Original music

Svensk sås

Svensk sås 1978

Written in 1977 and recorded in 1978

Svensk sås Todd Terje studio version

Recorded in 2014

In the summer of 2014, I received an e-mail from Terje Olsen, a Norwegian AKA Todd Terje. Given my age, I had never heard of him... Todd told me he had used 'Svensk sås' over the years, when working as a DJ. Ah, that explained the Norwegian royalties. He then told me he had recorded a cover of the song on his first full-length album, 'It's album time'. It's fast, much faster than our original version, but performed with skill and a lot of humor.

The reason Todd e-mailed me was that he was planning to release 'Svensk sås' on a 12" vinyl single, and wanted to have our old version on the B-side. He wondered if we knew where the old master tapes were, if they indeed existed.

All this of course was great news. And when I told my grown-up kids, it turned out they had danced to Todd's version of 'Svensk sås' in clubs. He was a bit more well-known than I had guessed. When I finally received a link to a YouTube clip from Todd, I realized how big he is. The clip was recorded at something called 'Øya-festivalen' in Norway (see below).

However, it doesn't stop there...

Villa

Recorded in 2014

Svensk sås Todd Terje live version

Recorded at the Øya Festival on August 9, 2014

Todd and his band play my almost forty-year-old song live for 15.000 people. Kids, the age of my own two oldest, dancing like crazy...

Svensk sås 2014

Written in 1978 and recorded in March 2016

Svensk sås played by Gjallarhorn Musikkorps

Recorded in November 2017

Svensk sås 2018 sax mix

Written in 1978 and recorded in July 2018

Svensk sås 2018 beatbox mix

Written in 1976 and recorded in July 2018

Monica Törnell's New Band, Dramatiska Institutet och Gästrike-Hälsinge Nation, november 1978

Inspelat i Dramatiska Institutets TV-studio den 13-15 november 1978

Lotus och Casanova (Monica Törnell)

Kavaljersvisa från Värmland (Lille Bror Söderlundh)

Kom slå dig ner (Eric Andersen/Hawkey Franzén)

Telegram från en bombad by (Cornelis Vreeswijk)

Jag är som jag är (Jaques Prevert/Bosse Norgren)

Inspelat på Gästrike-Hälsinge Nation i Uppsala den 17-18 november 1978

Kavaljersvisa från Värmland (Lille Bror Söderlundh)

Morgonmarsch (Bo Dahlman/Owe Junsjö)

Avstånd till min käraste (Bernt Staf)

Necessarily not (Monica Törnell/Steve Frankevich)

Vad visste vi? (Tom Paxton/Olle Adolphson)

Magical fountain (John 'Rabbit' Bundrick)

If you want me to stay (Sly Stone)

The following story can include elements of pure guessing from my side. The main reason is that I went on leave from the band in July, August and half of September 1978. Myself and two other musician friends, Magnus and Olof, went to San Francisco to visit our fourth band member, Ken, who worked there at this time. I bought a Fender Rhodes Suitcase Seventy-Three, that I sent home in Ken's container together with some furniture and his bright red Pontiac Trans-Am. The container arrived at Stockholm Harbor just as we were going to start recording at Dramatiska Institutet. Well, this is what I remember about the recordings:

Sometime during the summer of 1978, Monica Törnell was contacted by a couple of last-year students at Dramatiska Institutet, DI. They were planning their exam work and asked if they could record us, both at the Institute and during a live performance. Monica and the rest of us said yes, and  this is how the recording became reality.

Sadly enough, the video material has disappeared. I thought there was no sound recording left either. Not until I went to our drummer's, Jörgen, home earlier this summer. He conjured up a cassette tape with all the songs. I spent several days trying to enhance the sound quality with the help of Logic. It's not perfect, far from it. But the musical quality makes listening worthwhile, at least for me. Hope you agree.

The songs...

Lotus och Casanova

I'm not totally sure what the text is really about, but it's a good song, that of course breaks up in a jazz guitar solo and a drum solo. Per plays double bass and I do some percussion.

Kavaljersvisa från Värmland

Here, Lasse plays a very tasteful steel-string acoustic guitar. You can also hear Per play a solo on the upright bass. I play a flute-like solo on the MiniMoog.

Kom slå dig ner

The original is a very country-ish folk song written by Eric Andersen and was first released in 1964. I thought the chords were a little un-inspiring, so I altered them quite a bit. Lasse plays fills on the acoustic guitar and Per and Jörgen join after a few choruses.

Telegram från en bombad by

A short A cappella song by our Dutch/Swedish giant, Cornelis Vreeswijk. It's about the monstrosities called war. In this case, the Vietnam war.

Jag är som jag är

If available, I often played acoustic piano on this one, but the Rhodes worked just fine! Lasse's octave solo parts are so typical for him. My MiniMoog solo at the end was very un-typical. Most of the time, I played a piano solo. If I remember correctly, the song was supposed to end with a fade-out when we recorded it for the 'Jag är som jag är' album. I just came up with the 'Salt Peanuts' phrase to put and end to it, and our producer thought we should keep it, so we continued using it when playing live.

Kavaljersvisa från Värmland

Here, Lasse plays his trusty Gibson 335. Easier to fill a large room than with an acoustic guitar. Per plays his fretless Precision bass. I played a solo on the Rhodes.

Morgonmarsch

This is a perfect description of a long walk home from a party. A hung-over walk filled with anxiety and remorse. I or maybe Lasse altered a couple of chords on this one as well.

Avstånd till min käraste

A duet with only Monica and Lasse. Pretty bold when playing at a student place with a couple of hundred beer-drinking young people.

Necessarily not

Here, we step things up with a song written by Monica and Steve Frankevich. A song that never sounded the same, two nights in a row. My Rhodes has that wonderful distortion that inevitably is the result when you crank the volume up close to max. Lasse's guitar solo is magnificent as usual. At the end, Monica does something that she sometimes did: Start singing a folk song named Suplåt, sort of on top of Necessarily not.

Vad visste vi?

Another song about war and other atrocities, written by the folk singer Tom Paxton, with Swedish lyrics by Hawkey Franzén. It was on the 'Jag är som jag är' album but we didn't play it live very often. Monica starts ad-libbing with the text at the end, and I play a short MiniMoog solo.

Magical fountain

Well, Monica is often referred to as a folk singer. But she sure can sing rock as well! Lasse's and my solos are even wilder than in the Tonkraft recording of the song, that you can listen to below.

If you want me to stay

This classic by Sly Stone is a song that we sometimes played at the end of our concerts. Its chord progression is quite simple but totally wonderful to solo on. Here, I thought it was so much fun that I played a 36-bar solo!

