Short Reviews [Miklagaard - 1979 - "Miklagaard"]

So, what I have here is a CD version of a 1979 album and having done some research I am pretty sure this is an unauthorised release and must have turned it up with a bunch of other albums sent to me by friends in the scene to review. Although the album has long been officially unavailable, it appears to have again been reissued last year by another label and I wonder if that is the actual version I have here, although I cannot find any reference to any labels apart from Edge (the original) and Tachika. The band on the album were Leif Lerman (bass, alto saxophone, vocals), Bjorn Rothstein (drums) and Thomas Sundstrom (electric piano, organ, synthesisers, vocals) along with guests Jan Sandberg (violin) and Jeppe Lerman (trumpet). While the line-up is very much that of ELP, musically they have more in common with early Genesis, yet somehow the sound feels quite washed out. There is just not enough power in the keyboards, with Sundstrom seemingly not having enough sounds at his command, which makes the overall sound feel quite thin. The arrangements are pleasant enough, with vocals in Swedish, but it is of little surprise that this was their only release as prog bands were really suffering back in 1979 and many were bringing far more guitar into their performances or moving in more commercial directions. This would have sounded dated even then, and it is fair to say it has not aged well. I do not know what happened to Miklagard, but the year after this release Sundstrom was putting out classical piano records, so it is possible they did not last long. This is a pleasant laid-back prog album, packed full of cliches and gentle vocals, and works well as background music, yet is rarely much more than that.