The First Album (unreleased)
The first (unreleased) SWEGAS album was recorded late 1969 or early 1970. The handwritten list on the tape box lists the recorded tracks.
(The surviving recordings are of mixed quality but interesting. The other cover tracks recorded on the sleeve box seem to have disappeared)
The PERSONNEL were:
Alan Smith (Alto Sax/Piano), Nick Thomas ? (Tenor Sax), John Legg (Baritone Sax), Joe Spibey (Trumpet/Vocals)
Chris Dawe (Trumpet), Nick Ronai (Trombone/composer), Keith Strachan (Organ/Vocals),
Jonny Toogood (Guitar), Roy Truman (Bass Guitar), Chrys Chrysostomou (Drums)
Planetarium - Nick Ronai
There's Nothing In It - Nick Ronai
What Yer Gonna Do - Keith Strachan (arr Alan Smith)
Old Flames
Over The Points
The Summer Of My Days - Joe & Lesley Spibey
The Naz - Joe Spibey
Keep Out Of Sight
Grey Lust
Child Of Light
The first SWEGAS album released by the Barry Class Record Company (Trend) was Child Of Light. Recorded early 1970 in Tangerine Studios, Kingsland Road, Dalston, N8, this was the only album released in the UK. It demonstrated that Nick Ronai as the principal arranger of the band had a unique voice. As he said later "I didn't know how to do jazz voicing back then - my experience was more classical". And thank God because, above all else, it was Nick's musicality and his arranging style that gave Swegas it's sound. In retrospect it's hardly a perfect performance or recording but this album does go somewhere to show what SWEGAS might have achieved had they the time and funding to hone this quality to perfection. The material was certainly some of their best, and with the exception of the Rare Bird song Beautiful Scarlet, it is all original.
The PERSONNEL on this recording were: Chris Dawe (trumpet), Nick Ronai (trombone),
John Legg (alto sax/bari sax/flute), Ron Shillingford (tenor sax/sop sax/flute)
Keith Strachan (keyboards/vocals), Stewart Wilkinson (guitar/vocals)
Roy Truman (bass guitar), Maurice McElroy (drums)
Beautiful Scarlet - Rare Bird
Planetarium - Nick Ronai
Magic Pipe - Strachan, Ronai, Dawe, Stewart
Photographs - Ronai
Child Of Light - Strachan, Ronai, Dawe, Stewart
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Released just prior to the Child Of Light Album, this was the only single recorded by the band. The A side was What'Ya Gonna Do written by Keith and on the B side There Is Nothing In It written by Nick PERSONNEL - same as Child Of Light above. |
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There was a German release of the the single What'Ya Gonna Do in 1970 with Drive My Car by the Beatles on the B side. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy. Gian Paolo, a visitor to the website alerted me to a copy for sale on eBay but I missed it.
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Beyond The Ox
Beyond The Ox was the second SWEGAS album and again shows that Nick, with tracks like Into The Ox and Said But Never Heard, to his credit as a writer and arranger, was guiding the band in the right direction. John Macnicol's playing is a wecome addition to the band's sound and Billy Hogan's tight drumming has knitted the band together in a manner that wasn't quite achieved on Child Of Light.
The PERSONNEL are: John Macnicol (trumpet), Nick Ronai (trombone)
John Legg (alto sax/bari sax/flute), Ron Shillingford (tenor sax/sop sax/flute)
Keith Strachan (keyboards/vocals), Stewart Wilkinson (guitar/vocals)
Roy Truman (bass guitar), Billy Hogan (drums)
Into The Ox - Ronai (unedited version)
Said But Never Heard- Ronai, Stewart
Pollution - Strachan, Ronai, Stewart
1776 Fantasia - Swegas, Stewart
Cold Unfriendly Way - Ronai, Stewart
Gravedigger - Ronai, Stewart (trad)
Beyond The Ox - Strachan, Stewart
Oxtail - Ronai
Live At Gunzburg
Günzburg is in the Swabian district of Bavaria, Germany.
It's sits near autobahn 8 about halfway between Stuttgart and Munich.
It lies where the river Gunz enters the Danube, and has a population of about 19,800.
In retrospect SWEGAS's concert in Gunzburg was perhaps their finest hour. They had played a number of open air concerts, notably at Lake Constance and Reutlingen and the Bavarian audience had warmed to their somewhat avante garde approach. (At around ths time Kraftwerk were supporting SWEGAS which tells us something)
In Gunzburg SWEGAS played to a loyal audience of about 8,000 and that audience truly had a great time. It is of good fortune that someone took a bootleg recording of the event. The guy in question, Heinz Strobel, kindly sent a copy of the recording to Bernd Cronemeyer the roadie of the band and all of SWEGAS have had a copy thereafter. It was only recorded on cassette so the sound quality is far from perfect but we are nevertheless fortunate that this concert was recorded because it demonstrates just how far SWEGAS have come since recording the studio albums. The results are now safely digitilised and will soon be available to all. Despite the poor sound quality this live recording features SWEGAS at its finest.
