Here's yet another (one in a series of a million) post-mid-sixties/pre-late-seventies garage band obscurity which I've never heard nor heard about before, a Swedish offering from '70 that was sent me by an anonymous donor (who wishes to remain so lest he be ostracized from the rabid ranks of anti-Stiglianoism!) wondering what someone wit' dem oh so impeccable tastes such as I would think of this pretty much unknown within or outside the borders Eurospew. And talk about being in the dark, for other'n a pack of pithy information in the mudder tongue very little in the way of fact or fiction regarding these Gudibrallan people is known to those in the English-screaming world other'n that they were a buncha rabble rousers who were in total sympatico with the lumpen proletariat o'er there which, come to think of it, ain't nothing new for a continent that spent a good portion of the late-sixties and early-seventies dishing out loads of proto-punk wonders the likes of Ton Steine Scherben and Umela Hmota kinda doing for the Olde Worlde landscape what the Stooges and David Peel did Stateside. And believe-you-me, such "credentials" still make a trash-aesthetic mongerer like me sit up and take notice like a pup begging at the table, for gunch-suburbanisms sure come off sweller when transpiring in the trashy abcesses of past glories rather'n in the sterile whole grain natural goodness of today!
So you're expecting anudder European (sung in an alien tongue) rehash of Amerigan trash arsethetics galore here, right? Well...yeah, and these Gudibrallanites do the whole translation yob pretty good. In fact, it's amazing that this disque came out in '70 cuz for the most part this entire affair is a blatant ripoff of the whole Yardbirds/Pretty Things rave scene done at a time when the prevaling winds were certainly a whole slew more progressive than this, especially in the "cultured" refines of the mainland. And when I say "blatant" boy do I mean it, for almost all of UTI VAR HAGE (title loosely translated from Old Swedish to mean "this one certainly tips the Bo Hansson scales, dontcha think Sven?") is nothing but "I'm a Man"/"Parchment Farm"/"Roadrunner" etc. ripoffs with tuneage slightly altered in spots perhaps to avoid lawsuits though at this point in time I don't think anyone really cared. Heck, even the all-time late-sixties standard "Hey Joe" done Hendrix-style gets the rehash here, though at least I gotta credit Gudibrallan for not sexing it up like fellow Scandies Mod (or was it Mad) Sound did when they recorded that scandalous classic "To Masturbate" a few years earlier.
The only thing that dates this obscuro to '70 are some of the more comedic elements of the vocalese which, in typical post-Zappa fashion, has that same old weird falsetto with a thick Euro appeal to it that can also be found on the likes of various Amon Duul II and DG-307 recordings. Must be some European in-joke a wanky yankee like myself misses out on, and if any of you overseas readers would wish to enlighten me as to what the joke is, feel free to do so. And while I'm at it, I should add that the spoken-word Swedish voice-overs will limit the appeal, but if you could sit through a Guru Guru album and absorb the furrinness of that you'll be able to enjoy UTI VAR HAGE with addled ease.
In all, it's a gas (to be total late-sixties groove-mode about it) and I gotta commend Gudibrallan for keeping the mid-sixties alive at a time when sappy orchestrated rock was seeping all over the place like caramel on a sundae. Really, the only record I could compare this one to would be the infamous Hot Poop disc and I never did hear that one even though some guy was literally begging me to buy the thing offa him some twenny years back! But I guess that if I did hear that one (and I think I have a good idea of what it does sound like after reading about twennysome years of reviews!) I probably would compare it to Gudibrallan at least in some half-there strange way that would justify this review of mine.
But really, you can find out for yourself. Y'see, the Silence label is back in business and has been releasing their back catalog on disque for a few years so not only is UTI VAR HAGE available for more'n a few Euromaniacs out there, but so is their followup (and on the same disc!) which even I might snatch up given the right impetus (and the right amount of money). Anyway, if you somehow have been entranced by this review and wish to taste the primitive pounce of Gudibrallan why not mosey on over to Forced Exposure and check them out right here! Who knows, you may be satisfied!
I think you pretty much nailed it on this one. I was actually thinking about Umela Hmota when I most recently played Uti Var Hage - the slow dirgey garage band with saxaphone that is also pretty rockin' in a total underground way! Other thought was that "Syster Lysa" is yet another great Velvets inspired track though maybe some of your Swedish readers will clarify if it is possible they even had heard them. Up there with Roadrunner, Illegal Bodies and Everything Near Me on the pre-75 VU meter. Methinks Lester Bangs would have gone ga-ga over Gudibrallan instead of Savage Rose save for Savage Rose had Anisette (whose politics were/are INHO as loathsome as Patti Smith's) and Gudibrallan had dudes in dresses.
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