Full Circle - An Interview with Paul Major

A new mix of acoustic and lysergic folk music. Tracklist: Thomas Mera Gartz - En Lycklig Sång Poor Richard - The Gulls Amory Kane - Four Ravens (single version) Yellow Autumn - Energy Spilld Mjölk - Glasverandan Glenn Saiger - Dark Side of the Moon Art Gee - Tea Gardens All That the Name Implies - Black Tuesday Chris Rawlings - Song of Creation Rabindra Danks - Lords Sweet Name Logos - Peace Chas Rose - Ballad For World Heroes Moonstone - Black Blind Light Vandy - Wishing Well Owen B - All We Are Asking Turid - Före Kenora Lachlan Chace McLearn - Lady Come Lightly Sonstar - Save Wild Basin

A new episode to start off the new year, which we surely hope will be a better year. Here we listen to a mixed bag of new discoveries/finds from 2020, including some UK folk, privately pressed westcoast psych, dreamy pop-psych and funky Swedish blues. We also have the honor to play the new single from Kungens män, which will be included in the upcoming 5 LP-box, “Innanför boxen” that will be out in February.   Bruce Hamana – Hamana (Canyon Records, 1974) – The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth Shelagh McDonald – First Album (B & C Records, 1970) –Look Over the Hills Cinderella (Imperial, 1971) –From Town to Town Mad Hatters (Fontana, 1966)  –I’ll Come Running Red, White and Blues (MNW, 1971) –Far, Far Away Sage – Into the Wind (A & B Records, 1978) –Empty Man Sten Bergman – Lyckohjulet (Gump, 1974) – Vägen är Lång Sally Christopherson – Autumn (Customs Records, 197?) –Autumn Kungens Män – Innanför boxen (Cardinal Fuzz, Adansonia Records och Kungens Ljud & Bild, 2021) –Hamra med slutna ögon   You find more info on Kungens män on their bandcamp-page.  

A new mix of privately pressed US and Canadian folk and folk-rock. We also included a few Swedish progg numbers and a great westcoast-sounding band from Japan. Tracklist:  Summer Madness - In the Hills of Shiloh Trees - Psalm 46 Handgjort - Worlds on Fire Doug McArthur - One-Eyed Walden David Sinclair - A Tale of Raven Scott Jones - Chattanooga To Lynchburg Trail Randy Palmer - Starlight, Daylight Darragh Nagle - Horse Mesa Chris Rawlings - The Wheel Jim Thompson - Train for Thought Larry Reese - Second Song Sten Bergman - Människofiskare Happy End - Dakishimetai D’Arcy - The Forest Sage - Empty Man Bernt Lööf & Jan Eriksson - Kan ljuset vända åter?

Paul Tescher has been collecting records for a long time and started already in the 80s to deal in obscure music. As part of the first generation underground collector he has seen the evolution of the collectors scene, from the beginning to what it is today. In this interview we talk about how he started to collect and sell records and he also share some stories from the weird world of record collecting. He also put together a selection of 6 track to play for us. Paul is still digging records weekly and still manage to find amazing records, although everyone is saying it’s drying up.  Bruce Cockburn – Ting/The Couldron (True North, 1971) Spilld Mjölk – Tills döden skiljer oss åt (Svart Mjölk, 1975) Peter Bursch – Witchwood (Pläne, 1981) Anna koka 5 ägg jag är värd i huset – Kaffekokaren (Flärrp-skivor, 1975) Stenblomma – Kungen (Silence,1973) Jennifer Warnes – Sand and Foam (Reprise, 1972)  

We’ve been in contact with Mark Sabol of Mark and Suzann Farmer for over a year and finally we found the time to record an interview with him. Mark and Suzann Farmer recorded one album, We’ve Been There, in 1978, which is still pretty obscure among collectors. It is mostly known for the moody late-night version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”, and although excellent, this album is far from a one-track-album and I’ve always considered that its true strength lies in Mark’s own compositions. About half of the songs are self-penned and Mark is a competent songwriter and creative arranger, using the sparsely equipped living room recording studio to full use while Suzann has a strong and mesmerizing voice that works well with the material. The overall feel evokes a late-night lounge set at a dimly lit countryside roadhouse and with a minimal instrumentation, including a simple drum machine and a lot of homemade production tricks, they create a mellow but still diverse experience, with enough nuances to keep you returning for repeated listening. The covers generally work well in the mix, and if anything, adds to the lounge vibe and reflex the sound of their live set. In this interview we talk about the making of the album and how it was in the lounge business in the late 70s. We also listen to Dreams, American Child, Waiting For the Dawn and We’ve Been There from the album.

Although we officially called it a quit with our 80th episode last summer, we’re back with a one-off episode for all of you who are in a lockdown/quarantine or to everyone who just wants to hear some new music. This episode presents records acquired since the last show and includes a mixed bag of communal folk (Huckle), lounge (Eddie Suzuki), Exotica (Dennise Norwood), Swedish progg (Rabatt and Kvartetten som sprängde) and more. We’re also happy to include the great track “Blanket Fog Descends” from Sven Wunder’s forthcoming album, “Wabi Sabi”. Don’t sleep on this one as it will go quickly. We hope you are all doing well during these crazy times and that the selection can bring some enjoyment while maintaining social distancing. Stay safe everyone! More information on Sven Wunder and Wabi Sabi can be found on pianopianorecords.com. Huckle - Upon a Once Time (Homespun, 1974) -Get Down Trúbrot (Parlophone, 1970) -Ég sé það Jim Thompson II and Preflyte – Message at 33 1/3 (Sky Light Records, 1979) -Eternal Light Brigade Eddie Suzuki – New Hawaii (ESP Hawaii, mid-70s?) -Beauty Near Hanalei Rabatt (Marilla, 1971) -X:et Kvartetten som Sprängde – Kattvals (Gump, 1973) -Gånglåt från Vallahallvägen Dennise Norwood – In the Skin with Me (Dennise Records, 1961) -In the Skin with Me

