| home | about bosse norgren | original music | gear | links | contact | PB-50 mod | 50 years later |

Original music


First, this page only was supposed to contain music written by myself. But with his permission, I've also posted music written by Peter Genstrand, my old friend who lives on Gotland. We sit in our basements and record music that we share via DropBox. A method that we highly recommend!

Recently, I also learned from STIM, the Swedish Composers' International Music Bureau, that it's okay to publish covers of other people's music, as long as you give them credit for their music/lyrics and don't alter the arrangement, lyrics or title. So here we go... I just added a few songs by other people below.

You'll find the latest update at the top of the page. I you scroll down, you'll find the older stuff. Well, the exception is the section at the top, containing a growing number of versions of my tune 'Svensk sås'. And just below these different example of a Swedish Salsa song (yes, I know it's an oxymoron...), the entire live performance we did with Monica Törnell's New Band on the 30th of November 1977. We had been playing as a band for something like six months and playing in the big Studio Four in the Swedish National Radio Building was sort of... overwhelming. Okay, scroll down and enjoy!

Svensk sås

In April 2020, I realized I had to gather all the versions of this song in a section of its own. I've tried to sort them in chronological order, beginning with the original:


Svensk sås 1978

Written in 1977 and recorded in 1978



Music by Bosse

Well, this is the original version with myself on keyboards, Monica Törnell, voices, Jörgen Johansson on drums and percussion, Per Johansson, bass (including a rather wild solo with tapping on the strings with a bow...) and btw, they're not related. Then there's the late, great Björn J:son Lindh on flutes and the equally late, great Lasse Ekholm on guitar.

I wrote this in 1977 and we used to play it as one of the two or three instrumental numbers before Monica entered the stage. After a while, she started to join in with wordless singing. When we came to the point of recording the album 'Jag är som jag är', I was rather flattered when she wanted the song on the album. So this is what we recorded. Live in the studio, of course. One curiosity: We recorded in the Metronome Studio in Stockholm (and it's still there, under the name Atlantis). I found an ARP 2600, the same 'phone switchboard' synth that Josef Zawinul used (he actually had two of them on stage, named 'Eins' and 'Zwei'). I fiddled a little with it and used it on the recording. J:son commented: "What the f***? I spent hours with that one and couldn't get a decent sound out of it. And you just did it in, like ten minutes..."

Even more fun is that Todd Terje, who made a cover of the song in 2014 (see below), uses a 2600. The circle has turned a full 360...

The years went by and some royalties flowed into my account. The amount diminished from a small but steady stream to a trickle. The last few years, whatever royalties I received, came from Norway. Norway? I couldn't figure out why, but all enigmas have a solution. So did this one...


Svensk sås Todd Terje studio version

Recorded in 2014

Recorded by Terje 'Todd Terje' Olsen

In the summer of 2014, I received an e-mail from Terje Olsen, a Norwegian AKA Todd Terje. Given my age, I had never heard of him... Todd told me he had used 'Svensk sås' over the years, when working as a DJ. Ah, that explained the Norwegian royalties. He then told me he had recorded a cover of the song on his first full-length album, 'It's album time'. It's fast, much faster than our original version, but performed with skill and a lot of humor.

The reason Todd e-mailed me was that he was planning to release 'Svensk sås' on a 12" vinyl single, and wanted to have our old version on the B-side. He wondered if we knew where the old master tapes were, if they indeed existed.

All this of course was great news. And when I told my grown-up kids, it turned out they had danced to Todd's version of 'Svensk sås' in clubs. He was a bit more well-known than I had guessed. When I finally received a link to a YouTube clip from Todd, I realized how big he is. The clip was recorded at something called 'Øya-festivalen' in Norway (see below).

However, it doesn't stop there...


Villa

Recorded in 2014

Music and lyrics by Niykee Heaton and Bosse. From the album 'Bad intentions'.

A few weeks after Todd Terje's e-mail, I received another one, this from some strange e-mail address in the USA. I thought it was spam and deleted it. Two or three more e-mails arrived from the same address. I deleted them as well. But when the fourth one landed, I noticed that Todd was also on the send list. So I opened it, and holy smoke...

It turned out that there's a young American singer named Niykee Heaton. She had recorded songs and posted them on YouTube. Which landed her a contract with Universal Music for an EP. One of the songs on the record was called 'Villa' and is written by Ms Heaton. But when the producer was working on it, he found Todd Terje's version of 'Svensk Sås'. They sampled it and used it in 'Villa'. Or to be more exact, wanted to use it and asked me and Todd if we were willing to let them do so. Todd said no and I said yes.

This meant they could use my song, but not Todd's version of it. So in the end, some musicians had to re-record those parts, making them sound like Todd.

Anyway, I got an MP3 of 'Villa' and timed the parts that are 'Svensk sås'. Almost exactly one third of her song was my song. So I simply said, 'I want one third of the royalties'. And to my surprise, the reply was a simple, 'OK!' You can say much about Americans, but when it comes to immaterial rights, they are heavenly to work with!

In the wake of this, I was contacted by two other US-based companies. One was converting music into mobile phone ring tones. The other was producing a TV series about young African-American girls going to college. To make a long story short, Villa is a phone ring tone and the song can be heard for like 15 seconds in an episode of the TV series 'Sorority Girls'.

All this, both the Norwegian and the US tracks, makes me feel like Rodriguez, the artist whose life is portrayed in the movie 'Searching for Sugarman'...


Svensk sås Todd Terje live version

Recorded at the Øya Festival on August 9, 2014

Todd and his band play my almost forty-year-old song live for 15.000 people. Kids, the age of my own two oldest, dancing like crazy...


Svensk sås 2014

Written in 1978 and recorded in March 2016



Music by Bosse

Thanks to Todd Terje for the inspiration! I haven't spent this much time in my studio for a long time and this new version of the old song is only the beginning. Also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqn278TDyro.


Svensk sås a capella version by RYSS

Recorded in 2016

Recorded by RYSS

I can't find any information about this kid, except I believe he's also Norwegian. I base that assumption on the fact that a guy by the name of Evind Bjørsvik is credited for the camera work. And that definitely is a Norwegian name.

An ingenious a capella version of Todd Terjes version...


Svensk sås played by Gjallarhorn Musikkorps

Recorded in November 2017

The arrangement for brass band was made by Espen Westbye. The recording was provided by Gjallarhorn Musikkorps and I 'borrowed' the picture from www.gjallarhorn.no.

On April 27 2017, I received an email from Espen Westbye, who asked if he had my permission to arrange 'Svensk sås' for brass band. He told me the band was going to play at Siddis Brass, a brass band festival held in Stavanger, Norway, the first weekend of November every year. Siddis Brass is Norway's biggest brass band event. In 2017, 58 brass bands with a total of almost 2.000 musicians participated. The audience was over 1.000 people and the entire event was sent by Norwegian TV.

I sort of forgot all about this until April 29 2020 when I was searching the Internet for new versions of my song. I contacted Gjallarhorn and got their permission to use their version of my song here. They also provided me with an mp3 file.

I can only say it's absolutely wonderful to listen to other people's versions of music that I have written. And Espen Westbye's arrangement is nothing but brilliant! I'm impressed by the percussionist who plays xylophone (I think) in the intro. It's not exactly slow... and the alternate harmonies at the end of the song... wow! Thanks, Espen and Gjallarhorn!

(By the way: 'Gjallarhorn' was the name of the horn that the Viking god Heimdal used to wake the other gods if someone from the human world tried to pass over the bridge to the world of the gods.)


Svensk sås a capella version by Alberto Billone

Recorded in 2018

A short version that seems inspired by RYSS's version above. This artist is Italian, judging from his Facebook Page. At the end of the song, a caption appears, saying, 'Todd rulez'. I took the liberty of informing Signore Billone that indeed, Tood rules, but that I'm actually the composer of the original tune. :-)

Svensk sås 2018 sax mix

Written in 1978 and recorded in July 2018



Music by Bosse

No matter how thankful I am that Todd Terje recorded 'Svensk sås' in 2014, he has proved to be quite reluctant to allow for his version of the song to be used by anyone else. Two examples:

Niykee Heaton wrote a song called 'Villa' (read more about it above) and her producer found Todd Terje's version of my song and wanted to use it. He said no so the producer had to hire some musicians to record that part of 'Villa' to make it sound like Todd.

During the summer of 2018, I was contacted by an advertising agency in Argentina. They were making a TV commercial for the largest brewery in Chile and wanted to use Todd Terje's version of 'Svensk sås'. Once again, I said yes and he said no. I told the agency I could make a recording of the song in the same tempo and somewhat in the same style as Todd's version. But when I was finished, the brewery had chosen another song.

Conclusion: If I'd been prepared and had already had a faster version of 'Svensk sås', I might have landed the contract with the Chilean brewery. And without mentioning any figures, they offered a lot more than a crate of Becker's Bier...

Well, next time when someone reaches out and wants to use 'Svensk sås' in a context that I can accept, now I'm prepared!

This version is recorded almost in its entirety, using instrument plugings from Logic Pro X. The exception is my vocal parts in the beginning and end of the song. This forced me to learn how to alter the tempo of analog sounds without altering the pitch.

Disclaimer: Just to be clear, I don't have any issues with Todd Terje regarding his reluctance to let anyone else use his recordings. I'll just have to live with that like he has to live with the fact that I've recorded my song in a much faster tempo. That's just two examples of artistical freedom for you...

Svensk sås 2018 beatbox mix

Written in 1976 and recorded in July 2018



Music by Bosse

This version is the one I first sent to the advertising agency in Argentina. They found it a little 'too beat-box-ish', but after confiding in my dear colleagues in the UN Band, I decided to post it here. We all think it's more fun to listen to. That, of course, is a matter of opinion but still, you now can choose between the two versions!

