AUTUMN BREEZE

— First review of this album —

As I wrote on previous reviews, AUTUM BREEZE is a surprising band, they were active in the 70's with only one release and resurrected in the 21st Century, originally to offer us previously unreleased material but then turning into an active band again, and now we have their second original release, a 20 minutes multi part epic recorded in "Yellow Snow Studio - Stockholm" in 2011, the rebirth of an excellent but obscure band and a second chance for excellent musicians.

Since their previous release "The Autumn Band" it was obvious that the 70's hadn't ended for this guys, playing in a style that older Progheads always miss. The only problem was that the albums were a bit simple for the most demanding fans of the genre, but this has changed, "Glimpses From a Lifetime" is a well elaborate album with radical changes and complex music.

The vocals performed by Ragnar Klevman and the peculiar Sara Bergqvist are delightful, while the combination of the talents of multi-instrumentalist Gert Magnusson and pianist Jan Warmqvist provide us of all the Prog we can ask for. But that not all, the addition of William Bellbrandt in the guitar provides that heavy distorted touch reminiscent of guys like Mick Box from Uriah Heep, creating a wonderful nostalgic feeling on all of us who search for this kind of music since childhood, a sound that usually we can only find buying albums released 3 or 4 decades ago.

The only minor flaw I find is the production, which in my opinion is a bit rough, but I'm here to talk about music, not about technical issues, and the music of AUTUMN BREEZE deserves no less than 4 solid stars.

I just hope the next time they release a full studio album, because this EP has left me with the taste of honey in the lips and asking for more.

Symphonic Rock band Autumn Breeze came in life in Arvika in 1972 by singer Leif Forsberg and guitarist Gert Nilsson, its only consistent member throughout their career.The band had a good live activity during the early period, but it was late-70's when they entered their most prolific era.In 1977/1978 the band recorded a 4-track demo tape and also made a radio broadcast appearance.Some 30 years later these four demo tracks along with demo versions of tracks found on their sole 1979 release was released as ''Demo tapes'' on MyRecords.

The two opening pieces ''Falsk ouverture'' and ''Höstbris'' (the Swedish translation of Autumn Breeze) are early versions from the full-length ''Höstbris'' release,an obscure mix of Symphonic, Psychedelic and Space Rock with CAMEL,KAIPA and ANYONE'S DAUGHTER touches, great guitar work and massive synth layers creating changing climates.''Dialog'' has a strong Scandinavian flavor with spacey flute work dominating a light pounding groove.''Jordnära'' is another demo version of the same track found in the band's debut, stylistically this is more on the Psych/Prog side with a low-tempo mood and Birgitta Nilsson's hypnotic voice on the forefront, before exploding to a SANTANA-flavored Latin/Fusion style after the middle thanks to the guitar of Gert Nilsson.''Secret space agency'' is another track in a Psychedelic Rock style, totally instrumental, with the good flute work of Gert Magnusson shining through and Jan Warnqvist's keyboards setting some more energy later.''Vintern'' is a very harmonic instrumental piece, close to NEUSCHWANSTEIN, excellent combination of flutes, guitars and keyboards in a short but lovely Symphonic Rock affair.''Nr. 646'' is the longest but also the weakest cut in the album.Pretty loose and unstructured for the most of its part,this a dated and rather experimental performance of the band with a jazzy edge and plenty of space for individual improvisations with flutes,saxes and bass in a jamming style.The closing ''Gammal man'' is rather dull and commercial, a mix of Psychedelic/Blues Rock with Funk, not representative of the band's sound.

A pretty nice documentary effort from this Swedish Prog legends as part of the band's reincarnation around the year of this release.Good addition for fans of Progressive Rock with a nice dose of diversity.Warmly recommended despite a couple of weaker tracks.

The Rebirth of a Band

Since some months ago, my very good friend Jan Warnqvist (Thank you for the dedicatory in the album pal), has been sending me albums of AUTUMN BREEZE containing excellent old material released at last, but for the first time after three decades the band has released "The Autumn Band" with 100% new material, great news for the followers of this very good but obscure Swedish band (Hey...I'm yet to find a bad Swedish band?).

This time the band doesn't conform with playing one genre or style, they mix Prog atmospheric tracks with Jazzy songs and straight rock material, so the listener never gets bored and the band proves us their versatility.

