FunkFreak75 This Swedish house band recorded this album live in the studio on a two-track tape recorder!

Line-up / Musicians: - Göran Frost / bass - Michael Lindqvist / drums - Jonas Lindgren / electric piano, violin - Mats Anton Karis / flute - Olof Söderberg / guitar - Per Lejring / piano - Thomas Brandt / saxophone - Tommy Adolfsson (ARCHIMEDES BADKAR) / trumpet - Bengt Ekevärn / trumpet

1. "Myror I Köket" (11:45) Very brave and unique jazz-rock fusion with electric foundation and great Spanish/Latin-sounding trumpet play. Very engaging foundation and rhythm track as well. A delightful downshift at 5:40 allows space in the upper end for flute to be heard. Too bad these guys didn't get a few more chances to practice and refine this (or have multi-tracks for overdubbing). (23/25)

2. "Elhamokk" (9:45) the drumming is excellent, the coordinated delivery of lines and chords by the rest of the band quite extraordinary--like the synchronic timing of a big band. For some reason I hear a very strong hint of both Spanish and Balkan melodic traditions in this music. I also feel a bit of the high school band class in the performances--which makes the song get a little old and dull over it's ten minute length. (17.333333/20)

3. "Halvvägs Hildur" (19:00) has quite a Mwandishi-era Herbie Hancock feel to it with its sprawling length and excellent solos from guitarist Olof Söderberg and trumpeter Tommy Adolfsson (along with the consistently impressive drumming of Michael Lindqvist). Still hard to believe this was all recorded live, in one take, with no layering or overdubbing. The stylistic shift in the eighth minute into a more drummer-driven cruise machine makes a big difference in its power and engageability. Nice electric piano work and accents from the horn section. Again, the drumming is most impressive: it feels like a cross between Billy Cobham and Tony Williams. A full stop-and-shift in the 11th minute turns into a more pregnant earworm of a rhythm track over which horns and electric guitar begin an attempt to carry a melody forward together. Lot's of angular riffs thrown into the spaces between phrases as the bottom cruises along unperturbedly. The end is a bit of a disappointment. I liked that middle section the best. (35/40)

4. "Flaxöras Hemliga Återkomst" (8:40) a song that takes a little too long with its drawn out introductory motif to develop and turn into anything interesting--and then turns out to be a little more avant-garde than expected. Too bad the rhythm track wasn't allowed to develop a little more. (17.25/20)

Total Time 49:10

Too bad these guys A) didn't stay together (the bulk of the band members did reappear for one song ["Peter Yogurt = Peter Yoghourt"] as Berits Halsband on a 1980 Ton Kraft Records compilation album entitled Levande Music Från Sverige = Live Music from Sweden), B) didn't have a quality studio, engineer and/or producer for this album, C) didn't have the chance to polish and perfect their music, cuz this is wonderful stuff! It's not as exciting or rock-dynamic as Return To Forever or Mahavishnu Orchestra--rather, more mellow and melodic as was the habit of much of the northern Continent at the time. Too bad the solid and engaging rhytm tracks were often stifled into remaining so constant for so long.

B/four stars; an excellent if rather raw exposition of fresh if under-developed Jazz-Rock Fusion.

Sean Trane A Swedish 70’s JR/F septet that produced (to my knowledge) only one sole self-titled and self-released album in 75. BH’s line-up is the usual “prog quartet” with three wind players - two trumpets and a flute, none of which members I’ve recognised in similar Scandinavian bands of the era. The album is made from four lengthy instrumental steamy upbeat fusion pieces, sometimes reminiscent of Secret Oyster (with wind instruments) or Arbete Och Fritid project. Apparently recorded live in the studio on a two-track tape, the album is a small tour-de-force, since nothing could be modified and there are no weak moments.

The opening 11-mis+ Miror I Koket features some steamy electric fusion, with a slower flute section, some Spanish-sounding trumpet section. The calmer (at first) 18-mis+ Flaxoras track sounds more like a cross-fusion of Headhunters and Mwandishi, with some broody moods, but it never reaches the dissonant of the latter or the funkiness of the former. Lindgren’s Rhodes is the sonic centre of this long soundscape, which veers slowly Bitches-like around the end. The album-closing 8-mins Halvags Hinder opens on semi-dissonant slow Rhodes and chimes and bells, but drums, bass and guitar gradually come in, before the three winds make their entrance by the 3-mis mark. It gradually picks up intensity and speeds up only to drop out slowly to its end.

I’m not aware of this album having ever seen a reissue, whether vinyl or CD, but if you do find one, or the original vinyl, don’t hesitate a second forking out a few bucks, because every fusion fan will find it a worthy investment, if not a must-have. Certainly one of Sweden’s best JR/F album ever… and not just IMHO ;o)))