First, this page only was
supposed to contain music written by myself. But with his
permission, I've also posted music written by Peter
Genstrand, my old friend who lives on Gotland. We sit in our
basements and record music that we share via DropBox. A
method that we highly recommend!
Recently, I also learned from STIM, the Swedish Composers'
International Music Bureau, that it's okay to publish covers
of other people's music, as long as you give them credit for
their music/lyrics and don't alter the arrangement, lyrics
or title. So here we go... I just added a few songs by other
people below.
You'll find the latest update at the top of the page. I you
scroll down, you'll find the older stuff. Well, the
exception is the section at the top, containing a growing
number of versions of my tune 'Svensk sås'. And just below
these different example of a Swedish Salsa song (yes, I know
it's an oxymoron...), the entire live performance we did
with Monica Törnell's New Band on the 30th of November 1977.
We had been playing as a band for something like six months
and playing in the big Studio Four in the Swedish National
Radio Building was sort of... overwhelming. Okay, scroll
down and enjoy!
Svensk sås
In April 2020, I
realized I had to gather all the versions of this song in a
section of its own. I've tried to sort them in chronological
order, beginning with the original:
Svensk sås
1978
Written in 1977
and recorded in 1978
Music by Bosse
Well, this is the
original version with myself on keyboards, Monica Törnell,
voices, Jörgen Johansson on drums and percussion, Per
Johansson, bass (including a rather wild solo with tapping on
the strings with a bow...) and btw, they're not related. Then
there's the late, great Björn J:son Lindh on flutes and the
equally late, great Lasse Ekholm on guitar.
I wrote this in 1977 and we used to play it as one of the two
or three instrumental numbers before Monica entered the stage.
After a while, she started to join in with wordless singing.
When we came to the point of recording the album 'Jag är som
jag är', I was rather flattered when she wanted the song on
the album. So this is what we recorded. Live in the studio, of
course. One curiosity: We recorded in the Metronome Studio in
Stockholm (and it's still there, under the name Atlantis). I
found an ARP 2600, the same 'phone switchboard' synth that
Josef Zawinul used (he actually had two of them on stage,
named 'Eins' and 'Zwei'). I fiddled a little with it and used
it on the recording. J:son commented: "What the f***? I spent
hours with that one and couldn't get a decent sound out of it.
And you just did it in, like ten minutes..."
Even more fun is that Todd Terje, who made a cover of the song
in 2014 (see below), uses a 2600. The circle has turned a full
360...
The years went by
and some royalties flowed into my account. The amount
diminished from a small but steady stream to a trickle. The
last few years, whatever royalties I received, came from
Norway. Norway? I couldn't figure out why, but all enigmas
have a solution. So did this one...
Svensk sås
Todd Terje studio version
Recorded in 2014
Recorded by
Terje 'Todd Terje' Olsen
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
Music and lyrics by
Niykee Heaton and Bosse. From the album 'Bad intentions'.
A few weeks after
Todd Terje's e-mail, I received another one, this from some
strange e-mail address in the USA. I thought it was spam and
deleted it. Two or three more e-mails arrived from the same
address. I deleted them as well. But when the fourth one landed,
I noticed that Todd was also on the send list. So I opened it,
and holy smoke...
It turned out that there's a young American singer named Niykee
Heaton. She had recorded songs and posted them on YouTube. Which
landed her a contract with Universal Music for an EP. One of the
songs on the record was called 'Villa' and is written by Ms
Heaton. But when the producer was working on it, he found Todd
Terje's version of 'Svensk Sås'. They sampled it and used it in
'Villa'. Or to be more exact, wanted to use it and asked me and
Todd if we were willing to let them do so. Todd said no and I
said yes.
This meant they could use my song, but not Todd's version of it.
So in the end, some musicians had to re-record those parts,
making them sound like Todd.
Anyway, I got an MP3 of 'Villa' and timed the parts that are
'Svensk sås'. Almost exactly one third of her song was my song.
So I simply said, 'I want one third of the royalties'. And to my
surprise, the reply was a simple, 'OK!' You can say much about
Americans, but when it comes to immaterial rights, they are
heavenly to work with!
In the wake of this, I was contacted by two other US-based
companies. One was converting music into mobile phone ring
tones. The other was producing a TV series about young
African-American girls going to college. To make a long story
short, Villa is a phone ring tone and the song can be heard for
like 15 seconds in an episode of the TV series 'Sorority Girls'.
All this, both the Norwegian and the US tracks, makes me feel
like Rodriguez, the artist whose life is portrayed in the movie
'Searching for Sugarman'...
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
Music by Bosse
Thanks to Todd
Terje for the inspiration! I haven't spent this much time in
my studio for a long time and this new version of the old
song is only the beginning. Also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqn278TDyro.
Svensk sås a capella version by RYSS
Recorded in
2016
Recorded by
RYSS
I can't find
any information about this kid, except I believe he's also
Norwegian. I base that assumption on the fact that a guy by
the name of Evind Bjørsvik is credited for the camera work.
And that definitely is a Norwegian name.
An ingenious
a capella version of Todd Terjes version...
Svensk sås
played by Gjallarhorn Musikkorps
Recorded in November 2017
The
arrangement for brass band was made by Espen Westbye. The recording
was provided by Gjallarhorn Musikkorps and I 'borrowed' the
picture from www.gjallarhorn.no.
On April 27
2017, I received an email from Espen Westbye, who asked if
he had my permission to arrange 'Svensk sås' for brass band.
He told me the band was going to play at Siddis Brass, a
brass band festival held in Stavanger, Norway, the first
weekend of November every year. Siddis Brass is Norway's
biggest brass band event. In 2017, 58 brass bands with a
total of almost 2.000 musicians participated. The audience
was over 1.000 people and the entire event was sent by
Norwegian TV.
