The Day After The Sabbath 124 Dimmar Nætur Iceland special

The Day After The Sabbath 124 Dimmar Nætur Iceland special

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TDATS 124: Dimmar N�tur ?[?Iceland] by Rich Aftersabbath on Mixcloud

Welcome to the sixth Nordic TDATS, after Denmark (Vol72), Sweden (Vol75), Norway (Vol81), Finland (Vol88) and the first one, (Vol28), which was a mix.

Some time ago I discovered the heavy names that are generally known from the Nordic island country of Iceland; Tr�brot, Thors Hammer, ��menn, Andrew, Icecross and Svanfridur. Its time to look further, and considering that in the seventies Iceland had a population of only 200-225 thousand, I found a pleasing amount of good stuff. Looking at the selection, this volume reminds me most of the Austrian volume [107]. Similarly to that one, I decided to flesh it out a bit by creeping up to the year 1981, the year of Icelands very first heavy metal album from the band "Start". Its amazing that both countries produced a similar amount of good rock, considering that Austria had a population over seven million during the same period!

As is often the case for countries that didnt have a lot of heavy rock in the seventies, and also was for Austria, Icelands alternative music scene came alive in the punk and post-punk years. I have included a 1980 track from �eyrs first release. They were a legendary post-punk band that were comparable to Joy Division or Killing Joke, they were also a launchpad for The Sugarcubes, where Bj�rk made her name.

Some honourable mentions go to notable Icelandic bands N�tt�ra, Hinn �slenski �ursaflokkur, Eik, Spilverk �j��anna, Parad�s, Mannakorn, Change, Stu�menn, �okkab�t, Mezzoforte and Axel Einarssons post-Icecross solo album. These range in styles including prog, folk, rockn roll and fusion but they are not suitable for this blogs area of interest.

The cover art for this one is a 1918 painting called "Sk�garh�llin", by Icelandic artist J�hannes Sveinsson Kjarval (wiki).

Tracks

01. Tr�brot - Am I Really Livin? (1971)

       from album ....Lifun

02. Thors Hammer - I Dont Care (1966)

       from EP Umbarumbamba

03. ��menn - Betri Heimur (1970)

       from album ��menn

04. Andrew - Rockin an Rollin (1973)

       from album Woops

05. J�nas Og Einar - Gypsy Queen (1972)

       from album Gypsy Queen

06. M�nar - S�ngur Satans (1971)

       from album M�nar

07. Pelican - � Sprengisandi (1974)

       from album Uppteknir

08. Icecross - Jesus Freaks (1973)

       from album Icecross

09. J�hann G. J�hannsson - Sentimental Blues (1974)

       from album Langspil

10. Svanfridur - My Dummy (1972)

       from album Whats Hidden There?

11. Tr�brot - I Know Youll Come (1969)

       from album Tr�brot

12. �eyr - 555 (1980)

       from album �aga� � Hel

13. Start - Hjonalif (1981)

       from album ...En H�n Sn�st n� Samt

The Bands

Courtesy of Shadoks music (link) :- In 1969 Tr�brot was the first supergroup ever founded in Iceland. After the d�but album with vocalist Shady Owens, "....Lifun" is the second album released in 1970 without Shady on vocals. After a last concert in Iceland with the original line up they invited Led Zeppelin and became friends with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. When Jimmy and Robert returned to their hotel at four o�clock in the morning they were amazed to discover that the sun was still shining bright. The sight of the midnight sun, the snow capped glaciers and the Icelandic geysers apparently inspired them to write The Immigrant Song for the third Led Zeppelin album.

Tr�brot was very much influenced by the electric music of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Led Zeppelin. They went to London to have Orange amplifiers custom-made for the band and to Copenhagen to record debut LP "Undir �hrifum" at the Wifoss Studio. The album became the best album of 1970. Really amazing male English vocals, great arrangements, guitars, organ. Psychedelic/Progressive Rock of the best kind, strongly influenced by the British underground. Tony Branwell of Apple Records said they were one of the two best bands he had seen perform on stage in the preceding six months.

Thors Hammer, or Hlj�mar, was an Icelandic rock band primarily active in the 1960s. Outside of Iceland, they are known among music collectors for their rare releases on Parlophone, sung in English and recorded in London for export. The most famous of these is the 1966 EP Umbarumbamba, regarded as one of the rarest released records in the world and known to fetch prices into the thousands when a copy surfaces. 

