LP that was recorded the following year. After Lloyd Webber's big success with Jesus Christ Superstar 1970, Jospeh ... attracted new attention and was launched in the United States as the follow-up to Jesus Christ. Since then it has been set up in countless productions at various places in the world throughout the decades. A film has also been made based on the musical.

Personally I think it's an OK album, but the music doesn't stand up to the fantastic cover. One thing I like about musicals is that it's often quite bombastic music, big choires, cool harmonies and sweeping, catchy choruses which often are really powerful. In its best moments. In its worst moments, the music without its visual complement is rather dull and a bit strange, more theater than music. On Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat you get both. There's a lot of humor in the music, and the first time I listened to it I followed the lyrics through out the whole LP even though I really hadn't thought I would do so. But the story was so exciting and fun so I got stuck in it.



Recording in the Decca studio

Many other musical albums are double-LPs, but not this one which is good. A double-LP often contains more fillers and boring songs you want to skip, especially when it comes to musicals. On a single LP you get more quality than quantity.
Conclusion: No real need to have this record in the shelf, but it's fun to have music from Webber's and Rice's early careers and at the same time a piece of art to hang on the wall (if you have a wife that doesn't allow murals at home).

Just as Joseph had a vision of the future, the text on the back of the cover holds a prediction by the Sunday Times' Derek Jewell, apparently a mystic:

The names on this disc aren't yet well-known. But with Lloyd Webber (currently at the Royal College of Music), Rice and Doggett all now involved in the record production game, that situation will change swiftly. "Joseph" is splendid enough in itself. It could be the start of something even bigger.

Tracklist

Side A
1. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Side B
1. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

That's the official tracklist, a clear concept, wouldn't you say? But you can find tracklists that list the individual songs:

Side A
1. Way Way Back
2. Jacob Chorus
3. Favourite Son
4. Joseph's Coat
5. I Dreamed
6. The Dreams Were More Than
7. Next Day
8. Poor Poor Jacob
9. Joseph Was Taken
10. Potiphar
11. Suddenly They Heard
12. Poor Poor Joseph
13. Close Every Door

Side B
1. Joseph's Luck
2. Meanwhile in Bed
3. Poor Poor Pharap
4. Chained and Bound
5. I Was Wandering
6. Seven Years
7. Pharao Thought Well Stone
8. Back In Canaan
9. Stop
10. Who's the Thief
11. Is It
12. Benjamin
13. Show Him Some
14. And Joseph Knew
15. Joseph Joseph
16. So Jacob
17. I Closed My Eyes
18. Give Me

You'll find tons of clips from the musical on Youtube, but I couldn't find any songs from this original album.

Moody Blues - "A Question Of Balance" (1970)

From the research I've done, I've come to the conclusion that this LP is something as rare as an UK original press in my collection. In addition, a cover in mint condition with everything in it that should be there. Sometimes this kind of records are worth some money, and given that I found it very cheap (I paid maybe 4-5 USD ), you can wonder if I've done a brilliant investment. So you can wonder until you play the record. Then, more clearly than I would wish, deep scratches and dents are revealed. So deep that the record practically is unplayable. And so did Markus' retirement insurance fly away into cosmos on its white wings. Dreams are meant to be crushed.

Luckily, I have the album on CD too, so I can enjoy the music anyway. This was Moody Blues' sixth album and when you read about it, it's repeated time and time again that this was a departure from their usual big and lush productions in which they used a lot of overdubbing to create their sound. Instead, this album has a simpler and more basic production and sound, an important reason for this was that the band wanted to play as many songs as possible from the album live. More rockn'roll than psychedelia. Justin Hayward (vocals and guitar) says that "It was like a move from marijuana to alcohol".

Personally I don't think it's such a huge difference between this album and the band's other albums from the same period. In general, I think it's about the same soft and relatively large soundscape, the same sweeping choruses calling for a sing-along, the psychedelic-progressive touch, the same quality to the songs and so on. Certainly a difference can be heard regarding the production, but I don't think it is as great as it appears in information out there.

The opening song Question was Moody Blues first detour into the political landscape inspired by things happening like the Vietnam War. Hayward describes it as a protest song about a world that was beginning to be lost. It starts out like a hot smokin' rock song but a minute into the song it changes shape and suddenly becomes a sweeping, romantic song, and then again ends as a rocker. It was released as a single and became a #1 on the lists.