I sort of
forgot all about this until April 29 2020 when I was
searching the Internet for new versions of my song. I
contacted Gjallarhorn and got their permission to use their
version of my song here. They also provided me with an mp3
file.
I can only
say it's absolutely wonderful to listen to other people's
versions of music that I have written. And Espen Westbye's
arrangement is nothing but brilliant! I'm impressed by the
percussionist who plays xylophone (I think) in the intro.
It's not exactly slow... and the alternate harmonies at the
end of the song... wow! Thanks, Espen and Gjallarhorn!
(By the way:
'Gjallarhorn' was the name of the horn that the Viking god
Heimdal used to wake the other gods if someone from the
human world tried to pass over the bridge to the world of
the gods.)
Svensk sås a
capella version by Alberto Billone
Recorded in
2018
A short version that seems inspired by
RYSS's version above. This artist is Italian, judging from
his Facebook Page. At the end of the song, a caption
appears, saying, 'Todd rulez'. I took the liberty of
informing Signore Billone that indeed, Tood rules, but that
I'm actually the composer of the original tune. :-)
Svensk sås
2018 sax mix
Written in 1978
and recorded in July 2018
Music by Bosse
No matter how thankful I am that Todd Terje recorded 'Svensk
sås' in 2014, he has proved to be quite reluctant to allow for
his version of the song to be used by anyone else. Two
examples:
Niykee Heaton wrote a song called 'Villa' (read more about it
above) and her producer found Todd Terje's version of my song
and wanted to use it. He said no so the producer had to hire
some musicians to record that part of 'Villa' to make it sound
like Todd.
During the summer of 2018, I was contacted by an advertising
agency in Argentina. They were making a TV commercial for the
largest brewery in Chile and wanted to use Todd Terje's
version of 'Svensk sås'. Once again, I said yes and he said
no. I told the agency I could make a recording of the song in
the same tempo and somewhat in the same style as Todd's
version. But when I was finished, the brewery had chosen
another song.
Conclusion: If I'd been prepared and had already had a faster
version of 'Svensk sås', I might have landed the contract with
the Chilean brewery. And without mentioning any figures, they
offered a lot more than a crate of Becker's Bier...
Well, next time when someone reaches out and wants to use
'Svensk sås' in a context that I can accept, now I'm prepared!
This version is recorded almost in its entirety, using
instrument plugings from Logic Pro X. The exception is my
vocal parts in the beginning and end of the song. This forced
me to learn how to alter the tempo of analog sounds without
altering the pitch.
Disclaimer: Just to be clear, I don't have any issues with
Todd Terje regarding his reluctance to let anyone else use his
recordings. I'll just have to live with that like he has to
live with the fact that I've recorded my song in a much faster
tempo. That's just two examples of artistical freedom for
you...
Svensk sås
2018 beatbox mix
Written in 1976
and recorded in July 2018
Music by Bosse
This version is the one I first sent to the advertising agency
in Argentina. They found it a little 'too beat-box-ish', but
after confiding in my dear colleagues in the UN Band, I
decided to post it here. We all think it's more fun to listen
to. That, of course, is a matter of opinion but still, you now
can choose between the two versions!
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...
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!
Jam #1 part
1, 2, 3, 4
The first
jam consists of four parts, where Åke leads us into
the different drum grooves. He just started one
groove and we joined in, one after the other. 27
minutes of jazz rock, one chord which was some kind
of A.
Jam #2 Pär
In number
two, Åke told Pär to start and he began playing a
chord progression, which turned out a little
latin-ish. Also in A. As they say, don't
change horses in the middle of the stream...
Jam #3 Bosse Stolen
Goods
When it
was my turn, I used an oldie called Stolen Goods
(also featured below) which has a gospel feeling to
it. Christer mentioned influences from the South
African pianist Dollar Brand, later Abdullah
Ibrahim, something I've never thought of before and
a very fine compliment!
Jam #4 Christer
When it
was his turn, Christer chose a bass line in 5/4. A
very long time since I played in an odd time
signature.
Jam #5 Åke
Åke of
course made things even more complicated when he
suggested and started to play a 9/8 drum groove.
I wish it could be 1975 all over again
Music by
Åke, Pär, Bosse and Christer, song title by Åke
After playing for close to an hour, we had to get some
air so we took a break. Åke rigged a camera and the
result is our sixth jam which he named 'I wish it could
be 1975 all over again'.
As I
told a musician friend: "You can't have more fun than
this with your clothes on!"
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.
Dance monkey
Recorded in
January 2020
Music and lyrics
by Toni Watson AKA Tones and I
Dance monkey was one of the most listened-to songs in 2019. It
even broke Bing Crosby's White Christmas number one single
record from 1943. So of course my son Joel wanted to sing it.
And boy, can he sing!
I took the liberty to making a more stripped-down version than
the original, using only a handful of instruments. A piano and
pizzicato bass in the intro, a Rhodes piano, the PB-50 bass and
the Logic Drummer plugin. That's it, folks.
On April 19, 2020, we
also recorded some moves on our front porch. Well, Dance monkey
it is...
Reggae
shark
Recorded in
December 2019
Music and lyrics
by Mark Douglas AKA The Key of Awesome (unknown who created the
Rastafari Shark image)
This song is not entirely politically correct. The text is about
a weed-smoking shark and heaven knows how my nine-year-old son
Joel found it on YouTube. Never mind, his voice, his English
pronunciation, down to the perfect Jamaican dialect ("... you
can't smoke a spliff if you live under wata!") and his timing is
nothing less than brilliant!
