SAVAGE ROSE

The debut of this legendary Danish band is, according to the very brief All Music Guide review, "their lightest and most charming effort. Waltzing melodies give way to thunder-of-doom bass runs (...). With its oddly hollow sound, one is never really sure whether the tone is supposed to be playful or ominous." Yeah, that pretty much sums it up, but I'll try to give a deeper picture. There are eleven songs running a modest 34½ minutes in total. Released in July 1968, one naturally cannot expect notable progness of it, but it has lots of playful inspiration (at times reminiscent of for example WIGWAM's 1969 debut) that makes the posthumous label proto-prog well deserved. If I had to guess which bands had influenced them, I'd put my biggest bet on JEFFERSON AIRPLANE. Beatlesque this isn't per se, unless the term is referring to the musical versatility itself. And despite the dominance of keyboards, this music is in spirit also closer to THE WHO than to Procol Harum.

'Your Sign / My Sign' has a jazzy chanson feel except for the loud sounding chorus with a Jeffersonian psych rock touch. The vocalist Annisette hadn't yet found her truest girlish personality and she probably attempts to sound like Grace Slick and that sort. 'Open Air Shop' rocks hard. Tinkling piano, fierce organ, gritty electric guitar and a hectic rhythm section are supporting a Janis Joplin reminding roughness in Annissette's expression. The song ends with a lengthy and wild drum solo.

'You Be Free' (1:27) is weather-light, playful and, when it comes to the vocals, charmingly sensual. 'Oh Baby Where Have You Gone' is a lively, Who-spirited rock song with plenty of male harmony vocals. The drummer Alex Riel sounds to be the most gifted musician of the group at this point. Listen to his jazzy touch on 'A Girl I Knew' that rivals anything that John Denmore did in the Doors, or his elegant playfulness on 'Everybody Must Know'. This song is a good example of the way the album feels light but simultaneosly also very intense and explosive under the innocent surface.

'Savage Rose' has nice melodies and a flute solo (uncredited). 'Her Story' directs the spotlight to Annissette's powerful and soulful vocal delivery. 'White Swans' Marriage Clothes' is among the lightest tracks. Nice to hear again those male vocal harmonies reminiscent of the Moody Blues around 1967. 'Sleep' is the mellowest song, a relaxed duet of Annissette and the guitarist who elsewhere tends to get buried in the soundscape. 'You'll Be Alright' has orchestral grandiosity and closes the album in a spectacular way.

This is definitely among the best debut albums of the year 1968, but IMHO it's not a five-star masterpiece like the majority of the ratings suggest.