Sea Of Tranquility



The Web Source for Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal & Jazz-Fusion
  Search   in       
Main Menu




Rag I Ryggen: Rag I Ryggen

Wow, where the hell did Record Heaven find this long lost gem? From the Swedish archives comes Rag I Ryggen, who released this lone album back in 1975. The band did a fair amount of touring in their native country before ultimately calling it quits in 1977. While you can say the band was sure enough influenced by Uriah Heep (the high pitched vocals, raging Hammond organ, and blistering guitar work are very Heep like), you can also hear some Deep Purple, Kaipa, as well as Italian prog influences like PFM, Alphataurus, and Il Balletto Di Bronzo in their sound. The dual guitars of Bjorn Nystrom and Jan Aggemyr contain plenty of fuzz, and Christer Sjoborg's keyboard arsenal (Hammond, Moog, Mellotron) delivers plenty of vintage sounds. Vocals on a few tunes are in English, but most are sung in Swedish by vocalist Jonas Warnerbring, who sounds remarkably like David Byron.

Where to start? Well, the intricate instrumental "Spangaforsens brus" allows for the two guitar players to weave complex lines with Sjoborg's organ & synth, while drummer Peter Sandberg lays down some acrobatic rhythms. "You Know It Ain't Easy" is a Heep influenced heavy rocker, right down to the "Gypsy" sounding power chords, and the opening number "Det kan val inte vara farligt" is a great mix of Swedish and Italian styled prog with heavy rock. On "Naked Man" the band really gets into a groove and churns out some crunchy riffs, wah-wah guitars, strutting vocals, and stabbing flute, while "Jan Banan" is a psychedelic heavy rocker with great organ & synth work, as well as dual harmony guitar leads. Sjorborg's Hammond is the star of "Queen of Darkness", a somber and moody number that sees the keyboard player digging deep and doing his best Ken Hensley impression. The closing track "Sanningsserum" is a mind-numbing hard rocker again reminiscent of Uriah Heep, punctuated by powerhouse guitar work, kick ass Hammond, and speedy Moog.

The bonus live cuts are of pretty poor quality, but are included here so you can check out what a powerful live unit Rag I Ryggen were. While the overall sound quality on the entire CD is not great (there's even some dropout in spots, especially on the last few tracks), there's no denying what a find this is. Fans of Uriah Heep, Tyburn Tall, Zarathustra, or the many other Hammond/guitar bands that were around in the 70's should eat this up.


Track Listing
01. Det kan val inte vara farligt (5:43)
02 . You know it ain't easy (7:27)
03 . Spangaforsens brus (5:58)
04. Jan Banan (5:15)
05. Naked man (6:18)
06. Queen of darkness (4:36)
07. Sanningsserum (6:42)
Bonus Tracks
08. Sanningsserum (live)
09. Jan Banan (live)
10. Land Over the Rainbow (live)

Added: November 16th 2005
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Record Heaven
Hits: 7215
Language: english

[ Printer Friendly Page Printer Friendly Page ]
[ Send to a Friend Send to a Friend ]

  

[ Back to the Reviews Index | Post Comment ]



© 2004 Sea Of Tranquility
For information regarding where to send CD promos and advertising, please see our FAQ page.
If you have questions or comments, please Contact Us.
Please see our Policies Page for Site Usage, Privacy, and Copyright Policies.

All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner. The comments are property of their posters, all other content © Sea of Tranquility

SoT is Hosted by SpeedSoft.com