The personnel were as the Beyond The Ox album
Later releases of Swegas songs
At least two Swegas tracks have appeared since. PHOTOGRAPHS appears on a jazz compilation album called Jazz Toys (available on itunes) and WHAT'YA GONNA DO appears on an American release called Blow Your Cool
Jazz Toys - Various Artists (Perfect Toy Records)
It must be more and more difficult to come up with rare and original selections for compilations, so the pressure is on for head of Perfect Toy Records: Marcus Hacker to deliver the goods. Marcus was involved with compiling the excellent Spinning Wheel and Pop Boutique compilations, so he has set his standards high. Here we have a great selection of jazz tracks that will blow any dancefloor apart covering from the 1970’s through to 2005. My favourites include: The Earthquakers "Soul Samba", “Photograph” by Swegas, Orchester Heinz Kiessling’s “Drift” and of course the 2005 anthem "Carrousel" by Hipnosis. Marcus has done himself proud.
Simon Harrison, 10/05
Perfect Toy draw together a collection of European soul, jazz and fusion rarities from the past. Check Kaatee Frits Quartet's take on Herbie Hancock's 'Chameleon', the jazz-funk of Idili Tsaliki's 'I Mimi' from Greece, 'End Of The Beginning Of The End' by Catch Up II, a charming fusion outing and the Latin flavoured 'Salsamba' from Chet Baker & The Boto Brasilian Quartet. Not to be overlooked though is 'The Pawn' by Heikki Sarmanto Big Band, reminiscent of the recent reissue of Jazz Orkestra RTB on Cosmic Sounds, and Swegas' 'Photographs' which is currently gaining a lot of attention. Rightly so too, as it's a great up-tempo jazz/pop/folk track with an air of early Chicago (the band) about it.
Blow Your Cool - USA October 2007
Album Review
The Psychic Circle label makes another entry into the uncrowded field of reissues of British and European rarities from the early progressive rock era with Blow Your Cool, which collects twenty 1969-1974 tracks that have never before appeared on compilations. We are talking rare and obscure here; when the most well known bands on a comp are the Rattles, Mogul Thrash, Dream Police, and Egg (though a stray item by blue-eyed soul hitmakers the Foundations finds its way on as well), it's material not apt to even be in the collection of the prog rock specialist. Despite its noble intentions and fine annotation, however, it might not so much convince listeners that the genre is a repository of buried treasures as it will reinforce notions that the genre itself wasn't so illustrious to begin with. The trademarks of early prog (and late psychedelia bleeding into prog) are all here, in diverse colors: complex riffs and tempo turnarounds, earnest vocals that can verge on the ostentatious, lyrics with a cosmic tinge, occasional hints of blues and boogie, and heavy (and at times lumpy) guitar-organ blends. Good melodies and songs aren't too plentiful, however, and there's an ominous mood to much of the material that can verge on the dirge. Some notable names to go on to bigger and better things pop up here and there, like future Average White Band singer/guitarist Hamish Stuart (in the Dream Police's "Much Too Much," which is much too derivative of the Jeff Beck Group's version of "Shapes of Things"); Atomic Rooster drummer Ric Parnell (in the Italian group the Tritons); John Wetton (in Mogul Thrash); and early Procol Harum member Bobby Harrison (in Freedom). Some of the more interesting cuts tend to be those that veer away from stereotypical prog rock, like Ferris Wheel's "Can't Stop Now," with its flute and sweet, airy female vocals; Paul Ryder & Time Machine's "If You Ever Get to Heaven," which is vaguely reminiscent of early T. Rex; Egg's "You Are All Princes," which sounds like Kingdom Come with a less flamboyant vocalist than Arthur Brown; and Swegas' "What 'Ya Gonna Do," a very spot-on British imitation of Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago's horn-rock. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
Fans of the Saloman Psychic Circle series (say that four times fast!) should note that, to my ear, most of these tracks fall into the hard rock vein, with only the occasional keyboard flurry tilting them in the prog direction. Even Paul Ryder & Time Machine’s ‘If You Ever Get To Heaven,’ one of my favourite tracks in the set, strays far beyond the progressive remit that one would expect from the collection’s subtitle. Saloman himself describes it accurately as “a perfect blend of glam rock and psychedelia” and the tune has also been likened to “T. Rex jamming with Syd Barrett.” I can definitely hear this tucked away on a Bolan B-side, but “progressive”…? That might be stretching things a wee bit. And Swegas’ ‘What’Ya Gonna Do’ is strictly for fans of horn bands, as Saloman again admits “their sound was a sort of English Blood, Sweat & Tears meets Chicago.” What they’re doing on a “prog” comp is a question you may find yourself asking too often while listening to this set.
Blow Your Cool - Various Artists (Psychic Circle)
See what Votel’s started? Billed as ‘20 prog/psyche assaults from the UK & Europe’ Blow Your Cool treads similar ground to One Nation….with full tracks of varying quality, or as the sleeve notes put it; ‘20 swift excursions into that amorphous hybrid of prog and psych, so loved by today’s cognoscenti.’ Now the whole prog/psyche seem has been pretty much well mined buy now, so the vaguely defined boundaries are being stretched a tad here. Just as some of these mixes border on rare groove and jazz, so this a good deal of Blow Your Cool could be classed as proto-metal. However, in amongst some of the dross are gems such as Mogul Thrash’s brassy ’Sleeping In The Kitchen’ The Rattles satanic ’Devil’s On The Loose’ and Swegas’s Chicagoesque stormer ’What Ya Gonna Do.’