A mix of back-to-nature folk, eastern-tinged psych and acoustic improvisations. “Nature’s beauty is so astonishing, makes you want to be around it all the time, you know it’s even been known to make people high” – Jerry and Nancy Stevens   Tracklist: Children of One - Eastern Cloth (Real Records, 1969) Arbete och Fritid - Fantasins Lov (MNW, 1977) Big Lost Rainbow - Ocean (Big Lost, 1973) Huckle - Hello Sunshine (Homespun, 1974) Brent Titcomb - Falling Star (CBC, 1975) Becky Ryan - Pirate (Blossom Records, 1977) Magic Carpet - Alan’s Christmas Card (Mushroom, 1972) Caroline Peyton - Light-Years (Bar-B-Q Records, 1977) David Fishel - Faces to Match the Weather (Kateye Records, 1976) Jerry and Nancy Stevens - Stranded (Troll Records, 1976) Michael Styers - Pan’s Door (No label, 1980) Bob Alster - Hardwood Flats (No label, 1983) Chris Madsen - Sand and Foam (No label, 1983) Expanding Circle - Cova Kom (No label, 1980) Carl Erdmann - Within (No label, 1980) JB Sky-Blue Into Blue (Gypsy-Child Records, 1977) Scotti-Equal Time (Strawberry Records, 1974)

We are honored to have Paul Major with us for the 80th and final episode of Arkivet. Paul has been one of the most influential persons for this podcast as the guru of obscure psychedelic and private press records. In order to have a collector scene, context and coherency are key elements and Paul was one of the first to see the connections and to link private press and real people records to the canon of psychedelic music. Therefore, it is no surprise that many of the records he discovered are true classics and in this episode we play some of the records Paul discovered, and hear him telling the stories of how he found them. We also listen to a few records that are unknown to Paul but that we hope would fit his taste and his well-traveled ears. We couldn’t think of a better way to end this podcast, which has been running for over 6 years and almost 80 hours of recorded material, then to do it together with Paul. We want to thank all of you that have listened to our ramblings and that have participated, in one way or the other, to the show over the years. Thank you all! Darius-s/t (Chartmaker, 1968) -I Feel the Need To Carry On Dark-Dark Round the Edges (Sis, 1972) -Maypole Jazz Bend Me Blues Band (Algar, 1967-68)   -Happiness Dream Morgen (ABC Probe, 1969) -Purple Randy DeMoss and the Space City Group (Planet Records, 197?) -Is This For Real? Ray Harlowe and Gyp Fox (Waterwheel Records, 1978) -Gettin’ Keyed Sounds of Salvation-s/t (Reflection, 1974) -Overseers The Clap-Have You Reached Yet? (Nova Sol Records, 1972)             -Out of the Shadows Also, don’t forget to listen to our previous interview with Paul and a DJ-set we did together last time he was in Stockholm.

Here we engulf ourselves in some westcoast jams, with bands that doesn’t necessarily have to come from the west coast but all playing that laid-back breezy Californian vibe. Among the highlights of the show is the extremely rare self-titled mini-album by Al Manfredi, which he pressed in about 100 copies for demo purposes and with only very few known to exist today. Also the highly acclaimed Kristyl album is worthy a mention, as it is not only a solid album but one of the true classics in the private press world and discovered already in the ´80s by the legendary Paul Major. Furthermore, we want to highlight the underrated debut of Help Yourself, which in our opinion, is one of the best westcoast-sounding albums from the UK. With that said, we hope you will enjoy our selection of (mostly) 7 minutes westcoast jams. Al Manfredi-s/t (Band n’ Vocal, 1973) -Blue Gold Help Yourself-s/t (Liberty, 1971)     -Old Man Snakegrinder-And the shredded Fieldmice (Alligator Shoes, 1977)   -Love Junkie Turnquist Remedy-Iowa By the Sea (Pentagram, 1970)   -All Gone Blues Act II   Lacewing – s/t (Mainstream, 1971)     -Paradox   Kristyl – s/t (No label, 1975) -The Valley of Life

We seldom highlight music from our home country but in this episode we turn the spotlight on some Swedish underground and psychedelic bands. In the episode we listen to some of the most obscure bands of the Swedish underground, like Paul Edoh’s Class Breakers, which only release was a test pressing with just a few copies made, but we also play well established acts, such as Nature and Mecki Mark Men. To add some confusion, we also throw in a Finnish band, Cirius, and the reason for the inclusion is that they do a little-known but great version of Bosses Låt (originally recorded by the Swedish band Fläsket Brinner). On top of this, we also listen to some contemporary Swedish progressive music with Pocket-Size and the track Clairvoyant from their new album Immortality (released in December 2018). Raunchy (Scam records, 1975) -Flygmaskinen Nature-Earthmover (Sonet, 1974) -Mystery Brew Paul Edoh’s Class Breakers (No label/test pressing, 1970) -It’s Raining Mecki Mark Men (Philips, 1967) -Midnight Land Cirius-Cirius II (Blue Master Special, 1974) -Bossen Laulu (Bosses Låt) Älgarnas Trädgård-Framtiden är ett svävande skepp, förankrat i forntiden (Silence, 1972) -Saturnus Ringar You find more info on Pocket-Size and upcoming shows on their homepage and Facebook. For more on Swedish psychedelia, check out this previous episode. Thanks to Stefan Kéry from Subliminal Sounds for providing with information for this episode.