Monica Törnell's New Band, Tonkraft 1977-11-30

Live performance in Swedish Radio Studio Four, recorded by me a few days later from the radio

Interview
Och ängeln föddes / An angel died (Bosse Norgren/Per Johansson and Bobbie Gentry)
Jag är som jag är (Jaques Prevert/Bosse Norgren)
Månen (Bo Carlgren/Kit Sundqvist)
Blixtmöte på en måndag (Per Johansson)
Kavaljersvisa från Värmland (Lille Bror Söderlundh)
Lotus och Casanova (Monica Törnell)
Avstånd till min käraste (Bernt Staf)
Necessarily not (Monica Törnell/Steve Frankevich)
Magical fountain (John 'Rabbit' Bundrick)
Into the mystic (Van Morrison)
Outro

In the spring of 1977, I started to play with the Swedish singer Monica Törnell.
I had played with the rest of the band, guitarist Lasse 'Ekis' Ekholm, bass player Per Johansson and drummer Jörgen Johansson (no relation...), before in the prog jazz rock band Östan Sol Västan Måne (East of Sun West of Moon). Some six months later, we were invited to do this gig. Tonkraft was the legendary venue for live radio gigs in Sweden back then. And I for one (I guess that goes for the rest of the band as well) had not really grasped the magnitude of playing there. At one point, Monica says that, 'we are whispering about what song to play next'. Probably, it was good that we didn't understand that we were live and on air. :-) Nevertheless, this concert is one of the achievements in my life that I'm most proud of. Top of the bucket list...

This concert has been released as one of the CD:s in the CD box 'Progglådan', the Prog Box. And as Monica pointed out recently, 'we must have been pretty damned good, since we're the only band that has been given our own CD in the entire Prog Box!' The people researching and releasing the Prog Box did a great job. But in our case, they made one mistake. In the Box, it says that we played Tonkraft on 781130 instead of 771130. I recorded the concert from the radio some days after our performance and wrote on the cassette cover: 'Törnell Tonkraft 771130'. Other evidence: At the end of the concert, the announcer says it's a re-run from the live recording last Wednesday. 771130 was a Wednesday. 781130 was not. And in the interview in the beginning, Monica says that we had been playing since April or May. Which was when we began in 1977.

I'm not quite sure what bass and drum equipment Per and Jörgen used, but I'm 100% sure that Lasse used his beloved Gibson 335 semi-acoustic guitar and his Fender Twin reverb amp. I only saw him with that rig during the years we played... the guitar was sort of brown-ish and the amp had a feature that a friend of his built: If you pulled the 'Volume' pot out, you suddenly had a master volume pot. Which is how he got this totally freaked out, distorted sound that is normally not possible using a Twin amp. It's supposed to be clean-sounding. I know they call Larry Carlton Mr 335, but the nickname could just as easily have been used for Lasse!

I also know what I used. This was one year before I bought my Rhodes Suitcase piano in the USA. So what you hear is an ordinary Rhodes Stage 73 piano, a Hohner Clavinet D6 and a MiniMoog. The abominable but still wonderful one that I bought in 1975. The one that went out of tune every other minute, which you can hear happening in one of the solos. On the more rocky songs, I ran it through a very small, battery operated PigNose amp that was on full blast to get the distorted sound. And of course, I used one of the National Radio grand pianos.

The songs then...

Och ängeln föddes/An angel died
In concerts, we often started off with a couple or three instrumental songs before Monica came on stage. Imagine the artistic freedom we had... well, when she entered the stage, she often sang the Bobbie Gentry song 'An angel was born' as the first number. I came up with the idea that we should have a fast, instrumental number that would lead into the soft Gentry number. This was the result. I wrote the main part of the number and Per did the intro/outro. In 'An angel died', me and Lasse really get our freedom of expression!

Jag är som jag är
The original, 'Je suis comme je suis', was written by the French artist Jaques Prévert. It was recorded by Juliette Greco among others. A real 'chanson'. When we had been playing for a while with New Band and the recording of our first album was coming up, Monica gave me the task of writing new music for that old song. I did as I usually do, even when playing covers of old songs, I didn't listen to the original. I can honestly say that I had never heard Ms Greco's version until today, the 28th of June 2020. It's quite... different from my version. So way back when in 1977, I wrote the music... no, I didn't write anything since I'm totally worthless when it comes to writing notes. I still remember when the band gathered around the piano in my parents' living room and I tried to make them understand what I was all about. But quite soon, we got the song going. And it was the title track of the album! Lasse's jazz guitar solos were sort of his hallmark. What happens at the end, when we fly out in a piano jazz solo, I have no idea when that started. I remember when we recorded the song in the studio and that can very well have been the first time: I suddenly started to wonder, how on earth are we going to end this? So I just played the 'Salt peanuts' riff and the other guys naturally caught up. A perfect way of ending this pandemonium... :-)

Månen
It's very jazzy... this was one of the fantastic things generally about New Band and especially about Monica: You could pretty much play anything on the general chords of the song and meander out into very advanced jazz detours. And when we returned to the proper song after freaking out in our solos and Monica was going to start singing again, she always nailed it! I'd say she's one of the most underrated singers in our time! I wrote somewhere recently that I've played with one of the world's best singers. And that's Monica! Lasse's guitar solo is extremely 'jazz guitar'-ish. My Mini solo is more trying to catch up with Chick Corea. E and Fmaj7.

Blixtmöte på en måndag
Per wrote this song and we sometimes used it as one of our instrumental tracks. I start off with the bass line on the Mini. And Per plays a melody on the bass. Quite typical for 70's jazz rock. And quite wonderful! I play a MiniMoog solo and Lasse plays a guitar solo that was typical for him. I say 'was' because I'm so sorry to tell you that he passed away in 2008. Lasse was one of the greatest guitarists of our time! Period!

Kavaljersvisa från Värmland
Here, you can hear Monica's fantastic presentation of the Swedish folk song heritage. And in the background, Lasse's jazzy guitar. Per plays a fretless bass, I would guess a Precision... or a Jazz Bass? That pretty much covers up the alternatives. Anyway, my solo features the Rhodes with a stereo chorus effect. The song ends somewhat... like we're taken by surprise? My guess is that we had just rehearsed the song and that we thought that Monica was going to start singing again.

Lotus och Casanova
Monica wrote this one and I think most of the arrangement can be credited to Lasse. I deduce that from then typical 'Ekis' chords. And of course, the band throws me out in a fast jazz solo, totally without safety nets... and Monica just sings, even though the song is more of an up-tempo salsa song than the slow, quiet bossa that she had as a foundation in the beginning. I'm pretty pleased with my Beatles paraphrase at the very end... Michelle...

Avstånd till min käraste
Me on the grand and Lasse on a very clean 335. And of course, 'Ekis' chords... sus 13's... but above all... Monica's clean, clear voice! So beautiful! Thanks, Monica!

Necessarily not
Monica: 'We're whispering a little about what we're going to play...' In the background, you can hear me tune the Mini... this is one of my favorite Monica songs. It's very ad lib. It never sounds the same from one time to another. I've played it a lot of times in this band format, but also alone on an acoustic piano in a small pub in the Stockholm Old Town. Just me and Monica. The song becomes what you make it, if you see what I mean. Lasse's guitar playing... wow... it's like I was playing with Pat Martino, which was one of Lasse's favorites. I tried a more funky approach. And again, Monica is right at it when my piano solo is finished.

Magical fountain
In 1975, I was playing in a band called Freja, with Cary Sharaf el Din among others (he was one of the members of Wasa Express). Together with him, I went to London that year. He had an old girl friend that we visited. She worked at the London Playboy Club. You know, with rabbit ears and bunny tail and all that. Not PC and probably very Me Too. Nevertheless, when we came to the apartment where she lived, it turned out she was living together with another Bunny. None other than John 'Rabbit' Bundrick, keyboard player, then with Free and more recently with the Who. Rabbit wrote this song which doesn't much reflect Monica's folk song reputation. Lasse's and my solo chase (four bars each and I don't mean the kind where you can buy booze...) at the end is very typical for this band. We had no idea when we started the song that this was what it would end up as. I told you before that we had been playing for, like six months. And I can tell you, we didn't get any worse at finding each other musically during the following three years... again, after a totally chaotic solo part, Monica just starts singing as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

Into the mystic
Van Morrison, but pure Ekholm arrangement! I think this is one of the best examples of Monica's vocal powers, but even more so, her fantastic timing. Listen to the chorus: Every time I hear her enter the higher register and really give everything, my neck hairs literally rise! 'I don't have to fear it'. I can also note that I shouldn't have sold my Clavinet. It's an underrated instrument. And don't even start talking about Lasse's octave solos...

Rena rama Bullerbyn

A note on the name of the band: Coming up with a name is always hard, so it took a while. I think it was the third time that we jammed, and had just finished a tune that I wrote specially for this constellation, 'The Doctor', the doctor himself, Dr Åke, exclaimed that, 'det här var ju rena rama Bullerbyn'. Which means, 'this was Purely Bullerbyn'. Apart from being a children's book by Astrid Lindgren, 'Alla vi barn i Bullerbyn', Bullerbyn was a music venue in Stockholm in the Seventies. It's sort of a game with words since 'buller' means 'noice'.

Recorded on July 7th 2023



In 1973, I started playing with a band that we called Freja (the Vikings' fertility goddess). The members, apart from myself, were Cary Sharaf El Din on guitar, Björn Netz on sax, Göran Svensson on bass and Björn 'Nalle' Wetterborg on drums. Pretty soon, Nalle was replaced by Åke 'Dr Åke' Eriksson. I can't remember exactly for how long we played, but we had a few gigs in the fantastic music scene that was Stockholm back then.

After a year or so, Cary and Åke started a new band called Klara Express, that later became the quite famous jazz rock band Wasa Express. And as far as I can remember, I never played with Åke again, except maybe the odd jam at their rehearsing place on Klara Kyrkogata 17 (yeah, that's where the title of a Wasa Express song comes from: Number seventeen...).

The years and decades passed. And finally, on July 7th, 2023, I had the wonderful opportunity to play with Åke again. He had gathered three musicians that he of course knows but who didn't know each other: Pär Wedin on guitar, Christer Bjernelind on a beautiful 6-stringed fretless bass and myself on piano and MiniMoog. This is a very good demonstration of something that I've experienced a few times over the years: You meet musicians that you've never met and definitely not played with before. Sometimes you can't even speak to each other because you talk different languages. But music, in this case Jazz Rock, is a common language! Sounds like a cliché, I know, but it's true.

