FLÄSKET

This is a Swedish band from the early Seventies, I own the CD version of the originally two LP entitled Fläsket. During my first listening session I notice that Fläsket Brinner sounds pleasant, melodic and tight, these are all crafted musicians, especially the guitar players are 'killers' and the rhythm-section plays very dynamic. The first 10 compositions are studio- recordings, the sound scouts the borders between jazz and jazzrock featuring lots of Hammond organ, guitar and woodwind instruments. But the music also hosts some surprising elements like pure rock and roll in with fiery guitar in Anderssons Groove, folky with accordeon and violin in Beate Hill and the funny Puppans Säng delivers acoustic guitar and the voices of children named the Lilliputt-kören! Fläsket Brinner their music has similarities with bands like Ekseption, Camel, King Crimson and Collosseum but more because of the sound than acting like a 'copycat'. The other six tracks are live recordings and contain bluesy climates, in the vein of early Fleetwood Mac and because of the duo- guitarwork also Seventies Wishbone Ash. On these songs there is a lot of room for soli on guitar (often drenched in wah-wah) and improvisations, I love it! The recordings have been remastered very well and the lay-out of the FOC with information booklet is beautiful. So a big hand for the music and this remastered CD version!

I bought the Mellotronen reissue of this, when it just had been released in 2003. The original vinyl released 1972 was a double LP with the second LP being a live recording from Powerhouse in Örebro, Sweden. If I'm not wrong it was sold for the price of just a regular LP. Nowadays it's not so cheap anymore.

Fläsket is instrumental Prog Rock, guitar driven with lots of saxophone and flute. The only song with lyrics is "Anderssons Groove", sung in swedish but I can assure you that it's not important or particulary beautiful lyrics, but quite funny. The song ask the question why we have to be so private when we're on the toilet when we know that everybody else also haveto do the same. Highlights are "Klotet", "Batum" and "Beate Hill".

The second LP is as mentioned a live one. Here they use the basic Rock set up of two guitars, bass and drums. Lots of improvisations, especially the last track "Örsprånget", clocking in around fifteen minutes. They also do some songs from their first album and a song claimed to be a tango, funny enough.

Overall a decent album, not anything spectacular and the live album can be a bit repetitive at times. Fläsket Brinne had humour though, and that's positive!

3.5 stars really!!!

Second (double) and last album for FB, with an augmented line-up (Ramel on guitars and vocals) while there is a bunch of guest appearing, including Bo Hansson, already invited to participate at their debut album. "Graced" with ione of the ugliest artwok of Sweden, FB's second album was not release on the legendary Silence record label, but Phillips had signed them to a subsidiary label, who'd become very short-lived, since the group's third album was recorded for them, but never released. This double release is made of one studio album (recorded in fall 72) and a live recording (Powerhouse in Orebro), but originally thought of the live disc as a freebie or bonus

Starting on the wild and ever-changing organ-driven Klotet track and its red-hot electric-piano lead follow-up Benny Hammers, the sextet is making sure the listener is aware that everyone in the group has more than just the average chops to their respective instruments (from the pictures, most of them were in their upper 20's or lower 30's) and thankfully don't expand too much vocally (apart from the awful children chants in that space-filler Beate Hill closing the studio album), as only the newcomer seems ready to go at it (once only) and to no avail, since anderssons Groove is one of the weaker moment of the album. Most of the studio tracks are generally (relatively) short but drives the fan all over the spectrum at 100 MPH, often making you wish they'd hang on a tad longer. Musically they're not far away from early Samla Mammas Mannas and a rougher Archimedes Badkar.

The live album is another beast altogether, recorded on a two microphone tape machine (extra- ordinary sound given the conditions), FB is taking on a wilder, rawer and psychyer, less concise (extended solos) and certainly spacier side, hitting an apex with the 14-mins Tista Finskan, already their debut album's highlight, now reiterating this live achievement. Sound-wise, live they're more like an early Floyd (Astronomy Domine-type). Elsewhere, I'm not sure whether we are missing out much, but two tracks were left out (with the group's agreement) in order to fit both vinyls on one compact disc, but I'll trust that these were probably the weaker tracks.

FB's second (and hopefully someday second-last) album is a brilliant but uneven album, with both some highs and lows in both the studio and live disc, but it certainly belongs in most proghead's early 70's Swedish shelf along SMM, AB, Life,

Knowing that this isn't the most famous release of all time, I am still surprised to see so few reviews for this album of exuberant Swedish prog. Perhaps not as famous as national cohorts, Samla Mammas Manna, Fläsket Brinner (The Flesh is Burning) created a fantastic album here that should definitely be heard by more people.

If comparisons are necessary, the easiest one to make is with Zappa and the Mothers, circa the late 60s, early 70s, and that can't be a bad thing. The long jam of "Grismakt," for instance, wouldn't be out of place on something like "Chunga's Revenge." Some of the music is also reminiscent of some jazz fusion, a little Miles Davis-ish in moments, but perhaps with more constraint (not that it doesn't go wild and get out of control as well). Over the course of this long album, you'll hear some strong improvs and jams, like on "Batum," but, for me, Fläsket were probably at their best in their complex written sections.

Instrumentals like the opener "Klotet" and "Jätten Feeling" stand out, with their rapid ascending and descending movements, excellent riff rock that highlights their masterful use of counterpoint, also notable on songs like "Bennys Hammare." Overall the music tends to swing between well-orchestrated sections, heavy boogie, and crunchy jam, between the elegant and the wild. As a band, they could conjure majestic riffs that could be intense yet oddly hummable.

There are also some cool, odd moments here, like the slow violin driven "Beate Hill" or the slightly perverse child-sung "Puppans Sång." In these moments they tend to evoke Swedish hippy collectives like International Harvester and Älgarnas Trädgård. Yet, just as you start to feel comfortable with that, they drop into some Santana-ish percussion-heavy groove. And somehow they make it work.

Definitely their best as an instrumental group, fusing cool keys, jazzy drums, groovy guitar and swooping horns, they only add vocals rarely. On one occasion, "Di dumma små björnarna," they go for that high childlike nyah-nyah chorus thing that the Flo and Eddie- era of Zappa and early Sammla loved so much. The only song to feature vocals prominently is "Andersson's Groove," and, unfortunately, it's a pretty standard MOR rock tune. Not much fun for the prog fan, and it's the weakest song for me.

Despite the title, the last group of tracks are all live performances, and they provide an interesting contrast. Definitely looser and heavier than the studio tracks, they show what a great band Fläsket must have been live. Still, I prefer them in their studio shape, perhaps because the jam sections of the live performances, while strong, are a tad more generic, whereas it is their tightly coordinated, beautifully harmonized compositions that show off what was special and unique about Fläsket.

Despite a few, rare weak moments, this is a tremendous album, and a prog favorite of mine.

It's always good to carry a little burning flesh with you wherever you go.