Flamman: "Surprising Sun" (Sweden 2006)
RED TOP RECORDINGS / RED-001 Tracks Price

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 1) I Know
2) Over My Head Into My Heart
3) Without Sun
4) No Promises
5) Caught With A Smile
6) The Great Escape
7) Surprising Sun
8) This Time
9) Whatever It Takes
10) Enough
11) Signs		 SEK 129:-
 
 
 
 
 
An album which is very much today, but still looks fondly into the rear view mirror. Original songs only, but many with a 60’s pop feeling, and with a lot of Neil Young in the vocals and guitar. With those two ingredients buzzing in your ears you cannot help thinking back to the masterful but too short lived Los Angeles group Buffalo Springfield ('66 - '68) with Neil Young on vocals, guitar and song writing (also the exact duties of his fellow band members / competitors Steve Stills and Richie Furay). Letting the CD spin on I hear shades of Bob Dylan here, of David Lindley there – but also glorious passages of the free spirited guitar playing that was the trademark of the San Francisco scene during the second half of the 60’s. And yes: some of today’s ‘Britpop’ too. Eclectic but still stamped with Flamman’s personality. If you have heard him on stage through the years you are not surprised, just happily satisfied. And yes, the song writing lives up to the guitar playing. Which is no mean feat in itself. And Flamman's vocals are pleasant, honest, a bit frail sometimes - and most enjoyable. Oh my, what a debut album!

Review borrowed from the Swedish newspaper 'Falukuriren' (I do not have the journalist's name):

"A new, likeable trio from Göteborg making their debut with a just as likeable CD where rootsy, North American rock forms a solid foundation. Some 'altcountry' spices up an otherwise timeless pot of music where stuff like Neil Young and Tom Petty are the main ingredients. Perhaps nothing that will come storming up the hit lists, but this is fine music in a small format with Per "Flamman" Westling's original songs in the center and a veteran basist in the shape of Nikke Ström of Nationalteatern."