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''Studio'' is the fifth studio album by the Swedish rock band Tages, released on 4 December 1967 on Parlophone in Sweden. Following the success of their album '' Contrast'', Tages began working on their follow-up to it. Hampered by a long summer tour, the album was largely recorded between October and November 1967 with sessions spanning all the way back to April. It was primarily recorded at Europafilm Studios in
Bromma Bromma () is a borough (''stadsdelsområde'') in the western part of Stockholm, Sweden, forming part of the Stockholm Municipality. Bromma is primarily made up of Bromma Parish and Västerled Parish. The fourth largest airport in Sweden and the th ...
, Stockholm with Anders Henriksson producing. The band took a break in recording the album in October for a tour of England organized by Parlophone, which allowed them access to EMI Studios in London, where two of the album's tracks were recorded. One single was released from the album, "She's Having a Baby Now" and the sessions also produced the non-album single "Treat Her Like a Lady". ''Studio'' was largely conceived and written by bassist
Göran Lagerberg Göran Bertil Lagerberg (; born 20 September 1947) is a Swedish musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist and co-lead vocalist in Swedish rock band Tages and later progressive rock act Kebnekajse. In the 1990s, he was a ...
and producer Henriksson, but features songwriting credits from all band members, particularly lead vocalist
Tommy Blom Tommy Albert Blom (3 March 1947 – 25 May 2014) was a Swedish singer, songwriter and musician. He was a member of the band Tages in the 1960s. In the mid 1990s, he started hosting Vinyl 107. In 2008, he lost that job because "he was too old", but ...
and rhythm guitarist
Danne Larsson Dan "Danne" Tage Bexér (né Larsson; born 11 January 1948) is a Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist and businessman who is best known for being the rhythm guitarist in the Swedish rock band Tages (band), Tages, and subsequently Blond, between 196 ...
. It was largely written at Henriksson's home in
Tureberg Tureberg () is a neighbourhood in https://polisen.se/Global/www%20och%20Intrapolis/Ovriga%20rapporter/Utsatta%20omr%c3%a5den%20-%20social%20ordning,%20kriminell%20struktur%20och%20utmaningar%20f%c3%b6r%20polisen.pdfSollentuna Municipality, Stock ...
and at his parents' summer cottage in
Tällberg Tällberg () is a small village located in Leksand Municipality, Dalarna County in Sweden. It is situated on the shore of Lake Siljan Siljan, in Dalarna in central Sweden, is Sweden's seventh largest lake. The cumulative area of Siljan and the ...
, Dalarna. Musically, it experiments with the psychedelia found on Tages' previous two albums ''
Extra Extra ''Extra extra'' or ''Marginella extra'' is a species of minute sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk or micromollusk in the family Cystiscidae. Some malacologists place this genus more simply in the family Marginellidae. Taxonomy ''Marginell ...
'' and ''Contrast'', but expands on it by incorporating elements of their Scandinavian roots through Nordic and
Swedish folk music Swedish folk music is a genre of music based largely on folkloric collection work that began in the early 19th century in Sweden. The primary instrument of Swedish folk music is the fiddle. Another common instrument, unique to Swedish traditions ...
, creating an unprecedented fusion. Several songs on the album have controversial lyrical content. Studio techniques include backmasking on guitars and drums. ''Studio'' was Tages' first album to be released with a gatefold cover, which depicts Tages' members during the recording process of the album. Upon original release for the
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, the album became an unexpected commercial failure as fans generally disliked the new direction the band took with the album. It was released along with a short film featuring the band, ''Dalamania'', airing on
Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...
. ''Studio'' did receive positive reviews in the press, with many publications highlighting the inclusion of folk music and the production efforts of Henriksson. Largely ignored shortly after release, ''Studio'' started to receive a
cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
during the 1980s and has seen retrospective critical acclaim. In 1997, it was ranked the 36th best Swedish album of all time by the
Swedish Musicians' Union The Swedish Musicians' Union ( sv, Musikerförbundet, Musikerna) is a trade union representing musicians in Sweden. The union was founded on 19 December 1907 in Stockholm, with about 700 members. It grew very slowly until World War II, but thi ...
. It was the group's last album with Blom, and their last under the name Tages.


