Kaipa (1975)

This 1975 self-titled release by Kaipa deserves way more "limelight" than it actually gets. IMO it's really really good, like top 10 prog albums of the 70s level of good. Se Var Morgon Gry (actually like all the vocal tracks on the album) is just unbelievable. That unexplainable fluidity, those clever as heck chord changes. Delicious. And the icing on this musical cake is Lundin's vocals. Too bad he degraded himself to a backing vocalist (maye due to the aging of the voice i dunno) now. I know some people might have a slight problem with the Swedish lyrics, like, not liking the sound of the language or not being able to understand the meaning. Personally... even though my Swedish is kinda basic and I don't quite get everything here, I don't mind that it's not anglophonic. The music compensates for it anyway.

I found the Kaipa albums good, but there's something missing on them. I first got the first two ones... after a while I finally got SOLO this year, along with Stolt's new Kaipa da Kapo album. Actually, even though I thought SOLO would be the lesser of the first 3 albums, it is the one I enjoyed the most... it sort of sounded more mature or something. Also the Kaipa da Kapo album was very good... the first one since SOLO sung in swedish and to feature Stolt (though it's not really a Kaipa album, but given personell and all I can just as well consider it so).

Among the recent versions of Kaipa, do you consider that Kaipa da Kapo album I mentioned earlier, or have you only checked out the official Kaipa albums? Because... well, I have not heard the newer official Kaipa albums, but I have heard a bit of Flower Kings and it has been... well, OK, but it just seems to lack something. I also have the Transatlantic albums, and even though I liked them better than Flower Kings, only The Whirlwind really blew me away, the other ones seem to be a bit overlong on their songs. However, the Kaipa da Kapo album was really enjoyable for me... I guess sort of similar to Solo in a way. Perhaps that one would be good to check out if you haven't done so yet.