Samla Mammas Manna - Klossa Knapitet (1974)

Samla Mammas Manna's third album "Klossa Kanapitatet" finds them exploring their extravagant yet classy jazz oriented avant-garde prog a bit further than its brilliant predecessor "Maltid". The show is going on; here the listener will continue to find that bizarre mixture of jazz rock, Northern and Eastern European folk, circus music, dadaist absurdity (yodeling, falsettos, wicked funny twists), a mixture accomplished with both fluidity and musical genius. As always, keyboardist Lasse Hollmer acts as the leader of the instrumental approach with his piano melodies and chords, and some added touches on accordion, while guitarist Coste Apetrea displays his finesse from his lieutenant's position; meanwhile, the rhythm section lays a properly volatile foundation for their partners, when not collaborating on the enhancement of the melodic/harmonic side of the repertoire. Whenever the latter happens, it just seems so incredible how the band can sound so chaotically free and cleverly ordained at the same time, during a specific complex passage. Well, SMM is most certainly a particular pinnacle (yet to be discovered and appreciated by prog heads all over the world) in the history of prog. The 2-minute opener 'Ingenting' starts folkish and ends as a merry-go-round waltz (claps, whistling and humming included), only to be segued into 'Liten Dialektik', an amazing jazz driven piece that goes places on the basis of successive diverse musical motifs. 10 minutes and 10 seconds of pure prog genius. After such an impressive track, it would be hard for anyone to keep the listener's attention with the same degree of awe and amusement. anyone but the SMM, who then offers 'Sucken', a cryptic, brief excursion towards the low tones of acoustic guitar and piano, segued into the half- polka half-jazz 'Lang ner i ett Kaninhal'. And once again, for the third time in a row, a brief piece ('Kom lit narmare', actually more a comic gag than a proper track) is segued into a high-spirited jazz number with some combined nuances of rock'n'roll and ragtime somewhere in the middle ('Musmjiolkningmaskinen'). The fun never ends, indeed. The intro motif of 'Influenser' comprises the most dadaist passages and the most dissonant chord progressions in the album - enjoyable only by those who are already embedded with the spirit of SMM's music. It also contains some of the best soling by Apetrea. The title track is actually an accordion solo performed by guest Bryn Settels: the street sounds in the background create an intimate ambience, something that has actually been there all around. I mean, the experience of listening to this records makes you feel like you are part of a collective clever joke in a silly party. The closure 'Ramlösa Kvällar' shows the band at their most meditative: yes, they can get serious too, but of course, not without a touch of weirdness. The marching tempo of the final jazzy motif works as a most effective ending for a real Scandinavian musical gem, a prog masterpice, indeed. Review from progarchives.com

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