LESLIE WEST – Soundcheck (CD)

Leslie is one of my all-time favourite guitarists. Ever since I heard Mountain back in the 70s I was hooked! His solo albums, quite a few by now, has however never really been any 10/10s, but on the other hand he’s never released any bad albums either. It’s mostly been half killer stuff and the other half swaying between good and ok. On his last couple of albums it’s like he’s been rejuvenated in some way, because he’s actually better than ever! The guitar playing, vocals and overall attitude is rock hard and the songs are for the most part really good! Souncheck starts out with a hard hitting nut kicker in the form of Left By The Roadside To Die, one of the album’s few originals. I’m not an extreme fan of covers (says the person who has released three cover albums…), but when you record a cover don’t really like it when you do a carbon copy of the original. Leslie West has, ever since the old days of Mountain, Leslie West Band and West Bruce & Laing recorded covers, and made them his own. From Stones’ Satisfaction, Jack Bruce’s Theme For An Imaginary Western to the entire Dylan cover album Masters Of War. This album features several covers, and I really love it when he gives them the full frontal West treatment, such as You Are My Sunshine (featuring Peter Frampton) as a cool soft blues ballad in a minor key. Just as genius as when Ghost did The Beatles Here Comes The Sun in minor. You will also find Leslie’s (or actually bass player Rev Jones’) renditions of The Beatles' Eleanor Rigby, Curtis Mayfield’s People Get Ready (with Leslie’s lead guitar tone soaring like a bit proud eagle) and a really groovy, strutty cover of Don Nix Goin’ Down (featuring Brian May). The only one I don’t really like is Stand By Me (mainly because I don’t like the song from the beginning and also because the way it’s done didn’t really speak to me) and the quite badly recorded live-version of Spoonful, which I can fully understand he included because of nostalgia reasons after the loss of Jack Bruce, but it doesn’t really live up to the quality of the rest of the album soundwise. As for his original tunes, Here For The Party is an outstanding chunky, gritty and heavy blues rocker that hits you like a steamroller while A Stern Warning (dedicated to his friend Howard Stern) is an outstanding showcasing of Leslie’s acoustic guitar skills. All in all, this is a damn fine album, one of the best Leslie has released since the Mountain days!

Janne Stark

Country: USA

Year: 2015

Label: Mascot Records

GUDARS SKYMNING - Mörka Vatten (CD)

I’m not sure why, but it seems Swedish bands have a certain knack for interpreting, reinventing and rejuvenating the classic old seventies hard rock and elevating it to a new level. Abramis Brama, Graveyard, Magnolia, Mangrove, Blowback, Siena Root, well, they are many and they are good. Now Gudars Skymning presents their second release and they made me a happy man again. Mörka vatten (dark waters). It starts out with a pleasant kick in the joint with the riffster Jag är en trollkarl (I’m a wizard) and continues with the heavy and doomy Södersläntsblues, which actually reminds me a bit of Black Sabbath’s Hand Of Doom. What I like about Gudars Skymning is that the song material is not just plowing down one row, they spread the seeds pretty well. The songs range from straight ahead riffing to some more chords based bluesy stuff, even with some folky overtones in songs like Hyfs och fason. I älvens svarta djup is another cool thing with lots of dual guitars, solos both right and left. One of my absolute favourite riffs is found in two versions on this album, first in Swedish and then in English. Well, not the riff, but the lyrics. Aldrig har jag vetat is a Swedish version of Mountain’s classic Never In My Life, which appears as the last track in its original format. A cool version staying very to the original (except the Swedish lyrics). Another Swedish retro gem to keep a lookout for!

Janne Stark
Label: BloodRock
Year: 2011
Country: Sweden
Link: http://www.gudarssymning.se/

Magnolia - "Steg för steg" (CD)

