RESAN – Resan (Epic, 1973)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

Ranked #21 on the blog's Top 25 list

”Resan” is one of those incredibly rare major label releases, with copies in good nick being in the same rarity league as Life's 1971 album. Actually, ”Resan” is like the inofficial second Life album, with guitarist Anders Nordh, bass player Paul Sundlin and drummer Thomas Rydberg all appearing on the album. While both Nordh and Sundlin have co-written some of the tracks on the album, it's more than anything Rydberg's project.

Not as heavy as its informal predecessor, ”Resan” relies a lot more on a West Coast sound approaching Tripsichord, David Crosby and Quicksilver Messenger Service in style. The songs are well-crafted, here and there with rich harmony vocals enhancing their inherent dreamy qualities. Some tracks take use of Nordh's heavy guitars, such as ”Hunger och svält” (one of the lesser tracks on the album, much too similar to The Impressions' ”People Get Ready”) and ”Solens vän”, but the overall feel is far more laidback than that of ”Life”. And in the end, it's a much more rewarding and splendorous album than ”Life”.

I think of the collectors market as a stage often open to an utterly vulgar behaviour, with inflated prices causing sensible people to become competitive, greedy predators. At the time of writing, there's a NM copy for sale on Discogs at €1,500. That's appalling, no matter how rare an album. Still, I understand why collectors lose their minds over ”Resan” – it is, after all, a masterpiece. Thankfully, the album has been reissued, making it obtainable even to us without a fancy house to sell for big bucks or a mother to kill for inheritance.

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