SCHLAGERNS MYSTIK

Actually...for me...its too weird....i know some like it (loveit?) These swede´s (and one finn) are quite capable musicians...but they´re just to much ...ahem....let me just mention that Zappa are quite ordinairy in contrast to these guys!! Not my cup of tea!!

A blend of swedish folk and progressive. All songs are in Swedish, with a lot of humour. But even if you don't get the lyrics you will still feel the freshness, the communicative joy of this record. Different aspects of Zamla are in this record, the funny little masterpieces, and the melancholy. If you are curious and want to try a new musical experience, that record is for you

Swedish lyrics filled with humour. Probably Samla's most accesible record - most songs are almost pop, but with prog twists. However, closing number "The Fate" is a long, heavy, touching instrumental, played at basically all Samla/Zamla gigs.

The most of themes on this record are humorous and ironic "schlagerns" and the last track is 17-minute instrumental epic Ödet (The Fate) - Zamla/Von Zamla played that composition often in their gigs. Quiet interesting viewpoint at music in general and very swedish!

A masterpiece of progressive music? In my world - yes, definitely!

Now, what has happened with my personal reviewing culture here at progarchives, is that I only write reviews for the albums I really is specially interested in, or albums of artists I really like. This is one of those albums...

Circus music? Child songs? Crazy screaming? High-pitched helium voices? Glockenspiel and xylophone all over? WTF!? I love it! :D And what's even crazier, is that it's actually quite pretty music! What makes it stick to the 70's prog thing is occasional odd rhythms, some very cool synthesizers and sometimes a little advanced drumming. You know, if I should analyze the music of Zamla (or Samla, really), I would use weeks, least! I can't see how anything could be more prog than this, especially not if you're like me - connecting the "prog feeling" to the, in my opinion, wonderful "WTF!? feeling". :D

Anyway, I will try to make a short, objective analysis of this album: What you hear on this album, is influences of many styles. The classic prog is there, but it's also Swedish folk, a little jazz, latin american and some electronica, I believe. To really classify it in any of the mentioned genres is a lot harder, but I guess you could call it progressive or psychedelic, at least. :P A wide array of instruments is used, and no instrument is really overused here. There's drums, bass and guitar, yes, but then comes the strange piano, the xylophones, the glockenspiel (or is it called metalophone?), a small pipe organ (the resemblance to circus music is striking), many different kinds of percussion instruments like an old till of some kind (or is it a type writer?) ++

What I almost forgot mentioning, believing that I was finishing the last line of this review, is that the music is actually quite pretty! Just listen to the refrain on Liten Karin (or Little Karin in English), or the theme on Ödet (the Fate) or Joosan Lost ... it's all really cute and at the same time extremely dramatic and filled with passion.

Anyway, if you're tired of music all sounding the same, then this REALLY is the album for you. As for this album compared to the other Samla albums... Personally, I prefer this one. I don't know what it is, but I think it's something about the sound quality isn't really doing justice to the Samla sound before the year this album was released. And the earlier albums is also a little too "serious" for me... You know, it's not that they're not serious in that way, but they're really playing around, if you know what I mean - and I love it! :D

Maybe I feel better about this album since I understand Swedish and therefore also the lyrics (I'm Norwegian, and it's basically the same language :P), but still - the instrumental quality here is the thing that really catches me. I mean, I really love PFM, and I don't understand a word of Italian! So I believe this album is a +++ in anyone's "prog collection", or whatever you call your collection of music... :P Go buy!

This is one fine parody of the Swedish music scene of the time with many catchy and quite ridiculous tracks. Schlagerns Mystik (The Mystery Of Schlager) is definitely closer to the humor that I associate with Frank Zappa than any incarnation of a Lars Hollmer band. The album is split into two sides where the first one consists entirely of smart parodies of popular Swedish folk tunes. I guess that the genius of the lyrics might get lost in translation but the music is still a real treat for the ears.

The second side consists entirely of one 17-minute instrumental composition entitled Ödet (The Fate) and is anything but parody! This is where the guys get serious and make some fine progressive jamming music that in my opinion resembles Zappas 13-minute The Grand Wazoo-suite.

In conclusion I must warn that this might be acquired taste for fans of the classic prog-rock but if you are a fan of Zappa and seek something exciting to sink your teeth into then by all means try this.

***** star songs: Vid Ragunda (1:37) Årstidsvisan (3:48) Asfaltvisan (1:52)

**** star songs: Profession Är Amatörens Lim (2:20) Knapplösa (2:15) Liten Karin (4:15) Joosan Lost (0:25) Ödet (17:00)

*** star songs: Inte Margareta (3:47)

On this album Zamla Mammaz Manna take the circus music flirtations of their previous incarnation and turn them up to the max. Rune2000's review suggests that the intent was to parody the musical scene in Sweden at the time - well, that may or may not be the case, but if it's so it would explain why the album falls flat with me. RIO bands are supposed to play inaccessible music, of course, but in this case the band's ideas are only accessible if you already have a reasonably detailed background knowledge of the music scene in Sweden in 1978, which I suspect will exclude a great many listeners from appreciating this one to the fullest. Including me.

I remember distinctly buying this at a musicstore back in 1995. I was searching for swedish left-wing progressive music from the 70's and bought anything and everything I could get my hands on. I had heard of Samla Mammas Manna before but bought this CD mainly because of the record label, Silence, and the fact that they released a whole bunch of great records of the genre. Now, I wasn't prepared for this. I wasn't put off but rather stunned, mainly because the band seemed to distance themselves from the rest of the pack, even mocking music as a whole in producing an album of silly music. Actually it is more than that. It is silly, I'll grant you that, baut it is so brilliant and for me, born and raised in Sweden, the lyrics brings baffled smiles to my face again and again.

The music is, as always, a mixture of folk, circus music, prog, jazz, fusion, avant-garde, insanity, hard rock, intelligence, free form and beyond. The music ranges over everything, which is quite astonishing. The album is accessible and highly unaccessible. This is not music for those who cannot take musical bewilderment and chaos, yet it is structured and melodic in a weird way.

I may make it sound as if the music is not melodic, well it is. It is highly melodic. I suppose the key word is eclectic music through a bunch of musicians whims and chaotic notions. Harsh yet tender in places. Zamla Mammaz Manna is a unique group which is deserving of a greater place in music, not just just in Sweden but elsewhere aswell.

My favorite track is 'det (The fate). It is progressive rock at it's finest. The feeling is that of a group bursting at the seams. The riff is great and 'det has to be the most "proper" song of the album. It is a gem! The remainder of the tracks are amusing, yet brilliant in their own right, but it is 'det that takes the price.

All in all, I'd say it is a strange but clever album. Highly recommended for fusion fans as well as proggers of all trades, as it were. Mrvellous stuff.