Background

Tages' roots in folk music can be traced to their origins in 1963, when they formed as a skiffle group. The group's three first singles, "
Sleep Little Girl "Sleep Little Girl" is the debut single by the Swedish rock band Tages. It was written by Tommy Blom and released on 16 October 1964. The initial recording was made at a Youth center at Nylöse, a neighborhood of Gothenburg, Sweden's second biggest ...
" (1964), "
I Should Be Glad "I Should Be Glad" is a song by the Swedish rock band Tages, written by bassist Göran Lagerberg and rhythm guitarist Danne Larsson in 1964. Following bad press for their debut single " Sleep Little Girl", the group quickly recorded a follow-up whi ...
" and "
Don't Turn Your Back "Don't Turn Your Back" is a song written by bass guitarist Göran Lagerberg and guitarist Anders Töpel, first recorded by their band Tages in 1965. Produced by the Violents Rune Wallebom, the song would be featured as the lead track from their d ...
" (both 1965) all shared a sound of
soft rock Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...
along with melodic folk rock. All three of these singles were successful on the two Swedish charts, '' Tio i Topp'' and Kvällstoppen. After seeing Howlin' Wolf and Lightnin' Hopkins live in Gothenburg, Tages had begun abandoning their folk roots in favour of a sound much more oriented toward rhythm and blues and hard rock, evident on their fourth single " The One for You" (1965). Their producer Anders Henriksson was key in this musical change. Henriksson had a history in producing a wide array of bands, including the Shanes whom saw hits due to his production work. The group members also wanted to leave their earlier sound due to insecurity in their songwriting along with the fact that "Sleep Little Girl" was ravaged in the Swedish press. Tages' single releases from 1966 marked a return to folk music while also retaining their hard-edged sound established by "The One for You". Their first single release of 1966, "So Many Girls", composed by bassist
Göran Lagerberg Göran Bertil Lagerberg (; born 20 September 1947) is a Swedish musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist and co-lead vocalist in Swedish rock band Tages and later progressive rock act Kebnekajse. In the 1990s, he was a ...
, was the first in which the band were inspired by
Swedish folk music Swedish folk music is a genre of music based largely on folkloric collection work that began in the early 19th century in Sweden. The primary instrument of Swedish folk music is the fiddle. Another common instrument, unique to Swedish traditions ...
. In August of that year, the band's second studio album, '' Tages 2'', was released. It features a songs with influences from folk along with rhythm and blues as well as "In My Dreams", which heavily features wind instruments. "In My Dreams" was released as a single and was one of the earliest examples where folk music was integrated in a song by a commercially successful pop band in Sweden. A major reason for Tages' sound during this time was that Tages' contract with the Gothenburg-based label
Platina Records Platina Records (Platina Skivor) was a Swedish independent record label founded in 1964 by businessman and songwriter Evert Jakobsson. The label saw great success throughout the mid-1960s with rock acts such as Tages, before turning to dansband m ...
had expired on
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1966, which allowed the band to move on to Parlophone. The sound also resulted from Tages' willingness to experiment in the studio, largely made possible by Henriksson. In addition to producing, Henriksson wrote several tracks for Tages, including "You're too Incomprehensible", which appears on the band's third studio album '' Contrast'', a song which Tages' biographer Kjell Wiremark considers one of the first "true psychedelic works" in Sweden. Lagerberg and Henriksson worked as a songwriting duo, where Lagerberg wrote most of the lyrical content and Henriksson composed the music. Wiremark attributes the band's sound to drummer Lasse Svensson, who joined the band during the early recording sessions for ''Contrast''. According to Lagerberg, the recording and release of ''Studio'', Tages' fourth studio album, were entirely dependent on whether or not accompanying singles would become hits or not. In June 1967, Parlophone released "She's Having a Baby Now" as Tages' third single on that label, with "Sister's Got a Boyfriend" from ''Contrast'' on the B-side. It was Tages' biggest commercial failure since their 1966 release "
Crazy 'Bout My Baby "Crazy 'Bout My Baby" is a song first written and recorded by musician Robert Mosley in 1963. His third solo single, it failed to chart, leading to it becoming his final single released. Initially an obscure single, it was brought to light by ma ...
", as it failed to chart on both ''Tio i Topp'' and Kvällstoppen. Tages released the follow-up "Treat Her Like a Lady" with "Wanting" from ''Contrast'' on the B-side, on 26 September; it charted on both Swedish charts.


