MELLAN TRE ÖGON

Although the genre was winding down by this time, 1977 was still a great year for Progressive Rock. Unfortunately, we are discovering most of it almost 30+ years later. With the advent of the internet, many of these long lost gems of 70's Progressive Rock are resurfacing and although some would have been better served to remain undiscovered, this is not the case with Mr Brown's Mellan tre ögon album. Formed in Sweden in 1977, Mr Brown probably released this album as a local release and it quietly slipped through the cracks soon after. This album is definitely rooted in the 70's, with influences from It's A Beautiful Day, Eloy, Pink Floyd, Caress of Steel era Rush, Greenslade and to a point, even a dash of Bob Dylan can be found lurking in this album.

The album starts off with a nice spacey groove reminiscent to Floyd's "Any Colour You Like," or even an earlier influence, "Cymballine." The vocals are a very intriguing cross section of Justin Hayward, Roger Waters and Bob Dylan ( a certain nasal quality) and are sung in both Swedish and English. As the album progresses with beautifully floating melody lines and mellotrons, one has to wonder why, of all the albums of lesser quality that were available worldwide in 1977, why this one never got noticed. If one had to place the album into today's internet prog category, it would be best suited in the Symphonic bin. Having said that, there is nothing so limiting about the album or band to pigeon-hole this music. They have their influences, and yes, they wear them on their sleeves. But there is an originality found on this album that begs to be heard. The album ranges from subtle mellotron drenched melodies to an almost folk styling, to Santana packed jam sessions. If I had owned this album in 1977, it would have been played to all of my friends and they would have gone out and bought it as well. It is such a tragedy this album, and many albums like it didn't make it out of the starting gate upon it's original release. Hopefully, Mr Brown will come calling on our door again, and we will listen this time.

Summary: Mellan tre ögon is a fine album and is a pleasure to listen to. There is nothing groundbreaking or particularly complex about this album, even for 1977. This is pretty much a typical affair of 70's Progressive Rock that features great musicianship, excellent execution and a very satisfying listen. Highly recommended.

For the Progressive Music Society,

Lew Fisher http://groups.yahoo.com/group/progressivemusicsociety/