The album is filled with beautiful songs, and as usual regarding the MB records, a few more boring numbers. Worth mentioning a little extra is the beautiful And The Tide Rushes In, and the equally fine Dawning Is The Day. The semi-neurotic Don't You Feel Small is also really good as well as the sing-along Minstrel's Song. The closing track The Balance is also a nice song whose sweeping, powerful chorus on the theme of spiritual mysticism is a nice contrast to the spoken verses.

Speaking of mysticism, some of the band members held a serious interest in Eastern teachings and practices. During the years they were more and more given different identities - Pinder the impassioned mystic, Lodge the rocker, Edge the poet, Thomas the playful mystic, and Harvard the romantic. Some people began to see them as spiritual guides as much as musicians. The band got tired of this and Lodge wrote the song I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band) as a reaction to this, a song on the later album Seventh Soujourn.

The Moody Blues albums that were created the years 1967-1972 is often called the famous (core) seven, of which A Question Of Balance is one. It's difficult to rank these albums but A Question Of Balance stands up very well in comparison with the others. I discovered the Moody Blues in my adult years and they are one of few new discoveries where I have bought, not the entire discography, it's too big, but still a relatively large number of albums. In my case, all the albums of the mentioned famous seven. For a while, I was pretty hooked on the Moody Blues and I listened to them a lot. I still think they are amazing in their best moments, but as mentioned, every album also hold a few more boring songs. But when I'm in the right mood, I still mention Moody Blues as one of my favorite bands.

In any case, A Question Of Balance is a record I with a good conscience can recommend.

Tracklist

Side A
1. Question 5:40
2. How Is It (We Are Here) 2:48
3. And The Tide Rushes In 2:57
4. Don't You Feel Small 2:40
5. Tortiose And The Hare 3:23

Side B
1. It's Up To You 3:11
2. Minstrel's Song 4:27
3. Dawning Is The Day 4:22
4. Melancholy Man 5:49
5. The Balance 3:33

 Astral Dance - "Beyond" (1988)

Today's theme: A synth-based ambient / new age record, an album with individual tracks but where the music also creates a whole.

The Swedish band Astral Dance was founded in 1986 and was / is a band where Pelle Händén was the driving force. From what I know three albums were released and Beyond was the second of these. Pelle would collaborate with different people and on Beyond you also hear Johan Belin. In addition we hear Björn J:son Lindh playing the flute on two tracks. Björn J:son Lindh is a musician who shows up in the most unexpected and expected places, as soon a Swedish artist wants flute in a song you know Björn will be there. He must hold the Swedish record for guest appearances.

Pelle (born -62) learned to play the piano as a child, his father was a music teacher, but when he was eight years old he heard Jimi Hendrix play, which blew his mind. He therefore quickly changed instrument to guitar and formed his first rockn'roll band at age 12. When he was 15 he moved to Stockholm and started playing bass in various bands. 1981 to 1983 he was a member in the band Livkraft (Life force) which at the time apparently was a popular band, although I personally have never heard of it. And in 1984 he formed the progressive band Finnegan's Wake, which I have heard of. While playing in Finnegan's Wake, he started playing around with syntheseizers and realized the potential of this instrument, which then became his main instrument.
It can be added that the first concert he visited was Sweet at Scandinavium in Gothenburg (Sweden) 1974.

I probably bought this album the year of its release, or the year after. What attracted me was of course the mysterious cover, the mysterious band name and the mysterious album title. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I was at this time in life attracted by mysterious and "deep" music, expectations the cover of Beyond promised to fulfill. I had never heard of Astral Dance when I bought the record.

The young Markus' hopes were fulfilled. It is half mystic, deep music which can be likened to a long journey of 40 minutes rather than a series of short 5-minute leaps. It's synth-based instrumental music almost all the way through, as mentioned, you'll also hear the flute in a couple of songs. Towards the end of the album appears mysterious, male choirs to mystify the creation even more. I liked this album as a teenager and played it quite often, especially at night when it was time to sleep. It was an album I liked to listen to in the darkness, music that spoke to the inside of me. Quite far from Sweet in Scandinavium. Beyond was an album no one else I knew owned, therefor it gave me a feeling of being somewhat special, to know music a little bit better than everyone else, to have discovered something no one else had seen. Yes, I was unique in a way.