Monica Törnell's New Band, Tonkraft 1977-11-30

Live performance in Swedish Radio Studio Four, recorded by me a few days later from the radio

Interview

Och ängeln föddes / An angel died (Bosse Norgren/Per Johansson and Bobbie Gentry)

Jag är som jag är (Jaques Prevert/Bosse Norgren)

Månen (Bo Carlgren/Kit Sundqvist)

Blixtmöte på en måndag (Per Johansson)

Kavaljersvisa från Värmland (Lille Bror Söderlundh)

Lotus och Casanova (Monica Törnell)

Avstånd till min käraste (Bernt Staf)

Necessarily not (Monica Törnell/Steve Frankevich)

Magical fountain (John 'Rabbit' Bundrick)

Into the mystic (Van Morrison)

Outro

In the spring of 1977, I started to play with the Swedish singer Monica Törnell. I had played with the rest of the band, guitarist Lasse 'Ekis' Ekholm, bass player Per Johansson and drummer Jörgen Johansson (no relation...), before in the prog jazz rock band Östan Sol Västan Måne (East of Sun West of Moon). Some six months later, we were invited to do this gig. Tonkraft was the legendary venue for live radio gigs in Sweden back then. And I for one (I guess that goes for the rest of the band as well) had not really grasped the magnitude of playing there. At one point, Monica says that, 'we are whispering about what song to play next'. Probably, it was good that we didn't understand that we were live and on air. :-) Nevertheless, this concert is one of the achievements in my life that I'm most proud of. Top of the bucket list...

This concert has been released as one of the CD:s in the CD box 'Progglådan', the Prog Box. And as Monica pointed out recently, 'we must have been pretty damned good, since we're the only band that has been given our own CD in the entire Prog Box!' The people researching and releasing the Prog Box did a great job. But in our case, they made one mistake. In the Box, it says that we played Tonkraft on 781130 instead of 771130. I recorded the concert from the radio some days after our performance and wrote on the cassette cover: 'Törnell Tonkraft 771130'. Other evidence: At the end of the concert, the announcer says it's a re-run from the live recording last Wednesday. 771130 was a Wednesday. 781130 was not. And in the interview in the beginning, Monica says that we had been playing since April or May. Which was when we began in 1977.

I'm not quite sure what bass and drum equipment Per and Jörgen used, but I'm 100% sure that Lasse used his beloved Gibson 335 semi-acoustic guitar and his Fender Twin reverb amp. I only saw him with that rig during the years we played... the guitar was sort of brown-ish and the amp had a feature that a friend of his built: If you pulled the 'Volume' pot out, you suddenly had a master volume pot. Which is how he got this totally freaked out, distorted sound that is normally not possible using a Twin amp. It's supposed to be clean-sounding. I know they call Larry Carlton Mr 335, but the nickname could just as easily have been used for Lasse!

I also know what I used. This was one year before I bought my Rhodes Suitcase piano in the USA. So what you hear is an ordinary Rhodes Stage 73 piano, a Hohner Clavinet D6 and a MiniMoog. The abominable but still wonderful one that I bought in 1975. The one that went out of tune every other minute, which you can hear happening in one of the solos. On the more rocky songs, I ran it through a very small, battery operated PigNose amp that was on full blast to get the distorted sound. And of course, I used one of the National Radio grand pianos.

The songs then...

Och ängeln föddes/An angel died

In concerts, we often started off with a couple or three instrumental songs before Monica came on stage. Imagine the artistic freedom we had... well, when she entered the stage, she often sang the Bobbie Gentry song 'An angel was born' as the first number. I came up with the idea that we should have a fast, instrumental number that would lead into the soft Gentry number. This was the result. I wrote the main part of the number and Per did the intro/outro. In 'An angel died', me and Lasse really get our freedom of expression!

Jag är som jag är

The original, 'Je suis comme je suis', was written by the French artist Jaques Prévert. It was recorded by Juliette Greco among others. A real 'chanson'. When we had been playing for a while with New Band and the recording of our first album was coming up, Monica gave me the task of writing new music for that old song. I did as I usually do, even when playing covers of old songs, I didn't listen to the original. I can honestly say that I had never heard Ms Greco's version until today, the 28th of June 2020. It's quite... different from my version. So way back when in 1977, I wrote the music... no, I didn't write anything since I'm totally worthless when it comes to writing notes. I still remember when the band gathered around the piano in my parents' living room and I tried to make them understand what I was all about. But quite soon, we got the song going. And it was the title track of the album! Lasse's jazz guitar solos were sort of his hallmark. What happens at the end, when we fly out in a piano jazz solo, I have no idea when that started. I remember when we recorded the song in the studio and that can very well have been the first time: I suddenly started to wonder, how on earth are we going to end this? So I just played the 'Salt peanuts' riff and the other guys naturally caught up. A perfect way of ending this pandemonium... :-)

Månen

It's very jazzy... this was one of the fantastic things generally about New Band and especially about Monica: You could pretty much play anything on the general chords of the song and meander out into very advanced jazz detours. And when we returned to the proper song after freaking out in our solos and Monica was going to start singing again, she always nailed it! I'd say she's one of the most underrated singers in our time! I wrote somewhere recently that I've played with one of the world's best singers. And that's Monica! Lasse's guitar solo is extremely 'jazz guitar'-ish. My Mini solo is more trying to catch up with Chick Corea. E and Fmaj7.

Blixtmöte på en måndag

Per wrote this song and we sometimes used it as one of our instrumental tracks. I start off with the bass line on the Mini. And Per plays a melody on the bass. Quite typical for 70's jazz rock. And quite wonderful! I play a MiniMoog solo and Lasse plays a guitar solo that was typical for him. I say 'was' because I'm so sorry to tell you that he passed away in 2008. Lasse was one of the greatest guitarists of our time! Period!

Kavaljersvisa från Värmland

Here, you can hear Monica's fantastic presentation of the Swedish folk song heritage. And in the background, Lasse's jazzy guitar. Per plays a fretless bass, I would guess a Precision... or a Jazz Bass? That pretty much covers up the alternatives. Anyway, my solo features the Rhodes with a stereo chorus effect. The song ends somewhat... like we're taken by surprise? My guess is that we had just rehearsed the song and that we thought that Monica was going to start singing again.

Lotus och Casanova

Monica wrote this one and I think most of the arrangement can be credited to Lasse. I deduce that from then typical 'Ekis' chords. And of course, the band throws me out in a fast jazz solo, totally without safety nets... and Monica just sings, even though the song is more of an up-tempo salsa song than the slow, quiet bossa that she had as a foundation in the beginning. I'm pretty pleased with my Beatles paraphrase at the very end... Michelle...

Avstånd till min käraste

Me on the grand and Lasse on a very clean 335. And of course, 'Ekis' chords... sus 13's... but above all... Monica's clean, clear voice! So beautiful! Thanks, Monica!

Necessarily not

Monica: 'We're whispering a little about what we're going to play...' In the background, you can hear me tune the Mini... this is one of my favorite Monica songs. It's very ad lib. It never sounds the same from one time to another. I've played it a lot of times in this band format, but also alone on an acoustic piano in a small pub in the Stockholm Old Town. Just me and Monica. The song becomes what you make it, if you see what I mean. Lasse's guitar playing... wow... it's like I was playing with Pat Martino, which was one of Lasse's favorites. I tried a more funky approach. And again, Monica is right at it when my piano solo is finished.