Formed in Keflavik in 1963 under the name Hlj�mar (literally "Chords"), they soon became popular in Iceland at a time when local rock music was a rarity. By the mid-1960s they were recording in London on Parlophone Records for the international market. This record was recorded as a tie-in with a movie starring the band also entitled Umbarumbamba, but the film was not a success. From these sessions also came the singles "Once" and "If You Knew". The band even attempted a single entitled "Stay" in the United States on Columbia Records, which was produced by John Simon, known for his work with The Band and Big Brother and the Holding Companys album Cheap Thrills with Janis Joplin.

Odmenn (��menn)

Courtesy of Shadoks music (link) :- A selftitled album was the only one that Icelandic progressive rock trio Odmenn ever released. It was made at a critical point in Odmenns history when the band members had agreed to take a sabbatical year while the guitarist studied law at the University of Iceland. They got together for the last time a year after the album was released and split up directly after having played only one gig. Odmenn was formed in early 1966 by the Johannsson brothers playing the most popular music clubs in Reykjavik. Most of Odmenn�s music could be categorised as protest songs or social studies, touching topics like anti-war protest and fights against pollution, greed and deception balanced with more positive stances like hope for a better world with love and eternal brotherhood. "Psychedelic guitar pieces had become their trademark". Odmenn recorded this double album in Copenhagen with a release late December 1970. Odmenn made a great impression with their blooming mixture of energetic blues rock and was probably one of the best progressive rock bands in Northern Europe. 15 great songs released as a double album.

Andrew - "Woops" LP
back cover

The "Woops" LP is the scarce original 1973 first and only release by Andrew, a band formed by J�l�us Agnarsson and Andri �rn Clausen, playing heavy experimental psychedelic, progressive and artistic rock. �mar �skarsson (bass, vocals) and �sgeir �skarsson (drums, vocals) were previously in Icecross. The record is listed in the Hans Pokora 1001 Record Collector Dreams book as a 4 star "True Rarity". The album was recorded at Incognito and re-mixed at Morgan & Soundtek Studios. It was published by Naj� Productions. The members of the band, alongside J�l�us and Andri are among others guitarist Bj�rgvin G�slason (from N�tt�ra and Pelican),  drummer �sgeir �skarsson (from Pelican and Icecross) and Egill �lafsson (from Thursaflokkurinn and Spilverk �j��anna) on piano and vocals.

J�nas og Einar

Courtesy of icelandicmusic.com (link) :- Singer and flute player J�nas R. J�nasson and singer and guitar player Einar Vilberg Hjartarson had a short but very remarkable collaboration. Einar Vilberg became known as an extremely promising song writer and troubadour in 1970 and he had released a very promising EP with P�tur Kristj�nsson and drummer Gunnar J�kull H�konarson. J�nas and Einar got together in 1970 when J�nas left the band N�tt�ra. They rehearsed together for a while and got used to each others� groove.

The music they played was acoustic with a hippy feel to it and they sang in English, because they wanted to appeal to a broader market than Iceland. They were consequently invited to play at an international pop festival in Budokan, Japan.  They also released an album that was recorded partly in Sweden and partly in Iceland. The album sold well and received a lot of attention. After a few years collaboration the duet split up, J�nas turned to producing but Einar Vilberg commenced a solo career.  

M�nar

Courtesy of icelandicmusic.com (link) :- The band M�nar was formed in Selfoss in 1967 by guitar players and singers �lafur ��r�arson and Gu�mundur Benediktsson who had played together in the trio Bimb� since they were 13 years old, drummer �lafur Bachmann and bass player Stef�n �sgr�msson. Stef�n soon left the band and was replaced by Bj�rn G�slason. In the summer of 1967, Arn�r ��rhallsson sang with the band and bass player Sm�ri Kristj�nsson also played with them. Soon after that Gu�mundur Benediktsson left and was replaced by organ player Bj�rn ��rarinsson. M�nar recorded three songs in 1970 and two of them were released on a single the same year.

M�nar

After the album was released �lafur Bachmann left the band and was replaced by Ragnar Sigurj�nsson. That line up recorded two songs that were released on another single in 1970. Singer Mary McDowell sang with M�nar that summer. The band then wrote some songs for an LP. They got Gunnar ��r�arsson to assist them in the last rehearsals before they went on a trip to Denmark in November 1971 to record the album. In 1974, M�nar recorded two songs that were released on a compilation album and in 1975 the band split up.

Courtesy of Grapevine.is (link) :- After a band called Pops, Pelican vocalist P�tur Kristj�nsson did stints with N�tt�ra and Svanfr��ur. After Svanfr��ur died off in 1973, P�tur formed his most famous rock band, Pelican. Right from the beginning Pelican was a popular band and had a sweet sailing at the Icelandic ball scene. In 1974 the band went to Massachusetts, USA, to record an LP at the Shaggy Dog Studio, where the reformed band Hlj�mar had already recorded its ill-fated country rock opus Hlj�mar 1974. In America, Pelican got in contact with various biz-people, and for awhile it looked like Pelican would sign a record deal and hit the big time.

