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Posts tagged Zamla Mammaz Manna
Von Zamla – 1983 (Live 1983) (@256)
30 Jun 2010
(Review from progarchives.com)
This album contains recordings from two live concerts in Germany during Von Zamla’s Spring 1983 European tour. The production is very good especially since these are live recordings.
“1983″ features songs from both “Zamlaranamma” and “No Make Up!” studio albums, together with some songs that has never been released on any album before.
The sound is very much in terms of RIO but also laced with gypsy jazz (circus-like music). For this one, Belgium’s Michel Berckmans (of Univers Zero fame) joined the band and he gives a typical Berckmans input with his bassoon.
The music pumps with a creepy, Monster Mash hipness and astounding changes in mode and tempo, filled with delicate lines, little details, and bizarre humor. The group draws influence from seemingly all music at once and spits it back out with flair and bold disregard for convention or popular ideals. The thirteen cuts brim with this energy. The vast majority of tunes here are instrumental and offer much with a truly progressive form of rock music.
Among the highlights in this album would be the impressive Temporal You Are with keyboard layers reminding of Pink Floyd’s Shine On You Crazy Diamonds and the Gong-like Doppler.
Line-up:
- Eino Haapala / guitar
- Lars Hollmer / piano, organ, korg, accordion
- Hans Loelv / piano, organ, korg, melodica
- Michel Berckmans / bassoon, oboe
- Wolfgang Salomon / bass
- Marten Tiselius / drums
Track List:
01. Ten Tango – 7:23
02. Forgeetyde – 4:23
03. Harujanta – 7:56
04. Temporal You Are – 5:59
05. Antsong – 5:34
06. Fur Munju – 4:46
07. Glassmusic – 1:00
08. Rainbox – 3:11
09. Doppler – 7:57
10. Akarondo – 2:48
11. Dancing Madras – 0:30
12. Clandestine – 6:59
13. Odet (Bonus Track) – 5:42
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Von Zamla – No Make Up! (Vinyl 1983) (@320)
29 Jun 2010
(Thanks to CrimsonKing and his new blog Brain Damage)
Second studio album of the Von Zamla incarnation features an expanded lineup of six, including Univers Zero reeds man Michel Berckmans. “No Make Up!” is undeniably an avant progressive tour de force.
Throughout the album, it’s once again Lars Hollmer’s familiar accordion, that drives most of the Nordic European style folk melodies. The ensemble work is tight, in typical chamber music fashion, with the aggressive rock edge provided by guitarist Eino Haapala, the same role he played for the Zamla clan prior.
It’s fair to say that most of the groups in the Rock in Opposition camp find it hard to avoid some crazy improvisation, sort of their bitch-slap to the establishment. Here Von Zamla only utilize one piece for that, the unbelievably irritating (and mercifully short) ‘Voice Improvisation’. Fortunately the remainder of the tracks remain composed, energetic and satisfying.
The album opener “Forge Etude”, is a rework from the Zamla Mammaz Manna incarnation’s final album “Familjesprickor”.
Line-up:
- Michel Berckmans / bassoon, oboe
- Eino Haapala / guitar, vocals
- Lars Hollmer / keyboards, accordion
- Hans Louhelainen / keyboards, melodica
- Wolfgang Salomon / bass, guitaron
- Marten Tiselius / drums
with
- Kalle Eriksson / trumpet (4), percussion
Track List:
01. Forge Etude – 4:07
02. Soon Series – 7:25
03. Fur Munju Indojazz – 6:01
04. Gilmit – 4:31
05. Hopeful – 4:35
06. Endanko – 3:51
07. Piece of Antsong – 2:45
08. Voice Improvisation – 3:49
09. After Smrt – 5:14
10. Cancion de Bi-Me-Mela – 3:25
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Von Zamla – Zamlaranamma (1982) (@256)
28 Jun 2010
(Review from progarchives.com)
Von Zamla (translating Son of Zamla) is an evolution of Samla and then Zamla Mamma Manna. It is also in the musical continuity of its pedecessors. Von Zamla has Haapala and Hollmer from the band’s previous incarnation, with the addition of two other musicians from Albert Marcoeur’s band.
Their sound’s main bet is on multicolored melodic motifs, extravagant tratments, heavily relying on dissonant chord progressions and pretty recurrently sustained on counterpoints regarding the arrangements. The music is deeply challenging while not being particularly aggressive – their compositions and style bear the heritage of Zamla Mannas Manna (ZMM) but with a more light-weight attitude toward the interactions between all musicians. The absence of a drummer, or more precisely, a specialized percussive section, allows the ensamble to focus more enthusiastically on the amalgamation of keyboards, guitars and woodwinds, although the rhythmic basis still plays a solid role at ordaining the aforesaid amalgamation. The strong position of the accordion helps the band to elaborate a folk-based depth within the confines of the band’s overall vision.
The opener “Harujanta”, bearing a pletoric aura of celebration with various hints to Northern Europe folk, is a definite proof of their sound. Later on, ‘Clandestine’ includes an effective melodic twist that leads to a werid musical box-like final motif and ‘Original 13/11′ is headlong for the delivery of overwhelming exotic ambiences; both persevere with the special, bizarre magic that Von Zamla instill on their particular approach to RIO.
‘Rainbox’ displays a more melancholic mood, sweet and suave, but not without its proper touch of mystery. ‘Doppler’ is a definite highlight with its sinister spirals of neurosis and spacey cadences. In many ways the somber spirit in this track is a reminder of the sophisticated tension so clearly illustrated on ZMM’s swansong “Familjiesprickor”.