I made the recording by downloading the song from YouTube and
imported it into Logic. Joel then sang to that version since
he's used to it. I then added the Logic Drummer plugin, my
Harley Benton PB-50 bass, a Logic organ and my sampled
Stratocaster and a little background singing of my own. And
finally removed the track with the original song.
Salsa
Claus
Written in
December 2019 and recorded in January 2020
Music by Bosse
In December 2019, I decided to write a Christmas song. But as
usual, my serious intentions went out with the bath water and it
turned out kind of a funky salsa tune instead of something a
little more serene. But this actually goes better with my mood
at the end of December. I hate the dark and the cold and I
suddenly realized what I like best with Christmas (apart from
the food and drinks): All the lights!
Instrument-wise, then: The Drummer plugin as usual. Plus my HB
PB-50 bass and a Logic Rhodes plugin. On top of that I played my
sampled Stratocaster and a tenor sax via the ROLI Seaboard.
Peter gave one of his usual, good performances in a guitar solo
that runs thru the fadeout.
Stings like a
bee
Written and
recorded in January 2020
Music by Bosse
This take some explaining. When my kid was very little, he
called himself Bia. Which, with a little imagination, leads up
to the conclusion that he is a bee. Him and me began creating a
cartoon story about a bee called Bia and a larva called Lizzie.
Which is what I called myself when I was little. Don't even
ask...
A few days ago, when I was in my car, the bridge of this song
just landed in my head. I had been inspired by Bia the Bee and
given the fast tempo of the song, I named it 'Stings like a
bee'...
The instruments are as follows: The Logic Drummer plugin which I
let follow the bass and I think it came out unusually good this
time! The bass is my Harley Benton PB-50. The Rhodes is also a
Logic plugin. The saxes are Logic EXS24 samples played with the
ROLI Seabord and the MiniMoog speaks for itself. Lastly, I tried
something new: In Logic, there's a plugin section called 'Studio
horns'. So this is actually a seven-piece horn section that
configures itself automatically when you play a chord with up to
seven notes. You get trumpet, saxes, trombones etc, according to
where you put your fingers on the keyboard and they're
automatically panned. Ingenious, to say the least! Last but not
least, Peter added some funky rhythm guitar in the background.
His slightly ironic comment: 'Good that it's such a slow
tune...' Well, I'm a bit surprised myself that I actually
managed to play the bridge on the bass...
Castaneta
Written in the
mid Seventies and recorded in December 2019
Music by Bosse
This is yet another salsa song. Written in the late seventies
and the title is inspired by the Peruvian-American novelist
Carlos Castaneda and his novel series about the sorcerer Don
Juan. In the original recording of the song, I used a pair of
castanets. Thus the pun where I merge the surname Castaneda with
the musical instrument castanets. Okay, that about that. In this
recording, there are no castanets! But mind you, in the above
image, you can see the actual castanets I used, probably bought
at a tourist shop in the island of Mallorca. Made of sturdy
Olive wood and with cords in not so sturdy Spanish-colored
string. Note that I marked them 'H' and 'V', which means Right
and Left. Remember, the fingers on our hands differ in thickness
on the right and left hands...
Here, we have my Physis piano doing the Rhodes bit. A Locic
Cuban Piano plugin and the ROLI Seaboard triggering a Solo
Flute. Plus the Physis piano on the solo with some Fender amp
plugin creating the beautiful overdrive.
A friend of mine once met Chick Corea in a doorway. He
immediately knew what he was going to say and asked the giant,
"Excuse me, sir: how did you create your fantastic Rhodes sound
in the seventies?" After a moment of afterthought, Mr Corea
replied, "Bad amps, man. Bad amps!"
Hardbop
Written in the
mid Seventies and recorded in December 2019
Music by Bosse
Yet another re-recording of an old tune. To quote one of my
biggest idols, the late, great Frank Zappa: "Jazz is not dead.
It just smells funny..." Or: "This is sort of like jazz, in its
own peculiar way..."
From start to finish, it took me a little over two hours to
record and mix it. Out of which almost half was spent figuring
out the notes in the melody.
Again, it's the ROLI Seaboard talking through the Logic EXS24
sampler. The two instruments are Soprano sax and my own sampling
of a Mini Strat. As usual, the Drummer plugin does its job.
Although it took me a little while before I figured out how to
make it play shuffle. I tried 6/8, 6/4 and 12/8 before I
realized that I should use 4/4 with the 'Swing' turned up around
half.
Finally, the bass is what you see above: My modified Harley
Benton PB-50. The entire bass track is recorded in one take,
actually the first.
Another time
(En annan gång)
Written in the
mid Seventies and recorded in December 2019
Music by Bosse
A re-recording of a tune that I wrote in the late seventies or
early eighties. At that time, I called it En annan gång, which
means Another time. Which is a better name, since the song
starts in 55 BPM and changes to 70 BPM after the intro. It
changes from one to another time...
This is also the first time I use two new instruments. It's the
first recording of my Harley Benton PB-50 vintage style
Precision bass. Back to basics for real! You can read all about
it under the link 'PB-50 mod' above.
The second one is not really an instrument, but a MIDI
controller. The ROLI Seaboard Rise 49. Which is a 'keyboard'
that requires a whole new way of approaching piano playing. It
doesn't have traditional keys, but a rubber surface with
something the manufacturer calls 'keywaves'. Underneath the
rubbery surface, there is some kind of pressure sensitive gel
and playing it feels like playing on a gel-coated bicycle
saddle. If you can imagine that feeling...