Magical fountain

In 1975, I was playing in a band called Freja, with Cary Sharaf el Din among others (he was one of the members of Wasa Express). Together with him, I went to London that year. He had an old girl friend that we visited. She worked at the London Playboy Club. You know, with rabbit ears and bunny tail and all that. Not PC and probably very Me Too. Nevertheless, when we came to the apartment where she lived, it turned out she was living together with another Bunny. None other than John 'Rabbit' Bundrick, keyboard player, then with Free and more recently with the Who. Rabbit wrote this song which doesn't much reflect Monica's folk song reputation. Lasse's and my solo chase (four bars each and I don't mean the kind where you can buy booze...) at the end is very typical for this band. We had no idea when we started the song that this was what it would end up as. I told you before that we had been playing for, like six months. And I can tell you, we didn't get any worse at finding each other musically during the following three years... again, after a totally chaotic solo part, Monica just starts singing as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

Into the mystic

Van Morrison, but pure Ekholm arrangement! I think this is one of the best examples of Monica's vocal powers, but even more so, her fantastic timing. Listen to the chorus: Every time I hear her enter the higher register and really give everything, my neck hairs literally rise! 'I don't have to fear it'. I can also note that I shouldn't have sold my Clavinet. It's an underrated instrument. And don't even start talking about Lasse's octave solos...

Bosse's samba

Written around 1972 and recorded in January 2025

 

Music by Bosse

You can hear an old version of this song from the vinyl album 'Schlagers', below.

During the Christmas holidays 2024, I decided that it was time for a new version of this song. Probably it's the first 'real' song that I wrote, sometime in the early ´70s. It's way slower than the old version below, but as I told Peter, all music in this genre was extremely fast in the '70s and '80s. IMHO, taking it a bit more easy makes the music swing more.

Instruments, then: The Drummer plugin, as usual. My Fender Cabronita. For piano tracks, I've started to use the Logic plugin Studio Grand, which is a bit 'drier' than the concert grands. Peter used his Hagström Viking and his solo... boy, when I first listened to it, the corners of my mouth just went up and up. Imagine the privilege of having such a fantastic instrumentalist just a phone call or a chat message away!

In your quiet place

Written around 1970 and recorded in December 2024

 

Music by Keith Jarrett

Keith Jarrett was probably my first big piano hero and still is one of my greatest influences. I went to see him a couple of times in Stockholm. The first time was in September 1972 when he played at a very unusual venue: The Royal Dramatic Theater. When I Googled it for a more exact date, I almost screamed out loud. On YouTube, there's a bootleg of the entire concert! 53 years ago and I was actually in the audience! The sound quality is incredible!

I was very sad to learn that this fantastic piano player had no less than two strokes a few years ago, so now he can only play with his left hand. There's a very fine interview with him that Rick Beato did. Check it out on YouTube.

Myself and my dear friend Peter very humbly recorded two of Keith's songs, In you quiet place and Fortune smiles, as kind of a tribute.

As usual, the Drummer plugin and the Cabronita bass. The Studio grand and Vibraphone plugins. And Peter plays his Hagström Viking.

Fortune smiles

Written around 1970  and recorded in December 2024

 

Music by Keith Jarrett

One of the records that influenced me the most, is the Gary Burton Keith Jarrett album from 1971. On it are several songs that we played with the band Freja. I learned this song just by listening to it and using the trial-and-error method on the piano keys. This was even before I got hold of The Real Book. And Google was not invented yet...

Our drummer back in the early seventies, Olof, really loved this song and always wanted me to play it. In the spring of 2023, Olof sadly passed away and when the funeral was less than a week away, I came up with the idea that I should play Fortune smiles in church, during the ceremony. So I tried to remember how to play it after, like, 45 years. Luckily enough, I now have a copy of The Real Book so I had a look at it, to help my muscle memory. I practiced, practiced and then practiced some more. Just before going to church, I played it through a couple of times. And actually made it in church with just one small mistake that probably no one except me heard.

Inspired by this feat, I thought I'd record it and as usual, asked Peter if he wanted to join in. But he said, 'nah, sorry, that sounds too difficult'. So I started to record it myself but it sort of went on hold. Then Peter visited me in December 2024. We listened to it and to my surprise, he said, 'okay, I'll give it a try!'. Both Peter and I said that Jörgen's song 'Niki's journey' (see below) is the reason for Peter's change of attitude. Nothing can be considered difficult after managing to play that one... so finally, here it is!

The Drummer plugin and the Cabronita bass as usual. The Studio Grand and finally Peter's guitars.

T.Z.N

Written in 1992 and recorded in December 2024

   

Music by Bosse

Finally, I made a new, fresh version of this tribute to my second child Therese. As I wrote below, that version of the song is probably the only remaining evidence of me having used a PC and Cubase to make music. It was more... static, is the word that comes to mind.

The Logic Drummer plugin and my fretless no-name bass with a maple P-neck, lay the base. Then the Studio Grand and Peter on the Hagström Viking.

Angel in my heart

Written in 2005 and recorded in December 2024

 

Music and lyrics by Bosse

The old version of this song can be heard below. That one, I played all by myself so the 'guitar' parts were done on my old, trusty Yamaha Motif module. A fantastic guitar sample, but I still felt that it was time for some real guitar.

In this version, the only thing that remains from the old one, is my voice. The rest is new. Drummer plugin, Fender Cabronita bass, Logic Rhodes plugin, MiniMoog solo and riffs, Peter on the guitars. Much more life in this one!

Tap dancing

Written in 2024 and recorded in December 2024

  

Music by Peter

The quick riff made Peter think of someone tap dancing, hence the title.

He also programmed the Drummer plugin, plays the bass and a bass solo. Plus all the guitars, of course. I played the Logic Hammond plugin.

G-Force

Written in 2024 and recorded in December 2024

 

Music by Peter

The title of the song relates to the fact that it is slow and heavy, plus it's largely based on a G chord. Which is illustrated above. Actually the first time I ever try a real chord on a guitar...

Peter did the Drummer programming and also plays bass, and of course the guitars. I played the Logic Hammond B3 plugin.

Home base

Written in 2024 and recorded in December 2024

 

Music by Peter

The title relates both to the fact that Peter really enjoys spending time at his home, his paradise on the island of Gotland, and that the song is largely based on an E minor chord. Home base for all guitarists.

Peter programmed the Drummer plugin, plays the bass and all guitars. I play the Logic Rhodes plugin that I tweaked quite a bit.

The Count's riff

Written in 2024 and recorded in November 2024

 

Music by Peter

The main riff in this song is something Peter played when we had one of our UN Band weekend meetings. Our drummer, nicknamed 'the Count' liked it so much that when Peter had completed the song, he named it 'The Count's riff'. The coat of arms above, is his family's and it hangs at Riddarhuset, a center for Swedish Nobility, in Central Stockholm.

Peter programmed the Drummer, plays the bass and the guitars. I play the Logic Hammond B3.

Folks

Written in 2024 and recorded in July 2024

 

Music by Peter

The title relates to a Folk music feeling and that Peter sometimes reflects about the fact that his parents, his 'folks' are no longer with him. The picture shows him slightly younger than today, practicing the guitar in his boy's room.

Peter did the Drummer programming and plays the bass, and of course all guitars. I play the Logic Hammond B3.

Trains

Written in 2024 and recorded in July 2024

 

Music by Peter

The song is a tribute to Peter's dad Jonas, who worked with railroads all his life.

