Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography

SAFT

Crossover Prog • Norway


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Saft picture
Saft biography
SAFT (meaning squash, as in the concentrated liquid made from fruit juice and sugar, which is diluted to make a drink, in Norwegian) is a progressive rock band from Bergen, Norway, with their most active period in the early 70's. They were one of the first Norwegian rock bands to sing in Norwegian Nynorsk (which is based on rural, spoken Norwegian, and is one of four official languages in Norway). The core of the band is the two brothers THUE, Ove and Trygve, who are the only members to be part of both of the band's incarnations, both of which set benchmarks in Norwegian rock.

Initially the band's music was rooted in typical early 70's heavy prog and pop rock. It was with the original line-up the band first gained national popularity, by winning European Pop Jury (Norway's first victory in the competition) in 1971 with "People in Motion", the band's biggest hit. After disbantion and subsequent comeback, with major line-up changes, following their sophomore album, their style shifted, moving more towards folk and country rock, but once again they caught the public's attention, this time with a groundbreaking mix of rock and Hardanger fiddle.

The band was formed in the winter of '69-'70 by members of two well-established bands in the Bergen area; Ove THUE (lead vocals and acoustic guitar), Trygve THUE (guitars, piano, flute and vocals) and Tom Harry HALVORSEN (keyboards and vocals) had played together in NEITHER NOR; Magne LUNDE (drums) and Rolf SKOGSTRAND (bass guitar and vocals) in HUMAN BEINGS.

One of the band's first assignements was to play, both as musicians and actors, in the hippie musical "Hair" ("Hår" in Norwegian) at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen in the fall of 1970 (a recording of the performance was released on LP by Polydor just before Christmas that year), which worked as an effective warm-up for albums and live shows to come, as the band members got acquainted and gelled. At about the same time as playing in the musical, SAFT also recorded a demo tape of self-composed material, which secured them a record deal with Polydor.

The band released its self-titled debut LP in 1971. The album was a good mix of progressive rock, Norwegian folk songs, pop and hard rock. All of the tracks were sung in English, except for "Fjøsvise", which was sung in, not only Norwegian, which was basically unheard of in a serious rock context up to that time, but in Norwegian Nynorsk, which was something completely new.

The album's ce...
read more

SAFT Videos (YouTube and more)


Showing only random 3 | Search and add more videos to SAFT

Buy SAFT Music


SAFT discography


Ordered by release date | Showing ratings (top albums) | Help Progarchives.com to complete the discography and add albums

SAFT top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

2.75 | 4 ratings
Saft
1971
3.50 | 4 ratings
Horn
1971
0.00 | 0 ratings
Stev, Sull, Rock & Rull
1973

SAFT Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

SAFT Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

SAFT Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

0.00 | 0 ratings
The Best Of Saft
1974
0.00 | 0 ratings
1971-1996
1996

SAFT Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

0.00 | 0 ratings
All The Time / Min
1971
4.00 | 1 ratings
People In Motion / Albertine Hall
1971
0.00 | 0 ratings
Can You Feel It? / Working Man
1972
0.00 | 0 ratings
Saft / Osa: Halling Etter Ola Mosafinn / Trepak / Texas-Låt
1973

SAFT Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
Thanks to The Bearded Bard for the artist addition.

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.