"The Autumn Band" starts with the excellent "It's Just Another Day", a fantastic Spacey track in the vein of Pink Floyd, with skilled guitar riffs, beautiful flute and Jan creating that dense atmosphere that seems to fall over the listener.

But my biggest impression is the vocal work, Linus Bornloff (who has some range similarities with "David Gilmour") combines his low ranged voice with the sweet tone of "Sara Bergqvist", creating a memorable song.

"Sorrow" is a melancholic and melodic song again with an excellent vocal work, but this time the star is Jan with his piano, the tune is heartbreaking and delicate, something new in the style of the band that I like.

"Love my Baby" is pure Rock & Roll in the style of the late 50's, nothing spectacular, but pleasant to listen, seems like the band members are making a retrospective of the music they were raised with.

"Schon für Schase" is another Space/Psyche oriented song, the intro reminds me a bit of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond", but the similarities are superficial, the atmospheric keyboard and amazing guitar is perfectly supported by that human metronome called "Lennart Olssen" in the drums.

The track is very dramatic with radical changes from aggressive guitar to soft flute, again AUTUMN BREEZE hit the nail in the head.

"Until Finished" is another strange track, it's clear that it's mainstream, but the nice Beatlesque aroma takes us back to the late 60's, again not spectacular, but adds variation to the album, as the next song "Going Down to Africa" some sort of Elvis sings Funk, very entertaining.

I expected that "Rock & Roll Madness" was going to be another mainstream track, but this time the band play Folk Prog with JETHRO TULL overtones, the usually sweet flute is now aggressive and powerful, the choirs are outstanding and again the piano is delightful.

"Fried Eggs" begins as a Rock track, but soon morphs into a jazzy song with very good vocal work, Tullish flute and a guitar that sounds very close to "Brian May's style", this guys keep surprising me with their constant changes, and the next song "Mombassa" enhances this impression, because it starts funky and changes into some Folksy Jazz with contagious percussion.

"Gruba" again combines several styles and genres, I can listen, Rock, Blues,. Funk, Jazz, Ethnic Music, etc...But the biggest surprise is "Massösen", at last a Symphonic track with lush keyboards, killer bass and radical changes, the highest point of the album and a good closer, because "PleaseGetOnTheBus" is just an experimental closing with a mysterious almost "a cappella" section supported by soft piano that lasts only 45 seconds.

After checking the songs comes the harder part. My first priority is to leave clear that this album is not Symphonic and not all the tracks are Prog, it's more an eclectic blend of styles and moods closer to PINK FLOYD and JETHRO TULL than any other band.

But hey, the music is good, and doesn't bore for a second, so if this is the new line that "AUTUMN BREEZE" is going to follow after a three decades sabbatical, I like it and I'm ready to give them four stars.

Finally it's autumn again after thirty years!

It's a bit of breaking news in the underground circuits that Autumn Breeze is back on track. Over thirty years have passed since their eponymous album "Höstbris" saw the light of day. With that record forever cemented as a landmark of Swedish symphonic rock in the baggage the expectations on the new material are rather high. The most important question is of course, is the spirit of 1979 still here? And can they still deliver good rock music? Don't worry, of course they can! But they also have some new aces up their sleeves on this long, long awaited second album.

I would say that they are shooting in three different directions on this record, "Going down to Africa", "Mombasa" and "Gruba" have the smooth flavour of world music, mixed with latin funk, a winning concept and bands like Stardust International, Tequila and Hot Salsa comes to mind while listening, in these cuts they have definitely left the progressive rock sound of "Höstbris" and moved on to a more up to date world/jazz/funk sound.

Then there are three straight rockers "Until finished", "Fried eggs" and "Love me baby" all of these are more "in your face" than the average Autumn Breeze track, what they lack in originality they take back in energy, and there is a certain hit potential in some of the chorus lines.