We met at Åke's rehearsing place in Tyresö south-east of Stockholm and right before the first jam started, Åke told us to get in a sort of 'Bitches Brew mood'. Meaning to do what Miles Davis and his band did when they recorded albums like Bitches Brew and Live Evil. They just started to play a groove and took it from there. Enjoy!


Jam #1 part 1, 2, 3, 4

The first jam consists of four parts, where Åke leads us into the different drum grooves. He just started one groove and we joined in, one after the other. 27 minutes of jazz rock, one chord which was some kind of A.

Jam #2 Pär

In number two, Åke told Pär to start and he began playing a chord progression, which turned out a little latin-ish. Also in A. As they say, don't change horses in the middle of the stream...

Jam #3 Bosse Stolen Goods

When it was my turn, I used an oldie called Stolen Goods (also featured below) which has a gospel feeling to it. Christer mentioned influences from the South African pianist  Dollar Brand, later Abdullah Ibrahim, something I've never thought of before and a very fine compliment!

Jam #4 Christer

When it was his turn, Christer chose a bass line in 5/4. A very long time since I played in an odd time signature.

Jam #5 Åke

Åke of course made things even more complicated when he suggested and started to play a 9/8 drum groove.

I wish it could be 1975 all over again


Music by Åke, Pär, Bosse and Christer, song title by Åke

After playing for close to an hour, we had to get some air so we took a break. Åke rigged a camera and the result is our sixth jam which he named 'I wish it could be 1975 all over again'.

As I told a musician friend: "You can't have more fun than this with your clothes on!"


Spered hollvedel (Universal spirit)

Traditional Breton song from the XIVth century, recorded in December 2023



Music by some medieval Celt

I took the picture 2002 in a place called
Trá Lí (Tralee) in the south-west of Ireland. I can almost feel the universal spirit float above the mountain ridge. Otherwise, they're called clouds...

I first heard this song in the mid '70s. An old classmate of mine bought the 'Live in Dublin' album with the Breton musician Alan Stivell. He modernized old Breton and Celtic music that became known as Celtic rock. He's also behind the revival of the Celtic Harp. Not least known as the trademark of Guinness Stout.

Recently, I came to think of the song. I didn't remember either the name of it or the artist, so I asked my old friend. When he told me the artist was Alan Stivell, I started to search through his playlists on Spotify and at last, I found the song. Although I haven't heard it for almost fifty years, I remembered the melody and the chords down to the last note. Strange how memory works sometimes and sometimes not at all...

Recording was a bit tricky since there are two different time signatures and two different tempi. The song consists of sixteen bars. Fifteen of them is in 6/8 time and 55 BPM. The sixteenth and last bar is in 4/4 and 80 BPM. But after consulting the Logic Help, I found the solution.

The song begins with the bass and the Logic Hammond B3 plugin. I've tweaked it by splitting the keyboard to get one upper and one lower manual. Cranked the overdrive up, etcetera. Then the Drummer plugin entered together with me and Peter playing the melody on MiniMoog and guitar. The solos are MiniMoog, guitar and organ. When he sent me the guitar files, Peter wrote, 'well I guess the guitar solo is quite okay?' I told him, 'quite okay? It's damn f**king outstandingly good!'


One and one is one

Written around 1985 and recorded in December 2023



Music and lyrics by Bosse

As far as I can remember, this one is not about any particular girl. The title is of course about the fact that two single persons can become one couple. Or, two bottles of Efes can be poured into the same glass. A traditional, positive rock song with a not-so-traditional bridge!

Instruments used, then: The Logic Drummer plugin, the fantastic Fender Cabronita bas, Logic Hammond B3 and Steinway Grand plugins plus a 'guitar' solo that I played using one of the guitar samples in Logic.


Read between the lines

Written around 1985 and recorded in December 2023



Music and lyrics by Bosse

I wrote this during the era when myself and Urban played together a lot and recorded some of the stuff. We used to tell each other that, 'I wrote a new song' and the answer was always, 'Okay, what's her name?'. We constantly fell in love, much to no avail. Which is very strange. I mean, who wouldn't fall in love with the cat-loving guy in the picture above? :-) Quite a few kilos and years ago. It was taken during my UN service in Cyprus, 1986...

This particular song, I don't even remember who the girl was. Anyway, I think the song came out pretty good. A classic rock ballad!

I kept it rather simple. Just the Drummer plugin, a Steinway piano plugin, some cellos, also from Logic and a sampled Strat that I played via my latest keyboard, a StudioLogic SL73 Studio with weighted keys. And last but not least, the Cabronita bass.


Rosie

Written around 1985 and recorded in December 2023



Music and lyrics by Bosse

This one is a tribute for a girl who attended the Police Academy when I was a student there. I guess I was in love with her as well, but again, nothing happened. The picture was also taken in Cyprus in the summer of 1986. The bass is the original home-built body that I described somewhere below. The neck came from a Fender Musicmaster.

The song is kind of a mixture between funk and bossa. Again, I used the Cabronita bass. Then we have the Drummer plugin, a Rhodes plugin and my sampled Strat, all from Logic.


Mercy, mercy, mercy

Written in the Sixties and recorded in December 2023



Music by Joe Zawinul

Since the tune was written by 'the Emperor', Josef Zawinul, a true master of the keyboards and one of the founders of Weather Report, I just HAD to use this picture, where I play an ARP 2600 synth, more or less Joe's signature synth. I remember a quote from Zawinul, where he said, 'it's not the notes I play that make the groove, it's the notes I don't play'. Well, I don't know if I kept to that axiom, but we tried to keep it down a bit, me and Peter.

Logic Drummer, Logic Rhodes that I tweaked quite a bit, adding tines, dampers and overdrive. Peter did the chord stuff on guitar, from his home. Then there's trombone, alto sax and trumpet. My Fender Cabronita and last, but not least: Peter actually joined me IRL for the guitar solo! He didn't have a proper guitar, so he played on my mini Strat with the help of a glass of red wine. The result is awesome.


Walk tall

Written in the Sixties and recorded in December 2023



Music by Joe Zawinul

Another funky tune by Zawinul, which he originally recorded with Cannonball Adderley. I borrowed the arrangement from the Nils Landgren Funk Unit.

Pretty much the same instrumentation as on Mercy, mercy, mercy. Login Drummer, Rhodes, trombone, alto sax and trumpet. The Cabronita. And Peter on guitars.


First wind

Written around 1987 and recorded in September 2023



Music by Bosse

Somewhere around 1987, I bought a Roland MT-32 synth module. It had a lot of good sounds, among them a Japanese Shakuhachi flute. I started to doodle around on the keyboard and came up with this tune. It was the first time that I had sampled sounds, and I used a definite wind instrument. Hence, First wind!

Here, I used Logic plugins like soprano saxes. And of course, the Drummer and Rhodes plugins plus the Cabronita bass. As usual, Peter plays the guitars.


The cruise

Written around 1986 and recorded in September 2023



Music by Bosse

I had a vehicle like this in mind when I wrote the tune. When I bought the bike, it was a pretty standard Harley-Davidson Springer Softail with a 1340 engine. I made quite a few alterations, the biggest ones were to swap the engine for a 1640 cc RevTech engine with some 100 HP on the rear wheel. Then I changed the gearbox for a six-speed. The rest, you can see. One of the details I'm the most pleased with, is the Halloween pumpkin end-cap on the SuperTrapp muffler. I gained many smiles and thumbs-ups, cruising around. And for you who believe Harleys are unreliable, this one took me all the way to southern Europe a few times without problems!

And speaking of reliability: It's not on fire. The exhaust pipes are wound with heat-proof 'bandages'. Which means that if you travel in rain or wash the bike and then start it, the 'bandages' emit steam.

Well, this is after all a music page... as usual, the Drummer plugin, the Legend '70s piano, MiniMoog melody and solo. A solo on the Fender Cabronita. Peter plays the guitars.


The quart (Kvartsfiguren)

Written in 1976 and recorded in April 2023



Music by Bosse

The Swedish title literally means, 'A figure of quarts', or 'Quarter of a man'. Well, I changed that for Quart in English and in the image you can see a real quart: a Mason jar which I was given by neighbors for taking care of their cats when they were in the USA. And yes, it then contained Moonshine...

The song is a little like 'The harmonica player's nightmare', below. Lots and lots of key changes. And the melody is built of quarts, four-tone intervals. Hence the title.

The Logic Drummer plugin, a Logic organ, MiniMoog and Fender Cabronita bass. Plus Peter's guitars.


Medium grilled tomato ballad 2023

Written in 1979 and recorded in April 2023



Music by Bosse

This is a re-make of the song, that you'll find at the bottom of the page. There, you'll also get an explanation for the strange title. Of course, the tomatoes in the picture are not grilled. They come, though, from my greenhouse.

The instruments are the Drummer plugin, acoustic piano and vibraphone plugins and my fretless four-string with a maple P-bass neck. Guitar playing by Peter.


Ondas de noche 2023

Written in 1978 and recorded in April 2023



Music by Bosse

The title means 'Waves of the night' and I found the image quite fitting. More of a soft swell than waves, though. It was taken from a ferry between Bergen and Newcastle in 1979.

This is also a re-make and you'll find the original at the bottom of the page. I tried to re-create the wind, the waves and the chiming buoy with my MiniMoog and yes, it took its time again. This one is more advanced since I had more channels to play with.

Other than that, the Drummer plugin with some percussion added. Acoustic piano plugin, MiniMoog both in harmonies for the melody and on the solo. Peter plays the guitar.


Healthy

Written and recorded in January 2023



Music by Peter

I'm not sure what Peter means with the title, but I think this picture is the epitome of health! Anyway, the song is beautiful as always when Peter is composing and playing!

As usual when Peter is the composer, he's playing the guitars, the bass and has done the Drummer programming. I play the Logic B3 organ plug-in and a MiniMoog solo with rather long notes.

Toronto's 21 (a tribute to Börje Salming)

Written and recorded in December 2022



Music by Peter

Peter wrote this one when he learned that the Swedish Hockey legend Börje Salming had died in the terrible disease called ALS.

