GÄRDET 12.6.1970

Well, i can't be too hard on it.

Psychedelic garage music with political interludes? If you have read my review of "Träd Gräs och Stenar"'s self-titled debut album you might know that i'm not a very big fan of the band. For 1970, it is not very original, The Velvet Underground were doing the very same thing, only better, on their "White Light/White Heat" album in 1968. Actually, that is a pretty good way to describe the music played by Träd, Gräs och Stenar during this period, the sound/noise ratio is very much the same as on "Sister Ray", and the length of the songs were usually about the same. The jam feeling is pretty similar to that album by the velvet underground, but they lacked the originality and pure force that The Velvet Underground had so much of. Plus, the songs presented here, while some of them do change a little during their running time, are very stretched without there being much to will them with.

The sound quality is atrocious as well, and while it is supposed to be a live album, don't expect an experience like Yessongs or Seconds Out, i think that at most, there must have been 15 people clapping for these guys.

This is heavily psychedelic, repetitious, and rather noisy, music, but since there is a time and a place for that as well, i will give it three stars. Plus, there is something charming about the way the band just moans "aaal aaalooong the waaatchtooweeer..." and make it actually sound like they are yawning.

TRAD GRAS OCH STENAR evolved out of the band INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER, in fact all four members here were in that earlier band. These guys carry on the spirit of INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER who were very innovative, in fact i'd call them trail-blazers. They had a psycedelic style with lots of jamming. This particular album is posthumously released and is a live record from the very first Garten Festival held in June of 1970. This was the first so called alternative or underground music festival of it's kind held in Sweden and TRAD GRAS OCH STENAR were a big part of getting it organized which took over a year. All the bands that performed here were outside of the commercial music industry and they all played for free and helped in every way they could. The government back then was conservative and there were so many road-blocks in getting this approved that they finally decided to do it illegally. They advertised it heavily hoping that if many people showed up the police would let them carry on. Well even in setting things up the police were frequent visitors and many arguments resulted but in the end the concert went ahead in the pouring rain. The owners of the field decided to let the concert go ahead and the police were instructed to keep the hippies on the field and when it was over those involved with the concert were procecuted. TRAD GRAS OCH STENAR had the honour of performing first. This was all recorded by a man who was a friend of the band seated near the front of the stage. He used a tape recorder with a microphone. This was before the band had released any albums so this really is their first recording.

"Frihetsdans I D-Moll" is pretty much the band jamming repetively over and over. "Tegenborgsvalsen" is more of the same only the jam is much shorter. "Lifeforce #3" builds very slowly. Drums to the fore as it ends. "All Along The Watchtower" is a Bob Dylan track made famous by Hendrix. It took me quite a while to even know this was that song. Lazy guitar and vocals help out. "In Kommer Gosta" kicks in with vocals before a minute. Catchy stuff. "Satisfaction" is another cover this time of THE ROLLING STONES hit. It's okay.

Well it's in part because of the sound quality, although it's not bad. Maybe it's because it's live or maybe it's the material but this doesn't come close to being as good as INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER's debut. A good album though and maybe more important because of it's historical significance on Progressive music in Sweden.