On a traditional MIDI keyboard, you can express yourself in
three dimensions: Attack, aftertouch and pitch bend. Attack =
how hard you hit the key. Aftertouch = the amount of pressure
you apply after you first hit it. Pitch bend = altering the tone
frequency, which often is done with a wheel or a slider.
The ROLI Seaboard has no less than five dimensions of
expression. They call them Strike (attack), Press (aftertouch),
Glide (pitch bend), Slide and Lift.
The Strike and Press parameters work like on any other keyboard.
But then the similarities end.
The Glide parameter is very different from ordinary pitch bend.
When you have a polyphonic keyboard and use the pitch bend
wheel, you alter all the played notes with the same amount of
bend. With the Seaboard, you can strike two notes and then slide
one finger to another 'key', thus changing the interval. And you
can wiggle your finger from side to side and produce a vibrato.
Very much more like playing a guitar. Which is simply heaven for
me who have tried to sound like a guitar player since I bought
my first Mini in 1975.
The Slide parameter works like this: You strike a keywave at the
end closest to you and slide your finger away from you. If you
have a synth that can handle this, you can alter the sound from,
say strings to voices. Or from strings to horns. Or from silent
to loud. Or however you program the synth.
Finally, the Lift parameter can add things to the sound
depending on how fast you pull your fingers away from the
keywaves.
To put it simply, the ROLI Seaboard has opened a whole new world
of playing for me! Plus it made my entire hands ache from all
the wiggling and sliding of my fingers over the rubber keywaves.
Or massaging the bicycle saddle, whichever way you want to see
it. That ache has subsided and I actually think that playing the
Seaboard could fight arthritic problems...
The instruments I used, then: As I said, the PB-50 bass and
again, the Drummer plugin. In the intro, I used Logic strings.
And throughout the song, I used a Logic Rhodes plugin. Both the
tenor sax and guitar sounds are played in the native Logic
sampler EXS24. It can handle the multi pitch bend that the
Seaboard produces. A special note on the guitar sound: I
actually sampled a Squier Mini Stratocaster that has been
hanging on my wall for a few years. It's the first time I sample
an instrument, and it was much easier than I thought!
Goats in space
Written in the
mid Seventies and recorded in December 2019
Music by Bosse
The title of this one was inspired by the Muppet Show. In some
episodes, there was something called 'Pigs in space'. In the
beginning of the song, there is only the wind and a lonely
triangle. In my mind's eye, I saw a flock of goats treading down
the side of a mountain through the mist, with the leader goat
wearing a bell in a string around its neck. Hence, Goats in
space.
The song is sort of ethereal and I told Peter (who as usual is
playing the guitars) that he should try to play the solo like he
had smoked weed. With the left hand, I play a bass line with the
notes E D C B A G Gb F and with the right, I alter between the
same two quarts: D/A and E/B. This quite simple combination of
notes results in rather complex chords, that are quite fun to
solo over.
Instrument-wise, we have a virtual Rhodes and a virtual Grand,
both Logic plugins. The bass is the six-string Ibanez. The wind
and the synth parts are all MiniMoog. And Peter actually
appeared in person in my basement studio to play the solo on his
Ibanez guitar. Most of the time, we sit in our basements and
exchange audio files via DropBox. Sitting in the same room,
drinking a glass of red wine and discussing qualities (or the
opposite) of different takes of solos is simply wonderful!
Madmen (Vettvillingar)
Written in the
mid Seventies and recorded in March 2019
Music by Bosse
A re-recording of a tune that is featured below on the
'Schlagers' album! I wrote it some 40 years ago. And haven't
played it since then. Which inevitably meant that I basically
had to figure out what the f**k the composer did four decades
ago. And that was no easy thing to do. Even though I wrote the
bloody thing myself!
Again, there were no alternatives to using the Rhodes and the
MiniMoog. The entire production consists of Logic Drummer, my
six-string bass, the Rhodes and the Mini. Two channels for the
two melody harmonies and one for the solo. The latter features a
whole lot of effects and I used the native ones in Logic: The
'Hot Rodded' amp, an overdrive pedal cranked to max, a
compressor, the Chroma Reverb and an analog echo. I also used
the wonderful built-in 'overdrive' in the MiniMoog: In the old
versions of the synth, you could run the output from the
headphones jack and route it back into the synth, using the
'External Input Volume' pot. In the new version, this function
is hard-wired. If you crank it up just below the level where the
'Overload' lamp starts to flicker, you get an even fatter sound.
As if that was needed in a Mini...
As Jan Hammer used to write on his album sleeves: 'There's no
guitar on this album'...
The harmonica
player's nightmare
Written in the
mid Seventies and recorded in March 2019
Music by Bosse
I wrote this sometime during the mid 70's. The title alludes to
the fact that a harmonica player, using ordinary blues harps,
would have to change harmonica every other bar. The tune changes
key quite often during the melody parts. The solo parts are
limited to 'only' two keys, G and C#.
When I started to record, I had a brief chat conversation with
my guitarist friend Peter and wrote that, 'On this one, I think
there's no room for any guitar. But my guess is that you're just
as happy anyway?' His reply was a laconical, 'Thank you!'.
Since the tune is a 70's composition, there were really no
alternatives to the instruments I chose: Rhodes Suitcase and
MiniMoog! They say that whoever has the most instruments when he
dies, wins. I'd say that having the ability to choose those two
analog instruments from my collection while I'm still alive,
makes me a humble winner!
Adhering to the rule 'keep it simple, stupid', apart from the
Logic 'Drummer' plugin, I only used three instruments for the
recording: Rhodes piano, MiniMoog and my six-string Ibanez
bass.
