NOVEMBER
SWEDEN - SLP 2509 - SONET RECORDS
final collection copy
Original 1970 RARE first press...the very first album by the mighty NOVEMBER who made three highly rated/collected expensive valued Lp s. Power-chord trio with a great sound derived from blues based undertow, top layered by heavy rock aspirations ... they have not only the right sound, but do the heavy thing right
Classic debut album by this Swedish power blues rock trio from 1970 who later also gave birth to the amazing Saga. Lots of ripping guitar work inspired by Cream, Led Zep, Sabbath etc. Songs are sung in a characteristic Swedish rock style. One of the best Scandinavian heavy progressive rock albums,,,
Eons from now, when rock archaeologists rockaeologists? unearth the ruins of our civilization in search of righteous tunes, some lucky muck will dust off a copy of November s 1970 debut, En Ny Tid r H r , and wind up crediting them with inventing heavy groove itself. They didn t, of course, but there s little doubt the Stockholm outfit were ahead of the curve in the post-hippie, post-psych movement of what was coming next in guitar-led fare. Informed by the blues much as were Cream, Sabbath, Hendrix, Zeppelin and Purple before them, November nonetheless preceded an entire wave of bands in taking the rock-via-blues licks and beefing them up with significant thrust of tone and rhythmic nod, so that songs like En Annan V rld and Sekunder F vandlas Till r didn t just shuffle, they thundered. Bands like Atomic Rooster and Bloodrock were still about a year off from figuring this out, but soon enough there would be an explosion of heavy rock and roll in their wake, and November who released En Ny Tid r H r in the summer of 70 with leadoff track Mount Everest as a single seem to have got in just under the wire as an early adopter of the style.
Maybe that s no less a narrative than someone saying they invented the whole thing, but at least it s more realistic. November formed in 1969 with the lineup of bassist/vocalist Christer St lbrandt, drummer/vocalist Bj rn Inge and guitarist Rickard Rolf, coming together around various other incarnations.
November were among the first Swedish rock acts that wrote lyrics in
their mother tongue during the 70s. A non-trivial mixture of German and
English and equally smooth sounding with the latter constituent
language, the Swedish language, along with the soothing vocals of
bassist Christer St lbrandt, form an extraordinary combination for
November to approach vintage rock from their own perspective. Floating
over a tight but discrete rhythm section, their hard rock/blues attempts
Mount Everest , Lek Att Du r Barn Igen are excellently
complemented by Rolf s subtle yet essential leads and the outstanding
use of the flute. The latter attains a gentle, progressive rock
character, not too far from the relevant work of iconic players such as
Ian Anderson. Being strategically scattered throughout the album, the
blues songs along with their latent hard rock leanings consist of
fantastic introductions for the pure hard rock Ta Ett Steg I sagans
land , En annan v rld and hippie/boogie Sekunder , ttonde groove
of the album. In this respect, the rhythm section of St lbrandt and
Inge is stepping out of the blues foreplay through Inge s frenzied but
well-thought drumming and St lbrandt s orgasmic bass lines listen to
ttonde , while Rolf s lead and rhythm guitars are cruising the songs
with style. It will take no more than 2-3 listening sessions in
realizing that November rest on the same level of excellence with their
heroes, i.e. bands such as Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull and Grand Funk
Railroad, to name a few.
Moving forward yet another winner is the stomping Gr na
Blad, which seems in direct conversation instrumentally with Leaf Hound s
Growers of Mushroom until one considers that it would be another
year before that track and album surfaced from the British band. In
terms of that conversation, however, it s worth noting the use by November
of Swedish-language lyrics and titles throughout the record. The notion
of mass-marketing a project through the adoption of singing in English
is something bands still grapple with, and while November are certainly well remembered thanks in part to reissues of En Ny Tid r H r
both legitimate and bootleg, one can t help but wonder if their legend
would be even more widespread if they d called the album A New Time is Here instead.
Whatever the rockaeologists ultimately decide on that one, En Ny Tid r H r stands among the stronger offerings of its era in English or any language. In 1971, it would be followed by 2:a November and in 1972 by 6:e November, rounding out a trilogy of releases after which the group had run its course, members moving on to different projects in progressive rock and jazz. They d get back together in the early 90s and release a live album in 1993 via Mellotronen Records that was recorded in 1971, and have played periodic reunion shows since 2007, but they have remained underrated even among their entirely underrated epoch, and particularly En Ny Tid r H r seems ripe for a revisit, whether that s through a deluxe vinyl reissue, new album from the band, whatever it might be. Some stuff is just too good to leave alone.
CONDITION: The cover: rated: M- laminated, TOP COPY has no issues, final collection upgrade level. After 47 years still has a fresh appearance -- there are no delete marks, no split seams, no bends, and no writing ... VERY collection worthy ...
The vinyl: Rated: M- smooth clean grooves, plays w/ mint audio... both SONET labels are clean
A cool addition to anyone s music library
SEE: SELLERS OTher items for similar cool sounds for head people...
EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING
All imperfections are noted both cover record