The first time I heard the beginning of the song, I totally believed that I heard a train whistle, but it's actually Peter's guitar! He did the Drummer programming and played the bass. I play the Logic B3 and a multi-part MiniMoog Solo.

Made me smile

Written in the early 2020's and recorded on January 17th, 2025

 

Music and lyrics by Jörgen (with a little assistance from Bosse)

The picture was taken at a public bath during a tour with Monica Törnell. Still one of the happiest faces I've ever seen!

On Friday the 17th of January 2025, Jörgen came to me with this 'idea' that he had in his head. He played the first bass part (which I slightly modified during mixin) and a little of the horn part and a sketch of the chords in chorus part. After one hour and thirty minutes, we called Peter and I sent him an MP3 file and asked him if he would like to fix some background chords and a solo. He came back like an hour later.

I would say that from the point where I tried to understand what was in Jörgen's head, until the final version was mastered, not more than two, two and a half hours passed, effective time.

I programmed the Drummer plugin as usual, played bass both with a typical 80's synth bass sound and on the Fender Cabronita, panned 30 degrees apart. The piano is the usual Logic Rhodes and the horn parts were made with a Logic plugin called 'Studio Horns'. Already before we sent the MP3 file to Peter, I told Jörgen that I heard some Caribbean influences. When Peter returned his WAV files, the feeling was even stronger. His guitar chords sound a little like steel drums. He also plays a short, but nice solo (as usual). I play an equally short Rhodes solo. And as Peter said: 'The ending of the song is quite distinct!'

Nikis resa (Niki's journey)

Written in 1983 or 1984 and recorded in October 2024

 

Music and lyrics by Jörgen

The picture was taken sometime in 1992, in a studio where we recorded a demo for Bottom Line Blues Band.

Jörgen wrote this before his and Helen's daughter even was adopted from Ethiopia. The lyrics are a bit spaced out and refers to places close to where Jörgen's mother had a house in the west of Norway. I visited the house several times in the 70's and early 80's, so I actually understand the lyrics.

I think this song is probably the hardest I've ever played, rhythm-wise. Most of it is in 6/8 signature. So far, so good. But then there's one bar in 4/4, followed by one in 3/4, in half tempo. Programming Logic was a challenge, to put it mildly...

Okay, I programmed the Drummer plugin, and played the bass plus a bass solo on the Cabronita. A Rhodes piano and Peter's guitars complete the picture. And yeah, Jörgen sings.

Jag vill bo i en skog (I wanna live in a forest)

Written in 1992 or 1992 and recorded in October 2024

 

Music and lyrics by Niki Tsappos and Nathalie Astete

The picture was taken in Emmaboda during a music festival where we played with Monica Törnell, in the late 70's. The song is named 'I wanna live in a forest' and I think Jörgen looks a little like he actually DID live in a forest... :-)

The first verse of the lyrics was written by Jörgen's oldest daughter Niki, when she was eight or nine.

I programmed the Drummer plugin and played bass and a Logic grand piano. Peter plays the guitars. And Niki's oldest, best friend Nathalie sings and also wrote the second and third verses as we were recording the song. The song was re-played on Niki's 40th birthday party.

East bay

Written in 1976 and recorded in July 2024

 

Music by Billy Cobham

Now this is one funky song! It's been one of my favorites ever since I bought Billy Cobham's album 'Life and times' when it was released in 1976. The guys playing on the album are Billy Cobham on drums, George Duke on keys, John Scofield on guitar and Doug Rauch on bass. When I seriously started to think about making a cover of the tune and got down to really listening to what is actually happening, especially on the bass, I thought: Is this really a good idea?

By the way, Doug Rauch was a real hero on the bass. He played on several of the early Santana records but at the end of his life, suffered from depressions and drug abuse and finally died of an overdose at the age of 28. Twenty-f**king-eight? It's simply not fair... see this as a humble tribute to a fantastic musician that should still have been among us!

As they say, nobody remembers a coward. The biggest challenge for me was the bass part. But after some practicing and adding a lot of compressor, I got close enough to (hopefully) get away with it. Trying to play like George Duke, one of my greatest key heroes? Just forget about it. I did my thing and I'm quite pleased the way it came out.

Next, I enrolled my fantastic guitar-playing friend Peter. He feels about Scofield, just the same as I feel about Duke. And just like me, he did his own thing and as always, I'm taken away. Soo good!

On the instrument/tech side, then. I think this is the first tune I publish here since the new version of Logic Pro X was released. One of the biggest upgrades was made in the Drummer plug-in. Even more natural-drummer-sounding (sorry all you good drummers out there...).

So as usual, I used the Drummer plug-in. Funny detail: The drum kit is called... sure, 'East Bay'! The bass was what has been my favorite ever since i bought it, the Fender Cabronita. The bass amp plug-in is an Ampeg clone with a lot of on-board compressor to get a sound that resembles what Mr Rauch used way back in 1976. Which made it quite dirty! The Rhodes on this one is the Logic plug-in and I tweaked it with some overdrive, tines and damper noise. I doubled the melody part on the MiniMoog. And Peter played his Hagström Viking semi-acoustic on all the guitar parts.

And yeah, the picture shows how sweaty you get from playing jazz-rock!

Grandchild

Written and recorded in March 2024

Music by Bosse

During the Christmas holiday 2023, I received the finest gift. I learned that later this year, I'm becoming a Grandfather! I have written songs for all my children (You can listen to Tack för lilla Emma, T.Z.N and Joel Miraculix below). Now, it's time for the next chapter. Most of this song was in my head one Sunday morning in the beginning of March. I went straight to the studio and played it to get that muscle memory and added part 2. Since the baby isn't born yet, it hasn't got a name, so I just named the song Grandchild.

As usual, I used the Drummer plugin. Then my fretless P-bass and an acoustic piano plugin. Also as usual, Peter plays the guitars. His short solo is so beautiful!

Spered hollvedel (Universal spirit)

Traditional Breton song from the XIVth century, recorded in December 2023

Music by some medieval Celt

I took the picture 2002 in a place called Trá Lí (Tralee) in the south-west of Ireland. I can almost feel the universal spirit float above the mountain ridge. Otherwise, they're called clouds...

I first heard this song in the mid '70s. An old classmate of mine bought the 'Live in Dublin' album with the Breton musician Alan Stivell. He modernized old Breton and Celtic music that became known as Celtic rock. He's also behind the revival of the Celtic Harp. Not least known as the trademark of Guinness Stout.

Recently, I came to think of the song. I didn't remember either the name of it or the artist, so I asked my old friend. When he told me the artist was Alan Stivell, I started to search through his playlists on Spotify and at last, I found the song. Although I haven't heard it for almost fifty years, I remembered the melody and the chords down to the last note. Strange how memory works sometimes and sometimes not at all...

Recording was a bit tricky since there are two different time signatures and two different tempi. The song consists of sixteen bars. Fifteen of them is in 6/8 time and 55 BPM. The sixteenth and last bar is in 4/4 and 80 BPM. But after consulting the Logic Help, I found the solution.