Killing the
innocence
Written and
recorded in February 2019
Music and lyrics by
Bosse
This is an absolute first for me! I recently finished writing my
eight novel. I won't spoil too much by revealing the plot, but I
can say that it starts with the murder of the Swedish Prime
Minister Olof Palme on February 28th 1986. The protagonist is a
musician who suddenly happens to find himself in the middle of
the investigation. The plot continues through the decades and
things happen that makes him feel very bad. To unburden himself,
he writes a song called 'Killing the innocence'. And then I
realized I simply had to write that song myself. So this is an
example of meta references on a very high level. :-)
As so many times before, I invited my friend Peter to play the
guitar parts. He first recorded chords on an acoustic which is
very discreet. He then wrote, 'Tell me where you want a solo',
and about an hour later he said that, 'What the hell, I got so
inspired and recorded both an intro and a solo'. That's Peter
for you!
The organ is my Viscount KeyB Legend which I ran straight into
Logic. The only effects are the on-board ones in the organ. A
combination of Leslie simulator, overdrive, reverb, crosstalk
and keyklick. As close as you can probably get to the sound of a
real tonewheel console Hammond organ...
For the third solo, I dusted off my cheap Harley Benton Slider
Lapsteel guitar. I hadn't touched it for a couple of years so it
took a while before I got it right but that's a current project:
Practice on the lapsteel!
Apart from those instruments, there's a very discreet Rhodes
piano (from Logic), my six-string Ibanez bass and the fantastic
Logic plug-in Drummer!
Absolutely
nothing
Written and
recorded in October 2018
Music and lyrics by
Bosse
I recently sold my Crumar Mojo and replaced it with a Viscount
KeyB Legend. When I bought the Mojo two and a half years ago,
the Legend didn't exist. If I had know that this instrument was
'in the pipe', I would have waited for it. It is that good!
Okay, it's not a real Tonewheel Hammond. But when I had
downloaded the latest version of the operating system and
tweaked some parameters with the help of the eminent editor, i
started to behave a little like 'the real thing', an
electro-mechanic organ. The only way I can describe it is like
this: When I turn the controls for 'Keyklick' and 'Crosstalk'
way up, the organ starts to produce sounds that I haven't really
registered. The organ simply turns alive!
The first few days, I started to try playing left-hand bass. A
riff turned up and after another couple of days, it had turned
into this song. The lyrics are about us humans stressing
ourselves to death, just to become happy. What is known as
'contradiction in terms'. My remedy for this is actually sitting
down, doing 'Absolutely nothing' and being content with just
that. Listen to the waves and the wind, enjoying the simple
things.
Since then, I went all the way and purchased an eighteen-key set
of bass pedals with a swell pedal. The pedal also has a
side-switch with which you can change the speed of the built in
Leslie simulator, which by the way is really good!
On this recording though, I ran the Legend through a Genz-Benz
Shuttle 6.0 600W bass amp with a tube preamp and my modified
Leslie 142N. The bass is my six-string Ibanez and the guitar, as
usual, was played by Peter. On his rather dry guitar sound, I
used the 'Pedal board' plugin in Logic and use three virtual
effects, a vintage overdrive, an octave pedal and a rotary
speaker simulator. The third and last solo, I played on my
MiniMoog.
For the better
discovering and bringing to justice
I first met Vic Baines in November 2013, through my work. At
that time, I had no idea she was into music (and the other way
around). Several years later, we learned we had a common
interest. But while I'm mostly into blues, rock and fusion jazz,
Vic is a folk singer, specializing in old British folk music.
She often sings a capella and this song was an example of that
(before I sank my teeth in it...). I asked her if she has
perfect pitch, but she denied that and replied that she's had a
lot of experience singing unaccompanied and staying in tune.
Vic sent me the song as it was and I tried to find chords that
both matched her singing and the mood of the song. This is what
Vic wrote about it on her YouTube page:
"Sometimes folk songs don’t already exist, so we have to write
them ourselves. This one is based on a true story of a skirmish
between smugglers and revenue men that took place two hundred
and odd years ago. It’s called “For the Better Discovering and
Bringing to Justice”, because this was the stated purpose of the
arrest warrants issued for twenty-one local men. It features a
number of field recordings from the site of the battle. Thanks
to Harrison Perks at HP Music for recording and mixing the
vocals."
You can listen to more music by Vic Baines, both on YouTube and
SoundCloud. Just search for 'Pendlecheek'.
Guinness and
Irish songs
Written in
2003, final version in January 2018
Music and lyrics
by Bosse
This song may come as a surprise to you, but there's an old (...
just invented it) saying: Inspiration is blind...
It so happened that myself and my old musician friend Urban went
to Gran Canaria early in 2003. At that point in time, there was
this girl... I won't go into any details, but one evening Urban
and I found ourselves in an Irish Pub in Playa del Inglés. There
was a lot of Guinness and Irish songs that night and the
combination inspired me to write an 'Irish folk song'. To quote
Vic Baines (see above), 'Sometimes folk songs don’t
already exist, so we have to write them ourselves.'
The picture, by the
way, was actually taken in Southwest Ireland. And it's true what
they say: 'Guinness doesn't travel well...' Meaning, Guinness tastes better
in Ireland than anywhere else!
W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G.
Written and recorded
around 2005 and some 'fixes' made in 2018
Music and lyrics
by Bosse
Originally
recorded in GarageBand but imported into Logic Pro X, where I
implemented the fantastic Drummer plugin and recorded some real
bass instead of the software bass I recorded some years
ago.
