Check this out! Rare stuff you might not have heard

[Billy Underdog]

This is THE best Norwegian band EVER. Didn't pay enough attention to get the first newly released 1000 pressings of a new vinyl with till now unknown recordings from Swedish radio from '72, but hoping the one online shop i found is right that there'll come a second pressing.
Could've posted loads of tunes from them, but will stick with one for now. Inspired by Beatles (obviously), Stones, Sabbath, Purple, The Band, Jethro Tull and a bunch of others...

[Billy Underdog]

For you, Dozy. Their first single:

Second song: "Come join us to Copenhagen, there you'll probably get 200 grams. Come join us to Copenhagen on morphine, shit (hash) and acid, come join us"
It's an anti drugs tune, though, but still got banned from Norwegian radio for even mentioning it.


Hey, Vyn, remind me: was it you who ended up buying some Hoola Bandoola Band vinyls after i posted some tunes on BSO?

[Zzzptm]

This is THE best Norwegian band EVER. Didn't pay enough attention to get the first newly released 1000 pressings of a new vinyl with till now unknown recordings from Swedish radio from '72, but hoping the one online shop i found is right that there'll come a second pressing.
Could've posted loads of tunes from them, but will stick with one for now. Inspired by Beatles (obviously), Stones, Sabbath, Purple, The Band, Jethro Tull and a bunch of others...

Really groovy stuff, maaaaaan... lots of the rock from the Continent never made it to the USA during the seventies. Heck, there was a lot of "underground" rock from England that didn't break out of obscurity over here, stuff like Budgie and Atomic Rooster and all.

These guys have that Jethro Tull thing going in this track, but I bet a DJ heard the Norveejun accent and thought, "Pass". Damn shame, rock should be independent of language or pronunciation.

[Zzzptm]

That's right, a Polish band in 1973 doing a cover of "Smoke on the Water." Why? Deep Purple records were banned, but "official" bands could record the songs that all the kids wanted to hear in that Communist regime.

It's obvious the band did not have access to a lyrics sheet and were trying to sing what they heard. A fun twist in this tune is the horn section, 23 years before DP added one for their concerts at the Paris Olympia.

The guitar solo... yes, it skips some notes. Actually, a lot of notes. But, as we know from "Amadeus", too many notes is a bad thing, so thank you, Mr. Polish guitarist. 

[Billy Underdog]

Cool they're starting with keyboards, and the drummer is impressive, but... meh... I'll rather listen to the original.

[Billy Underdog]

Damn shame, rock should be independent of language or pronunciation.

Absolutely. They were supposed to get a shot at international release, though, but Polydor went with stablemates Popol Vuh (not the German kraut-rock band, hence:/Popol Ace, but shortly after their vocalist Jahn Teigen (zero point in Eurovision Song Contest) went on to audition for Genesis after Peter Gabriel left, but instead opted for a solo career. So no gain for anyone...

[Zzzptm]

Cool they're starting with keyboards, and the drummer is impressive, but... meh... I'll rather listen to the original.

I agree about the original. This one is of socio-historical interest, in a sort of Material Dialectical way.

[Zzzptm]

Speaking of guys that took off to solo careers that went nowhere, that reminded be of Tomas Barta of Locomotiv GT... great guitarist, defected from Hungary at the end of their US tour, and then wound up as another dime-a-dozen guitarist in the USA, eventually dying of a drug overdose.

[Zzzptm]

Can't say enough good things about this band. They're the real damn deal. I've cleaned out all their releases on Bandcamp, and I want more than just the 12 songs they've got up there. They're all gems, but this one has glittered most for me:

[Zzzptm]

Skorpio... great heavy rock combo from Hungary, 1972-1980 their best years.

This one's edited down by two minutes from the original song, but it's Hungarian TV from the Communist era, so it's interesting as a historical document.

[Vyn]

Hey, Vyn, remind me: was it you who ended up buying some Hoola Bandoola Band vinyls after i posted some tunes on BSO?

Yep, that was me. Excellent tunes and I was able to get minty first pressings.

[Billy Underdog]

Yep, that was me. Excellent tunes and I was able to get minty first pressings.

Did you ever get translations to the highly leftist lyrics then? 

[Billy Underdog]

A few more Prudence tunes. One of the lead singers have had two of his biggest hits from songs he've written to his newborn children, once in the band and once solo. This is ofcourse the one with the band...

[Billy Underdog]

They finally got the Norwegian "grammy" Spellemansprisen for their fourth album (first sung in Norwegian), finally getting recognition two months after they had broken up. And they were forced to wear suit jackets to be "proper" on television, much to their horror.

[Billy Underdog]