The song begins with the bass and the Logic Hammond B3 plugin. I've tweaked it by splitting the keyboard to get one upper and one lower manual. Cranked the overdrive up, etcetera. Then the Drummer plugin entered together with me and Peter playing the melody on MiniMoog and guitar. The solos are MiniMoog, guitar and organ. When he sent me the guitar files, Peter wrote, 'well I guess the guitar solo is quite okay?' I told him, 'quite okay? It's damn f**king outstandingly good!'

One and one is one

Written around 1985 and recorded in December 2023

Music and lyrics by Bosse

As far as I can remember, this one is not about any particular girl. The title is of course about the fact that two single persons can become one couple. Or, two bottles of Efes can be poured into the same glass. A traditional, positive rock song with a not-so-traditional bridge!

Instruments used, then: The Logic Drummer plugin, the fantastic Fender Cabronita bas, Logic Hammond B3 and Steinway Grand plugins plus a 'guitar' solo that I played using one of the guitar samples in Logic.

Read between the lines

Written around 1985 and recorded in December 2023

Music and lyrics by Bosse

I wrote this during the era when myself and Urban played together a lot and recorded some of the stuff. We used to tell each other that, 'I wrote a new song' and the answer was always, 'Okay, what's her name?'. We constantly fell in love, much to no avail. Which is very strange. I mean, who wouldn't fall in love with the cat-loving guy in the picture above? :-) Quite a few kilos and years ago. It was taken during my UN service in Cyprus, 1986...

This particular song, I don't even remember who the girl was. Anyway, I think the song came out pretty good. A classic rock ballad!

I kept it rather simple. Just the Drummer plugin, a Steinway piano plugin, some cellos, also from Logic and a sampled Strat that I played via my latest keyboard, a StudioLogic SL73 Studio with weighted keys. And last but not least, the Cabronita bass.

Rosie

Written around 1985 and recorded in December 2023

Music and lyrics by Bosse

This one is a tribute for a girl who attended the Police Academy when I was a student there. I guess I was in love with her as well, but again, nothing happened. The picture was also taken in Cyprus in the summer of 1986. The bass is the original home-built body that I described somewhere below. The neck came from a Fender Musicmaster.

The song is kind of a mixture between funk and bossa. Again, I used the Cabronita bass. Then we have the Drummer plugin, a Rhodes plugin and my sampled Strat, all from Logic.

Mercy, mercy, mercy

Written in the Sixties and recorded in December 2023

Music by Joe Zawinul

Since the tune was written by 'the Emperor', Josef Zawinul, a true master of the keyboards and one of the founders of Weather Report, I just HAD to use this picture, where I play an ARP 2600 synth, more or less Joe's signature synth. I remember a quote from Zawinul, where he said, 'it's not the notes I play that make the groove, it's the notes I don't play'. Well, I don't know if I kept to that axiom, but we tried to keep it down a bit, me and Peter.

Logic Drummer, Logic Rhodes that I tweaked quite a bit, adding tines, dampers and overdrive. Peter did the chord stuff on guitar, from his home. Then there's trombone, alto sax and trumpet. My Fender Cabronita and last, but not least: Peter actually joined me IRL for the guitar solo! He didn't have a proper guitar, so he played on my mini Strat with the help of a glass of red wine. The result is awesome.

Walk tall

Written in the Sixties and recorded in December 2023

Music by Joe Zawinul

Another funky tune by Zawinul, which he originally recorded with Cannonball Adderley. I borrowed the arrangement from the Nils Landgren Funk Unit.

Pretty much the same instrumentation as on Mercy, mercy, mercy. Login Drummer, Rhodes, trombone, alto sax and trumpet. The Cabronita. And Peter on guitars.

First wind

Written around 1987 and recorded in September 2023

Music by Bosse

Somewhere around 1987, I bought a Roland MT-32 synth module. It had a lot of good sounds, among them a Japanese Shakuhachi flute. I started to doodle around on the keyboard and came up with this tune. It was the first time that I had sampled sounds, and I used a definite wind instrument. Hence, First wind!

Here, I used Logic plugins like soprano saxes. And of course, the Drummer and Rhodes plugins plus the Cabronita bass. As usual, Peter plays the guitars.

The cruise

Written around 1986 and recorded in September 2023

Music by Bosse

I had a vehicle like this in mind when I wrote the tune. When I bought the bike, it was a pretty standard Harley-Davidson Springer Softail with a 1340 engine. I made quite a few alterations, the biggest ones were to swap the engine for a 1640 cc RevTech engine with some 100 HP on the rear wheel. Then I changed the gearbox for a six-speed. The rest, you can see. One of the details I'm the most pleased with, is the Halloween pumpkin end-cap on the SuperTrapp muffler. I gained many smiles and thumbs-ups, cruising around. And for you who believe Harleys are unreliable, this one took me all the way to southern Europe a few times without problems!

And speaking of reliability: It's not on fire. The exhaust pipes are wound with heat-proof 'bandages'. Which means that if you travel in rain or wash the bike and then start it, the 'bandages' emit steam.

Well, this is after all a music page... as usual, the Drummer plugin, the Legend '70s piano, MiniMoog melody and solo. A solo on the Fender Cabronita. Peter plays the guitars.

The quart (Kvartsfiguren)

Written in 1976 and recorded in April 2023

Music by Bosse

The Swedish title literally means, 'A figure of quarts', or 'Quarter of a man'. Well, I changed that for Quart in English and in the image you can see a real quart: a Mason jar which I was given by neighbors for taking care of their cats when they were in the USA. And yes, it then contained Moonshine...

The song is a little like 'The harmonica player's nightmare', below. Lots and lots of key changes. And the melody is built of quarts, four-tone intervals. Hence the title.

The Logic Drummer plugin, a Logic organ, MiniMoog and Fender Cabronita bass. Plus Peter's guitars.

Medium grilled tomato ballad 2023

Written in 1979 and recorded in April 2023

Music by Bosse

This is a re-make of the song, that you'll find at the bottom of the page. There, you'll also get an explanation for the strange title. Of course, the tomatoes in the picture are not grilled. They come, though, from my greenhouse.

The instruments are the Drummer plugin, acoustic piano and vibraphone plugins and my fretless four-string with a maple P-bass neck. Guitar playing by Peter.

Ondas de noche 2023

Written in 1978 and recorded in April 2023

Music by Bosse

The title means 'Waves of the night' and I found the image quite fitting. More of a soft swell than waves, though. It was taken from a ferry between Bergen and Newcastle in 1979.

This is also a re-make and you'll find the original at the bottom of the page. I tried to re-create the wind, the waves and the chiming buoy with my MiniMoog and yes, it took its time again. This one is more advanced since I had more channels to play with.

Other than that, the Drummer plugin with some percussion added. Acoustic piano plugin, MiniMoog both in harmonies for the melody and on the solo. Peter plays the guitar.

Healthy

Written and recorded in January 2023

Music by Peter

I'm not sure what Peter means with the title, but I think this picture is the epitome of health! Anyway, the song is beautiful as always when Peter is composing and playing!

As usual when Peter is the composer, he's playing the guitars, the bass and has done the Drummer programming. I play the Logic B3 organ plug-in and a MiniMoog solo with rather long notes.