The third part of this trinity of styles is the progressive/symphonic numbers "Life is just another day", "Schon Für Schasen", "Sorrow", "Rock´n roll madness" and "Massösen". "Life is just another day" (the first single from the album) is sheer magic, still within the Autumn Breeze formula but with a crystal sharp sound most worthy a 21 century rock band, and the new singer Linus Bornlöf does a fantastic soulful job with the vocals on this epic track. "Rock´n roll madness" is another brilliant piece which makes me think of the Travelling Wilburys song:"Tweeter and the monkeyman", although in a more trippy, organic mood and with the always outstanding flute to the fore. Also the voice of Gert Magnusson has matured in a very cool way, as today he sounds like a Swedish counterpart to Bob Dylan!

The most traditional Autumn Breeze styled tracks are definitely "Schon für Schasen" and "Massösen". I could be wrong but this must be two of the leftovers from the "Höstbris" era, and the interesting fact that Gert Nilsson (their original guitar player) has co- written "Massösen" may give us a clue in what direction the band had planned to go after the "Höstbris" release.This is the peak of the album in many ways and the organ/guitar work is just amazing, almost like Swedish krautrock, no other band has a sound like this!

All in all this release offers positive surprises, straight rockers and progressive anthems for the conservative I honestly hope that Autumn Breeze will reach a wider audience this time around, so we don't have to wait another thirty years for a third album!

Peter Wallgren October 2010

Here’s an album that starts off promising enough, with keyboardist Jan-Anders Warnqvist and guitarist Gert Nilsson laying down the lazy opening title track instrumental full of keyboard theme variations and some pretty decent low-slung guitar. The influences of Camel and, to a lesser extent Gentle Giant, are obvious and pervasive.

Like I said, a promising beginning but not the total picture of this band’s first and only proper studio release. The follow-on track “Ugglans Nattvisir” introduces vocalist Birgitta Nilsson, a slightly bouncier keyboard feel and a persistent and almost disco rhythm that belies the time in which the music was recorded (late seventies). In addition to bass Kenneth Halvarsson lays down some decent saxophone, but the band by now has revealed two sides to their sound that seem to compete for the rest of the album. Both sides are present in the three part “Suite”, and at times Warnquist seems to struggle to innovate on keyboards and resorts to repetitive passages that flirt with a progressive sound but sometimes come up just a bit short. This carries through to “Falsk Ouverture” which also seems to be a thought in search of completion; pleasant, but in the end not exactly awe-inspiring.

The band returns to their British prog-folk influences at times to good effect, most notably on “Finalen” and “Upa”, the latter which flirts just a bit with a mild jazzy and rather convincing ennui. But the vocal tracks fail to quite meet the challenge of what the rest of the band is trying to achieve instrumentally, and in the end this and the sometimes unwanted intrusion of contemporary rock rhythms take away from what could have been a better classically- leaning symphonic album.

I guess these guys rediscovered some lost material (including live tracks) and put out a compilation not too long ago. I’d like to hunt that one down and see how it compares to this studio release. As it stands this one merits a three star rating based on the better symphonic parts, but not more since the sometimes noodling repetition and rather weak vocals keep it from being anything more. Recommended to fans of Nordic symphonic and prog-folk rock of the seventies as well as those who prefer the laconic music of bands like Camel and Harmonium.

peace

It's surprising to see how "AUTUMN BREEZE", an excellent but obscure band from the late 70's Swedish scenario who released a sole album in 1979. keep presenting us new material in 2009 despite having split three decades ago.

Now is the turn for "På Radio 1978", an album recorded in "Sverige Radios Studio" in Karlstad. Despite having received the CD from the keyboardist "Jan Warnqvist" there's little information about how was it recorded, apparently for radio sessions because there's something that sounds as an interview (I don't speak Swedish at all and ,my poor German helps very little) in track 2 "Snack", probably interesting for Swedish listeners.

AUTUMN BREEZE strangely doesn't perform any track from their first release "Höstbris", instead they bring mostly previously unreleased material (including the interview), and three tracks from the "Demo Tapes" in their final versions.

I was very impressed with the strength of the rough style of "Demo Tapes", but the more elaborate versions from "På Radio 1978" also surprised me, the sound is much more delicate and the arrangements very elaborate, they loose a bit of that naive charm, but gain in complexity and maturity. The only problem is the production, which is weak, but I care much more for the music itself, if not, I wouldn't listen "Nursery Cryme" which I consider a perfect masterpiece despite the horrendous production.

