VÅTA VINGAR (WET WINGS)

My first contact with this excellent artist was his involvement with ABBA. So I was more than pleased to find Wet Wings on vinyl in a second hand shop in the mid-1990's. But surprisingly, his own style has very little to do with ABBA, except the involvement of a number of this supergroup's background musicians.

But first I have to say that the line-up on the album's page here is incomplete. I would have edited it myself, but as I'm neither an admin nor a collaborator, I can't. Drums are not played solely by Roger Palm, but shared between him and Per Lindvall, who also share about 75% of the ABBA recordings between them. Secondly, we can hear the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra on several tracks, but the biggest let-down is that the man on the electric guitar isn't mentioned. Janne Schaffer may not be a metal guitarist, but his skill is certainly equal to Yngwie Malmsteen or Roine Stolt which makes him one of the greatest Swedish gutarists ever.

The album itself is not always rock, but shows a great variety and can certainly be classified as progressive. It is all instrumental and can be listened to in various volume levels. Quietly for meditation, mid-level for background entertainment and even loud for gym-like activities. The highlights for me are psychedelic Into The Fog, mysterious Certain Nights (Fandango) and especially Sing Louder Little River which may be better known under its Swedish title Brusa Högre Lilla Å, where Janne Schaffer performs one of the greatest lead parts I've ever heard. I guess it is even my absolute favourite instrumental piece, despite other classics like Rainbow's Snowman, Metallica's The Call Of Ktulu or Alan Parsons' Fall Of The House Of Usher. By the way, the flute on Deserter's Jubilee is not Ian Anderson, but Björn J:son Lindh himself!

Sadly, we won't get any new albums by this great artist as he passed away at only 69 years just before Christmas 2013, another thing that should be edited in the biography.

I'm a bit torn around the 4.5 stars mark, and I'll go for the high, handing out a 5 star rating for this wonderful album.

This album's first track (Sing Louder Little River) was a hit for J:son Lindh and hence it became his most popular album. Sing Louder Little River is really a fantastic song with a long, winding and very beautiful melody loop, starting in serenity and building up to a pompous climax. In my opinion, melody is Björn J:son Lindh's trademark and on this album there are many beautiful melodies that are easily remembered.

It is pure instrumental music and at this time many put Lindh in the New Age genre. This is understandable as the mood of Lindh's music is usually calm and harmonic but it is richer and more well arranged than most of the music of the New Age genre.

Lindh reached his artistic peak with this album in my opinion. He had slowly evolved his music from the loosely structured, jam-based jazz rock of his early career ten years ago to this elaborate and intellectual yet accessible music. The melodies make it accessible, but there are intriguing harmonies, odd rhythms and interesting instrumentation that stimulate the intellect to active listening.

Björn J:son Lindh is a skilled flautist who uses blowing sounds to give his flute a voice of its own, and the album features a number of the Swedish top session musicians of the time.

This is not traditional Progressive Rock in the style of Genesis, EL&P, King Crimson or Jethro Tull. You may find similarities with Focus, Mike Oldfield and Camel, but Björn J:son Lindh gives his music his own personal touch. If I were to hear an unknown song by Lindh, I would immediately recognize his style, in the same way that one recognizes Jethro Tull, Mike Oldfield or Gentle Giant, and that is one of the reasons why I think Lindh belongs on the Prog Archives website.