I told Peter that it's certainly one of the best songs he had made. Sort of hymn-ish... I came up with the idea to incorporate the typical Ice Hockey Arena organ and recorded an example. Peter bought the idea and as you can hear, the song both starts and ends with this terrible, irritating way of playing.

Peter plays the guitars, the bass and has also programmed the Drummer plug-in. I play the organs, which are three different varieties of the Logic B3 plug-in.

I will never

Written and recorded in October 2022



Music and lyrics by Bosse

This one has the subtitle 'Love ballad for a woman that doesn't exist'. It's yet an example of something that sometimes happens. A song just pops up in my head. Probably because I had just written and recorded the song below, Soon midnight. If I work with music a lot, the music is constantly in my head.

I play a  native Rhodes plug-in from Logic, my fretless P-bass and of course the Drummer plug-in. I do the singing and there's a calm Rhodes solo. Peter has made some chords/fill stuff which gives the soft song a small touch of rock'n'roll.

Soon midnight

Written and recorded in October 2022



Music and lyrics by Bosse

Well, to be frank, I just sat down and started to 'doodle' on the keyboard. This song came up after a while and as usual, the hardest part is to write the lyrics.

I play Logic native Rhodes and an alto sax solo. My Fender Cabronita and the drummer plug-in. Plus the singing. Peter plays both chords and solos in the beginning and end.

Keep the Focus

Written and recorded in April and October 2022



Music by Bosse

When I and Peter had finished recording Sylvia, I was extremely inspired by that song and Thijs van Leers wild organ playing. So I sat down and wrote this one. Not at all as complicated as Sylvia, but it also changes key a couple of times. Begins in C, changes first to B and then E and returns to C.

I play a couple of native organ sounds in Logic, and one of my sampled guitar sounds via the ROLI Seaboard. I started recording in May and am writing this in October, so I don't clearly remember which bass I played, but I believe it was the Candy Apple Red Fender Cabronita. Then there's the Drummer plug-in set to the upper, right-hand corner: Loud and Complex. The Fills dial set to maximum, full clockwise.

Peter doubles my melody part and recorded it twice. One of them an octave higher. And the solo at the end... totally wild and wonderful!

Sylvia

Written in 1968 and recorded in April 2022



Music by Thijs van Leer

This is one of the most beautiful songs I know! Thijs van Leer originally wrote it in 1968 when he was in a band called Shaffy Chantant. When he presented the song to the singer Sylvia Alberts, she didn't like it at all, so it went in the 'good to have' bin. He recycled the song, renamed it after Ms Alberts and Focus recorded it as an instrumental. It's on their album Focus 3 that was released in 1972.

It's also one of the most difficult songs I've ever tried to play. Most of the song has four chords per bar and there are constant key changes. I started off by practicing in half tempo and after a while, I could raise the BPM rate to 3/4. Finally, I made it through the entire song in the right tempo.

As ususal, it's me and Peter playing. I play the organ parts using the B3 plugin in Logic and my home-built bass and Peter plays the guitars.

Coffee break

Written in 1973 and recorded in January 2022



Music by Bosse

In Sweden, we have a saying that goes something like, 'I can fix it in a coffee break'. Which of course means that whatever you're doing can be done in no time flat. During my Military Service, we had a day room and in it was an old upright piano. One day I sat down at the piano during a coffee break and actually made this song in a few minutes!

In the recording, Peter plays the guitar solo and some very discreet background chords. I worked quite a lot with the Drummer plug-in, which follows the bass, even during the solo. I also play the Viscount Legend '70s piano and a Logic soprano sax via the ROLI Seaboard.

A note on the bass: In 1975, I bought my first bass, a Fender Musicmaster. The neck on this one is the only thing that remains from it. I have no idea where the rest went. In retrospect, I should have kept it. However, the bridge is from a Fender Mustang (I think) and it has a DiMarzio P-bass pickup. I manufactured the body myself from an oven-dried maple plank that I bought at Fanérkompaniet (the Veneer Company). It had a solid oak body before this one, but it was too small, which resulted in the neck sort of wanting to weigh down. The most odd feature is that it has no volume/tone controls. Just an on/off switch and an output jack. This, in combination with the fantastic DiMarzio pickup, is probably why it has the highest output of my seven basses.

Bubbles

Written and recorded in January 2022



Music by Peter

At Christmas 2021, Peter and his wife bought a Jacuzzi. Sitting in the bubbly water with a glass of bubbly Cava, he came up with the name of this song.

As usual, he plays the guitar, in this case his latest purchase, an Ibanez S521 1P-05. Not only beautiful to look at, but also sounds fantastic! He also plays bass and programmed the Drummer plug-in.

For the background, I used the B3 organ in Logic. Since the song is very 'rock-ish', I decided to go for a soft solo sound on the MiniMoog. This is one of my standard sounds, really. Only one oscillator and you can see the register and waveform in the picture above. It sounds a little like a flute, which I accentuate by adding a little white noise to the sound.

Blues for Bob

Written in the mid 70's and recorded in December 2021



Music by Bosse

This is a tribute to the man who made the synth in the picture above. Robert 'Bob' Moog made it possible for musicians like myself to get a synthesizer. Before, they looked like large telephone switchboards and cost a fortune. You connected the different parts with cables. This one, the MiniMoog, is instead hard-wired and you control it via a number of pots and switches. Complicated enough, but compared to the modular synths, easy as pie!

I have an old version of this song, probably recorded in 1975. Long before I bought my first drum machine. I programmed the Mini to sound like a bass drum and a snare drum. On this version, I used the Drummer plug-in from Logic, as usual. Not so long ago, I realized that all the drum kits exist in two versions. One where the mix of the drums and cymbals are fixed. The other one under a separate menu called 'Producer Kits'. Here, you get one channel (or sometimes two) for each part of the kit. So you can change the volume of, say the snare drum. And you even have one channel for the top and one for the bottom head. The same goes for the bass drum. This is the song where I've used the most channels. The first 17 were occupied by the drums. Yeah, seventeen!

Then there's a wonderful, crispy Rhodes sound from my Legend '70s piano, two harmonies on the Mini plus a solo. A bass channel and a bass solo channel. Peter has copied my bass line and doubles it on guitar. He also plays two different guitars on the melody and also plays a solo. I think in the end, I used 34 channels!

Star eyes

Written in the mid 70's and recorded in December 2021



Music by Bosse

This recording is kind of a tribute to the man in the picture above. His name was Staffan Hallgren and he was one of the best jazz flute players in Sweden, if not in the world. I had the privilege to play with him in a band called Pan Combo in the end of the 70's. When I decided to make a re-recording of this song, I found an old, raspy live recording with Pan Combo from April 30th 1979, when we played at Mosebacke. Sadly, he passed away in 2015, way too early.

This version features me and Peter. He plays the guitar solo and I play the rest. Apart from the Logic plug-in Drummer, I play on my Viscount Legend '70s piano, a solo flute sound from Logic and my latest (seventh) bass, a fantastic Fender Cabronita.

Fever

Written and recorded in December 2021



Music by Peter

This is where Peter does his magic. His basement studio on Gotland, the island between Sweden and the Baltic.

Peter plays the guitar, bass and programmed the Drummer. I play the Viscount Legend organ and the MiniMoog. I love the ambience in Peter's guitar solo!

Woodstock

Written in 1969 and recorded in March 2021



Music and lyrics by Joni Mitchell

Well, this is what many of us looked in the '60s and '70s. We played this wonderful song with the band Freja/50 Years Later. In March 2021 I decided that it would be a good idea to make a recording of my own. I invited Peter to play a guitar solo and told him to try to sound like he had smoked weed. I think he did a good job!

I played the Viscount Legend '70s piano, the Legend organ and my HB PB-51 bass. The drums, as usual, is the Logic plug-in Drummer.

Stratish

Written and recorded in December 2020



Music by Bosse

Well, a while ago I decided I wanted to make a tribute song for Billy Cobham generally and for his album Spectrum specifically. And to boil it down even further, for the song Stratus! When I bought my first MiniMoog in 1975, I went straight home, plugged the Mini into the nearest amp and put Spectrum/Stratus on the turntable. And tried to play like Jan Hammer.

Like 45 years later, I still try to sound like him! And now, before you, is my latest song, Stratish! It features myself and my old buddy Peter. I play several instruments: The Logic plug-in Drummer, my HB PB-51 bass, the Legend 70's Rhodes piano, the MiniMoog and a Logic, plug-in clavinet. Plus a likewise, a Logic plug-in guitar. And, not the least: My MiniMoog Reissue!

Peter plays the guitar solo at the end of the song. And boy, does he play it! I haven't heard anything this good from the island of Gotland in a very long time. If ever! Nowadays, we call him Peter Gambale... :-)

Wake me up tomorrow

Recorded live on the 4th of July 2020



Music and lyrics by Peter Sager

The picture was taken a couple of years ago, when we played at my neighbors' Water Festival in the beginning of August. You'll have to excuse my Vladimir Putin imitation...

Since a few years now, I'm a member of one of the best bands I've ever played with. I came up with the idea to call the band 'CrossBreed'. The reason is that the other members of the band come from three other bands that I've been playing with:

Peter Sager on guitar and vocals, is one of the few guitarists I know that can do Jimi Henrix songs and really get away with it. He also wrote this song. His singing and guitar playing is really the best!

Patrik Björk on bass, is one steady rock on his instrument. He reluctantly started to play the bass because everyone else wanted to play the guitar. But I'm very happy he 'bit that bullet'.

Finally, Danny Bernardsson, our drummer. Together with Patrik, he lays the foundation for me and Peter to play our sometimes rather freaked-out solos without ever faltering.

As usual, I have to give you the rig rundown:

Danny used a vintage drum kit, the name of which eludes me right now. He said that they're good, because they're not so loud. Well, I wonder how the loud ones sound... jokes aside, whatever drums he's playing, they sound just as good! I really love the impact of the snare!