The album starts with "Ouverture" a new track not to be mistaken with "Falsk Ouverture", because it's far more Progressive with strong elements from early JETHRO TULL and FOCUS (In & Out Focus), this time the changes are much more radical with a delightful flute performance by "Gert Magnusson", but that's not all, around the 1:44 minute "Jan Warnqvist" dramatic piano blends perfectly with "Gert Nilsson's guitar" and Magnusson's flute to create an extremely dramatic section, this is the kind of material I was expecting from AUTUMN BREEZE.

As I said before, "Snack" is probably an interview, so we pass directly to "Dimman Från Have", a frenetic track sung by "Brigita Nilsson" and her unique voice, starts as a JETHRO TULL influenced song that turns into some sort of Psychedelic FOCUS with strong drums and bass with a constant flute that turns more aggressive as the song advances...But when I expected no more surprises, near the end a strong drum solo leads to the grand finale. Progressive Rock at it's best.

"Evil Light" marks a dramatic change in style, the keyboards recover their leading role that in previous tracks was left to the flute, this time the interplay between "Brigita's" voice and "Gert Nilsson" in the guitar is impeccable........Another highlight, this time closer to Proto Prog.

"Dialog" comes from "Demo Tapes", but this time much more complex and elaborate, with the piano and the flute making a more complex work, but without loosing the strength present in the other version. Again "Gert Magnusson" does an extraordinary flute performance, but this time allowing all the band members their moment of glory.

"Ta Mig Met" really freaks me, I didn't expected such a dramatic and atmospheric song from a band that has their roots in Heavy Symphonic, dark and misty with PINK FLOYD overtones, loved it from start to end, specially because of "Warnqvist's" work with the organ, this album keep getting better.

"Secret Space Agency" is basically similar to the "Demo Tapes" version, even when a bit more elaborate and better recording, almost the same can be said about "Nr 646", even when in this case the difference in the arrangements is stronger specially in the guitar work, so must say that after listening them, my impression of the band is higher.

I won't comment the 4 seconds "Epilog", because I don't understand why it was added, but this doesn't change my opinion, less than 4 stars would be unfair.

After three decades a lost gem was found

The words "Demo Tapes" or "Official Bootleg" are normally an indication for me to avoid an album, because I'm interested in final and complete versions of songs released professionally. So when Jan Warnqvist sent me this album released in 2009 with mostly 1977 material, I almost decided to avoid it.

But being that Jan was so kind to send it to me from Sweden, I thought that the least I had to do was to listen "The Demo Tapes" and review it even if I had to give a low rating, so placed it in the car while going to work (My daily journey to my office in downtown is of about one hour, and being summer I can listen the album peacefully with the windows closed and the AC on with nobody to bother me).

The surprise was great even when some versions are less developed than in "Höstbris", their sound is natural, and closer to their Hard Rock roots, in comparison with the elaborate debut album, "Demo Tapes" is brutal, aggressive but even the well known tracks sound more adequate to the band.

"Demo Tapes" is opened with "Falsk Ouverture", it's true that the recording is not so good but the music itself is much more powerful, the guitar work is simply impressive and the keyboards have a sound closer to early URIAH HEEP with a touch of MOUNTAIN,.to be honest liked this demo much more than the final version because of the Blues essence.

."Höstbris" is lso improved, specially in the keyboards being that "Warnqvist" creates some sort of painful howl that combined with the guitar creates a tortured sound so characteristic of early Prog.

"Dialog" is a new track that blends early JETHRO TULL (This Was era) with Blues, absolutely frenetic from start to end, all the band members give their best, specially Gert Magnusson with his impressive flute sections.

The vocals by Leif Forsberg require a special mention, the guy doesn't have a perfect range , but his style is simply perfect for a Blues Rock song as this one.

"Jordnara" is basically similar to the "Höstbris" version, at least until the drum section starts there I feel the band sounds much more vital and strong, reminds me of a FOCUS video Masters from the Vault, where while the other members of the band and some local artists eat giant slices of Dutch Cheese (In the kitchen of a castle, Thijs Van Leer and Jan Akkerman jam a local folk song with unusual happiness,. in the same way AUTIMN BREEZE members seem to really enjoy what they are doing.

"Secret Space Agency" sends us into PINK FLOYD territory, with a dense atmosphere and the band playing some sort of hard space Rock, the song starts soft, almost hard to listen (the recording doesn't help) and the music goes "in crescendo" until they explode in a burst of power.