The older Markus is not as fond of Beyond, although to my surprise, I  appreciated it more than I thought I would when I listened to it for the first time in perhaps 20 years. It's a little bit too much New Age for me to fully enjoy, while at the same time many parts of the album actually are really nice. Syntheseizers and the 80's is a dangerous combination, and of course you hear that the technology was different then. Bands like Tangerine Dream and Krafwerk managed to create synth-based music in the 70s with a sound which still feels OK today, but something happened with the syntheseizers in the 80s. However, on Beyond Pelle and Johan barely stay on the right side of the knife sharp edge regarding acceptable or not acceptable 80s synth sound. There is a melancholy touch on some of the songs which speak to the sentimental part of me. Would the music paint a picture, I think this picture would be relatively dark, with a few splashes of color here and there. Like the album cover.

It's a relatively diverse record, given that it is instrumental music, where almost only syntheseizers are heard. Some parts are a little more energetic while others are more quiet, delicate and quite beautiful. Björn J:son Lindh's contributions are nice and can be enjoyed by themselves. Pelle and Johan manage to create a good wholeness over two sides. As always in these kinds of albums you've got some transportation parts but interesting parts turn up often enough to keep it interesting. As a whole, Beyond is a peaceful and relaxing experience, and probably not something a football hooligan would listen to before a clash with the enemy.

Possibly, this album will spin a few times on the turntable in the year to come, but as I said, it's a little bit too much New Age for me and the sound feels outdated. Music that I in my younger years thought was "deep" and mysterious, I today often think is boring, quasi deep and pretentious. But Beyond still gets an "OK"-stamp from me as it contains some pretty good parts, even though the sound needs an update. I'm glad this album is in my collection. And a man (Pelle) who chooses Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here as the album he would take to a deserted island, you have to respect.

The one who wants to hear what Astral Dance sounds like today can visit http://soundcloud.com/astral-dance/sets/astral-dance-today/


Tracklist

Side A
1. Beyond
2. Shai
3. Move On
4. Yamuna Nights
Total tid: 19:20

Side B
1. Fantasia
2. Dreamwind
3. St. Vitus Dance
4. Exit
Total tid: 18:25

No, no videos on Youtube from this album.

Randy Burns And The Sky Dog Band (1971)

Some artists should get a Grammy, or at least the Polar Music Prize, just because they have such a cool artist or band name. Should anyone ask me if I wanted to play in a band called The Sky Dog Band, I wouldn't hesitate long. Looking at the exterior - a number of long-haired, smiling dudes (Randy also with equally long beard), the year 1971, the band's groovy name - this record must be something extra and probably quite druggy. It must be PSYCHEDELIA. Or maybe ACID ROCK. At least some laid-back west coast pop with songs about female beauty, beaches and sunshine.

I bought this album the other week through Blocket.se, Sweden's biggest internet site for selling and buying used stuff. A nice man sold a stack of albums (about 65 of them) for an affordable price. Moreover, he lived within a five minute walk from my job, of course it was an offer I couldn't refuse. Fun to buy a bunch of records where you have no idea what at least half of them are.

When I started spinning the album on the stereo it gave me the biggest surprise. It was Country & Western.

Randy Burns was born in 1948 and as a 17-year-old ran away from home. He ended up in New York where, after some time, he signed a contract with the legendary record company ESP-Disk. And yes, his second album, Evening Of The Magician, is a classic acid folk album. He made another album for the same company before changing to Mercury, who released Randy Burns And The Sky Dog Band, his only album on that company. It didn't sell very well, and Randy never became a particularly big name in the music world. He still plays today and in 2010 he released the album Hobos And Kings.

I've never been a fan of Country & Western. Apart from a fairly large number of albums with Lee Hazlewood, who surely must count as some sort of Country & Western music, at least sometimes, I've never owned a Country & Western album and have never had the desire to do so. However, a few months ago, when I saved some records from my parents' collection (see previous post) some Kris Kristofferson albums came along. And now Randy Burns. And who knows how many more Country & Western albums are hidden in the bags with records I bought last week? If you're positive, you can argue that this is a new unexplored world for me, waiting to deliver hidden gems.

Randy today

Randy Burns And The Sky Dog Band is not my kind of record, since I'm not a Country & Western man. The songs are played with electrical instruments, so there are no songs with just an acoustic guitar and a whiny whisky hoarse voice, which at least opens up the soundscape a bit. I find some beauty in two songs, To The Women Of My Life and Song To Vermont. The former Lee Hazlewood should have done a cover of, it would have fit him well. The latter is a rather sweeping song with a beautiful melody and cool background singing. Otherwise, the band's name is the greatest benefit to the album, but also a good enough reason to own this record..

