So the cultural revolution of the 1960s, though inspired by the beat of American and British rock’n’roll, was soon appropriated by the Danes and used for their own ends.ĭenmark’s failed attempt to remain neutral during WW2 saw its islands invaded by the Nazis for use of its Baltic ports and its high yield agricultural lands, appropriated to help feed the swarms of the Third Reich. For this huge archipelago of low-lying islands, so often considered by the Danes to be relatively meagre territories, are rich and fertile lands that have long been inhabited by a culture strong in moral fibre, tenacity and determination, and a singular desire to do their own thing. But their subsequent refusal to play out the so-called American Dream (moreover biting the hand that fed them by playing for the Black Panthers and the P.L.O.) and the band’s dignified return to homeland glory acts as a perfect Danish metaphor. The Savage Rose, however, went several steps further, gaining a major American contract with RCA and playing alongside Miles Davis and James Brown at the 1969 Newport Jazz Festival. Indeed, like the finest Japanese and Krautrock bands, the only notably obscure elements in all these Danish head sounds were their lyrics and their geographical location.īut whilst Ache, Alrunes Rod, Young Flowers and the Tim Hardin/Jacques Brel-styled Povl Dissing carved out successful careers in the Danish music scene, only the Copenhagen-based Burnin’ Red Ivanhoe found their records released in Britain, and even then it was within the confines of John Peel’s relatively obscure Dandelion label. That this is a big hole in rock’n’roll will become apparent when you hear this DANSKROCKSAMPLER for the first time, for the groups showcased herein had a raunch and invention on a par with the best contemporary British and American bands. Whilst the Swedish late ‘60s underground scene has of recent years been well excavated, so that such heavyweights as BoAnders Persson’s legendary Parson Sound (and their various alter egos Harvester and Träd, Gräs och Stenar) have now been joined by such previously lost souls as Archimedes Badkar, Algarnas Tradgard, etc., the equivalent Danish scene hardly more than a stone’s throw across the watery Oresund has remained severely unsung. To the Danes I send salutations and congratulations for the immaculate state of their beautiful islands, and to Ole Knudsen I dedicate this introductory article with many thanks. As I travelled through Denmark a few times during the next few years’ research into THE MEGALITHIC EUROPEAN, I made friends with a hip publisher called Ole Knudsen, whom I hassled immoderately to help me navigate the uncharted waters of Danish psychedelia and progressive music. However, a little research soon revealed that the album had been been massive in Denmark but unknown in the rest of the world. This album was so unlike the Savage Rose singles I’d heard that I wondered how they’d got to such a place. ![]() ![]() ![]() Note: My interest in Danish rock’n’roll began by accident in early ’99, when I paid 20 pence for a perfect copy of The Savage Rose’s wonderfuelled instrumental LP DODENS TRIUMF, at Melksham’s big Dorothy Hospice charity shop, about 12 miles from my home.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |