''Gasolin is the first album with English lyrics by

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Gasolin' Gasolin' were a Danish rock band from Christianshavn, Copenhagen, formed by Kim Larsen, Franz Beckerlee, and Wili Jønsson in 1969. Their first drummer was the late Bjørn Uglebjerg. He was replaced by Søren Berlev in 1971. At their formatio ...

in an attempt to win the band recognition outside their native

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. It is almost identical to their third Danish album, ''

Gasolin' 3 ''Gasolin' 3'' was the third album from Danish rock band Gasolin', released in November 1973. It was the band's first album to be produced by Roy Thomas Baker. ''Gasolin' 3'' was recorded in Rosenberg Studio in Copenhagen with Freddy Hansson as so ...

'' and was released in some

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

an countries in the beginning of 1974 on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. It failed to make impact on the charts anywhere, but didn't stop Gasolin' from issuing three more albums in English in the period from 1974 to 1978.

History

After the artistic and commercial success of '' Gasolin' 2'', singer and principal songwriter

Kim Larsen Kim Mellius Flyvholm Larsen (23 October 1945 – 30 September 2018) was a Danish rock and pop musician. He was a major selling Scandinavian act with over 5 million albums sold. Career Kim Larsen was born in Copenhagen. Inspired by The Bea ...

left the band. He was unhappy as he felt that too many of his new songs were rejected by the other band members. Poul Bruun, the director of CBS in Denmark, afraid to see the band disappear resolved the situation by letting Larsen record a solo album, ''

Værsgo ''Værsgo'' is the debut album of Kim Larsen who formed Gasolin' in 1969 with Wili Jønsson and Franz Beckerlee. It was released in 1973 while he was still a member of Gasolin', and the album contains songs which were not found suitable for Gaso ...

''. He further allowed Gasolin' to record their next album in two versions, one in

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

for the home market and one with English lyrics to be released in Europe. To provide the right international sound, the record company brought

Englishman The English people are an ethnic group and nation native to England, who speak the English language, a West Germanic language, and share a common history and culture. The English identity is of Anglo-Saxon origin, when they were known in ...

Roy Thomas Baker Roy Thomas Baker (born 10 November 1946) is an English record producer, songwriter and arranger, who has produced rock and pop and songs since the 1970s. Career Baker began his career at Decca Records at the age of 14 and later worked as an a ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

to produce the album in August 1973. Baker, at the time a hot name in the record industry following his recent success with

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, had already worked as

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

on the band's debut album ''

'' in 1970 and was happy to work with them again. After finishing ''

'', the band teamed up with Leonard "Skip" Malone, an American living in Denmark at the time, who helped the band translate the Danish lyrics into English. The lyrics were re-recorded in January 1974 and the resulting album released shortly after.Bundgaard (2003), pp. 67–69

Song selection

Seven of the songs are taken from the original Danish album ''Gasolin' 3'' (released a few months before). The last two, "If You Dare" and "Lilli-Lilli", are re-recordings (with Baker as producer) of "

Langebro Langebro (literally "Long Bridge") is a bascule bridge across the Inner Harbour of Copenhagen, Denmark, connecting Zealandside H. C. Andersens Boulevard to Amagerside Amager Boulevard. It is one of only two bridges to carry motor vehicles across ...

" and "Lilli-Lilli" respectively, that were first released on the band's first album,

in 1971.

Track listing

Except where otherwise noted, the music is written by Gasolin' and the lyrics by Gasolin' and Skip Malone.

Side one

#"Lucky Linda" – 5:02 #"If You Dare" (Trad. / Lyrics: Gasolin', Malone) – 3:15 #"Quasimodo's Song" – 4:05 #"Lilli-Lilli" – 4:55

Side two

#"It Was Inga, Katinka And Groovy Charlie On His Harley" (Music: Tommy Pedersen / Lyrics: Gasolin', Malone) – 2:51 #"The Big Hullabaloo" – 2:28 #"The Cat" – 2:50 #"Stark Raving Mad" – 3:15 #"Sju-Bi-Du-Bi-Man" – 5:53

Personnel

Gasolin'

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

on "It Was Inga, Katinka..." and "Quasimodo's Song" * Franz Beckerlee – lead guitar, moog, vocals, bass on "Stark Raving Mad" *

Wili Jønsson Wili, WILI or Willi may refer to: People * Heinrich Willi, who described Prader–Willi syndrome * Herbert Willi (born 1956), Austrian composer * Wili Jønsson, member of the Danish rock band Gasolin' Other uses * WILI (AM), a radio station in W ...

– bass,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, organ, vocals * Søren Berlev –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Additional musicians

Niels Harrit Niels is a male given name, equivalent to Nicholas, which is common in Denmark, Belgium, Norway (formerly) and the Netherlands. The Norwegian and Swedish variant is Nils. The name is a developed short form of Nicholas or Greek Nicolaos after Sai ...

–

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

, percussion

Production

– producer *

Freddy Hansson Freddy or Freddie may refer to: Entertainment *Freddy (comic strip), a newspaper comic strip which ran from 1955 to 1980 *Freddie (Cromartie), a character from the Japanese manga series''Cromartie High School'' *Freddie (dance), a short-lived 1960 ...

–

Release history

References

Footnotes

{{Authority control Gasolin' albums 1974 albums Albums produced by Roy Thomas Baker