Another kind
of birth
Written in the
Seventies and recorded in January 2018
Music by Bosse
Since it's forty
years since I wrote this, I can't recall exactly where the title
comes from, but I read a lot of SciFi literature back then and
it was inspired by one of those novels. This one, we used to
play quite often as an instrumental with Monica Törnell's New
Band. As usual, you can hear myself on keyboards and bass and
Peter on guitars.
Flooded
Written and
recorded in January 2018
Music by Peter
This song is proof
of the fact that if you play a lot, you also get inspired. This
song landed in Peter's head recently and features himself on
guitars, bass, drum programming and myself on Rhodes and
MiniMoog. I asked him about the title and he replied laconically
that, "well, it rained a lot on Gotland last fall..."
Back to '75
part 1
Written and recorded
in January 2018
Music by Bosse
As I wrote in the
text below Sueños de Varadero, I'm nowadays the very happy owner
of both a MiniMoog and a Rhodes Mark II Stage Piano. I don't
know how people treat their Rhodes pianos? In my case, all the
usual stuff was missing: The big cover lid, the leg assembly and
the pedal. But the piano itself was in quite good condition and
after a few hours (to be honest, days) of tuning, adjusting
tonebars and microphones, it's easily one of the best playing
and sounding Rhodes pianos I've ever played. But as a musician
friend said, you CAN'T have a Rhodes on an X stand. Sometimes,
they just give in. And having a 50-kilo piano suddenly land on
your knees and feet is baaad...
Two paths to follow, basically: 1. Buying a new leg assembly
plus pedal. 2. Building my own Suitcase cabinet.
Well, as I once owned a 1978 Mark I Suitcase piano, I chose #2.
It features a Behringer Class D power amp which gives around
2X800W at 4 Ohms and four 12" Beyma 12GA50 broadband
loudspeakers (two at the front, two at the back). Instead of the
built-in preamp that comes with the Suitcase pianos, I managed
to buy a fantastic preamp from a manufacturer called Speakeasy
(you can see it to the left of the Mini in the pic). Again,
Jonas Öijvall was the seller! It features the same control
parameters as the original: Gain, bass treble, tremolo on/off
and tremolo speed and intensity.
When I recorded, I put two Shure SM57 mikes at the front
speakers, so this is really how my homemade Suitcase Piano
sounds! And of course it's the MiniMooog and the six-string
Ibanez bass. Plus as usual, Peter from Gotland on guitars.
A special note about the drums: At the end of the track, there's
a bass solo. You can make the Logic Drummer plug-in follow any
channel you choose. Normally, I let it follow the bass, but here
I let it follow the bass solo. And as you can hear, the drummer
goes a bit 'Animal', as I believe was the name of the drummer in
the Muppet Show...
Last, an explanation of the title of the song: Peter, the
guitarist, was born in 1965. He once wrote a song called 'Back
to '65 Part 2' (see and listen below). We've discussed this many
times and wondered what happened to 'Part 1', which doesn't seem
to exist. To make a long story short, I decided to paraphrase
the name of Peter's song. It's a view through the looking-glass
at the jazz-rock era. Everybody plays solo...
Sueños de
Varadero
Written and
recorded in January 2018
Music by Bosse
It's not the
flashiest music video that you ever saw, but we had a lot of fun
doing it. In retrospect, the sheepskin slippers takes a little
of the Caribbean feeling away. I should have worn flip-flops...
Around New Year's weekend 2017/2018, me and my family went to
Cuba for a vacation. Apart from all other influences, Salsa
music was everywhere and I couldn't help but being inspired. One
afternoon at the hotel on Varadero Beach, this song just landed
in my head. I suppose some of you have experienced this many
times: That suddenly you have a song or riff in your head and
when you wake up the next morning, it's gone. My experience is I
have to play it on some kind of instrument before I forget it.
Luckily enough, my son had been given a small keyboard for
Christmas and we brought it to Cuba, so I was able to play the
song enough to remember it. I believe it has to do with muscle
memory...
As soon as I got home in mid January, I sat down in my studio
and recorded the track, which I named Sueños de Varadero, Dreams
of Varadero. And as many times before, the guitars are played by
my dear friend Peter, in his basement on the island of Gotland.
For me, this is also a fantastic return to my Seventies setup.
Last April, I bought one of the re-issue MiniMoogs and in the
beginning of December, I laid my hands on a Rhodes Mark II Stage
Piano from early 1980. Both those incredible vintage analogue
instruments are featured on the track. You can also hear my new
five-string fretless Ibanez bass and the Logic drum plug-in
aptly named Drummer...
Morning sun
2018
Written around
2009 and updated in 2018
Music by Peter,
lyrics by Bosse
Early on a
Saturday morning, Peter sent me an MP3 with this song. Which
then contained only the guitars. I went totally crazy! 90
minutes later, I had written lyrics and recorded voice,
keyboards, a drum track and a Yamaha Motif 'guitar' solo.
Now, like 8 years later, Peter has recorded a new version where
he is singing lead! He's also renewed the acoustic guitar track
and fixed the reverb and EQ. He asked me what I thought and I
can only say, 'absolutely beautiful'!
Just before
one
Written in the
mid Seventies and recorded in March 2016
Music by Bosse
And here she is,
my new friend, Ms Hammond L102. Apart from overdrive, I've fixed
shorter percussion decay time and also brighter percussion
sound, that I can switch on or off. Thanks again, Kris. I ran
the organ straight into my USB audio interface and used the
'Rotating speaker' amp in Logic Pro X. Haven't figured out how
to switch between slow and fast speed while playing, since it's
an analog instrument using a digital amp. So I had to record the
speed changes afterwards.
The song is also an 'old sin' from the Seventies. The title, of
course, alludes to the piano left-hand riff, which always lands
'just before one', the first beat of the bar.