Toronto's 21 (a tribute to Börje Salming)

Written and recorded in December 2022

Music by Peter

Peter wrote this one when he learned that the Swedish Hockey legend Börje Salming had died in the terrible disease called ALS.

I told Peter that it's certainly one of the best songs he had made. Sort of hymn-ish... I came up with the idea to incorporate the typical Ice Hockey Arena organ and recorded an example. Peter bought the idea and as you can hear, the song both starts and ends with this terrible, irritating way of playing.

Peter plays the guitars, the bass and has also programmed the Drummer plug-in. I play the organs, which are three different varieties of the Logic B3 plug-in.

I will never

Written and recorded in October 2022

Music and lyrics by Bosse

This one has the subtitle 'Love ballad for a woman that doesn't exist'. It's yet an example of something that sometimes happens. A song just pops up in my head. Probably because I had just written and recorded the song below, Soon midnight. If I work with music a lot, the music is constantly in my head.

I play a  native Rhodes plug-in from Logic, my fretless P-bass and of course the Drummer plug-in. I do the singing and there's a calm Rhodes solo. Peter has made some chords/fill stuff which gives the soft song a small touch of rock'n'roll.

Soon midnight

Written and recorded in October 2022

Music and lyrics by Bosse

Well, to be frank, I just sat down and started to 'doodle' on the keyboard. This song came up after a while and as usual, the hardest part is to write the lyrics.

I play Logic native Rhodes and an alto sax solo. My Fender Cabronita and the drummer plug-in. Plus the singing. Peter plays both chords and solos in the beginning and end.

Keep the Focus

Written and recorded in April and October 2022

Music by Bosse

When I and Peter had finished recording Sylvia, I was extremely inspired by that song and Thijs van Leers wild organ playing. So I sat down and wrote this one. Not at all as complicated as Sylvia, but it also changes key a couple of times. Begins in C, changes first to B and then E and returns to C.

I play a couple of native organ sounds in Logic, and one of my sampled guitar sounds via the ROLI Seaboard. I started recording in May and am writing this in October, so I don't clearly remember which bass I played, but I believe it was the Candy Apple Red Fender Cabronita. Then there's the Drummer plug-in set to the upper, right-hand corner: Loud and Complex. The Fills dial set to maximum, full clockwise.

Peter doubles my melody part and recorded it twice. One of them an octave higher. And the solo at the end... totally wild and wonderful!

Sylvia

Written in 1968 and recorded in April 2022

Music by Thijs van Leer

This is one of the most beautiful songs I know! Thijs van Leer originally wrote it in 1968 when he was in a band called Shaffy Chantant. When he presented the song to the singer Sylvia Alberts, she didn't like it at all, so it went in the 'good to have' bin. He recycled the song, renamed it after Ms Alberts and Focus recorded it as an instrumental. It's on their album Focus 3 that was released in 1972.

It's also one of the most difficult songs I've ever tried to play. Most of the song has four chords per bar and there are constant key changes. I started off by practicing in half tempo and after a while, I could raise the BPM rate to 3/4. Finally, I made it through the entire song in the right tempo.

As ususal, it's me and Peter playing. I play the organ parts using the B3 plugin in Logic and my home-built bass and Peter plays the guitars.

Coffee break

Written in 1973 and recorded in January 2022

Music by Bosse

In Sweden, we have a saying that goes something like, 'I can fix it in a coffee break'. Which of course means that whatever you're doing can be done in no time flat. During my Military Service, we had a day room and in it was an old upright piano. One day I sat down at the piano during a coffee break and actually made this song in a few minutes!

In the recording, Peter plays the guitar solo and some very discreet background chords. I worked quite a lot with the Drummer plug-in, which follows the bass, even during the solo. I also play the Viscount Legend '70s piano and a Logic soprano sax via the ROLI Seaboard.

A note on the bass: In 1975, I bought my first bass, a Fender Musicmaster. The neck on this one is the only thing that remains from it. I have no idea where the rest went. In retrospect, I should have kept it. However, the bridge is from a Fender Mustang (I think) and it has a DiMarzio P-bass pickup. I manufactured the body myself from an oven-dried maple plank that I bought at Fanérkompaniet (the Veneer Company). It had a solid oak body before this one, but it was too small, which resulted in the neck sort of wanting to weigh down. The most odd feature is that it has no volume/tone controls. Just an on/off switch and an output jack. This, in combination with the fantastic DiMarzio pickup, is probably why it has the highest output of my seven basses.

Bubbles

Written and recorded in January 2022

Music by Peter

At Christmas 2021, Peter and his wife bought a Jacuzzi. Sitting in the bubbly water with a glass of bubbly Cava, he came up with the name of this song.

As usual, he plays the guitar, in this case his latest purchase, an Ibanez S521 1P-05. Not only beautiful to look at, but also sounds fantastic! He also plays bass and programmed the Drummer plug-in.

For the background, I used the B3 organ in Logic. Since the song is very 'rock-ish', I decided to go for a soft solo sound on the MiniMoog. This is one of my standard sounds, really. Only one oscillator and you can see the register and waveform in the picture above. It sounds a little like a flute, which I accentuate by adding a little white noise to the sound.

Blues for Bob

Written in the mid 70's and recorded in December 2021

Music by Bosse

This is a tribute to the man who made the synth in the picture above. Robert 'Bob' Moog made it possible for musicians like myself to get a synthesizer. Before, they looked like large telephone switchboards and cost a fortune. You connected the different parts with cables. This one, the MiniMoog, is instead hard-wired and you control it via a number of pots and switches. Complicated enough, but compared to the modular synths, easy as pie!

I have an old version of this song, probably recorded in 1975. Long before I bought my first drum machine. I programmed the Mini to sound like a bass drum and a snare drum. On this version, I used the Drummer plug-in from Logic, as usual. Not so long ago, I realized that all the drum kits exist in two versions. One where the mix of the drums and cymbals are fixed. The other one under a separate menu called 'Producer Kits'. Here, you get one channel (or sometimes two) for each part of the kit. So you can change the volume of, say the snare drum. And you even have one channel for the top and one for the bottom head. The same goes for the bass drum. This is the song where I've used the most channels. The first 17 were occupied by the drums. Yeah, seventeen!

Then there's a wonderful, crispy Rhodes sound from my Legend '70s piano, two harmonies on the Mini plus a solo. A bass channel and a bass solo channel. Peter has copied my bass line and doubles it on guitar. He also plays two different guitars on the melody and also plays a solo. I think in the end, I used 34 channels!

Star eyes

Written in the mid 70's and recorded in December 2021

Music by Bosse

This recording is kind of a tribute to the man in the picture above. His name was Staffan Hallgren and he was one of the best jazz flute players in Sweden, if not in the world. I had the privilege to play with him in a band called Pan Combo in the end of the 70's. When I decided to make a re-recording of this song, I found an old, raspy live recording with Pan Combo from April 30th 1979, when we played at Mosebacke. Sadly, he passed away in 2015, way too early.

This version features me and Peter. He plays the guitar solo and I play the rest. Apart from the Logic plug-in Drummer, I play on my Viscount Legend '70s piano, a solo flute sound from Logic and my latest (seventh) bass, a fantastic Fender Cabronita.

