MECKI MARK MEN

Remarkable debut album from the quintet MMM, and one of the earliest (and most brilliant) psych-rock album of Scandinavia (released in late 67), when they were at the height of their popularity and the previously-released single Midnight Land /Got Together, which sounded excitingly new and pre-dated brass rock, this self titled album is a stunning often overlooked gem. The group had backed up Frank Zappa and Jimi Hendrix in their country and obviously the two strongly influenced MMM a fair bit, especially with leader Mecki Bodemark's vocals, when you'd swear it is Jimi singing. Apparently, the group set the studio a bit like a stage and recorded most of this album as direct-live, just dubbing vocals, vibraphones, flute and sitars later. One of the features of MMM is that there were two drummers: the full-time Fredholm and the part-time (playing vibes and sitar as well) Gartz, who was the second songwriter in the band

Opening (that's also the first track's name) on some phantasmagorical noises from organ and winds, with the beat is a spell-binding slow but drumroll filled almost dies, before catching its final breath and finally lays itself to rest. Whether it is Get Up or I Got It or other Sweet Movin might seem fairly straight forward, but there are always tons of small things happening that this is not basic pop or rock music. Other more experimental tracks like Free (and its great sitar strumming), Scream (some fantastic psych delirium throughout the song and at the end), Enlightenment ( ) are usually the works of Thomas Gartz and provide much of the adventurous spirit of the album. And that's where the non-album single Midnight Land fits, despite its single status. Ditto for its flipside.

The latest reissue comes from Universal and is a lavish digipak, with extended sleevenotes and four bonus tracks, two of the instrumental versions album tracks and the last two being previously- mentioned single (where they sound like Chicago Transit Authority); all four being well in line with the album and providing great added value to the already excellent album. MMM will then tour in the US with Blue Cheer and Canned Heat, releasing their second album Running In The Summer's Night as a US-only under a very different line-up, while returning in late 70 with their final Marathon album (a Sweden only release), but clearly their moment had gone. MMM's debut album is clearly a real psych classic with plenty of prog and brass rock tinges and deserves to be on every early-prog-loving proghead's shelves.

This is an unknown psychedelic gem. Some may be put off by Mecki Bodemark's Hendrix inflections, but this 1st L.P. makes up for it with much inventiveness. Lots of spaced out effects and strange lyrics. This is much jazzier than the 2nd record. Sounds to me like a cross between Hendrix and the first couple of Soft Machine L.P.s. (with maybe a little bit of The Nice and Pink Floyd's early stuff.) Psych fans should seriously seek this out. This is just a matter of taste, but I prefer this LP to the 2nd.

What an awful album!!! If it weren't for a guitar player who knows how to play at least one scale properly this wouldn't even merit one star! There is nothing on this album but a ton of post Vanilla Fudge pseudo psychedelic noise and I love psychedelic music! Mecki Bodemark's horrid imitation of Jimi Hendrix is so lame that I place him and Yngwie Malmsteen together as the worst insult to Swedish music ever created, only Mecki does all the damage with his two note organ riffs and suffocating voice that fails at being a super sexy Hendrix and sounds more like a croak and a groan than sexy. Don't ask me what songs are worse than others, the problem here is there are no songs. From track 1 on this is nothing but sludge. You'd think a producer could salvage something out of this slag heap, but no such luck. I mean, this is so bad that it is an insult to the listener and I got rid of my copy as fast as I could. I also suffered a headache for two days after playing this. Don't get the wrong idea, I played this album a bunch of times before deciding on my harsh words and harsh thoughts about the album, but you can only give something a fair chance before you realize you are being tricked by what it not even music! From the awful beginning of "Sweet Swede Girls" things just get more and more obnoxious until you either are laughing hysterically or are taking the needle off with a sick feeling in your stomach. I DO give credit to the guitar player in this band, he plays a couple nice solos here and there, so don't blame him for how bad this sounds. The rhythm section sound non existant here, there's nothing for them to play in terms of tight rhythms because everything is formless. If you want loud in your face mind bending music you can do better than this and find something more substantial in a Hendrix record or try to find the excellent album Stormvarning by fellow Swedes Storm which is sung in Swedish, but that's much preferable to here where the lyrics don't make any sense and the vocals are so accented he might as well not sing in English. Don't waste your money or your time here, because there's nothing that even qualifies as music. If you're a Desperate collector or fan, this is for you only, only don't be a fool like me and buy the album, buy the CD instead!

Wow is that jimi hendrix on vocals? Kidding of course but Mecki Bodemark seriously sounds a lot like him in a lot of the tracks. These guys were defiantly inspired by JHE and do a darn good job playing the whole psych thing. The heavy organs remind me of a typical US/england hard rock band. the bass is nice and heavy too, really ancors the music. Not a bad cd at all.

This formation was one of the first Swedish progressive/psychedelic rock bands. In the autumn of '67 they released their eponymous debut-album, the fine blend of jazz, blues and rock got a lot of positive reviews but the album sold not very well. After being support- act for ZAPPA'S MOTHER OF INVENTION and The JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE the band broke up in the spring of '68. Early '69 a new line up with prime mover Mecki Bodemark (organ and vocals) released a second LP entitled "Running In The Summer Night", it was also released in the USA and followed by an American tour were the band shared bills with The BYRDS, SLY & The FAMILY STONE, Paul BUTTERFIELD and JETHRO TULL. After their third LP entitled "Marathon" the band finally dissolved in the fall of '71. Thanks to the Swedish (prog) rock label Mellotronen we can enjoy the second album "Running In The Summer Night". The music on the 14 songs (including two bonus tracks) is very similar to VANILLA FUDGE (soulful vocals and Hammond organ), The JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE (wah-wah guitar) and CREAM (powerful guitar and propulsive rhythm-section). The melodic progressive mix of rock, blues and jazz and the solos on guitar (often fiery) and Hammond (bluesy and swirling) sound very tasteful with lots of changing atmospheres in that typical Sixties mood. Not only the music is great, also the artwork: a digipack triple-foldout-cover with an inlay info book.

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