Samla Mammas Manna

Samla Mammas Manna's self-titled debut is their most accessible album and the one most likely to be enjoyed by listeners who are not deep into fusion. While the band sometimes managed to stir up a good rock groove, like in "Släde Till Satori," they still didn't have a guitarist, and the music was organ- and piano-driven, consisting of equal parts folk music, jazz-rock, and something that could be described as twisted circus music. Accordingly, the first track is called "Circus Apparatha" and includes nonsense lyrics, some sung in German, about clowns and fighting animals. The recording quality is not the best, but Samla Mammas Manna is something as unusual as a virtuoso band inviting people to laugh at them at the same time they gaze in amazement. The band would later get tighter, more avant-garde, and simply more skilled, but few of their recordings are as charming as this one. Also, it can be argued that while the folk influences were just as strong later, they came more to their right in this less-chromatic environment. [The 2006 edition features two bonus tracks.] ~ Lars Lovén, Rovi