Bo Hansson
Encyclopedia
Bo Hansson was a Swedish musician
best known for his four instrumental albums released in the 1970s.
and they were forced to leave the young Hansson behind, in the care of family friends. As a teenager he joined his parents in Stockholm, where he soon became interested in the burgeoning rock and roll scene and taught himself to play the guitar, before joining the band, Rock-Olga.
After the rock and roll craze gave way to jazz and blues in the late fifties, he joined 'Slim' Notini's Blues Gang as a guitar
ist. Hansson was able to move on and form his own blues group The Merrymen
, who supported The Rolling Stones
on an early Scandinavian tour.
In 1966, Hansson saw American jazz
organist Jack McDuff
perform at Stockholm's Gyllene Cirkeln Club, and was so captivated by the performance that he decided to leave The Merrymen to expand his musical horizons. Encouraged by fellow Merryman Bill Öhrström, he eventually acquired his own Hammond organ
. Öhrström became an A&R
man and producer at Polydor Sweden, and introduced Hansson to other musicians, one of whom was drummer Janne Carlsson. Hansson and Carlsson immediately hit it off and were signed by Polydor under the band name Hansson & Karlsson
, playing up-tempo Hammond organ based music and releasing three albums between 1967 and 1969. They became immensely popular in their home country and some parts of Europe, and even reached the ear of Jimi Hendrix
, who took time out from his tour to jam with the duo, along with George Clemons on drums and Georg Wadenius
on guitar, at the Klub Filips in Stockholm in late 1967. Hendrix went on to record a Hansson song, "Tax Free".
and TV host, and Hansson decide to break up the partnership. Entranced by a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
, which he had purloined from his girlfriend, he moved into a friend's vacant apartment and started writing. When the unfortunate friend returned, he found that he had been evicted from his apartment after numerous complaints about the noise Hansson was creating. Hansson retreated to a remote cottage on an island off Stockholm where he, drummer Rune Carlsson and engineer Anders Lind, who had worked previously with Hansson & Karlsson, spent the winter of 1969 recording what was to become Hansson's debut solo album on a borrowed four track recorder. The resourceful Lind was even able to gain use of the only eight track recorder in Sweden at that time at the Swedish National Radio
station, on the pretext that he was interested in buying one himself and wanted to test it. Once there, he persuaded session musician
s Gunnar Bergsten and Sten Bergman to flesh out the recordings.
Sagan Om Ringen was released on Silence Records
(Sweden's first independent record label which was set up by Anders Lind) in autumn 1970 and became a huge hit. Copies of the album began to filter across to Britain where it came to the attention of Tony Stratton-Smith
, who was so impressed that he released the album as Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings
on his own Famous Charisma
label in September 1972. The album peaked at #34 on the UK Album Chart and became Bo's only UK Top 40 album.
Popularity in Sweden, however, put pressure on Hansson to tour, and a hastily put-together touring band was assembled, however, the tour was cancelled by the reclusive keyboard player, citing a lack of motivation. Instead, he returned to Studio Decibel and started work on his third album. Using the tried and trusted backing musicians the recordings continued the progression of the previous album, and Mellanväsen was issued on Silence Records in October 1975, and as Attic Thoughts on Charisma in the UK in February 1976. Despite being the most accomplished record of Hansson's career, it did not find the success it deserved, though it did feature a song called Rabbit Music which would point the way to Hansson's next album.
In 1976, Hansson and Silence Records parted company, and he was able to negotiate a worldwide deal with The Famous Charisma Label. He returned once again to Studio Decibel and began work on recordings that were inspired by another book; Richard Adams
' Watership Down
. Using the same session musicians but with a new producer, Pontus Olssen, the recordings were issued in September 1977 as El 'Ahrairah (after the novel's rabbit god) and Music Inspired by Watership Down on Charisma in the UK, and on Sire Records
in the US. Another disappointing chart performance led to Hansson's withdrawal from the popular music scene, and though he worked on a number of projects with friends, little was heard from him until 1985 when he released the Swedish issue only album Mitt I Livet (The Middle of Life) on Silence Records (SRS 4700). He then again dropped off the radar.
) re-issued them on CD, digitally re-mastered and with previously unreleased extra material.
In 1998 Hansson & Karlsson reunited for some live concerts and a compilation album.
Due to his pioneering work and the mysteries surrounding Hansson & Karlsson's rise and fall, Hansson received the status of a living legend among the independent musical community in Sweden. He occasionally performed live sets with fellow organist Eric Malmberg
who has been greatly inspired by Hansson's work.
Bo Hansson died in Stockholm on 23 April 2010.
The CD reissues of the first three solo records are distributed internationally by the original company, Silence Records.
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
best known for his four instrumental albums released in the 1970s.