"Vintern" is a return to the late 60's, the band plays some Psyche - Proto Prog variation with elaborate structures and incredibly a garage rock feeling, it's so natural and unforced that it's a pleasure to listen them, really enjoyable. Please pay special attention to Gert Magnusson and his frenetic flute, I just can't understand why this guy is not a legend today, being that he had the skills.

Now is the turn of "Nr 646", one of my favourite tracks, it's like a time machine to 1967, pure Psychedelia in the late 70's, if I didn't knew this guys recorded this song in 1977, I would be asking their inclusion to Proto Prog, because the atmosphere they create is absolutely convincing,

The album is closed with "Hammal Man", a track that starts soft and gentle but turns somehow funky with some Jazz sections that make it interesting, the sound again is clearly oriented towards the late 60's, good guitar work plus interesting melody and choirs.

Only as a curiosity, "Hammal Man" sounds like an embryonic version of "UPA" from ."Höstbris" .

It's true that most listeners of Progressive Rock search for complex structures and elaborate songs, this is not the case of "Demo Tapes", but the simplicity and strength makes me miss nothing, sometimes less arrangements allow the band to show what they are capable of, and in this case AUTUMN BREEZE proves that they deserved better luck, because as a band they were capable of great things.

Like in the debut album, my rating is 4 solid stars, that should be 4.5 because the simpler but vigorous approach of "Demo Tapes" convinced me even more than the intricate arrangements of "Höstbris".

Each time I listen the words Sweden and Progressive Rock together, I expect quality music, and AUTUMN BREEZE is not the exception, even though not as complex as their peers of the 70's, the musical conception is quite interesting.

A few months ago I received a PM from the band's keyboardist Jan Warnqvist, informing me about the release of two new albums and just recently he sent me a copy of the three AUTUMN BREEZE releases, that I been listening carefully in the past days So will start in order with their first official release "Höstbris":

The album starts with the title song, a dramatic instrumental with an excellent guitar and keyboards work, even though the structure is clearly Symphonic, there are evident touches of Psychedelia, something unusual for the late 70's. Some of the changes are quite radical, but by general rule the music flows gently from start to the frenetic end.

"Ugglans Nattvisir" is different, almost like a middle point between Progressive and Proto Prog, thanks God avoiding the temptation of playing AOR, a sound that was so popular in 1978. As in the opener, the Psyche elements remind me of the excellent Peruvian band "LAGHONIA".

This is the first track in which "Briggitta Nilsson" sings, and her style is very peculiar, she adds some dissonances that may seem like she's singing a bit out of tone, but without reaching excessive limits that reach incoherence, good song.

"Suite" is a short song structured as a multi part epic, in which the flute takes the lead, jumping from frenetic passages to soft sections "a la Focus", the guitar style is absolutely delightful, I don't know if it's just me, but reminds me a bit of German New Wave, until the fantastic flute brings us back to Prog territory.

"Falsk Ouverture" is one of the higher points in the album, the bass - guitar interplay sounds like a controlled version of URIAH HEEP, even the main melody maintains that mysterious sound of the famous Hard Prog band, but with a touch of SANTANA, very good combo.

Again the band returns to the dramatic sound of the opener with "Finalen", the keyboards enhanced with the flute are simply brilliant, there's a strong melancholy and drama in the music that I love so much, but again the distorted and sentimental guitar takes the lead while the keyboards add that oneiric sound, beautiful melody and great performance.

When I read the title "Um Mani Pad Me Um" I expected an oriental, almost religious song, being that this is the most basic mantras of Tibetan Buddhism, but the song is fast and fluid, with a clear late 60's sound, this time with radical changes, brilliant drumming and again beautiful flute. Only around the middle, the prayer is repeated in the classic Tibetan way and the keyboards take the lead role, another high point.

"Jordnara" is a weird ballad with a certain influence of PINK FLOYD, "Briggitta Nilsson" adds her peculiar style to a song that flows perfectly from start to end with an excellent guitar (somehow reminiscent of Gilmour) and keyboards work, absolutely trippy.

