Mr Brown - "Mellan Tre Ögon" Review

Artist/ Band: Mr.Brown
Title: Mellan Tre Ögon
Label: Transubstans Records
Year of Release: 1977/ 2005
Artist/ Band Link (click for details/ ordering)

The Review:

Mr. Brown is another progressive rock band, that pretty much went unnoticed the first time around with their only album Mellan Tre Ögon, which was originally released in 1977 .Now thanks to Record Heaven, it’s given a brand new lease on life. The band originated in the Almhult, Sweden, and like most bands in the mid 70's was heavily influenced by the more-symphonic bands of the time such as Genesis, Camel, Jethro Tull and even fellow countrymen Kaipa. The band’s line-up was Hakan Andersson on acoustic guitar, mandolin, and vocals; Bo Carlbeg on acoustic and electric guitars; Kjell Johnson on “trummor”; Lars Meding on guitar; Anders Nilson keyboards and percussion; Jan Peter Strahle on “flojt”; and Robert Svenson on bass guitar.

The album has aged rather well and my only complaint is that it is too short. I would love to hear more of the band’s output, even in demo form. The other thing is they’re treading ground already covered by the afore band so do expect too much original musical explorations. That being said, I think the band Mr. Brown deserves it’s place in both classic Swedish and worldwide prog history. I’d recommend this as one of the better reissues lost albums of the 70's. Kudos to Record Heaven for unearthing this gem!

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on March 28th, 2006

Tracks:

1. Suicide (6:54)

2. Recall the Future (9:29)

3. Resan Till Ixtlan (3:25)

4. Universe (3:39)

5. Kharma 74 (5:52)

6. Liv I Stad Utan Liv (7:00)

7. Tornet (0:57)

8. I’ll Arise (2:39)