Free from you
Written in 1985
and recorded around March 2016
Music and lyrics by
Bosse
I wrote this back in
1985 after a particularly cumbersome encounter with a young
lady. No details about that... but at that time I was making a
lot of music with my old pal Urban Ohlsson (see the
'facebook.com/trubaduon' website...). We used to call each
other, saying, "I have a new song..." and the reply was always,
"Yeah, what's her name?" A lot of love lost, but music gained!
I made this version recently, like 30 years later. The most
tight version yet...
Som du
Written in the
late Eighties and recorded around March 2016
Music and
lyrics by Bosse
This was written
a long time ago. I was sitting on the grass in front of a small
cottage on the island of Öland. No instruments, just the text.
But somehow, I wrote the music in my head. Guess that's what
being in love does to you... again, me and Peter doing the
thing... and talking of Peter: First, his solo was a bit too
'jazzy'. I told him, think Gary Moore. I think he did an
excellent job!
Use only
Hammond Oil
Written and
recorded in March 2016
Music by Bosse
Well, they say
'when in Rome, do as the Romans do'. If you listen to Hammond
organ experts like MAFY, they say 'when doing maintenance on a
Hammond, use only Hammond Oil'. And you use it in the Tonewheel
Generator, which is the long, silver thing slightly above the
middle of the picture. Above the loudspeakers. It probably won't
come as a surprise to you, but that's where the tones are
generated. Wheels with different amount of 'spokes' rotate in a
magnetic field, the amount of spokes give the tone's frequency.
Am I too technical? Okay, okay...
This was in no way an attempt to make the best song in the
world. It just happened and I decided to record it, keeping it
simple: The EZ Drummer plugin from Toontracks in North Sweden
(believe it's Morgan Ågren doing the grooves...), my six-string
Ibanez bass, the Rhodes emulator and analog synth emulators in
Logic Pro X and of course, my L102. I ran it through the rotary
speaker plugin in Logic. Only one setback: There's no way I can
change the Leslie speed while recording, since I have to use the
mouse. So I have to do that while mixing. Well, well. One day
I'll have a real Leslie in my studio...
F.U.N.K.
Written and
recorded in January 2015
Music by Bosse
Another trifle...
recorded during a couple of evenings in January 2015. The first
solo was played on my beloved L102, trhu the 142N Leslie. BTW,
miking a Leslie is no easy thing to do. I've used three Shure
SM57 on the outside, one at the bass rotor, two at the treble
rotor, 90° apart. And I'm also running a straight signal from
the organ to a 15W VOX amp, using it for reverb. Many fellow
Hammond nerds recommend not running a reverberated organ trhu
the Leslie, but via another amp. The reason is the combination
of reverb and doppler muddles the sound. I kind of agree. Plus
the internal reverb in an L100 is a bit too much... a bonus
effect is it's looking pretty cool with a VOX amp on top of the
Leslie!
The 'guitar' parts were done with another favorite, my Yamaha
Motif rack module. I used two different sounds, 'Texas Boogie'
and 'Crunchoid'. And indeed, crunchy it is... a fantastic
sampling of an overdriven guitar that cracks up in overtones
after a couple of seconds or if you hit the keys a little
harder.
The drums are played by Morgan Ågren (I think). Well, the
samples at least. I use the fantastic plugin EZ Drummer from
ToonTracks.
Bass? 6-string Ibanez, straight into my sound card and into
Logic Pro X, where I'm running it through something that looks
like an Ampeg tube amp.
Movin' on
Released on
Gary Moore's album Still got the blues in 1990 and recorded in
October 2014
Music and lyrics
by Gary Moore
I have played
this song with several bands and finally decided to record it
myself. It features my Hammond L102, my Harley Benton Slider
lap-steel guitar and my six-string Ibanez.
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
Music by Bosse
In the mid
Seventies, I went to the Åhus Jazz Festival a couple of times.
Totally overwhelmed by a concert by Hammond Organ player
Webster Lewis, I made this tribute. Originally, I named it
just 'Sirius', after the Åhus hotel we stayed in. The year
before, we stayed at a hostel called 'Kastanjelunden' and I
made a song with that name, so I thought the hotel reference
would be a good idea. After
re-recording 'Svensk Sås', I thought I'd tackle some other old
sins. 'Sirius' was elected first, and on it, my old friend
Peter plays the guitars. I used the Hammond emulator built
into Logic Pro X, which is fantastic. But it's not the real
thing. Since the recording, I bought my first real Hammond
organ. An L100/102, built in the spring of 1963. I bought it
from a Pentecostal church in the village of Viksjöfors, some
300 kilometers north of Stockholm. Two days later, I went to
ELFA and bought a Zener diode, a capacitor, an on/off switch
and a potentiometer. This to implement built-in overdrive
(thanks to Kris, http://l100.gietek.me.uk,
who provided charts and tips). Now, the organ has transformed
from being a church organ to being a beast (to quote the late,
great Jon Lord...). My wife asked me, a little sarcastically,
"So, this organ can produce sounds your other gear can't?" Last night,
after having played on the L102 for a couple of hours, I told
her, "Yes, it can!" Using around 80% of the overdrive, the
instrument feels alive. Some keys produced overtones never
possible in a digital environment. The Hammond is
easily one of the best buys I've ever made and I'll certainly
use it the next time I record.
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
Music by Bosse
My next kid was
born in 1992 and this is my tribute to Therese, who during a
period was called Tessan or TZN as a nickname. I've been
thinking of a re-recording of this one but every time I listen
to it, the song grows on me. So I'll let it be... This is the
only recording on this page that I believe still remains from
the dark period when I used a PC and Cubase.
