These five guys from Luleå had played together since 1972 and released an album on their own label before finally disbanding. The primitive underground music has a blues vibe on some tracks and resembles such different bands as Love Explosion, Radiomöbel and Blueset.
| 1978 | ■ | Sista skriket | VTSLP-001 | ★★★★4 |
Experimental folk band Vargavinter's first album was recorded live at a cafe in the Old Town part of Stockholm. It featured traditional tunes from different parts of the world, including China. The original words for "Melodi från Kina" was actually credited to none other than Mao Tse Tung himself. All members of Vargavinter were prominent musicians on the Movement folk scene: Marie Selander (Diddlers), Haapala (Iskra), Hellberg (Södra Bergens Balalaikor), Adolfsson (Archimedes Badkar), Bothén (Spjärnsvallet) and Westling (Arbete & Fritid) had all made their mark on various projects, often including each other. Vargavinter recorded one more album, Röster från alla land, in 1980. The band was now down to a quartet, consisting of Selander, Adolfsson, Haapala and Anita Livstrand.
| 1976 | ■ | Vargavinter | Silence SRS 4637 | ★★★3 |
Lorne de Wolfe (Contact) assembled this timid rock band and also wrote the Swedish-language songs. He had started his career in the 60's with Tintacs and Ron Faust. Both bands featured Bo Anders Larsson (Scorpion) and they reunited for this project, which later evolved into the highly successful band Hansson de Wolfe United.
| 1975 | ■ | I original | YTF 50270 | ★★2 |
Vatten was a power trio from Gothenburg led by the excellent guitarist Tomas Ernvik. Tungt Vatten features Swedish-language Christian lyrics and bluesy progressive music, sometimes with a cosmic vibe. Bassist Thomas Lindbjer then formed major Christian band Salt with Danne Gansmoe (Tillsammans) and Kjell Bäckman. Both of whom had guested on Tungt Vatten. Only Ernvik remained for the English-language single. The rhythm section now consisted of Anders Mossberg and Gansmoe, who both simultaneously played in hard rock band Jerusalem. Vatten still exists and has released four more albums. Original drummer Anders Kjellberg was also in New Creation, Mount Everest and Soffgruppen.
| 1975 | ■ | Tungt vatten | Prophone PROP7756 | ★★★★★★★7 |
| 1979 | ■ | The Dreamer / Rely Back (S) | Gutta GUTS001 | ★★2 |
The Vergers from Uppsala was one of the first Christian pop bands in Sweden. Their fourth and final single featured a heavy dose of basement psychedelia. The band's adaptation of "The Lord's Prayer" was included on the B-side.
| 1969 | ■ | Se dig för / Fader vår (S) | Celesta CL1002 | ★★2 |
This album was the result of two plays about northern Swedish villagers working in the forests. All the songs were written by Lennart Lidström and Gunnar Ohrlander, who were both members of Fria Proteatern. The music features plenty of flutes and acoustic guitars and the political lyrics are in Swedish. "Historien är gravid" was later covered by Höj Rösten. Jonsson, Hedberg, and Bergman all played in Anton Swedbergs Swängjäng. The latter two went on to form Rekyl, while Ulf Jonsson joined Norrbottens Järn.
| 1972 | ■ | Vi var tolv man i laget | Oktober OSLP501 | ★★2 |
See also Compilations
The intriguing music of Vildkaktus was based on the contrasts of Gösta Nilsson's jazz leanings and the beat music background of Olle Nilsson, who was not related to Gösta. Olle had been the principal member of Finspång band "14". With strong songs and interesting Swedish-language lyrics, Tidsmaskinen is full of intricate and appealing sounds presenting a unique blend of vocal harmonies, fuzz guitar and wild piano jazz - often within the same song. For the second album, Tommy Johnsson replaced original bassist Håkan Thanger and reed man Leif Rundqvist also joined. Vindarnas Vägar is a more progressive affair and the 60's influences are less evident. Their only 1972 release was a modern version of "Vila vid denna källa", by Swedish national treasure Carl Michael Bellman (1740-1795). Ali Lundbohm then left to play with Contact and later Rolf Wikström. He was replaced by American drummer Dave Spann (Red White & Blues). The third LP, Natten, saw the band back to a quartet again. It combined the best elements from their previous albums with great songs like "Jag såg din stad" and "En brorsa är försvunnen", which featured Olle Nilsson's music set to a poem by Stig Dagerman (1923-1954). There was also the roughly recorded live instumental "Ånglåt", which effectively displayed the band's power in live performance. For their next album they turned to full-on jazz-rock and renamed themselves Ibis. Olle Nilsson later played the role of John Lennon in the high-profile Beatles tribute band Liverpool, while Gösta Nilsson's daughter Lisa Nilsson reached stardom in the 90's as a singer.
| 1970 | ■ | Tidsmaskinen | MNW 11P | ★★★★★5 |
| 1971 | ■ | Moralens mjuka möbler / Limu, limu, lima (S) | Polydor 2053 056 | ★★★3 |
| 1971 | ■ | Vindarnas vägar | Polydor 2379 024 | ★★★★★5 |
| 1972 | ● | Vila vid denna källa / Natur du kämpar (S) | Polydor 2053 092 | ★★★3 |
| 1973 | ■ | Natten | Ljudspår EFG-7218 | ★★★★4 |
This political rock band came from the southern suburbs of Stockholm. They released two singles on their own label and the music has a basement feel. Thunström and Waara had left by the second single and were replaced by Melin.
| 1979 | ■ | Arbetslös / Bara för ett ögonblick (S) | V.V. 101 | ★★2 |
| 1979 | ■ | Den objudne gästen / Värsta brottet (S) | V.V. 102 | ★1 |
Våren 22 was a band that made one privately pressed album, which suffers from poor production. The accoustic music has a soft, romantic feeling with nature being the recurrent lyrical theme. The highlight is the closing track "Besökaren".
| 1974 | ■ | Våren 22 | VÅR 7422 | ★★★★★5 |
This band was formed in Mariestad in 1975 and recorded their only single at their rehearsal space. It features a Swedish-language protest song against plans to build a through-fare straight through the city park of their home town. The massive protests were successful and the road was never built. Vänervind was reformed in the new Millennium to great local success.
| 1977 | ■ | Stadsparkstango / Hyreskampslåt från Mariestad (S) | Folket i bild / Kulturfront Mariestad FM001 | ★★2 |
Coste Apetrea (Samla Mammas Manna) and Stefan Nilsson (Kornet) had previously played together on Apetrea's Nyspolat album and in De Gladas Kapell. Here they teamed up with Finnish guitar ace Jukka Tolonen (Tasavallan Presidentti) for a mostly acoustic album, featuring no drums. The exception was the atmospheric electric opener "Wellawatte Junction".
| 1979 | ■ | Vänspel | Svenska Love Records SLLP02 | ★★2 |