Sunday 13 June 2010

TAGES: STUDIO ON RPM INTERNATIONAL

Tages were as big as The Beatles in Sweden in the ‘60s. Studio was their Sergeant Pepper, but instead of drawing on the music of India, Tages found inspiration in traditional Swedish music – this psychedelic has a unique slant.

Studio, their fifth album (from November 1967), has never previously been issued outside Sweden and it’s a treat to be able to give it a wide release. I’m a confirmed Tages fan, from their early beat-styled singles to their last releases in 1968. Everything they did was well-conceived, tight, melodic and enthralling. Hip and constantly evolving, they were musically sensitive to the changing times and inevitably leant towards psyche. This issue of Studio supplements the rare original album with all the non-album singles they recorded in its wake and it’s a must for anyone with even a passing interest in music of the era.

Here's the promo film for the exceptionally controversial single/album track She's Having A Baby Now, a rare - probably unique - commentary on unwed motherhood:

The album's peak is The Old Man Wafver. Other songs from the album are quoted by slurring woodwind and strings, traditional brass kicks in, paving the way for an accordion that gives way to a woodwind fantasia. It all breaks down under stabs of concrête brass and strings.

Release date is the last week of July.

Here’s the tracklist:
1. Have You Seen Your Brother Lately
2. It’s My Life
3. Like A Woman
4. People Without Faces
5. I Left My Shoes At Home
6. She Is A Man
7. Seeing With Love
8. Created By You
9. What’s the Time
10. It’s In A Dream
11. She’s Having A Baby Now
12. The Old Man Wafwer (1-12 Studio, Parlophone PMCS 316, 11/67)
13. There’s A Blind Man Playing Fiddle In The Street (A-side, (Parlophone SD 6024, 2/68)
14. Fantasy Island (A-side, Parlophone SD 6036, 5/68)
15. To Be Free (B-side, Parlophone SD 6036, 5/68)
16. I Read You Like An Open Book (A-side, Parlophone SD 6054, 11/68)
17. Halcyon Days (B-side, Parlophone SD 6054, 11/68)

1 comment:

  1. Absolutely outstanding album, by a band at the peak of their creative powers. (The additional tracks only serve to reinforce what the original LP already features: a band achieving their dreams musically.)

    Bravo RPM Int'l and Kieron.

    -valis
    Trip Inside This House, the blog & radio show

    PS The highlights for me are that one-two punch of "She Is A Man" followed by "Seeing With Love."

    ReplyDelete