Schlagers
featuring Norgren, Ekholm & Johansson
Recorded in November
and December 1980
In 1980, Monica
Törnell's New Band was granted some kind of scholarship. In good
democratic order, we parted the sum in five equal parts. Myself,
the guitarist Lasse 'Ekis' Ekholm and the drummer Jörgen
Johansson, decided we would take our three (small) piles of
money and make a record with original music.
Said and done: We had the studio time for free, so we spent the
money on re-mastering, pressing vinyl records and getting
sleeves made. If I remember correctly, we made around 3.000
records. Even though we had a very good review in the magazine
'Hi-Fi och Musik', we only sold around half of them. I still
have like 30-40 un-played records in my studio (if any of you
want to lay hands on one, hint, hint...)
I said we had the studio for free. Well, the studio in this case
was our rehearsing place deep in a mountain on Skeppsholmen in
the old parts of Stockholm. The studio equipment was quite
modest: A TEAC A-3340S 4-track tape recorder, a small,
six-channel BOSS mixer and four Shure SM57 microphones, plus a
Roland spring reverb unit. That was it, plus our instruments.
Recording on a 4-track has its limits. We used the so called
'ping-pong' method: You record three tracks, then mix it down to
the fourth. Then you can record two new tracks and mix them with
the first three to the remaining free track. Now you have five
tracks and the quality of the first generation is beginning to
deteriorate. So one more go, which means you can get away with
eight tracks, maximum. And there's a lot of 'punch-in' recording
to save space.
As I said, we had a very good review in 'Hi-Fi och Musik': They
were above all impressed with the sound quality, given what
equipment we had. You judge yourself, we had a lot of fun doing
this!
Yeah, I still have it in my possession...
Bosse's
samba
Music by Bosse
This was one of
my first 'real' songs and I think I wrote it in the early
Seventies. On this one, I play acoustic piano, so in order to
record it, I had to move the tape recorder to my parents' home
where the piano was. My parents had the patience of two
angels, bless them for enduring all re-takes of solos and live
playing in their living-room...
Medium
grilled tomato ballad
Music by Bosse
Written around
the mid Seventies. The title demands an explanation: I played
for a while with a guitarist/singer who always, and I mean
always, ordered a medium grilled pepper steak with a tomato
salad when we went to have dinner with the band. Thus, 'Medium
grilled tomato ballad'! On this one, I actually play slide
guitar during the melody parts. A note on the
'backwards' piano at the end of the song: Back then, you had
to lift the reels off the tape recorder and put them on
'back-to-front' and record that way. Which was a bit nervous –
you had to be sure you recorded on the right tracks...
Julfunk
(Christmas funk)
Music by Lasse
If I remember
correctly, Lasse wrote this song around christmas, during
our recording. Lasse of course plays the guitars. Jörgen
plays the drums. I play Rhodes piano, bass and MiniMoog.
Skriv
nå'nting (Write something)
Music by Lasse
When I asked
Lasse what the title of the song was, he looked bewildered
for a while. Then replied, 'just write somehing'. So there
it was. Lasse of course plays the guitars. Jörgen plays the
drums and percussion. I play Rhodes piano, bass and
MiniMoog.
Ondas de
noche
Music by Bosse
'Ondas de
noche' is Spanish for 'Waves in the night'. The entire
beginning and end of the song: The wind, the waves and the
eerie, chiming buoy, were made on my MiniMoog and yes, it
took its time. Again great guitar playing by Lasse! By the way,
this track is the last on the A side and it continues into
the grooves in the center of the record. Our idea was that
you should never be able to fall asleep when the last song
is finished...
Africajun
Music by Bosse
On the sleeve,
it says that I play 'jungle, electric bass, accordion,
xylophone and amadinda'. Well, on the jungle part, I had good
help from my parakeet, Art (named after jazz accordionist Art
van Damme). The sound of running water was recorded in my
mother's laundry room. One of the more
funny remarks I've ever heard about my playing came from
Lasse's father, who was an old jazz accordion player. When
Lasse played the song for his dad, he listened intently and
said with surprise, 'What the hell... the kid plays the
accordion like a drunk Indian..." Yeah, he had a point
there... In the only
drum solo on the album, Jörgen lives up to his nickname
'Jungle Jim'.
Vettvillingar
Music by Bosse
In Swedish,
'vettvillingar' means 'madmen'. And the word 'tvillingar'
means 'twins'. Lasse played his Gibson ES335 through a
Fender Twin Reverb amp and I borrowed it to get a guitar-ish
sound for my MiniMoog. I seem to rembember the volume in the
studio was deafening when we recorded the solos...
Rapport
utifrån (Report from the outside)
Music by Bosse
Lasse thought
of a TV documentary show when he came up with the title. I
play Rhodes piano, bass and MiniMoog. Lasse plays the guitar
and Jörgen drums and percussion.
Sonny
Music by Bosse
My humble
tribute to sax player Sonny Rollins. And don't ask me how I
did it, but I play the melody on xylophone... I also play
acoustic and electric piano and bass.
Pelikankvintetten
(The Pelican quintet)
Music by Bosse
In Sweden, we
have a special kind of music scene, the 'Dance bands'. One
of the more well known ones is called 'Flamingokvintetten',
'the Flamingo quintet'. They've been playing for 60 years
and are now embarked on their Farewell tour. Yeah, how many
times have we heard that one from different artists...
However, this is in no way an attempt from me
to sound like a Dance band. Rather a slow funk tune. I play
MiniMoog, bass and some percussion. Jörgen plays the drums
and assorted percussion. And Lasse plays guitar.
Just like 'Ondas de noche', this one continues
into the center grooves of the record.