Fever

Written and recorded in December 2021

Music by Peter

This is where Peter does his magic. His basement studio on Gotland, the island between Sweden and the Baltic.

Peter plays the guitar, bass and programmed the Drummer. I play the Viscount Legend organ and the MiniMoog. I love the ambience in Peter's guitar solo!

Woodstock

Written in 1969 and recorded in March 2021

Music and lyrics by Joni Mitchell

Well, this is what many of us looked in the '60s and '70s. We played this wonderful song with the band Freja/50 Years Later. In March 2021 I decided that it would be a good idea to make a recording of my own. I invited Peter to play a guitar solo and told him to try to sound like he had smoked weed. I think he did a good job!

I played the Viscount Legend '70s piano, the Legend organ and my HB PB-51 bass. The drums, as usual, is the Logic plug-in Drummer.

Stratish

Written and recorded in December 2020

Music by Bosse

Well, a while ago I decided I wanted to make a tribute song for Billy Cobham generally and for his album Spectrum specifically. And to boil it down even further, for the song Stratus! When I bought my first MiniMoog in 1975, I went straight home, plugged the Mini into the nearest amp and put Spectrum/Stratus on the turntable. And tried to play like Jan Hammer.

Like 45 years later, I still try to sound like him! And now, before you, is my latest song, Stratish! It features myself and my old buddy Peter. I play several instruments: The Logic plug-in Drummer, my HB PB-51 bass, the Legend 70's Rhodes piano, the MiniMoog and a Logic, plug-in clavinet. Plus a likewise, a Logic plug-in guitar. And, not the least: My MiniMoog Reissue!

Peter plays the guitar solo at the end of the song. And boy, does he play it! I haven't heard anything this good from the island of Gotland in a very long time. If ever! Nowadays, we call him Peter Gambale... :-)

Wake me up tomorrow

Recorded live on the 4th of July 2020

Music and lyrics by Peter Sager

The picture was taken a couple of years ago, when we played at my neighbors' Water Festival in the beginning of August. You'll have to excuse my Vladimir Putin imitation...

Since a few years now, I'm a member of one of the best bands I've ever played with. I came up with the idea to call the band 'CrossBreed'. The reason is that the other members of the band come from three other bands that I've been playing with:

Peter Sager on guitar and vocals, is one of the few guitarists I know that can do Jimi Henrix songs and really get away with it. He also wrote this song. His singing and guitar playing is really the best!

Patrik Björk on bass, is one steady rock on his instrument. He reluctantly started to play the bass because everyone else wanted to play the guitar. But I'm very happy he 'bit that bullet'.

Finally, Danny Bernardsson, our drummer. Together with Patrik, he lays the foundation for me and Peter to play our sometimes rather freaked-out solos without ever faltering.

As usual, I have to give you the rig rundown:

Danny used a vintage drum kit, the name of which eludes me right now. He said that they're good, because they're not so loud. Well, I wonder how the loud ones sound... jokes aside, whatever drums he's playing, they sound just as good! I really love the impact of the snare!

Patrik plays a Marcus Miller signature Jazz Bass through a Hartke 500-Watt amp and an Ampeg cabinet. He also uses a wireless interface that played a nasty trick on us on another song this evening. It was raining and kind people had put towels on his amp to protect if from water. But at the same time, they had almost, just almost, pulled out the plug from the rear of the amp. And at the end of the song, the plug fell out, silencing the bass. If you think that the bass is an unnecessary instrument, think again... but again, that happened on another song...

This evening, Peter chose a rather new Gibson Les Paul from his quite extensive guitar collection. He runs it through a couple of pedals and a fantastic amp: The Bluguitar AMP1, which is a 100 Watt micro tube amp that is no bigger than your ordinary guitar effect pedal, and a Bluguitar 1X12 cabinet. The kind of rig that you can bring on the subway.

I used my Physis 73-key piano with a home-built 'Suitcase' cabinet and the MiniMoog. Both through my newest gadget, a Line6 Helix LT guitar processor pedal. The best thing I've yet found to get a good overdrive for the Mini.

Finally, the recording was made with a Zoom H2n recorder. I put it on a microphone stand, rather high, which gives good ambience sound. The recorder has four microphones, which you can configure in several setups. Here, I only used the two front mikes, so I didn't get too much sound from the audience. I have put a 64 GB memory card in it and that gives an incredible 97 hours of recording.

Recorded in January 2020

Reggae shark

Recorded in December 2019

Salsa Claus

Written in December 2019 and recorded in January 2020

Stings like a bee

Written and recorded in January 2020

Castaneta

Written in the mid Seventies and recorded in December 2019

Hardbop

Written in the mid Seventies and recorded in December 2019

Another time (En annan gång)

Written in the mid Seventies and recorded in December 2019

Goats in space

Written in the mid Seventies and recorded in December 2019

Madmen (Vettvillingar)

Written in the mid Seventies and recorded in March 2019

The harmonica player's nightmare

Written in the mid Seventies and recorded in March 2019

Killing the innocence

Written and recorded in February 2019

Absolutely nothing

Written and recorded in October 2018

For the better discovering and bringing to justice

Recorded in April 2018

Guinness and Irish songs

Written in 2003, final version in January 2018

W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G.

Another kind of birth

Flooded

Back to '75 part 1

Sueños de Varadero

Morning sun 2018

Written around 2009 and updated in 2018

Just before one

Written in the mid Seventies and recorded in March 2016

Free from you

Written in 1985 and recorded around March 2016

Som du

Written in the late Eighties and recorded around March 2016

Use only Hammond Oil

Written and recorded in March 2016

F.U.N.K.

Written and recorded in January 2015

Movin' on

Released on Gary Moore's album Still got the blues in 1990 and recorded in October 2014

Can't find my way home

Released on Blind Faith's album Blind Faith in 1969 and recorded in February 2014

Music and lyrics by Steve Winwood

We've played this song with the UN band and it is one of my favorites. Another one where Peter plays the guitar. Here, both acoustic and electric, including a solo. I do the vocals, play the Hammond L102, the bass and some soft Rhodes in the background.

Are you Sirius 2014

Written in the beginning of the Seventies and recorded in 2014

Joel Miraculix

Written and recorded in January 2011

Music by Bosse

Life sometimes proves to turn out very differently from what you planned. I someone had told me I would have a son when I was 56 years old, I would have told them, 'you're crazy!' But in the last days of August 2010, this little miracle arrived in our lives.

The Rhodes piano (a Logic plugin) solo is actually a first take! And Peter does his usual, tasteful thing! When Joel was christened in January 2011, he cried and screamed during the entire ceremony. Until I started to play this song on the excellent Yamaha digital pianon standing in the church. He went totally silent as if you had flipped a switch. That's what music can do to a child! 

Angel in my heart

Written in 2005 and recorded around 2010

Music and lyrics by Bosse

Another one of those love songs...

Here, I believe the Rhodes sound is one of the on-board ones in the Yamaha P150. The 'guitar' solo is played with one of the best samples I've ever heard: It's called 'Crunchoid' and I found it in my Yamaha Motif rack synth. The harder you hit the key and the longer you hold the note, the more overtones you get. But as my biggest synth influence, Jan Hammer, said: "You can use any synth sound with good attack. To make it sound like a guitar, it's all in the phrasing..." That's what I've been trying since I bought my first MiniMoog in 1975... 