Patrik plays a Marcus Miller signature Jazz Bass through a Hartke 500-Watt amp and an Ampeg cabinet. He also uses a wireless interface that played a nasty trick on us on another song this evening. It was raining and kind people had put towels on his amp to protect if from water. But at the same time, they had almost, just almost, pulled out the plug from the rear of the amp. And at the end of the song, the plug fell out, silencing the bass. If you think that the bass is an unnecessary instrument, think again... but again, that happened on another song...

This evening, Peter chose a rather new Gibson Les Paul from his quite extensive guitar collection. He runs it through a couple of pedals and a fantastic amp: The Bluguitar AMP1, which is a 100 Watt micro tube amp that is no bigger than your ordinary guitar effect pedal, and a Bluguitar 1X12 cabinet. The kind of rig that you can bring on the subway.

I used my Physis 73-key piano with a home-built 'Suitcase' cabinet and the MiniMoog. Both through my newest gadget, a Line6 Helix LT guitar processor pedal. The best thing I've yet found to get a good overdrive for the Mini.

Finally, the recording was made with a Zoom H2n recorder. I put it on a microphone stand, rather high, which gives good ambience sound. The recorder has four microphones, which you can configure in several setups. Here, I only used the two front mikes, so I didn't get too much sound from the audience. I have put a 64 GB memory card in it and that gives an incredible 97 hours of recording.

Dance monkey

Recorded in January 2020



Music and lyrics by Toni Watson AKA Tones and I

Dance monkey was one of the most listened-to songs in 2019. It even broke Bing Crosby's White Christmas number one single record from 1943. So of course my son Joel wanted to sing it. And boy, can he sing!

I took the liberty to making a more stripped-down version than the original, using only a handful of instruments. A piano and pizzicato bass in the intro, a Rhodes piano, the PB-50 bass and the Logic Drummer plugin. That's it, folks.

On April 19, 2020, we also recorded some moves on our front porch. Well, Dance monkey it is...

Reggae shark

Recorded in December 2019



Music and lyrics by Mark Douglas AKA The Key of Awesome (unknown who created the Rastafari Shark image)

This song is not entirely politically correct. The text is about a weed-smoking shark and heaven knows how my nine-year-old son Joel found it on YouTube. Never mind, his voice, his English pronunciation, down to the perfect Jamaican dialect ("... you can't smoke a spliff if you live under wata!") and his timing is nothing less than brilliant!

I made the recording by downloading the song from YouTube and imported it into Logic. Joel then sang to that version since he's used to it. I then added the Logic Drummer plugin, my Harley Benton PB-50 bass, a Logic organ and my sampled Stratocaster and a little background singing of my own. And finally removed the track with the original song.

Salsa Claus

Written in December 2019 and recorded in January 2020



Music by Bosse

In December 2019, I decided to write a Christmas song. But as usual, my serious intentions went out with the bath water and it turned out kind of a funky salsa tune instead of something a little more serene. But this actually goes better with my mood at the end of December. I hate the dark and the cold and I suddenly realized what I like best with Christmas (apart from the food and drinks): All the lights!

Instrument-wise, then: The Drummer plugin as usual. Plus my HB PB-50 bass and a Logic Rhodes plugin. On top of that I played my sampled Stratocaster and a tenor sax via the ROLI Seaboard. Peter gave one of his usual, good performances in a guitar solo that runs thru the fadeout. 

Stings like a bee

Written and recorded in January 2020



Music by Bosse

This take some explaining. When my kid was very little, he called himself Bia. Which, with a little imagination, leads up to the conclusion that he is a bee. Him and me began creating a cartoon story about a bee called Bia and a larva called Lizzie. Which is what I called myself when I was little. Don't even ask...

A few days ago, when I was in my car, the bridge of this song just landed in my head. I had been inspired by Bia the Bee and given the fast tempo of the song, I named it 'Stings like a bee'...

The instruments are as follows: The Logic Drummer plugin which I let follow the bass and I think it came out unusually good this time! The bass is my Harley Benton PB-50. The Rhodes is also a Logic plugin. The saxes are Logic EXS24 samples played with the ROLI Seabord and the MiniMoog speaks for itself. Lastly, I tried something new: In Logic, there's a plugin section called 'Studio horns'. So this is actually a seven-piece horn section that configures itself automatically when you play a chord with up to seven notes. You get trumpet, saxes, trombones etc, according to where you put your fingers on the keyboard and they're automatically panned. Ingenious, to say the least! Last but not least, Peter added some funky rhythm guitar in the background. His slightly ironic comment: 'Good that it's such a slow tune...' Well, I'm a bit surprised myself that I actually managed to play the bridge on the bass... 

Castaneta

Written in the mid Seventies and recorded in December 2019



Music by Bosse

This is yet another salsa song. Written in the late seventies and the title is inspired by the Peruvian-American novelist Carlos Castaneda and his novel series about the sorcerer Don Juan. In the original recording of the song, I used a pair of castanets. Thus the pun where I merge the surname Castaneda with the musical instrument castanets. Okay, that about that. In this recording, there are no castanets! But mind you, in the above image, you can see the actual castanets I used, probably bought at a tourist shop in the island of Mallorca. Made of sturdy Olive wood and with cords in not so sturdy Spanish-colored string. Note that I marked them 'H' and 'V', which means Right and Left. Remember, the fingers on our hands differ in thickness on the right and left hands...

Here, we have my Physis piano doing the Rhodes bit. A Locic Cuban Piano plugin and the ROLI Seaboard triggering a Solo Flute. Plus the Physis piano on the solo with some Fender amp plugin creating the beautiful overdrive.

A friend of mine once met Chick Corea in a doorway. He immediately knew what he was going to say and asked the giant, "Excuse me, sir: how did you create your fantastic Rhodes sound in the seventies?" After a moment of afterthought, Mr Corea replied, "Bad amps, man. Bad amps!" 

Hardbop

Written in the mid Seventies and recorded in December 2019



Music by Bosse

Yet another re-recording of an old tune. To quote one of my biggest idols, the late, great Frank Zappa: "Jazz is not dead. It just smells funny..." Or: "This is sort of like jazz, in its own peculiar way..."

From start to finish, it took me a little over two hours to record and mix it. Out of which almost half was spent figuring out the notes in the melody.

Again, it's the ROLI Seaboard talking through the Logic EXS24 sampler. The two instruments are Soprano sax and my own sampling of a Mini Strat. As usual, the Drummer plugin does its job. Although it took me a little while before I figured out how to make it play shuffle. I tried 6/8, 6/4 and 12/8 before I realized that I should use 4/4 with the 'Swing' turned up around half.

Finally, the bass is what you see above: My modified Harley Benton PB-50. The entire bass track is recorded in one take, actually the first. 

Another time (En annan gång)

Written in the mid Seventies and recorded in December 2019



Music by Bosse

A re-recording of a tune that I wrote in the late seventies or early eighties. At that time, I called it En annan gång, which means Another time. Which is a better name, since the song starts in 55 BPM and changes to 70 BPM after the intro. It changes from one to another time...

This is also the first time I use two new instruments. It's the first recording of my Harley Benton PB-50 vintage style Precision bass. Back to basics for real! You can read all about it under the link 'PB-50 mod' above.

The second one is not really an instrument, but a MIDI controller. The ROLI Seaboard Rise 49. Which is a 'keyboard' that requires a whole new way of approaching piano playing. It doesn't have traditional keys, but a rubber surface with something the manufacturer calls 'keywaves'. Underneath the rubbery surface, there is some kind of pressure sensitive gel and playing it feels like playing on a gel-coated bicycle saddle. If you can imagine that feeling...

On a traditional MIDI keyboard, you can express yourself in three dimensions: Attack, aftertouch and pitch bend. Attack = how hard you hit the key. Aftertouch = the amount of pressure you apply after you first hit it. Pitch bend = altering the tone frequency, which often is done with a wheel or a slider.

The ROLI Seaboard has no less than five dimensions of expression. They call them Strike (attack), Press (aftertouch), Glide (pitch bend), Slide and Lift.

The Strike and Press parameters work like on any other keyboard. But then the similarities end.

The Glide parameter is very different from ordinary pitch bend. When you have a polyphonic keyboard and use the pitch bend wheel, you alter all the played notes with the same amount of bend. With the Seaboard, you can strike two notes and then slide one finger to another 'key', thus changing the interval. And you can wiggle your finger from side to side and produce a vibrato. Very much more like playing a guitar. Which is simply heaven for me who have tried to sound like a guitar player since I bought my first Mini in 1975.

The Slide parameter works like this: You strike a keywave at the end closest to you and slide your finger away from you. If you have a synth that can handle this, you can alter the sound from, say strings to voices. Or from strings to horns. Or from silent to loud. Or however you program the synth.

Finally, the Lift parameter can add things to the sound depending on how fast you pull your fingers away from the keywaves.

To put it simply, the ROLI Seaboard has opened a whole new world of playing for me! Plus it made my entire hands ache from all the wiggling and sliding of my fingers over the rubber keywaves. Or massaging the bicycle saddle, whichever way you want to see it. That ache has subsided and I actually think that playing the Seaboard could fight arthritic problems...

The instruments I used, then: As I said, the PB-50 bass and again, the Drummer plugin. In the intro, I used Logic strings. And throughout the song, I used a Logic Rhodes plugin. Both the tenor sax and guitar sounds are played in the native Logic sampler EXS24. It can handle the multi pitch bend that the Seaboard produces. A special note on the guitar sound: I actually sampled a Squier Mini Stratocaster that has been hanging on my wall for a few years. It's the first time I sample an instrument, and it was much easier than I thought! 

Goats in space

Written in the mid Seventies and recorded in December 2019



Music by Bosse

The title of this one was inspired by the Muppet Show. In some episodes, there was something called 'Pigs in space'. In the beginning of the song, there is only the wind and a lonely triangle. In my mind's eye, I saw a flock of goats treading down the side of a mountain through the mist, with the leader goat wearing a bell in a string around its neck. Hence, Goats in space.

The song is sort of ethereal and I told Peter (who as usual is playing the guitars) that he should try to play the solo like he had smoked weed. With the left hand, I play a bass line with the notes E D C B A G Gb F and with the right, I alter between the same two quarts: D/A and E/B. This quite simple combination of notes results in rather complex chords, that are quite fun to solo over.