Other cool band names:
Mooseheart Faith Stellar Groove Band
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
Acid Mothers Temple

Tracklist


Side A
1. August Woman 2:33
2. Seventeen Years On The River 4:32
3. Livin' In The Country 3:30
4. The Streets Of Montreal 2:52
5. Merrilee 3:15

Side B
1. Life's Begun 4:20
2. Blue Line 2:05
3. To The Women Of My Life 3:15
4. Song To Vermont 4:02
5. Waiting For An Old Friend 3:32

Although you can find some videos with Randy Burns on Youtube, I couldn't find any songs from this album,

Miriam Makeba - "Makeba!" (1968)

About a month ago I visited my parents' attic, where they had placed their vinyl records for a final storage. They didn't do any good there so I went through the collection and saved a relatively large number of albums from the darkness and sadness in the closed boxes. That day's good deed. One of these albums were Makeba!, a record with the legendary South African artist.

Since my father during his record buying days tended to buy most classical music and jazz, I suspect my mother bought this album, unless it was a gift from someone. In my CD and mp3 collection I have lot of music from the African continent, the emphasis is on music from the west - Senegal and Mali are two countries a lot of music have found its way out from. In terms of folk music, West African music has always been a favorite genre of mine, even if some other albums from this continent also exist in the (digital) record shelf. It felt great to expand this section of the collection, especially in form of a vinyl album, as it's very empty in terms of folk music, regardless of geographic area, among my vinyls.

Miriam Makeba (aka Mama Africa) was born in 1932 in South Africa but wasn't allowed to continue living there after being involved in anti-apartheid activities. Her passport and South African citizenship was revoked in 1963, instead Belgium, Ghana and Guinea arranges international passports for her.

In the '60s, she lived a lot in the U.S. where she recorded a lot of records. 1968 she married Stokely Carmichael, who was active in the Black Panthers. This was very controversial in the U.S. and as a consequence, her record deal and tours were cancelled. The couple therefore moved to Guinea where Miriam lived for 15 years before moving on to Brussels. Apparently she had nine passports during her life and become an honorary citizen in ten countries. She described herself as a world citizen. Miriam has recorded music with a lot of different artists including Harry Belafonte and Paul Simon, and in 2002 she received the Polar Music Prize from the hands of the Swedish king. She died in Italy 2008.

So, what about the music on Makeba!? Well, there are some quite beautiful gems hidden on the album. Generally, it's catchy, energy filled and some songs have both beautiful melodies and harmonies. Then there are other songs that tend to be more bland. I don't listen a lot to Miriam Makeba, or South African music in general, and I can have a tendency to think that the songs sound a bit alike. Through out the album it's the same instruments used, kind of the same rhythms, the same sound, and the melodies and their structure are similar. But often you feel this way about music you don't really know. I usually say this about opera and countless people have said the same thing to me about electronic dance music as acid and trance (as it was called in the 90s, anyway) despite each song's clear uniqueness!

Miriam sings in a language I don't understand, therefore a large and important part of the music is lost to me. The Bantu language is mentioned in the text on the cover, so possibly this is the language she sings in. I understand from the description (in English) on the back cover that the texts are important, and kindly enough some of them are explained. There are songs about how to awaken the warrior in men, about the farmer and his crops, or saying goodbye to your home. Given the situation of the black population in South Africa in 1968, and by all means in the U.S., there are surely a lot of political symbolism in the lyrics that I don't get. The text on the back cover describes the album as "subtle and deep" in terms of the messages being communicated. I will limit myself to have an understanding that the content is important, but more than that I can't do anything but focus on the melodies, which I usually prefer to do anyway. This applies, for that matter, to all folk music I listen to where people sing in their native language. Worst case scenario is that I happily dance and jump around to a song on the subject of a hundred children's gruesome deaths.

This kind of album is a typical album I listen to when I clean up the house. The activity is so boring that I need get motivation and energy from something else, and at the same time not always being present in the room where the music is played and therefore sometimes only hearing the basic rhythm of the song. Maybe this wasn't what Miriam had in mind when she recorded this (from what I understand) rather politically aware album, I don't know, but there's not much to do about it. I still think Miriam would be happy knowing that a Swedish guy, in a little town far up north, finds some joy in her creation, even if her messages are not always picked up.