Early life and musical career
He spent his early life in a remote village in the pine forests of northern Sweden, but a change in his parents' fortunes forced a move to StockholmStockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
and they were forced to leave the young Hansson behind, in the care of family friends. As a teenager he joined his parents in Stockholm, where he soon became interested in the burgeoning rock and roll scene and taught himself to play the guitar, before joining the band, Rock-Olga.
After the rock and roll craze gave way to jazz and blues in the late fifties, he joined 'Slim' Notini's Blues Gang as a guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist. Hansson was able to move on and form his own blues group The Merrymen
The Merrymen
The Merrymen, sometimes written as The MerryMen, are a popular calypso band from Barbados.The Merrymen's career spans five decades, from the early 1960s to the 2000s...
, who supported The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
on an early Scandinavian tour.
In 1966, Hansson saw American jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
organist Jack McDuff
Jack McDuff
"Brother" Jack McDuff was an American jazz organist and organ trio bandleader who was most prominent during the hard bop and soul jazz era of the 1960s, often performing with an organ trio.-Career:...
perform at Stockholm's Gyllene Cirkeln Club, and was so captivated by the performance that he decided to leave The Merrymen to expand his musical horizons. Encouraged by fellow Merryman Bill Öhrström, he eventually acquired his own Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
. Öhrström became an A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
man and producer at Polydor Sweden, and introduced Hansson to other musicians, one of whom was drummer Janne Carlsson. Hansson and Carlsson immediately hit it off and were signed by Polydor under the band name Hansson & Karlsson
Hansson & Karlsson
Hansson & Karlsson was a Swedish duo consisting of Bo Hansson och Janne Carlsson . The name Karlsson being written with a K instead of a C in the name of the band was initially just a mis-print in an early poster .The band was active in the last few years of the 1960s and played instrumental jazz...
, playing up-tempo Hammond organ based music and releasing three albums between 1967 and 1969. They became immensely popular in their home country and some parts of Europe, and even reached the ear of Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, who took time out from his tour to jam with the duo, along with George Clemons on drums and Georg Wadenius
Georg Wadenius
Georg "Jojje" Wadenius, born May 4, 1945, in Stockholm, Sweden, is a guitarist, bassist, singer and composer who made a name for himself during the 1970s and 80s as a studio and session guitarist/bassist, as well as releasing a popular series of albums of children's songs in Sweden.After appearing...
on guitar, at the Klub Filips in Stockholm in late 1967. Hendrix went on to record a Hansson song, "Tax Free".
Solo debut
By 1969, Janne Carlsson had become a successful comedianComedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and TV host, and Hansson decide to break up the partnership. Entranced by a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
, which he had purloined from his girlfriend, he moved into a friend's vacant apartment and started writing. When the unfortunate friend returned, he found that he had been evicted from his apartment after numerous complaints about the noise Hansson was creating. Hansson retreated to a remote cottage on an island off Stockholm where he, drummer Rune Carlsson and engineer Anders Lind, who had worked previously with Hansson & Karlsson, spent the winter of 1969 recording what was to become Hansson's debut solo album on a borrowed four track recorder. The resourceful Lind was even able to gain use of the only eight track recorder in Sweden at that time at the Swedish National Radio
Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio AB – Swedish Radio Ltd – is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. The Swedish public-broadcasting system is in many respects modelled after the one used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Radio - like Sveriges Television - shares many characteristics with...
station, on the pretext that he was interested in buying one himself and wanted to test it. Once there, he persuaded session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
s Gunnar Bergsten and Sten Bergman to flesh out the recordings.
Sagan Om Ringen was released on Silence Records
Silence Records
Silence , is a Swedish record company located outside Koppom, Värmland in Sweden.Silence was started in 1970 in Stockholm and released records by, amongst others: Bo Hansson, Philemon Arthur and the Dung, Samla Mammas Manna, and other progressive rock acts...
(Sweden's first independent record label which was set up by Anders Lind) in autumn 1970 and became a huge hit. Copies of the album began to filter across to Britain where it came to the attention of Tony Stratton-Smith
Tony Stratton-Smith
Tony Stratton-Smith was an English rock music manager, and entrepreneur. He was best known as founder of London based independent record label Charisma Records which he began in 1969. Groups he managed included The Nice , Bonzo Dog Band and Van der Graaf Generator...
, who was so impressed that he released the album as Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings
Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings (Bo Hansson album)
Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings is an instrumental progressive rock album by Swedish musician Bo Hansson. As its title suggests, it is a concept album based on author J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings...
on his own Famous Charisma
Charisma Records
Charisma was a record label founded by former journalist Tony Stratton-Smith in 1969. Manager for The Nice, the Bonzo Dog Band and Van der Graaf Generator at the time, Stratton-Smith was unable to find a record company willing to release an album by one of his favourite groups so he founded his own...
label in September 1972. The album peaked at #34 on the UK Album Chart and became Bo's only UK Top 40 album.
