Plain and Fancy: Pandora - Measures Of Time (1974 sweden, warm energetic prog rock)

Saturday, August 24, 2024

Pandora - Measures Of Time (1974 sweden, warm energetic prog rock)

This is the only album by Pandora, a progressive rock group from Sweden that included Bertil Jonsson, who later played in Fresh Air, and Åke Rolf, formerly of H2O. The album is a clean and lyrical work with emotional vocals, focusing on classical phrases with prestigious harpsichord and piano, and beautiful twin lead guitar ensemble, backed by a neat rhythm section. Although it is a self-produced album, its melancholy melodies filled with Scandinavian-style sentimentalism are now attracting attention as a hidden gem that resonates with the heartstrings of the Japanese people as well.

Pandora was formed in 1971 by drummer Bertil Jonsson and guitarist Urban Götling in the southern Swedish city of Norrköping. In the same year, vocalist Peter Hjelm, bassist Björn Malmqvist, and keyboardist Jan-Erik Dockner joined the group under the name Pandora. They initially played hard rock influenced by the British Uriah Heep, but also progressive rock like Genesis, King Crimson, and Emerson Lake & Palmer, and became more popular in Sweden, they tried to changed their musical style to a more symphonic one. The band's guitarist, Arvind Arbuthnot, was also a member of the band. At this time, guitarist Urban Gottling left the band early and was replaced by Åke Rolf, formerly of the group H2O. Another guitarist, Leif Herkqvist, also joined the band to make it a twin-guitar formation.

They played at a club in their hometown of Jönköping and reportedly attracted attention for their symphonic sound. 1974 they left their hometown and turned the top floor of the Bergaskolan school building in the sea-side town of Södersöping into a studio, where keyboard player Jan-Erik Dockner was the main force behind the composition and rehearsals by all members of the band. They then entered the Take-3 studio in October and November 1974 to record with producer and studio engineer Lars Finstrom. They would release an album in December 1974 under the title “Measures of Time” on the independent Swedish label of Scarlet Music AB (aka SMA). The album is a melancholic sound similar to that of Genesis, Greenslade, and Beggars Opera in the UK, with twin guitars that seem to fold in on classical harpsichord and piano phrases, and powerful, melancholic vocals that are sung emotionally. The album is a gem.

The first track on the album, “Measures of Time,” opens with a simple harpsichord melody overlaid with bass notes, and then builds into a lyrical ensemble with a neat rhythm section. The second track, “Dusty Ledger,” is a melancholy melody filled with sentimentalism in a classical setting, with emotional Peter Hjelm's vocals and melodic guitar interrupting, The second song, “Dusty Ledger,” has an impressive singing style reminiscent of Peter Gabriel of Genesis. Overall, the ensemble is flowing and centered around a lyrical Genesis-esque piano, with sharp drumming. The third track, “Queen,” is a bright pop tune with familiar melodies. The fourth song, “Life is Good, Life is Bad,” also has a classical rock feel with its impressive piano melody, but it is based on krautrock and blues. Very rhythmic in its heaviness, it can be described as easy listening blues rock, while the fifth track, “The Tailor,” is an iconic song with soft piano, guitar, and vocal ensemble.

The beautiful arrangement is reminiscent of Beggars Opera or Camel. The second half of the album has a psychedelic development with energetic guitars, while the sixth track, “Turbulent Heart,” is a pastoral vocal piece with guitars and lyrical piano. The song takes a bluesy turn with heavy guitars in the middle, and is interspersed with slow and steady phrases along with flowing piano and beautiful sounding guitars. The emotional vocals continue to the end of the song before quietly fading out. Listening to the album as a whole, the melodic elements of the classical keyboards and bluesy guitars, along with the warm vocals, create a wonderful album with a grainy Scandinavian tone that is used throughout the songs. The arrangements are surprisingly complex, with heavy development by twin guitars and psychedelic keyboard work that folds in on itself. However, the production is favorable, with flowing harpsichord and piano leading the way until the end, and not losing the symphonic touch until the very end.

After the album's release, they played local clubs for a while, but guitarist Leif Herkqvist left the band in 1976. The reason was that his girlfriend said she could not dance to Pandora's music, and Björn was told by her to play in a dance group. In the same year, bassist Björn Malmqvist also left the band to enter a music college, they replaced by Uffe “Ulf” Stern (keyboards), Gunnar Hermelin (bass), formerly of the group Madira, as new members, and they appeared on Swedish radio Tonkraft on March 1, 1979.

And in the same year, they recorded the single “Makten och Härligheten”. The single was said to have a strong jazz-rock sound, influenced by Uffe and Gunnar. Approaching Pandora was a group called Tribute, from the same hometown of Norsköping. They advocate progressive rock, and two of their members, Gideon Anderson and Per Rumsby, frequently visited Pandora's concerts. Ramsby, who became friends with Pandora, has filled in for Uffe Stern at some of their gigs. They used this opportunity to play concerts in Holsalen, Norrköping, fronting groups such as Trettioåriga Kriget and Kaipa , which were popular in Sweden, and were well received by progressive rock fans. Pandora also began operating a record store, Rockslag, in Norsheping at this time.

Around 1979, the members began to work independently, and in 1980, Pandora almost spontaneously disbanded. After the breakup, keyboardists Jan-Erik Dockner and Uffe Stern, and later guitarists Ake Rolf and Gunnar Hermelin joined the group and continued playing in Floyd & the Boys, which had been active since 1975. Also, Björn Malmqvist, who was the bassist, is now playing as a member of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra.