BLÅ SOM ALTID

With this album,Ache,is picking up the pace quite considerably,from Pictures From Cyclus 7. Don't get me wrong Cyclus is excellent in a mellow soothing way.Here we have most songs written by the bass player,who I'm sure is was a fan of Kansas and the vocal harmonies of Styx + twin guitar attacks of Wishbone Ash,whose sounds can be found here in several songs.The sound of Ache has not disappeared ,ofcourse, which make this an excellent mix. We also get a few killer guitar solos from Finn,and great dual between guitar and hammond in track 4.Splendid. Lyrics are are now in Danish,for the first time. In the bio it is mentioned that this a folky album,but I'm sorry,I do not hear that at all. So,if you like Ache,this is definately worth tracking down,and though I was disappointed after the first few listens,everything is falling into place and it is just as good as their other albums. Too bad Ache would disband after this one,but at least we got four solid albums. 4* from me,as a Kansas,Styx,Wishbone and Ache fan,but in the grand universe or prog it is probably a 3* effort.

After countless auditions from ACHE "Bla Som Altid", I realy can't say which this albun deserves figure in my collection. The work from this Danish band ( at least in this disk) is im my opinion, a simple mixture of slow passages (like ballads) with more fast themes (with some riffs and duets between gutars/keyboards). But, is not that fact which makes me unsatisfied, is the manner to link this passages ( the melodic arrangements) which don't creates a impressive atmosphere, and due to this not to get my attention and excitement! However, in some isolated passages (some guitar riffs/solos and a few keyboards passages and vocals ) the musicians demonstrate a good technique., and only for this demonstration my rate is 2 stars !!!

Delightul 70´s prog rock band from Denmark. I really didn´t know about its existence before I saw some reviews here on PA. I wanted to start with them with their third album, the conceptual Pictures From Cyclus 7, but when the CD arrived they had mistaken it for this one. Oh well, guess I´ll have to write about that one afterwards. Anyway, Bla Som Altid is far from bad. In fact I liked very much. Although they sing in their native language on this work, their sound is very much international.

The music here is a mix of heavy rock with some folk inlfuences, plus a little bit of jazz and symphonic elements. Sometimes they sound like Deep Purple MK I (around the time of their self titled LP), sometimes like Uriah Heep or Jethro Tull, but most of the time you can say they have a personality of their own. Their main feature here is the guitar talents of Finn Olafsson: the guy is very good. I also loved the keyboards (lots of Hammond!). Vocals are only average, but some backings are very well done. Production is ok. A shame this CD is so short (35 minutes)

Their songwriting is quite good, but not exceptional: there are no fillers, all tracks are good and varied, with tasteful arrangements and nice perfomances by all involved. Nothing is very complicated or bombastic as one might expect from a symphonic band, but it is still good. If you like 70´s prog rock with the aforementined highs and lows, you should check this out. Ache definitly deserved more exposure. Rating: 3,5 stars.

Ache exists and splits up with this, their fourth album.

The DNA profile of Ache is still very much present on this album. Excellent Hammond organ passages is scattered around this album. The symphonic prog elements has been replaced with a more jazzy type of pop rock though. I think this is called going commercial. Which is fair enough. The jazz elements here is a good replacement for the symphonic prog elements. There are even some good guitar solos here.

Despite of this, the stuff is pretty good, but nothing more. There are some interesting melody lines scattered around the album, though. This inbetween the dull run-of-the-mill stuff. The Hammond organs and the jazz elements saves this album from being another pop rock album from 1977.

This is a good album, but not as good as their first two albums.

3 stars (barely)