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DallasBryan View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: the Mermen and Grovjobb
    Posted: May 21 2005 at 13:38
anyone familar with The Mermen's Amazing
California Health and Happiness Roadshow or
Grovjobb's Vatternas fest?

These seem to be the ONLY TRULY progressive
rock albums that I have heard around the turn of the
21st century. Has anyone heard them or have
suggestions on other bands that are doing
intelligent music similar to this?
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Manunkind View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 21 2005 at 13:43
Seeing that this is likely to be one of those threads of yours DB, to which only one or two people will respond, I would only like to welcome you to the world where the almost infinitely wide communication channels are all nearly blocked by crap
"In war there is no time to teach or learn Zen. Carry a strong stick. Bash your attackers." - Zen Master Ikkyu Sojun
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wallace View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 21 2005 at 14:25
Grovjobb be greet.
At least twanty 70's Scandi fusion bands ha' th' same groove goin'.


Oy! Yew thare! Man's noo a camel. Fill Wallace ainither whisky!

(Ach, sorray aybit tha'. Ah forgots ah were online!.)
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wallace View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 21 2005 at 20:11
Dalla, wots dis Mermen then?

Juist bin listenin' tae MADE IN SWEDEN.
Georg Wadenius reely cranks it onna electric guitar an' Tommy Borgudd be a veritabool monster onna drums.(Ainy one ken wha orther bands he were in?)

Questioon fer our Swede friends:
Made in Sweden had juist th' fower lps.
Now Wallace 'ears of a lp titl'd "Regenbaslandet".
Is dis Swede fer ain o' th' fower lps - mebbe for "Snakes in a hole"??
Or mebbe dis be sum previoosly unreleaser'd live consart?

'ep Wallace oot here!
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DallasBryan View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 22 2005 at 04:41
Made in Sweden is not a prog band, they are not in
the ProgArchives!

Ive only got made in england and heard one other so
Im not sure about their full catalog. they werent all
that interesting to me.

The Mermen is a top California surf guitar band that
went prog and produced this album that is
outstanding and not typical in todays scene. Its quite
worth the listen! I stumbled on it going through the
surf scene.

Its much more progressive than say, the Aqua
Velvets, Laika & the Astronauts, Los Straitjackets or
Man or Astroman.

Guitar.com - "The Amazing California Health and
Happiness Show"
"Jim Thomas has carved out a unique perch in the
guitar world, fronting the most high-profile 'surf rock'
band since the Ventures"... - Buzz Morison

Surfing Magazine - Dec 2000 - "The Amazing
California Health and Happiness Show"
"I may be sticking my neck out here, but this is the
best 'surf' record I've ever heard"... - Tim D.

Phil Dirt - KFJC Radio - "The Amazing California
Health and Happiness Show"
Well well well! Set any fears you might have about
the new Mermen lineup aside. This release is pure
Jim Thomas brilliance, melodic, dramatic, and more
adventurous in some ways. - Phil Dirt

San Francisco Sunday Chronicle - "The Amazing
California Health and Happiness Show"
"For the past 10 years, San Francisco's Mermen
have been pursuing the band's singular path of
merging psychedelia and surf music"... - Joel Selvin

muzikman.com - "The Amazing California Health and
Happiness Show"
"This CD is more than anyone could ever expect
from this well known instrumental group. The
Mermen's musical tide comes rolling off the shores
of California to drown you in their special brand of
instrumental mayham."...

San Francisco Examiner - "The Amazing California
Health and Happiness Show"
"Five years in the making, The Mermen have risen
from the depths like Neptune with their latest take on
'surf music', and its a psychedelic doozy."... - Jane
Genahl

Memphis Flyer - "The Amazing California Health and
Happiness Show"
"There's not a single clunker on this CD, not one bad
moment, but I must make special note of two tracks -
the lovely and ethereal 'To Be Naked And French Is
Always Hard' and the LSD-drenched 'Burn', which is
anthemic psychedelia at its best"... - Stephen
Grimstead

jambands.com - "The Amazing California Health and
Happiness Show"
"All the songs on the album are grounded in the
same sort of peaceful, flowing melodies, but the
elements that make up the songs are swapped back
and forth to produce 14 unique tracks on the CD.
Unto The Resplendent is a good pick for the first
track. It presents a several cascading layers of
sound that vary in the degree of their intensity."... -
Chip Schramm

amazon.com - "The Amazing California Health and
Happiness Show"
"It's been decades since Jimi Hendrix advised the
world that they'd "never hear surf music again." But
the Mermen (who take their name from a Hendrix
song) not only prove the venerable guitar god wrong,
but make a compelling musical argument here that if
Hendrix were alive today he might well be sitting in
with them on these moody, musically expansive
tracks."... - Jerry McCulley

sonicnet.com - "The Amazing California Health and
Happiness Show"
"Road Show is by far the most accomplished and
engaging Mermen offering yet, a crowded net of
styles and articulate instrumental situations
presided over by founding songwriter/guitarist Jim
Thomas"... - Dan Bennett

Santa Cruz Sentinel - "The Amazing California Health
and Happiness Show"
"Calling this San Francisco band 'surf rock' is pitifully
inadequate and unjust to thier ambitions."... -
Wallace Baine

audiorevolution.com - "The Amazing California
Health and Happiness Show"
" The musicians in The Mermen are very talented,
and it’s refreshing to hear performers of this caliber
who paint musical pictures without feeling the need
to indulge in endless solos."... - Bryan Dailey

Austin Chronicle
"Jim Thomas is a musical savant. He might not be
good at a lot of things, but the sounds he hears in
his head, and his ability to capture them on tape, are
genius." ... - Raoul Hernandez

sfgate.com
"The gods of the sea haven't made a wave big
enough to wipe out Jim Thomas's axe."... - Derk
Richardson

pollodelmar.com - "The Amazing California Health
and Happiness Show"
"Wow, Jim Thomas drops the really big one."...

Cosmik Debris - "The Amazing California Health and
Happiness Show"
"If you've never happened upon the Mermen before,
they're a instrumental surf outfit specializing in
keeping the genre from becoming bogged down by
its own standards."... - Jason Thornberry



Edited by DallasBryan
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goose View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 10 2005 at 18:39

A bit late, because I only just got round to listening

I really liked the song "Polkahast" by Grovjobb, but right now I'm listening to another one: "Under Solen Lyser Solen" and it's not doing much for me.

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The Rock View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 10 2005 at 21:09
I purchased their cd from record heaven years ago.Nice blend of rock and scandinavian folk(?).Great flute playing.Did they record anything else since then?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 12 2005 at 10:10
I've only listened to one Grovjobb track, I'd be very glad to hear
more. BTW, I think that at least Anekdoten also made excellent
albums in that period...
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