Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: ***
Founded in 1965, Amigo Records were one
of the longest running independent labels in Sweden until the huge
Bonnier media group bought them out in the early 00's, only to close
down Amigo's business less than ten years later. The very minute
Amigo Records were lost to the Bonnier conglomerate, so was the
appeal of the original label. It was a bit sad to see that appeal go,
once cultivated through an often refreshingly unpredictable catalogue
of original releases (including anything and everything from
theatrical plays to the world's #1 garage rock band The Nomads).
Amigo also had an impact as a distribution company, making a plethora
of jazz, blues and folk releases available domestically.
”Space Trip” is a surprisingly
little known Amigo album, released in 1973 by Appendix from Malmö.
Revealing traces of both late 60's/early 70's Miles Davis and UK band
If, it's most definitely a jazz rock but not quite a fusion effort.
It's not a style I particularly fancy myself, but I have to admit
that ”Space Trip” has a certain appeal. It is indeed more spacey
than your average jazz rock album, the self-descriptive title track
in particular, with echoed vocals and wah-wah keyboards. The
melancholy of ”Autumn Song” coming through in singer Lars-Håkan
Olsson's emotive voice suggests both Moody Blues and King Crimson,
whereas ”Tetan” approaches free jazz.
Varied as it is, ”Space Trip” has a
cohesive, reflective mood, instilled by a certain sense of
tentativeness. Not that Appendix weren't self-confident because they
were, but they had refreshingly small amounts of the bravado that
would soon make Appendix's style largely outdated by the advent of
the cocky full-on fusion bands. ”Space Trip” remains a bit of a
curiousity, but nevertheless one of the top-line fusion albums to come out of Sweden.
Saxophone player and flautist Helge
Albin later became leader of Tolvan Big Band acknowledged for their
work with Tommy Körberg (Solar Plexus, Made in Sweden et al) and
Dave Liebman among others. Also in Tolvan Big Band was drummer Roy
Wall. He Walso appears on several albums by other artists over the
decades. Bass player Ted Persson and Hans Blom did some session work
in the 70's.
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