Instrument-wise, we have a virtual Rhodes and a virtual Grand, both Logic plugins. The bass is the six-string Ibanez. The wind and the synth parts are all MiniMoog. And Peter actually appeared in person in my basement studio to play the solo on his Ibanez guitar. Most of the time, we sit in our basements and exchange audio files via DropBox. Sitting in the same room, drinking a glass of red wine and discussing qualities (or the opposite) of different takes of solos is simply wonderful! 

Madmen (Vettvillingar)

Written in the mid Seventies and recorded in March 2019



Music by Bosse

A re-recording of a tune that is featured below on the 'Schlagers' album! I wrote it some 40 years ago. And haven't played it since then. Which inevitably meant that I basically had to figure out what the f**k the composer did four decades ago. And that was no easy thing to do. Even though I wrote the bloody thing myself!

Again, there were no alternatives to using the Rhodes and the MiniMoog. The entire production consists of Logic Drummer, my six-string bass, the Rhodes and the Mini. Two channels for the two melody harmonies and one for the solo. The latter features a whole lot of effects and I used the native ones in Logic: The 'Hot Rodded' amp, an overdrive pedal cranked to max, a compressor, the Chroma Reverb and an analog echo. I also used the wonderful built-in 'overdrive' in the MiniMoog: In the old versions of the synth, you could run the output from the headphones jack and route it back into the synth, using the 'External Input Volume' pot. In the new version, this function is hard-wired. If you crank it up just below the level where the 'Overload' lamp starts to flicker, you get an even fatter sound. As if that was needed in a Mini...

As Jan Hammer used to write on his album sleeves: 'There's no guitar on this album'... 

The harmonica player's nightmare

Written in the mid Seventies and recorded in March 2019



Music by Bosse

I wrote this sometime during the mid 70's. The title alludes to the fact that a harmonica player, using ordinary blues harps, would have to change harmonica every other bar. The tune changes key quite often during the melody parts. The solo parts are limited to 'only' two keys, G and C#.

When I started to record, I had a brief chat conversation with my guitarist friend Peter and wrote that, 'On this one, I think there's no room for any guitar. But my guess is that you're just as happy anyway?' His reply was a laconical, 'Thank you!'.

Since the tune is a 70's composition, there were really no alternatives to the instruments I chose: Rhodes Suitcase and MiniMoog! They say that whoever has the most instruments when he dies, wins. I'd say that having the ability to choose those two analog instruments from my collection while I'm still alive, makes me a humble winner!

Adhering to the rule 'keep it simple, stupid', apart from the Logic 'Drummer' plugin, I only used three instruments for the recording: Rhodes piano, MiniMoog and my six-string Ibanez bass. 

Killing the innocence

Written and recorded in February 2019



Music and lyrics by Bosse

This is an absolute first for me! I recently finished writing my eight novel. I won't spoil too much by revealing the plot, but I can say that it starts with the murder of the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme on February 28th 1986. The protagonist is a musician who suddenly happens to find himself in the middle of the investigation. The plot continues through the decades and things happen that makes him feel very bad. To unburden himself, he writes a song called 'Killing the innocence'. And then I realized I simply had to write that song myself. So this is an example of meta references on a very high level. :-)

As so many times before, I invited my friend Peter to play the guitar parts. He first recorded chords on an acoustic which is very discreet. He then wrote, 'Tell me where you want a solo', and about an hour later he said that, 'What the hell, I got so inspired and recorded both an intro and a solo'. That's Peter for you!

The organ is my Viscount KeyB Legend which I ran straight into Logic. The only effects are the on-board ones in the organ. A combination of Leslie simulator, overdrive, reverb, crosstalk and keyklick. As close as you can probably get to the sound of a real tonewheel console Hammond organ...

For the third solo, I dusted off my cheap Harley Benton Slider Lapsteel guitar. I hadn't touched it for a couple of years so it took a while before I got it right but that's a current project: Practice on the lapsteel!

Apart from those instruments, there's a very discreet Rhodes piano (from Logic), my six-string Ibanez bass and the fantastic Logic plug-in Drummer! 

Absolutely nothing

Written and recorded in October 2018



Music and lyrics by Bosse

I recently sold my Crumar Mojo and replaced it with a Viscount KeyB Legend. When I bought the Mojo two and a half years ago, the Legend didn't exist. If I had know that this instrument was 'in the pipe', I would have waited for it. It is that good!

Okay, it's not a real Tonewheel Hammond. But when I had downloaded the latest version of the operating system and tweaked some parameters with the help of the eminent editor, i started to behave a little like 'the real thing', an electro-mechanic organ. The only way I can describe it is like this: When I turn the controls for 'Keyklick' and 'Crosstalk' way up, the organ starts to produce sounds that I haven't really registered. The organ simply turns alive!

The first few days, I started to try playing left-hand bass. A riff turned up and after another couple of days, it had turned into this song. The lyrics are about us humans stressing ourselves to death, just to become happy. What is known as 'contradiction in terms'. My remedy for this is actually sitting down, doing 'Absolutely nothing' and being content with just that. Listen to the waves and the wind, enjoying the simple things.

Since then, I went all the way and purchased an eighteen-key set of bass pedals with a swell pedal. The pedal also has a side-switch with which you can change the speed of the built in Leslie simulator, which by the way is really good!

On this recording though, I ran the Legend through a Genz-Benz Shuttle 6.0 600W bass amp with a tube preamp and my modified Leslie 142N. The bass is my six-string Ibanez and the guitar, as usual, was played by Peter. On his rather dry guitar sound, I used the 'Pedal board' plugin in Logic and use three virtual effects, a vintage overdrive, an octave pedal and a rotary speaker simulator. The third and last solo, I played on my MiniMoog. 

For the better discovering and bringing to justice

Recorded in April 2018



An original composition, words and music © V. Baines [Pendlecheek]. Chords added by Bosse.

I first met Vic Baines in November 2013, through my work. At that time, I had no idea she was into music (and the other way around). Several years later, we learned we had a common interest. But while I'm mostly into blues, rock and fusion jazz, Vic is a folk singer, specializing in old British folk music. She often sings a capella and this song was an example of that (before I sank my teeth in it...). I asked her if she has perfect pitch, but she denied that and replied that she's had a lot of experience singing unaccompanied and staying in tune.

Vic sent me the song as it was and I tried to find chords that both matched her singing and the mood of the song. This is what Vic wrote about it on her YouTube page:

"Sometimes folk songs don’t already exist, so we have to write them ourselves. This one is based on a true story of a skirmish between smugglers and revenue men that took place two hundred and odd years ago. It’s called “For the Better Discovering and Bringing to Justice”, because this was the stated purpose of the arrest warrants issued for twenty-one local men. It features a number of field recordings from the site of the battle. Thanks to Harrison Perks at HP Music for recording and mixing the vocals."

You can listen to more music by Vic Baines, both on YouTube and SoundCloud. Just search for 'Pendlecheek'. 

Guinness and Irish songs

Written in 2003, final version in January 2018



Music and lyrics by Bosse

This song may come as a surprise to you, but there's an old (... just invented it) saying: Inspiration is blind...

It so happened that myself and my old musician friend Urban went to Gran Canaria early in 2003. At that point in time, there was this girl... I won't go into any details, but one evening Urban and I found ourselves in an Irish Pub in Playa del Inglés. There was a lot of Guinness and Irish songs that night and the combination inspired me to write an 'Irish folk song'. To quote Vic Baines (see above), 'Sometimes
folk songs don’t already exist, so we have to write them ourselves.'

The picture, by the way, was actually taken in Southwest Ireland. And it's true what they say: 'Guinness doesn't travel well...' Meaning, Guinness tastes better in Ireland than anywhere else!

W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G.

Written and recorded around 2005 and some 'fixes' made in 2018



Music and lyrics by Bosse

Originally recorded in GarageBand but imported into Logic Pro X, where I implemented the fantastic Drummer plugin and recorded some real bass instead of the software bass I recorded some years ago. 

Another kind of birth

Written in the Seventies and recorded in January 2018



Music by Bosse

Since it's forty years since I wrote this, I can't recall exactly where the title comes from, but I read a lot of SciFi literature back then and it was inspired by one of those novels. This one, we used to play quite often as an instrumental with Monica Törnell's New Band. As usual, you can hear myself on keyboards and bass and Peter on guitars.

Flooded

Written and recorded in January 2018



Music by Peter

This song is proof of the fact that if you play a lot, you also get inspired. This song landed in Peter's head recently and features himself on guitars, bass, drum programming and myself on Rhodes and MiniMoog. I asked him about the title and he replied laconically that, "well, it rained a lot on Gotland last fall..." 

Back to '75 part 1

Written and recorded in January 2018



Music by Bosse

As I wrote in the text below Sueños de Varadero, I'm nowadays the very happy owner of both a MiniMoog and a Rhodes Mark II Stage Piano. I don't know how people treat their Rhodes pianos? In my case, all the usual stuff was missing: The big cover lid, the leg assembly and the pedal. But the piano itself was in quite good condition and after a few hours (to be honest, days) of tuning, adjusting tonebars and microphones, it's easily one of the best playing and sounding Rhodes pianos I've ever played. But as a musician friend said, you CAN'T have a Rhodes on an X stand. Sometimes, they just give in. And having a 50-kilo piano suddenly land on your knees and feet is baaad...

Two paths to follow, basically: 1. Buying a new leg assembly plus pedal. 2. Building my own Suitcase cabinet.

Well, as I once owned a 1978 Mark I Suitcase piano, I chose #2. It features a Behringer Class D power amp which gives around 2X800W at 4 Ohms and four 12" Beyma 12GA50 broadband loudspeakers (two at the front, two at the back). Instead of the built-in preamp that comes with the Suitcase pianos, I managed to buy a fantastic preamp from a manufacturer called Speakeasy (you can see it to the left of the Mini in the pic). Again, Jonas Öijvall was the seller! It features the same control parameters as the original: Gain, bass treble, tremolo on/off and tremolo speed and intensity.

When I recorded, I put two Shure SM57 mikes at the front speakers, so this is really how my homemade Suitcase Piano sounds! And of course it's the MiniMooog and the six-string Ibanez bass. Plus as usual, Peter from Gotland on guitars.