Madrid

Recorded in April 2010

Music by Peter

The picture was not taken in Madrid, but on Peter's back porch on Gotland. Nevertheless, as you can see, we drank red wine while we played.

The song features a lot of heavy guitar playing and of course, I couldn't keep from doing some guitar mimicking myself... 

Tack för lilla Emma

Written in 1989 and recorded in March 2010

Music by Bosse

I wrote this one in 1989 when my first child was born. I've tried a couple of times to write lyrics for it, but have failed, so I guess it will always remain instrumental. The piano is my Yamaha P150. Peter played his solo without using a pick, which gives it a Jeff Beck-ish touch. Quite lovely! 

71-2010

Written and recorded in March 2010

Music by Peter

In 2010, Peter's father celebrated his 71st birthday. Peter wrote this as a tribute song. It reminds me a little of the Jimi Hendrix song 'Little wing'. My synth solo is in the Jan Hammer 'there's no guitar on this album' category. I believe this one is played on an old Yamaha CS1X synth, which was actually quite good for modifying sounds. I used a clean electric guitar sound and dirtied it a lot.

Walking on water

Written and recorded in January 2010

Music by Peter

Peter sent me this song and I immediately thought it sounded a lot like it could have been written by the late Ted Gärdestad, one of Sweden's best singer-songwriters (together with his brother Kenneth). I simply love the sitar-ish guitar sound on Peter's first solo... 

Return 2 '65 (Back to '65 part 2)

Written in the Eighties and recorded in January 2010

Music by Peter

In 1986, I spent six months in the UN mission in Cyprus. When I went there in mid-March, I brought my home-built 4-string bass, which you can almost see in the image above. It had a short-scale neck from a Fender Musicmaster, an oak body and a DiMarzio P-bass microphone. I started to play with some guys working at the Swedish Camp Victoria in Larnaca. We did some party gigs during that summer and had a lot of fun. One of the guys was the youngest solider in the Swedish contingent. He played the guitar and his name was Peter. He's the guy at the right and although I don't know, we could be playing what was then known as 'Back to '65 part 2'.

We had very bad amps that time, so when I played solo, the sound was heavily distorted whether I liked it or not. But it kind of suited the song, so when we recorded it in 2010, I tried to re-create the bad-amp sound of 1986. 

To Keith

Written in the Seventies and recorded in 2010

Music by Bosse

I found this in my computer and had completely forgotten that Peter and I recorded it a few years ago. It's an old tribute to a great piano player, Keith Jarrett.

Turn this car around

Released on Tom Petty's album Highway companion in 2006 and recorded in June 2009

Music and lyrics by Tom Petty

Also a song which we've played with the UN band. It features myself and Peter. I do the vocals, play a Logic organ plug-in and the bass. Peter plays the guitar. Recently modified with the Logic plug-in Drummer.

Stolen goods

Written in the Seventies and recorded in March 2009

Music by Bosse

This is an old sin, written in the Seventies. It features myself and Peter. This was before I bought any organ, so what you hear is a Logic plugin. The basis of the song, the piano riff, is played on my old workhorse, a Yamaha P150 and I guess the bass is my old Schecter 5-string which I had before upgrading to the Ibanez six-string.

The title: When I wrote it, I wasn't quite sure that it was my own. I actually thought I'd stolen at least part of it. After many years, someone assured me I was innocent of breaking anyone else's immaterial rights. But the name stuck. 

Jag visste att du fanns

Written and recorded in the summer of 2008

Music and lyrics by Bosse

In 2004, I bought a small allotment garden and built this cottage. Apart from having shorter relationships, I was single and enjoying it. Actually, I thought I'd never live with anyone again. But as James Bond said, 'never say never again'...

Around Midsummer 2008, I met the most wonderful woman in the world! One evening when we had just started dating, I had treated her to dinner in the cottage. She took a cab home and left me with a box of red wine, my MacBook and a small, white USB keyboard. Inspired by the woman and the wine, I fired up the computer and started GarageBand and Word. And began writing lyrics and music simultaneously. When I was finished, I recorded the song. So in this case, all instruments are GarageBand plugins and my singing was recorded through the built-in microphone in the MacBook. This text continues below the next track, 'Got the greens'... 

Got the greens

Written and recorded in the summer of 2008

Music and lyrics by Bosse

When the first song was finished, my inspiration wasn't. I continued composing and writing lyrics. It was getting very late, or rather early in the morning and I was feeling the Blues. But since that woman has the greenest eyes you can imagine, I named the song 'Got the greens'. It's an ordinary 12-bar blues and again, all instruments are standard GarageBand plugins.

When both songs were finished, it was eight in the morning. I was deadly tired, a bit drunk but quite pleased with myself!

T.Z.N

Written in 1992 and recorded around 2000

Rena rama Bullerbyn

A note on the name of the band: Coming up with a name is always hard, so it took a while. I think it was the third time that we jammed, and had just finished a tune that I wrote specially for this constellation, 'The Doctor', the doctor himself, Dr Åke, exclaimed that, 'det här var ju rena rama Bullerbyn'. Which means, 'this was Purely Bullerbyn'. Apart from being a children's book by Astrid Lindgren, 'Alla vi barn i Bullerbyn', Bullerbyn was a music venue in Stockholm in the Seventies. It's sort of a game with words since 'buller' means 'noice'.

Recorded on July 7th 2023

In 1973, I started playing with a band that we called Freja (the Vikings' fertility goddess). The members, apart from myself, were Cary Sharaf El Din on guitar, Björn Netz on sax, Göran Svensson on bass and Björn 'Nalle' Wetterborg on drums. Pretty soon, Nalle was replaced by Åke 'Dr Åke' Eriksson. I can't remember exactly for how long we played, but we had a few gigs in the fantastic music scene that was Stockholm back then.

After a year or so, Cary and Åke started a new band called Klara Express, that later became the quite famous jazz rock band Wasa Express. And as far as I can remember, I never played with Åke again, except maybe the odd jam at their rehearsing place on Klara Kyrkogata 17 (yeah, that's where the title of a Wasa Express song comes from: Number seventeen...).

The years and decades passed. And finally, on July 7th, 2023, I had the wonderful opportunity to play with Åke again. He had gathered three musicians that he of course knows but who didn't know each other: Pär Wedin on guitar, Christer Bjernelind on a beautiful 6-stringed fretless bass and myself on piano and MiniMoog. This is a very good demonstration of something that I've experienced a few times over the years: You meet musicians that you've never met and definitely not played with before. Sometimes you can't even speak to each other because you talk different languages. But music, in this case Jazz Rock, is a common language! Sounds like a cliché, I know, but it's true.

We met at Åke's rehearsing place in Tyresö south-east of Stockholm and right before the first jam started, Åke told us to get in a sort of 'Bitches Brew mood'. Meaning to do what Miles Davis and his band did when they recorded albums like Bitches Brew and Live Evil. They just started to play a groove and took it from there. Enjoy!

As I told a musician friend: "You can't have more fun than this with your clothes on!"

Schlagers featuring Norgren, Ekholm & Johansson