November "En ny tid är här...1970*****/ 2:a November 1971****" 2003(comp)

Swedish Rock...one would think that's not too big a category - I mean population-wise Sweden isn't that big, plus it's isolated somewhere at the edge of the world and who remembers any Swedish bands other than ABBA anyway? Well, this website mentions no less than 600 famous bands, and some of my favorites are still missing. Where are The Creeps, Randy or Anekdoten? Even The Nomads barely made the cut at no.506. I wasn't surprised by the absence of today's subject, as they are one of the few Scandinavian bands singing in their own language. It was bound to place obstacles in their gaining world recognition, but I found out I like listening to hard rock in Swedish. So what if I don't speak a single word of their language? One look at the tracklisting had me imagining it's about the saga of the Viking Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons, although November were ostensibly a politically progressive pacifist band. Well, I can nevertheless imagine that they sing, like Led Zeppelin did, "We come from the land of the ice and snow/From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow/Hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new land/To fight the hordes, and sing and cry/Valhalla I am coming". It'd fit them, too. November's bluesy hard rock style is very close to early Zeppelin (as well as Free, Cream, Black Sabbath etc). An early incarnation of the band featured English blues guitarist Snowy White, but by the time of their debut "En ny tid är här..." (1970) they were down to a trio. Opener "Mount Everest" was also the lead single, and it's the equal of anything produced in the UK at the time - It actually wouldn't sound out of place in Cream's Disraeli Gears. "En annan värld" is even heavier, a fast Uriah Heep-like number with a rolling bass line. "Lek att du är barn igen" is prog with some jazzy flute reminding me of Jethro Tull. "Sekunder (förvandlas till år)" and "En enkel sång om dej" are electric boogie rock. "Åttonde" is almost funky and "Varje gång jag ser dig känns det lika skönt" sports some heavy Sabbath riffs. "Gröna blad" and "Ta ett steg i sagans land" are classic hard rock and "Balett blues" is a short instrumental closer. All in all, a veritable lost classic with terrific guitar by Richard Rolf. At the moment I can't think of a better non-English language hard rock album.

***** for Mount Everest, Lek att du är barn igen, Sekunder (förvandlas till år), En enkel sång om dej

**** for En annan värld, Ta ett steg i sagans land

*** for Varje gång jag ser dig känns det lika skönt, Gröna blad, Åttonde

** for Balett blues

Their second LP 2:a November (1971) is introduced with the soft piano-led "Sista resan", but after that things get heavy with the Sabbath-y "Men mitt hjärta ska vara gjort av sten". "Mina fotspår fylls av vatten", "Mouchkta" and "Ganska långt från Sergel"are funky hard rock a la Hendrix, "En lång dag är över" bluesy and "En ny tid är här" a rolling boogie. "På väg" has heavy riffs Sabbath-style and acoustic passages like...now that I think of it, Sabbath did those, too. "Och så en morgon..." and "Asthamahgurchk" are two instrumental interludes, the former light and atmospheric and latter playful and funny. 2:a November is another excellent classic rock album, though probably slightly inferior to their debut. They would release one more LP before splitting up in '72. According to their Wikipedia page (bassist/singer) Christer Stålbrandt started the group Saga, (drummer) Björn Inge joined jazz rockers Energy, and (guitarist) Richard Rolf was one of the forming members of Bash and later on joined Nature. In the 00's they have reformed a few times to play some gigs (see clip here) but otherwise they seem to keep a low profile and never got the international recognition they deserve.

***** for Men mitt hjärta ska vara gjort av sten, Mina fotspår fylls av vatten

**** for Sista resan, Môuchkta (Drömmen om Malin), Ganska långt från Sergel, På väg, En ny tid är här

*** for En lång dag är över, Och så en morgon...

** for Asthamahgurchk - den fjottegangere