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| I am woefully in the dark when it comes to late-60s/early-70s Swedish psychedelia, having only heard the wonderful Älgarnas Trädgård and Fläsket Brinner, and being somewhat underwhelmed by Pärson Sound. Baby Grandmothers were a short-lived band that formed in 1967 and opened for Jimi Hendrix in 1968; the Hendrix sound is definitely an influence, but for music recorded in 1967, in many ways this stuff sounds way ahead of its time. As your basic power trio, the emphasis is definitely on the searing lead guitar work of Kenny Håkansson, who later went on to found Kebnekaise, although the rhythm section is certainly nothing to sniff at — Bengt Linnarsson's bass work in particular provides an apt foil to Håkansson's pyrotechnics. During their existence, Baby Grandmothers only released one single, the contents of which are the first two tracks on this compilation. Reine Fiske, he of Landberk, Paatos, Dungen etc, pulled together the single as well as five live recordings of remarkably sound quality, then wrote several pages of very informative liner notes. Clearly a labor of love, the compilation includes music spanning September 1967 to March 1968, but its quality is timeless. This is really great stuff, especially the two long-form jams from October 1967, which together total over 35 minutes: in these pieces, which of course are mostly improv, Håkansson demonstrates an impressive ability to take a theme, play countless imaginative variations and derivations, and then finally return to the original melody with a cathartic bang. What's more, this stuff is heavy: the fuzz tone of the guitar is delicious, and while the rhythm section sometimes gets lost behind Håkansson's guitar heroics, for the most part they more than hold their own, offering an impressive, pounding accompaniment. Combine a keen melodic sense, an ability to improvise with imagination and creativity, and a heavy psych-rock groove that sounds ahead of its time, and you get one of the best surprises of the year so far. Big thanks are in order to Reine Fiske for getting this material to see the light of day; if only all archival recordings were so essential! review by Brandon Wu — 4-4-07 —
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