Further musical career
Encouraged by the success of his first album, Hansson was booked into Stockholm's Studio Decibel where he began work on the follow-up. Using the same team, along with guitarist Kenny Håkansson, the new recordings benefitted from the superior equipment and Ur Trollkarlens Hatt was released on Silence Records in late 1972, and on Charisma in the UK as Magician's Hat in October 1973. Although critically acclaimed, it failed to reach the popularity of the earlier work, and did not chart in the UK.Popularity in Sweden, however, put pressure on Hansson to tour, and a hastily put-together touring band was assembled, however, the tour was cancelled by the reclusive keyboard player, citing a lack of motivation. Instead, he returned to Studio Decibel and started work on his third album. Using the tried and trusted backing musicians the recordings continued the progression of the previous album, and Mellanväsen was issued on Silence Records in October 1975, and as Attic Thoughts on Charisma in the UK in February 1976. Despite being the most accomplished record of Hansson's career, it did not find the success it deserved, though it did feature a song called Rabbit Music which would point the way to Hansson's next album.
In 1976, Hansson and Silence Records parted company, and he was able to negotiate a worldwide deal with The Famous Charisma Label. He returned once again to Studio Decibel and began work on recordings that were inspired by another book; Richard Adams
Richard Adams
Richard Adams was a non-conforming English Presbyterian divine, known as author of sermons and other theological writings.-Life:...
' Watership Down
Watership Down
Watership Down is a classic heroic fantasy novel, written by English author Richard Adams, about a small group of rabbits. Although the animals in the story live in their natural environment, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language , proverbs, poetry, and mythology...
. Using the same session musicians but with a new producer, Pontus Olssen, the recordings were issued in September 1977 as El 'Ahrairah (after the novel's rabbit god) and Music Inspired by Watership Down on Charisma in the UK, and on Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
in the US. Another disappointing chart performance led to Hansson's withdrawal from the popular music scene, and though he worked on a number of projects with friends, little was heard from him until 1985 when he released the Swedish issue only album Mitt I Livet (The Middle of Life) on Silence Records (SRS 4700). He then again dropped off the radar.
Later years
Despite rumours of ill health and homelessness, Hansson found a new following amongst Swedish DJs in recent years, who sampled his music - something which apparently pleased him enormously. Although the better known Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings made it onto CD in 1988, in a remixed version accompanied by selected tracks from Magician's Hat and Attic Thoughts, his other 1970s albums remained unavailable in full until 2005 when Silence Records (through EMIEMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
) re-issued them on CD, digitally re-mastered and with previously unreleased extra material.
In 1998 Hansson & Karlsson reunited for some live concerts and a compilation album.
Due to his pioneering work and the mysteries surrounding Hansson & Karlsson's rise and fall, Hansson received the status of a living legend among the independent musical community in Sweden. He occasionally performed live sets with fellow organist Eric Malmberg
Eric Malmberg
Eric Malmberg is a musician from Sweden. Previously a member of the duo Sagor & Swing , in 2005 he released his first solo album, Den gåtfulla människan . The album consists only of sounds played on the Hammond organ...
who has been greatly inspired by Hansson's work.
Bo Hansson died in Stockholm on 23 April 2010.
Discography
- 1972 Music Inspired by Lord of the RingsMusic Inspired by Lord of the Rings (Bo Hansson album)Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings is an instrumental progressive rock album by Swedish musician Bo Hansson. As its title suggests, it is a concept album based on author J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings...
, Charisma (originally released in Sweden as Sagan om ringen in 1970) - 1974 Magician's Hat, Charisma (originally released in Sweden as Ur trollkarlens hatt in 1972)
- 1975 Attic ThoughtsAttic ThoughtsAttic Thoughts is an instrumental progressive rock album by Swedish musician Bo Hansson. The album was recorded during 1974 and 1975 at Studio Decibel in Stockholm, and at Hansson's home, which had virtually become a studio by this point in his career...
, Charisma (released in Sweden as Mellanväsen) - 1977 Music Inspired by Watership DownMusic Inspired by Watership DownMusic Inspired by Watership Down is a progressive rock album by Swedish musician Bo Hansson. The album is Hansson's fourth solo album and is, as its name suggests, built around musical ideas inspired by Richard Adams' heroic fantasy novel Watership Down...
, Charisma (released in Sweden as El-Ahrairah) - 1983 Reflection: Best of Bo Hansson, Fontana RecordsFontana RecordsFontana Records is a record label which was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records; when Philips restructured its music operations it dropped Fontana in favor of Vertigo Records. In the seventies PolyGram acquired the dormant label....
(compilation albumCompilation albumA compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
covering Bo's first three solo albums) - 1985 Mitt i livet, Silence Records (released only in Sweden)
The CD reissues of the first three solo records are distributed internationally by the original company, Silence Records.
With Hansson & Karlsson
- 1967 Monument
- 1968 Rex
- 1969 Man at the Moon
- 1998 Hansson & Karlsson (compilation)
- 2010 For People in Love 67-68 (studio & live recordings)