Abramis Brama, Svarte Pan, Horisont, Mouchta and Magnolia. Just to name a few. It’s fun to see our country’s hard rock forefathers November have inspired so many new and great bands. Magnolia have now released three albums, the same amount November made during their short time of existence. The development for Magnolia have certainly progressed, even if I really liked the band even from the start. What hit me is that the production feels so much more solid on this album. It has really nice dynamics, free from all destructively over-the-top in-your-face mastering and mix. Despite this the sound is really fat and heavy with a classically seventies inspired broad stereo sound. Furthermore the guitars are heavy and raw but without being over-distorted. I can almost bet it’s pure tube amplification we’re hearing, it does really sound that way. Also, the drums are nicely liberated from any triggs and added sounds, instead they have gone for a Bonhamish room sound which can only be obtained using real drums in a real room. Just listen to the intro of “Nu får det vara nog”. This, in combination with Ronny’s fat distorted bass á la Felix Pappalardi makes this a sound for sore ears. Ronny is also a great singer and he, of course, sings in his mother language (Swedish if anyone wonders). I also feel the songs on the new album are stronger than ever, with a multitude of killer riffs nicely baked into the groovy songs. In the track “Jag vandrar” they have even succeeded making a Fender Rhodes piano sound heavy, which is an achievement well worth noticing! This album is a treat for us fans of seventies classics like Mountain, November, Cream, Blue Cheer etc. I’m actually quite impressed Ronny has succeeded in writing so many great riffs, that despite this well-explored genre, feel fresh and new. I actually didn’t feel any recognition of any other “oldie” in any of the songs. Of course you will hear traces of the influences, but the songs sounds new. Just like “the elder” is by no means a one track album, but spreads out into other musical areas, such as the cool jazz-bluesy, but still quite heavy “Jag vandrar”, with a killer guitar solo by Mark Tholin (who also handles the piano). Another example is the happy instrumental “Arbetar I solsken”, who also walks its own little path. A truly awesome album which is in it absolute top of all the current November worshippers’ works! Check it out!
Janne Stark
Year: 2010
Label: Transubstans
Country: Sweden
Link: http://www.myspace.com/magnoliarock

John Norum - Play Yard Blues (CD)

Talk about a CD with postponed release date, almost competing with Guns ’N Roses ”Chinese Democracy”! The big difference is however that this one was really worth waiting for! When I did a gear-interview with John, at the time the new Europe album was released, he revealed his new solo album would be of the ”bluesier kind”. His last solo album ”Optimus” was more in the same vein as Europe’s reunion-platter with detuned riffs and a more modern approach, an album that didn’t fully hit home with me.

Ok, John, all is now forgiven; ”Play Yard Blues” is the album we (at least I) have been longing for. Here he shows his love for the seventies, both in his own songs and in his interpretations of Frank Marino’s ”Ditch Queen”, Mountain’s ”Travellin’ In The Dark” and Thin Lizzy’s outstanding ”It’s Only Money”. If we start with the cover songs, he hasn’t strayed away too much from the original versions. For example in ”Ditch Queen” he sounds very much like Frank both in his vocals approach and in his lead guitar playing. The influences really shine through. The opening track of the album, “Let It Shine”, also could have been penned by said Marino with its heavy and slightly funky verse riff. If John had to hold back on his solos on the Europe album, he’s really compensated it here. I’m not saying he’s over-playing, but where there’s place for a nice lick, he sure doesn’t rob us of the moment. In “Red Light Green High” he also shows a slightly cooler side, which made me think of bassist Tomas Torberg’s ordinary band Plankton. Norum also sings really laid back and nice on this one, something he also does in “Over And Done”, which stylewise made me think of some of Glenn Hughe’s better solo albums.

A singer John has used on some of his earlier recordings is Leif Sundin, a sadly rarely heard killer vocalist these days. Here he puts his vocal flair on the classic hard rocker “Got My Eyes On You” and the CD’s heaviest and most modern sounding track “Born Again”, the only track with detuned guitars. It however doesn’t stick out in a negative way, but more completes a great collection of tracks. The album ends with the title track that, as the title may suggest, is a play yard for guitarist, an instrumental improvisation number in the sign of blues with Europe colleague Mic Michaeli adding some nice Hammond organ to the brew. I’d also like to give some praise to John’s tasty rhythm boys, the outstandingly groovy Tomas Broman on drums and the aforementioned Plankton bassist Torberg, not forgetting percussionist Peer Stappe. These guys really put the swagger in On-mode in this killer retro-journey. Hats off to a first-rate craft and an album that has found its way nicely into my car stereo and will surely stay there for a long time ahead.

Janne Stark

Genre: Seventies hard rock

Year: 2010

Label: Mascot Reacords