Overall, it's an OK album, although I would prefer a little more variety. My favorite track is Singa Madoda, from what I understand a traditional song which is normally sung by men.

Last but not least I must mention the cover, I think it's fantastic. It would be perfect as a piece of art on my living room wall.

Tracklist

Side A
1. Umoya 3:05
2. Uyadela 2:25
3. Asilimanga 1:53
4. Umquokozo 3:20
5. U-Mngoma 2:30
6. Emavungwini (Down In The Dumps) 2:09

Side B
1. Iphi Ndilela 3:40
2. Singa Madoda 2:45
3. Magwala Ndini 2:35
4. Sibongile 2:20
5. Hamba Naye 2:31

Roxy Music - "For Your Pleasure" (1973)

Roxy Music is one of those bands that I think I know so well. I mean, everyone knows about Roxy Music. That Bryan Ferry sings in the band is common knowledge, that Brian Eno was a member for some time is also an interesting fact that you don't have to be a music expert to know. Their album covers with (sometimes lightly dressed) ladies are also public domain. But when push comes to shove, I don't really know much about how they actually sound. In my youth, I bought their album Avalon on CD, but have never really liked it, and therefore not listened to it a lot. I have a Greatest Hits collection on CD focusing on their early years, but since the emphasis is on (in my opnion) pretty rowdy songs, it hasn't been played a lot on the stereo. So I realize that I in reality don't know much about the band. They have been something like the principal in my elementary school, everyone knew who he was and had great respect for him, even some fear, we knew what he looked like and where his office was, but no one had ever talked to him and hadn't really an idea of how or who he was. Maybe he was really nice? Only the thugs knew, but I was not of them.

I bought this album a few months ago, it was Roxy Music's second album and the last Brian Eno took part in, before he started his successful solo career as a musician and producer. It's a very good album, surprisingly good actually considering my half-reluctant attitude of the reasons mentioned above. Yes, I would even say it's a fantastic album which, in this moment, I'm ready to give a spot on my top-10 list. In any case the top-15.

It starts out with the somewhat rowdy rock number Do The Strand. I mentioned earlier that I usually don't like their more noisy songs, but this opening track works really well. Another highlight on the A-side is the closing track, the beautiful and strange In Every Dream Home A Heartache, an ode to an inflatable doll. A dark song that breathes tragedy and isolation while, at the same time, somewhere there's lurking some sort of humor - "I blew up your body, but you blew my mind." Isn't a song dedicated to an inflatable doll humor in itself?

The B-side starts with the album's longest track, a piece that leans heavily toward art-rock, The Bogus Man, a dark and hypnotic creation that clocks in at just over nine minutes. Maybe a few minutes too long, if I must complain on something.
The B-side's, and thus the album's, closing track is this record's climax. The title track is a fantastic song that made me realize that Bryan Ferry is a song and text writer that not many can compete with. The other songs on this album provides enough information to prove this, the title track is more of the final confirmation of this. A beautiful first third, and then an end with an extended instrumental passage that one suspects Brian Eno being the creator of. A perfect farewell from him.

Other non-mentioned songs on the album are also really good creations, if I should mention some weaker spots it's the more noisy Editions of You, and the track Grey Lagoons on the B-side is also of a little lesser quality.
The woman on the cover was Bryan Ferry's girlfriend at the time, they used to be on the band's album covers.

Apparently, the reason for Brian Eno's exit from the band were artistic conflicts with Bryan Ferry. While Eno wanted to develop the group further into an art-rock direction, working more with sound collage, sound layers and textures, Ferry wanted to see a movement toward more traditional rockn'roll. These diverse interests can be heard on For Your Pleasure, as many songs contain both, making it an exciting and interesting album. A record I really recommend.

Should I finally resort to some gossip, I have read (online course) that Bryan Ferry's current wife is one of his son's former girlfriends. It feels a bit strange and many questions arise. One can for example consider how this affects the father-son relationship, personally I would feel very weird about my dad getting together with one of my ex girlfriends. But maybe I'm just being narrow-minded?

Tracklist

Side A
1. Do The Strand 4:00
2. Beauty Queen 4:35
3. Strictly Confidential 3:42
4. Editions Of You 3:40
5. In Every Dream Home A Heartache 6:25

Side B
1. The Bogus Man 9:22
2. Grey Lagoons 4:11
3. For Your Pleasure 6:58


Usually I link to the original album versions, if possible, but this live version from 2001 is great. What a way to end a concert!

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