LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

Very few people only are able to name Roine STOLT’s first professional band ! Even though he seems to have an eternally young face, TRANSATLANTIC’s famous guitarist was already a veteran when he created the quite famous THE FLOWER KINGS. The answer ?… Twenty years earlier, this very young Swedish musician was “only” one of KAIPA’s members, the band of the excellent keyboardist Hans LUNDIN, now re-formed for the outstanding “Notes From The Past” (A undeniable success, applauded in the year 2001 by both fans and critics !). However, it was not a one-time project ! A proof of this is that Musea has re-issued three albums of this leading Seventies Scandinavian Progressive rock band. With such references, we could expect some high-quality standards, especially given that the guitar riffs already showed their author’s genius. Even though they are mostly instrumental, the eponymous album (1974), “Inget Nytt Under Solen” (1976) and “Solo” (1978) benefit from the warmth of the Swedish tongue (With some previously unreleased tracks sung in English). Their influences can be traced back to such varied styles as Progressive rock (CAMEL, YES, GENESIS…), classical music (BACH…) or local folklore. The enormous success of those re-issues places KAIPA among Musea’s best sales, and shows, as if it were not evident, this original music’s great value… Each album also includes some previously unreleased tracks !… The main event in the year 2001 is then undoubtedly the re-formation of KAIPA with its two main elements Hans LUNDIN and Roine STOLT. As we already knew that the bass player is Jonas REINGOLD, we could have reasonably thought that this was going to be an album by a kind of THE FLOWER KINGS re-visited. It’s not the case ! That’s mainly due to their leader’s choice of playing only the guitars, and deliberately leaving the compositions to his keyboard colleague, and the vocals to Patrick LINDSTRÖM (RITUAL). If you add the incredible drummer Morgan AGREN (Frank ZAPPA, MATS-MORGAN…) to this blend, you’ll get a little wonder…