A special note about the drums: At the end of the track, there's a bass solo. You can make the Logic Drummer plug-in follow any channel you choose. Normally, I let it follow the bass, but here I let it follow the bass solo. And as you can hear, the drummer goes a bit 'Animal', as I believe was the name of the drummer in the Muppet Show...

Last, an explanation of the title of the song: Peter, the guitarist, was born in 1965. He once wrote a song called 'Back to '65 Part 2' (see and listen below). We've discussed this many times and wondered what happened to 'Part 1', which doesn't seem to exist. To make a long story short, I decided to paraphrase the name of Peter's song. It's a view through the looking-glass at the jazz-rock era. Everybody plays solo... 

Sueños de Varadero

Written and recorded in January 2018



Music by Bosse

It's not the flashiest music video that you ever saw, but we had a lot of fun doing it. In retrospect, the sheepskin slippers takes a little of the Caribbean feeling away. I should have worn flip-flops...

Around New Year's weekend 2017/2018, me and my family went to Cuba for a vacation. Apart from all other influences, Salsa music was everywhere and I couldn't help but being inspired. One afternoon at the hotel on Varadero Beach, this song just landed in my head. I suppose some of you have experienced this many times: That suddenly you have a song or riff in your head and when you wake up the next morning, it's gone. My experience is I have to play it on some kind of instrument before I forget it. Luckily enough, my son had been given a small keyboard for Christmas and we brought it to Cuba, so I was able to play the song enough to remember it. I believe it has to do with muscle memory...

As soon as I got home in mid January, I sat down in my studio and recorded the track, which I named Sueños de Varadero, Dreams of Varadero. And as many times before, the guitars are played by my dear friend Peter, in his basement on the island of Gotland.

For me, this is also a fantastic return to my Seventies setup. Last April, I bought one of the re-issue MiniMoogs and in the beginning of December, I laid my hands on a Rhodes Mark II Stage Piano from early 1980. Both those incredible vintage analogue instruments are featured on the track. You can also hear my new five-string fretless Ibanez bass and the Logic drum plug-in aptly named Drummer... 

Morning sun 2018

Written around 2009 and updated in 2018



Music by Peter, lyrics by Bosse

Early on a Saturday morning, Peter sent me an MP3 with this song. Which then contained only the guitars. I went totally crazy! 90 minutes later, I had written lyrics and recorded voice, keyboards, a drum track and a Yamaha Motif 'guitar' solo.

Now, like 8 years later, Peter has recorded a new version where he is singing lead! He's also renewed the acoustic guitar track and fixed the reverb and EQ. He asked me what I thought and I can only say, 'absolutely beautiful'! 

Just before one

Written in the mid Seventies and recorded in March 2016



Music by Bosse

And here she is, my new friend, Ms Hammond L102. Apart from overdrive, I've fixed shorter percussion decay time and also brighter percussion sound, that I can switch on or off. Thanks again, Kris. I ran the organ straight into my USB audio interface and used the 'Rotating speaker' amp in Logic Pro X. Haven't figured out how to switch between slow and fast speed while playing, since it's an analog instrument using a digital amp. So I had to record the speed changes afterwards.

The song is also an 'old sin' from the Seventies. The title, of course, alludes to the piano left-hand riff, which always lands 'just before one', the first beat of the bar. 

Free from you

Written in 1985 and recorded around March 2016



Music and lyrics by Bosse

I wrote this back in 1985 after a particularly cumbersome encounter with a young lady. No details about that... but at that time I was making a lot of music with my old pal Urban Ohlsson (see the 'facebook.com/trubaduon' website...). We used to call each other, saying, "I have a new song..." and the reply was always, "Yeah, what's her name?" A lot of love lost, but music gained!

I made this version recently, like 30 years later. The most tight version yet...


Som du

Written in the late Eighties and recorded around March 2016


Music and lyrics by Bosse

This was written a long time ago. I was sitting on the grass in front of a small cottage on the island of Öland. No instruments, just the text. But somehow, I wrote the music in my head. Guess that's what being in love does to you... again, me and Peter doing the thing... and talking of Peter: First, his solo was a bit too 'jazzy'. I told him, think Gary Moore. I think he did an excellent job! 

Use only Hammond Oil

Written and recorded in March 2016



Music by Bosse

Well, they say 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do'. If you listen to Hammond organ experts like MAFY, they say 'when doing maintenance on a Hammond, use only Hammond Oil'. And you use it in the Tonewheel Generator, which is the long, silver thing slightly above the middle of the picture. Above the loudspeakers. It probably won't come as a surprise to you, but that's where the tones are generated. Wheels with different amount of 'spokes' rotate in a magnetic field, the amount of spokes give the tone's frequency. Am I too technical? Okay, okay...

This was in no way an attempt to make the best song in the world. It just happened and I decided to record it, keeping it simple: The EZ Drummer plugin from Toontracks in North Sweden (believe it's Morgan Ågren doing the grooves...), my six-string Ibanez bass, the Rhodes emulator and analog synth emulators in Logic Pro X and of course, my L102. I ran it through the rotary speaker plugin in Logic. Only one setback: There's no way I can change the Leslie speed while recording, since I have to use the mouse. So I have to do that while mixing. Well, well. One day I'll have a real Leslie in my studio...

F.U.N.K.

Written and recorded in January 2015



Music by Bosse

Another trifle... recorded during a couple of evenings in January 2015. The first solo was played on my beloved L102, trhu the 142N Leslie. BTW, miking a Leslie is no easy thing to do. I've used three Shure SM57 on the outside, one at the bass rotor, two at the treble rotor, 90° apart. And I'm also running a straight signal from the organ to a 15W VOX amp, using it for reverb. Many fellow Hammond nerds recommend not running a reverberated organ trhu the Leslie, but via another amp. The reason is the combination of reverb and doppler muddles the sound. I kind of agree. Plus the internal reverb in an L100 is a bit too much... a bonus effect is it's looking pretty cool with a VOX amp on top of the Leslie!

The 'guitar' parts were done with another favorite, my Yamaha Motif rack module. I used two different sounds, 'Texas Boogie' and 'Crunchoid'. And indeed, crunchy it is... a fantastic sampling of an overdriven guitar that cracks up in overtones after a couple of seconds or if you hit the keys a little harder.

The drums are played by Morgan Ågren (I think). Well, the samples at least. I use the fantastic plugin EZ Drummer from ToonTracks.

Bass? 6-string Ibanez, straight into my sound card and into Logic Pro X, where I'm running it through something that looks like an Ampeg tube amp.

Movin' on

Released on Gary Moore's album Still got the blues in 1990 and recorded in October 2014



Music and lyrics by Gary Moore

I have played this song with several bands and finally decided to record it myself. It features my Hammond L102, my Harley Benton Slider lap-steel guitar and my six-string Ibanez.

Can't find my way home

Released on Blind Faith's album Blind Faith in 1969 and recorded in February 2014



Music and lyrics by Steve Winwood

We've played this song with the UN band and it is one of my favorites. Another one where Peter plays the guitar. Here, both acoustic and electric, including a solo. I do the vocals, play the Hammond L102, the bass and some soft Rhodes in the background.

Are you Sirius 2014

Written in the beginning of the Seventies and recorded in 2014



Music by Bosse

In the mid Seventies, I went to the Åhus Jazz Festival a couple of times. Totally overwhelmed by a concert by Hammond Organ player Webster Lewis, I made this tribute. Originally, I named it just 'Sirius', after the Åhus hotel we stayed in. The year before, we stayed at a hostel called 'Kastanjelunden' and I made a song with that name, so I thought the hotel reference would be a good idea.
After re-recording 'Svensk Sås', I thought I'd tackle some other old sins. 'Sirius' was elected first, and on it, my old friend Peter plays the guitars. I used the Hammond emulator built into Logic Pro X, which is fantastic. But it's not the real thing. Since the recording, I bought my first real Hammond organ. An L100/102, built in the spring of 1963. I bought it from a Pentecostal church in the village of Viksjöfors, some 300 kilometers north of Stockholm. Two days later, I went to ELFA and bought a Zener diode, a capacitor, an on/off switch and a potentiometer. This to implement built-in overdrive (thanks to Kris, http://l100.gietek.me.uk, who provided charts and tips). Now, the organ has transformed from being a church organ to being a beast (to quote the late, great Jon Lord...). My wife asked me, a little sarcastically, "So, this organ can produce sounds your other gear can't?"

Last night, after having played on the L102 for a couple of hours, I told her, "Yes, it can!" Using around 80% of the overdrive, the instrument feels alive. Some keys produced overtones never possible in a digital environment.

The Hammond is easily one of the best buys I've ever made and I'll certainly use it the next time I record.

Joel Miraculix

Written and recorded in January 2011



Music by Bosse

Life sometimes proves to turn out very differently from what you planned. I someone had told me I would have a son when I was 56 years old, I would have told them, 'you're crazy!' But in the last days of August 2010, this little miracle arrived in our lives.

The Rhodes piano (a Logic plugin) solo is actually a first take! And Peter does his usual, tasteful thing! When Joel was christened in January 2011, he cried and screamed during the entire ceremony. Until I started to play this song on the excellent Yamaha digital pianon standing in the church. He went totally silent as if you had flipped a switch. That's what music can do to a child! 

Angel in my heart

Written in 2005 and recorded around 2010



Music and lyrics by Bosse

Another one of those love songs...

Here, I believe the Rhodes sound is one of the on-board ones in the Yamaha P150. The 'guitar' solo is played with one of the best samples I've ever heard: It's called 'Crunchoid' and I found it in my Yamaha Motif rack synth. The harder you hit the key and the longer you hold the note, the more overtones you get. But as my biggest synth influence, Jan Hammer, said: "You can use any synth sound with good attack. To make it sound like a guitar, it's all in the phrasing..." That's what I've been trying since I bought my first MiniMoog in 1975... 

Madrid

Recorded in April 2010



Music by Peter

The picture was not taken in Madrid, but on Peter's back porch on Gotland. Nevertheless, as you can see, we drank red wine while we played.