Now is the turn for "UPA", an unusual song for the band, starts jazzy and strong but as the song advances keeps loosing strength and turning more into some sort of light Jazz in the vein of Herp Albert............But hey wait, around the end changes into some tort of Electronic Prog with some influences from KRAFTWERK (even when lighter), interesting combination.

"Den Stora Visionen" follows in the line of the previous song (at least at the start), soft and fluid, but after some seconds Jan-Anders Warnqvist marks a total change with a frenetic and wonderful organ solo that immediately leads to Briggita's voice who sings a of Cabaret Jazz, an effect that is enhanced by the language.

"Varen" is a soft and charming melodic song with violins and Jan-Anders Warnqvist's piano at it's best. If there's something that impresses me of AUTUMN BREEZE is their ability to move from one style and mood to a radically different one, which shows an unusual versatility. Now they play a fascinating melody that I enjoyed from the start.

The album is closed with "Medly", what I guess could mean Medley, being that fragments of previous songs of the album can be listened, but strangely sopund very coherent, as if written to be played exclusively in this way...Great closer.

I read in ProgArchives and other sites, some reviewers find AUTUMN BREEZE'S music extremely light and borderline with mainstream, by the contrary I found "Höstbris" very versatile and elaborate, lets remember that by the end of the 70's, most of the iconic bands were doing some sort of Pop Prog but this Swedish guys were creating different but still fully Prog music.

I won't say it's an essential masterpiece, but without doubt is an excellent addition for any Prog Rock Collection, so 4 stars is my rating.

A mythical four track demo cassette with Autumn Breeze have been circulating in the tape trading circuit for a long time and low-fi copies of it have been widely spread among progressive rock collectors all around the world. Now at last a CD with decent sound quality, that justifies the material have been released directly from the source, topped with another demo with 4 tracks from 1977 which had been shelved and totally unknown until now. Of the four tracks from the "unknown" demo a very long version of "Nummer 646" with Swedish lyrics is the best. It's a grower with its loose atmosphere and Latin rhythms inspired by "Santana" All material from the more "wellknown" demo ended up on the "Höstbris" album, except for "Gammal Man" ironically their best song ever, halfway through, it turns into a hardrock monster in the vein of "Uriah Heep" and the untamed vocals by Leif Forsberg (their second singer on these two demos) have never sounded better. I would say that Autumn Breeze's most exciting material is spread on this CD, a four star rating with a (+).

Peter Wallgren (Okt 2009)

First time I came across the name "Autumn Breeze" was when someone had sprayed the bands name in big white capital letters on a mountain wall which I had to pass every day on the way to school. I had no idea what this was about, until 10 years later then I found a copy of the "Höstbris" LP in a youth centre, which I immediately stole. And as a collector of progressive rock, this was absolutely a nice inclusion to my recordcollection. I would say that this is an important record in many ways, it is probably the last of the interesting Swedish progressive albums of the 70s, it has nerve enough to satisfy both progressive and symphonic rockers, and the famous Scandinavian melancholy is very obvious here. The record is largely keyboard/guitar oriented, everything is laid down very well structured, and the 40 studio hours has been utilized to the max to make a ambitious work of art. The best cuts are title track "Höstbris" And "Um Mani Padme Hum" with its ultra cool mantra that should give every surviving hippie the chills, "U P A" is also an interesting piece but you will find a much better version of it on the "Demos" CD under the name "Gammal Man" I must also mention the beautiful laid back "Våren" which has a lot in common with Hawkwinds classic track "Hall of the mountain grill". In one way "Höstbris" tends to be too much of an instrumental record, it could have benefited from more vocals, and even more hardrocking parts, but on the other hand it is done in a well structured manner and holds together fine as a unit. The record cover was reviewed in the local press as boring or ugly at the time of its release, but I would say it has a certain primitive charm, and asks a lot of questions, the drawing looks unfinished, it appeals to an open mind and you cannot really tell what's going on in this picture!? The original "Höstbris" LP was released in 1000 copies on the Ö Records label. A lot of people seams to think that it was a private release, but Ö Records was actually a real record company, based in Karlstad (Sweden) and responsible for around 20 releases in the late seventies, although Autumn Breeze was the only progressive record on the label, original copies are very hard to obtain today so this CD version is more than welcome.

Peter Wallgren (Okt 2009)