STOCKHOLM SYMPHONIE

Kaipa's "Stockholm Symphoni" is often sold as a legitimate release, originally appearing on a Japanese label in 1993, but its no-show on their recent "The Decca Years" 5-CD box pretty much proves its lack of legality, I think.

Definite information is hard to come by, but going by the tracklisting, it appears to be a radio broadcast (no audience track) from around 1976, featuring material from their first two albums, Kaipa and Inget Nytt Under Solen.

The musicianship is excellent, as is the song selection, including the brilliant "Musiken Är Ljuset" from their debut, the only problem being that Roine Stolt's guitar seems to be mixed noticeably higher than Huns Lundin's keyboards, although it's clearly a desk recording.

Now, I know the band never owned a mellotron, hiring one in for their two relevant albums, so it's quite surprising to hear one used here. Lundin seems to have effectively reproduced his album parts from "Inget Nytt", with choirs on "Korståg" and "Hoppfullheten" (part three of "Skenet Bedrar"), although all strings are synth generated, for some strange reasons; as on their albums.

This album isn't very difficult to find, and can even be bought from some retailers, working on the assumption that it's at least condoned by the band, so if you like their studio work, I doubt if you'll be disappointed. Very little 'tron, however. I wonder why they even bothered? Three stars.