UR TROLLKARLENS HATT [AKA: MAGICIAN'S HAT]

The recordings of ''Sagan om ringen'' left Hansson with plenty of leftover material, on which he worked shortly after the release of his debut.The first album (as ''Music inspired By Lord of the Rings'') climbed to the No.34 of the UK Album Charts and Hansson was determined to continue this success.Teaming up with the core of his debut (Rune Carlsson on drums, Sten Bergman on flute, Gunnar Bergsten on sax) and with the help of Kenny Håkansson from Kebnekaise on guitars, he released his sophomore work ''Ur trollkarlens hatt'' in 1972 on Silence Records.Under the title ''Magician's hat'' the album was released also in U.K. through Charisma in October 73'.

Unfortunately Hansson seem to take a step backwards with this release, without further developing the dreamy, organ-drenched sound of his debut.Instead, his music remained strongly rooted in a psychedelic nature with occasional jazzy vibes here and there, like coming from a late-60's enviroment than reminding of an album following the trend of the age towards more complicated and symphonic textures.A fairytale atmosphere is still apparent on the album through the melodic flutes of Bergman in the shortest pieces of the effort, which are also the only ones resembling to the ethereal style of ''Sagan om ringen''.Acoustic guitars and the smooth rhythm section are also very nice in a typical folky mood of the Scandinavian lands.The long pieces of the release though are fairly dissapointing, without being bad at all.Mostly dated organ-based Psychedelic Rock, interrupted by sax moves or jazzy electric piano in arrangements that sound more like instrumental jams than cohesive pieces of music.Håkansson's interesting guitar work along with some of Hansson's good organ themes save them from being absolutely flat, but the strong 60's psych flavor is evident throughout a work, that should be keeping an eye in the future.

If the first two albums of Hansson were released in reverse order, we would be talking about two quite normal works.As they are, ''Ur trollkarlens hatt'' does not make it for a successful follow-up to a very good debut.Recommended only to Jazz Rock and Psych/Prog fans...2.5 stars.