The song features a lot of heavy guitar playing and of course, I couldn't keep from doing some guitar mimicking myself... 

Tack för lilla E

Written in 1989 and recorded in March 2010



Music by Bosse

I wrote this one in 1989 when my first child was born. I've tried a couple of times to write lyrics for it, but have failed, so I guess it will always remain instrumental. The piano is my Yamaha P150. Peter played his solo without using a pick, which gives it a Jeff Beck-ish touch. Quite lovely! 

71-2010

Written and recorded in March 2010



Music by Peter

In 2010, Peter's father celebrated his 71st birthday. Peter wrote this as a tribute song. It reminds me a little of the Jimi Hendrix song 'Little wing'. My synth solo is in the Jan Hammer 'there's no guitar on this album' category. I believe this one is played on an old Yamaha CS1X synth, which was actually quite good for modifying sounds. I used a clean electric guitar sound and dirtied it a lot.

Walking on water

Written and recorded in January 2010



Music by Peter

Peter sent me this song and I immediately thought it sounded a lot like it could have been written by the late Ted Gärdestad, one of Sweden's best singer-songwriters (together with his brother Kenneth). I simply love the sitar-ish guitar sound on Peter's first solo... 

Return 2 '65 (Back to '65 part 2)

Written in the Eighties and recorded in January 2010



Music by Peter

In 1986, I spent six months in the UN mission in Cyprus. When I went there in mid-March, I brought my home-built 4-string bass, which you can almost see in the image above. It had a short-scale neck from a Fender Musicmaster, an oak body and a DiMarzio P-bass microphone. I started to play with some guys working at the Swedish Camp Victoria in Larnaca. We did some party gigs during that summer and had a lot of fun. One of the guys was the youngest solider in the Swedish contingent. He played the guitar and his name was Peter. He's the guy at the right and although I don't know, we could be playing what was then known as 'Back to '65 part 2'.

We had very bad amps that time, so when I played solo, the sound was heavily distorted whether I liked it or not. But it kind of suited the song, so when we recorded it in 2010, I tried to re-create the bad-amp sound of 1986. 

To Keith

Written in the Seventies and recorded in 2010



Music by Bosse

I found this in my computer and had completely forgotten that Peter and I recorded it a few years ago. It's an old tribute to a great piano player, Keith Jarrett.

Turn this car around

Released on Tom Petty's album Highway companion in 2006 and recorded in June 2009



Music and lyrics by Tom Petty

Also a song which we've played with the UN band. It features myself and Peter. I do the vocals, play a Logic organ plug-in and the bass. Peter plays the guitar. Recently modified with the Logic plug-in Drummer.

Stolen goods

Written in the Seventies and recorded in March 2009



Music by Bosse

This is an old sin, written in the Seventies. It features myself and Peter. This was before I bought any organ, so what you hear is a Logic plugin. The basis of the song, the piano riff, is played on my old workhorse, a Yamaha P150 and I guess the bass is my old Schecter 5-string which I had before upgrading to the Ibanez six-string.

The title: When I wrote it, I wasn't quite sure that it was my own. I actually thought I'd stolen at least part of it. After many years, someone assured me I was innocent of breaking anyone else's immaterial rights. But the name stuck. 

Jag visste att du fanns

Written and recorded in the summer of 2008



Music and lyrics by Bosse

In 2004, I bought a small allotment garden and built this cottage. Apart from having shorter relationships, I was single and enjoying it. Actually, I thought I'd never live with anyone again. But as James Bond said, 'never say never again'...

Around Midsummer 2008, I met the most wonderful woman in the world! One evening when we had just started dating, I had treated her to dinner in the cottage. She took a cab home and left me with a box of red wine, my MacBook and a small, white USB keyboard. Inspired by the woman and the wine, I fired up the computer and started GarageBand and Word. And began writing lyrics and music simultaneously. When I was finished, I recorded the song. So in this case, all instruments are GarageBand plugins and my singing was recorded through the built-in microphone in the MacBook. This text continues below the next track, 'Got the greens'... 

Got the greens

Written and recorded in the summer of 2008



Music and lyrics by Bosse

When the first song was finished, my inspiration wasn't. I continued composing and writing lyrics. It was getting very late, or rather early in the morning and I was feeling the Blues. But since that woman has the greenest eyes you can imagine, I named the song 'Got the greens'. It's an ordinary 12-bar blues and again, all instruments are standard GarageBand plugins.

When both songs were finished, it was eight in the morning. I was deadly tired, a bit drunk but quite pleased with myself!

T.Z.N

Written in 1992 and recorded around 2000



Music by Bosse

My next kid was born in 1992 and this is my tribute to Therese, who during a period was called Tessan or TZN as a nickname. I've been thinking of a re-recording of this one but every time I listen to it, the song grows on me. So I'll let it be...

This is the only recording on this page that I believe still remains from the dark period when I used a PC and Cubase. 

Schlagers featuring Norgren, Ekholm & Johansson

Recorded in November and December 1980



In 1980, Monica Törnell's New Band was granted some kind of scholarship. In good democratic order, we parted the sum in five equal parts. Myself, the guitarist Lasse 'Ekis' Ekholm and the drummer Jörgen Johansson, decided we would take our three (small) piles of money and make a record with original music.

Said and done: We had the studio time for free, so we spent the money on re-mastering, pressing vinyl records and getting sleeves made. If I remember correctly, we made around 3.000 records. Even though we had a very good review in the magazine 'Hi-Fi och Musik', we only sold around half of them. I still have like 30-40 un-played records in my studio (if any of you want to lay hands on one, hint, hint...)

I said we had the studio for free. Well, the studio in this case was our rehearsing place deep in a mountain on Skeppsholmen in the old parts of Stockholm. The studio equipment was quite modest: A TEAC A-3340S 4-track tape recorder, a small, six-channel BOSS mixer and four Shure SM57 microphones, plus a Roland spring reverb unit. That was it, plus our instruments.

Recording on a 4-track has its limits. We used the so called 'ping-pong' method: You record three tracks, then mix it down to the fourth. Then you can record two new tracks and mix them with the first three to the remaining free track. Now you have five tracks and the quality of the first generation is beginning to deteriorate. So one more go, which means you can get away with eight tracks, maximum. And there's a lot of 'punch-in' recording to save space.

As I said, we had a very good review in 'Hi-Fi och Musik': They were above all impressed with the sound quality, given what equipment we had. You judge yourself, we had a lot of fun doing this!

Yeah, I still have it in my possession...

Bosse's samba



Music by Bosse

This was one of my first 'real' songs and I think I wrote it in the early Seventies. On this one, I play acoustic piano, so in order to record it, I had to move the tape recorder to my parents' home where the piano was. My parents had the patience of two angels, bless them for enduring all re-takes of solos and live playing in their living-room...

Medium grilled tomato ballad



Music by Bosse

Written around the mid Seventies. The title demands an explanation: I played for a while with a guitarist/singer who always, and I mean always, ordered a medium grilled pepper steak with a tomato salad when we went to have dinner with the band. Thus, 'Medium grilled tomato ballad'! On this one, I actually play slide guitar during the melody parts.

A note on the 'backwards' piano at the end of the song: Back then, you had to lift the reels off the tape recorder and put them on 'back-to-front' and record that way. Which was a bit nervous – you had to be sure you recorded on the right tracks...

Julfunk (Christmas funk)



Music by Lasse

If I remember correctly, Lasse wrote this song around christmas, during our recording. Lasse of course plays the guitars. Jörgen plays the drums. I play Rhodes piano, bass and MiniMoog.

Skriv nå'nting (Write something)



Music by Lasse

When I asked Lasse what the title of the song was, he looked bewildered for a while. Then replied, 'just write somehing'. So there it was. Lasse of course plays the guitars. Jörgen plays the drums and percussion. I play Rhodes piano, bass and MiniMoog.

Ondas de noche



Music by Bosse

'Ondas de noche' is Spanish for 'Waves in the night'. The entire beginning and end of the song: The wind, the waves and the eerie, chiming buoy, were made on my MiniMoog and yes, it took its time. Again great guitar playing by Lasse!

By the way, this track is the last on the A side and it continues into the grooves in the center of the record. Our idea was that you should never be able to fall asleep when the last song is finished...

Africajun



Music by Bosse

On the sleeve, it says that I play 'jungle, electric bass, accordion, xylophone and amadinda'. Well, on the jungle part, I had good help from my parakeet, Art (named after jazz accordionist Art van Damme). The sound of running water was recorded in my mother's laundry room.

One of the more funny remarks I've ever heard about my playing came from Lasse's father, who was an old jazz accordion player. When Lasse played the song for his dad, he listened intently and said with surprise, 'What the hell... the kid plays the accordion like a drunk Indian..." Yeah, he had a point there...

In the only drum solo on the album, Jörgen lives up to his nickname 'Jungle Jim'.

Vettvillingar



Music by Bosse

In Swedish, 'vettvillingar' means 'madmen'. And the word 'tvillingar' means 'twins'. Lasse played his Gibson ES335 through a Fender Twin Reverb amp and I borrowed it to get a guitar-ish sound for my MiniMoog. I seem to rembember the volume in the studio was deafening when we recorded the solos...

Rapport utifrån (Report from the outside)



Music by Bosse

Lasse thought of a TV documentary show when he came up with the title. I play Rhodes piano, bass and MiniMoog. Lasse plays the guitar and Jörgen drums and percussion.

Sonny



Music by Bosse

My humble tribute to sax player Sonny Rollins. And don't ask me how I did it, but I play the melody on xylophone... I also play acoustic and electric piano and bass.

Pelikankvintetten (The Pelican quintet)



Music by Bosse

In Sweden, we have a special kind of music scene, the 'Dance bands'. One of the more well known ones is called 'Flamingokvintetten', 'the Flamingo quintet'. They've been playing for 60 years and are now embarked on their Farewell tour. Yeah, how many times have we heard that one from different artists...

However, this is in no way an attempt from me to sound like a Dance band. Rather a slow funk tune. I play MiniMoog, bass and some percussion. Jörgen plays the drums and assorted percussion. And Lasse plays guitar.

Just like 'Ondas de noche', this one continues into the center grooves of the record.