In 1974, Pelican was the biggest band in Iceland. The first song from the debut album, �Jenny Darling�, was released on a single in the summer, a frisky number that went on to become P�tur�s signature song. The song was the hit of the summer and when the album �Uppteknir� (a word-play, that can mean both �Unpacked� and �Busy��the album cover featured the band inside a sardine tin), came out in the fall. It became the best selling Icelandic album yet, shifting 11,000 units.

I have used an instrumental track from Pelicans second album. "� Sprengisandi" is an Icelandic folk song written by Gr�mur Thomsen (1820-1896). You can read more about it here.

Icecross was formed in Copenhagen by a bunch of like-minded Icelandic hippies. In 1973 they made and self-released one of the most talked-about albums in the realms of obscure heavy rock. It is especially known for its doomy sounds and its as fresh today as it was when it was recorded. "Jesus Freaks" is a Paean to self-empowerment and the band makes no bones about its attitude to religion in its Christian-bating lyrics. Icecross members were all deeply involved with other bands, including many of those appearing in this comp, this album leaves a great legacy and you can read more at www.icecross.net.

J�hann G. J�hannsson
Langspil LP

Track nine is a diversion into blues from an artist who did not otherwise make heavy music, its a great song that fits nicely into this set, from a singer-song writer. Johann G. Johannsson was born in 1947 in Keflavik, Iceland. He is one of the most productive of Iceland�s songwriters. He is the author of hundreds of songs, of which more than two hundred have been recorded by various artists. He has composed music in many genres such as rock, pop, R&B and progressive rock. He stared a career as a musician back in 1966 as a singer and bassist.

Svanfr�dur

Courtesy of Shadoks music (link) :- The Icelandic prog-rock band Svanfr�dur released only one album, recorded six months after they played their first gig. This short-lived band rapidly rose to fame, receiving rave reviews for live performances, but in fact their music was way ahead of its time. They were unable to seal a recording contract so they formed their own label - Swan Records. When the album What�s Hidden There? was released in autumn 1972 it got mixed reviews and sold only a few hundred copies, leaving the band with a great album but sadly not the income they had been hoping for. Recorded at London�s Majestic Studios the album was cut and pressed in England. Perhaps one of the best heavy prog / underground albums from Scandinavia with amazing guitar and all-English vocals. Would have been a famous and successful album on Decca UK.

�eyr

Courtesy of Wikipedia (link) :- �eyr was a renowned Icelandic new wave band from the early 1980s. Shrouded under a veil of mystery, their three-year existence was characterized by a deep interest in ancient wisdom. �eyr helped bring about the new wave movement in Iceland and became one of the first Icelandic bands to be known abroad.

The origins of �eyr date back to the late 1970s when singer Magn�s Gu�mundsson, bassist Hilmar �rn Agnarsson and Hilmar �rn Hilmarsson (drums and synthesizer) were playing in a garage band called Fellibylur (Hurricane). The band was expanded with vocalist El�n Reynisd�ttir, who at the time was singing at a church choir, guitarist J�hannes Helgason from a rock band called Piccolo, and drummer Sigtryggur Baldursson from Hattimas.

They called themselves Frostr�sir (Frostroses) and played rock music and some Icelandic songs at dancehalls in Reykjav�k and its surroundings. After a while they decided to change the band�s name and came up with �eyr, which was drawn from a poem by Skuggi and it means Wind or Thaw in old Icelandic. �eyr is exactly pronounced as �eir, which means they (male gender). They had a lot of association with English band Killing Joke, at one time Killing Joke front man Jaz Coleman moved to Iceland to collaborate. After �eyr ended, drummer Sigtryggur Baldursson started The Sugarcubes, who had international fame.

"� En H�n Sn�st N� Samt was Starts only album, released in 1981 and includes their local Icelandic hit �Sekur� (youtube). Singer Eir�kur Hauksson later went on to front the Norwegian hair metal band Artch. While it is regarded by some as Icelands first heavy metal album, it is more "hard rock/pop with a metal image" to my ears, but it does have some elements of commercial metal of the times, along with the associated slick production approach, on a par with anything else from around the world. With its boogie-rock basis, the track "Hjonalif" I used here demonstrates the best of the band along with �Sekur�.

Takk og g��a n�tt!
Rich

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