Other notable tracks include the nocturnal ‘Temporal You Are’ and the last two numbers ‘Antsong’ and ‘Tail of Antsong’, genuine brainstorms of atonal colors. ‘Ten Tango’ brings back the band’s softer, althoug displaying more intensity and mystery than ‘Rainbox’, particularly due to the hypnotic use of texturial ornaments in a weird confluence of tango-fusion, Stravinsky and gypsy folk.
Line-up:
- Eino Haapala / guitar, bass, cello, mandoline, percussion, vocals
- Lars Hollmer / keyboards, accordion, percussion, glockenspiel, lead vocals
- Denis Brely / bassoon, oboe, voice, baryton sax, Soprano flute
- Jan Garret / bass, bass pedals, guitar, percussion, vocals
Track List:
01. Harujanta – 7:51
02. Rainbox – 3:15
03. Doppler – 4:34
04. Clandestine – 5:46
05. Temporal You Are – 4:34
06. Original 13 11 – 4:49
07. Ten Tango – 5:44
08. Antsong – 5:12
09. Tail Of Antsong – 2:04
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Zamla Mammaz Zanna – Family Cracks (1980) (@256)
26 Jun 2010
(Review from allmusic)
Familjesprickor (Family Cracks) was the last album recorded by this incarnation of the band. The original drummer, Hans Bruniusson, left the group in early 1980 and was replaced by Vilgot Hansson, for tours in France and Belgium. In the liner notes, the group states that Familjesprickor was made during a period of transition, and the music is therefore not as “optimistic and happy” as that on previous Zamla/Samla releases. Indeed, this album is the darkest and most aggressive of any album by any incarnation of the group.
The opening track, “Five Single Combats”, drives hard and fast right out of the box, and the intensity barely lets up through the rest of the album. There is a bit of a rest on “Ventilation Calculation,” where keyboardist Lars Hollmer has brief and wistful solo interludes, but “The Forge” (reprised as Forge Etude by Von Zamla on No Make Up! kicks back up again. The album’s only vocals are on “Pappa,” a demented folk tune with none of the sweetness of the band’s earlier work.
Line-up:
- Lars Hollmer / keyboards, accordion, song
- Eino Haapala / guitar, song
- Lars Krantz / bass, song
- Vilgot Hansson / drums, percussion
- Hans Bruniusson / drums, percussion (8)
Track List:
01. Five Single Combats – 5:54
02. Ventilation Calculation – 5:06
03. The Forge – 5:11
04. The Thrall – 5:08
05. The Panting Short Story – 3:53
06. Pappa (With Right Of Veto) – 4:29
07. The Farmhand – 7:36
08. Kernel In Short And Long Castling – 5:48
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Zamla Mammaz Manna – Mystery of Popular Music (1978) (@256)
25 Jun 2010
(Review from allmusic)
Side one of “Schlagerns Mystik” (translating as Mystery of Popular Music) is a series of quirky folk songs, sung relatively straightforwardly. Although the band have always included at least one track with vocals on most of its albums, the vocals were typically shouted, buried in the mix, or sung in falsetto. This time, the lyrics are completely comprehensible (in Swedish), and the arrangements are subdued. Yet they retain all of the tunefulness for which the band became famous, and even through the strange elements, the melodies are truly charming.
The second side of the album contains the long instrumental “The Fate” — structurally similar to Pink Floyd’s “Echoes” from its album Meddle — has a clearly stated theme, a spaced-out improvisational section in the middle, and a return to the theme.
Line-up:
- Hans Bruniusson / drums, xylophone, chimes, vibraphone, song
- Eino Haapala / electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vibraphone, song
- Lars Hollmer / electric piano, Korg polyphonic, Hohner-symphonic grand piano, accordion, song
- Lars Krantz / electric bass, double-bass, acoustic guitar, song
Track List:
01. At Ragunda – 1:38
02. Seasonsong – 3:46
03. Proffesion Is The Amateur’s Glue – 2:19
04. Buttonless – 2:18
05. Not Margareta – 3:49
06. Little Karin – 4:17
07. Asphaltsong – 1:53
08. Joosan Lost – 0:31
09. The Fate – 16:55
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Zamla Mammaz Manna – For Older Beginners (Live Improvisations 1977) (@256)
24 Jun 2010
(Review from squidco.com)
After Coste Apetrea left, Samla Mammas Manna reformed as the subtly renamed Zamla Mammas Manna in January 1977 to indicate a new start and a new style with much more fiery and distinctly RIO type of rock fusion. Songs moved to the background as instrumental music took the lead, fed from a vast palette of styles that always anchored on rock, often in intensely sophisticated yet melodic ways. They have a wide range, from straight rock grooves to experimental textures.
When the band went on tour that summer, they played all improvisations, to the point where at one show a fan cut off their power because they wouldn’t play their well-known songs. Chris Cutler, drummer of Henry Cow, remarked that they were one of the best improvising rock bands he’d ever encountered, and showed it by inviting them to the first Rock in Opposition festival at New London Theatre in England.
The band recorded all the improvisations, and took the best ones for this album, For Aldre Nybegynnare (“For Older Beginners”).
Line-up:
- Hans Bruniusson / drums, pinochet, chimes, xylophone, radio, voicet
- Eino Haapala / guitars, voice
- Lars Holmer / electric piano, Korg polyphonic, Hohner-symphonic grand piano, Farfisaorgan, voice
- Lars Krantz / bass, trumpet
Track List:
01. Watchmaker 1 – 3:41
02. Watchmaker 2 – 2:31
03. The Funktrap – 2:49
04. Short Inheritance – 1:55
05. The Modern – 6:18
06. Temporal You Are – 2:36
07. Harness In Memoriam – 12:30
08. To The Oval Meter – 3:47
09. Do You Think Like Me? – 5:14
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