Recording and production

Work on ''Studio'' was sporadic across 1967, with most of it completed in the autumn. The single track "She's Having a Baby Now" was recorded at Europafilm in Stockholm, which was Tages' and Henriksson's preferred studio, during a nightly session between 17 and 18 April 1967, before ''Contrast'' was released. The technician was Björn Almstedt, a veteran engineer and a personal favourite of Henriksson. The result was satisfactory enough that Almstedt was chosen as the record's engineer during all the recording sessions in Stockholm. Almost immediately following the recording of "She's Having a Baby Now", Tages embarked on a tour of Sweden. Tages did not enter a studio during the entire summer, which was the most hectic part of the tour. The next recording session occurred in August, and produced another song aimed for single release, "Treat Her Like a Lady", a cover of the
Lesley Gore Lesley Sue Goldstein (May 2, 1946 – February 16, 2015), known professionally as Lesley Gore, was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. At the age of 16, she recorded the pop music, pop hit "It's My Party (Lesley Gore song), I ...
song. When the summer tour ended in August, Tages had a chance to incorporate and write new material into their repertoire. The first session aimed specifically at a new album release was held on 1 October at Europafilm, which was booked almost exclusively for Tages for a week, which was done to relieve band members from stress; no performances or tours were conducted during this week and the band members could come and go from the studio as they wished. Their studio time at Europafilm lapsed on 8 October, with only a press conference on 7 October interrupting the recording sessions. At the press conference, Tages revealed that Parlophone had arranged work permits for the band in the United Kingdom, and the members flew to London on 9 October. They went on a three weeks long tour during which they attempted to have a breakthrough on the English market. After the tour, the band and Henriksson recorded at the EMI Studios (later Abbey Road Studios) in London. This was possible because Parlophone was a sublabel of
EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...
. Tages recorded two tracks, " Like a Woman" and "It's in a Dream", on 23–25 October.' According to Lagerberg, the band members were stressed in EMI's studio, feeling inferior to their British peers''.'' Tages returned to Sweden by the end of October and entered Europafilm on 11, 12 14, and 16 November to finish the remainder of ''Studio'''s tracks. The recording sessions featured an unprecedented amount of
session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
s in Swedish pop music at the time, primarily for songs which required
string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...
s or brass sections, which the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and
Lars Samuelson Lars "Lasse" Samuelson (born Lars Samuelsson on 4 August 1935) is a Swedish musician (trumpet) and music arranger. Samuelson began his career in 1957 with playing with artists like Eva Engdahl, Seymour East Wall and Malte Johnson. In 1958 Samue ...
's Orchestra were hired to provide. In addition to producing the sessions, Henriksson, who was a multi-instrumentalist, played most keyboard instruments on the tracks, including piano, organ and the
celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ( ...
.


Songs and composition


Overview

Lagerberg and Henriksson wrote and rehearsed the majority of their contributions to ''Studio'' in the late summer of 1967. Henriksson's home in
Tureberg Tureberg () is a neighbourhood in https://polisen.se/Global/www%20och%20Intrapolis/Ovriga%20rapporter/Utsatta%20omr%c3%a5den%20-%20social%20ordning,%20kriminell%20struktur%20och%20utmaningar%20f%c3%b6r%20polisen.pdfSollentuna Municipality, Stock ...
, in Sollentuna, was initially used as a base for the duo's songwriting. Lagerberg would "crash on a horrible couch" which would keep him up at night, allowing him to focus on songwriting for ''Studio''. Henriksson had lived in the Swedish province of Dalarna during his first few years and took great inspiration from staying there. He and Lagerberg spent an increasing amount of time in Henriksson's parents' summer cottage, located in the small village of
Tällberg Tällberg () is a small village located in Leksand Municipality, Dalarna County in Sweden. It is situated on the shore of Lake Siljan Siljan, in Dalarna in central Sweden, is Sweden's seventh largest lake. The cumulative area of Siljan and the ...
by the lake Siljan, all of which came to influence several songs on the album. According to vocalist Blom, tracks on ''Studio'' use instruments present in "ancient Swedish history", and generally used in genres not connected to pop music. Henriksson saw it as a tribute to the '' spelmän'' of Dalarna. Svensson ways the usage of Swedish folk music was a "
gimmick A gimmick is a novel device or idea designed primarily to attract attention or increase appeal, often with little intrinsic value. When applied to retail marketing, it is a unique or quirky feature designed to make a product or service "stand ou ...
which was the present
967 Year 967 ( CMLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Emperor Otto I (the Great) calls for a council at Rome, to present the ne ...
trend", and that Tages refrained from using influences from India because of the Beatles doing it. Folk instruments are present on about half of ''Studios tracks. The other material on the album, mostly the tracks not composed by Lagerberg and Henriksson, seek influences elsewhere which with the inclusion of brass and
string instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the ...
s. As with their previous two albums, ''Extra Extra'' and ''Contrast'', ''Studio'' showcases Tages experimenting with psychedelic sounds, including techniques such as backmasked electric guitar, a
Leslie speaker The Leslie speaker is a combined amplifier and loudspeaker that projects the signal from an electric or electronic instrument and modifies the sound by rotating a baffle chamber ("drum") in front of the loudspeakers. A similar effect is provided ...
used by lead guitarist Anders Töpel,
reverberation Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abso ...
and
feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...
. As was common in Swedish pop music at the time, Tages viewed lyrics as an afterthought to the music, because most Swedish teenagers buying the records had a limited grasp of English.


Side one

''Studio'' opens with the song "Have You Seen Your Brother Lately". The name of the song came as an accident after Lagerberg misread the title of the Rolling Stones' song "
Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow? "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was recorded in the late summer of 1966 during early sessions for what would become t ...
" (1966). Henriksson found Lagerberg's error amusing enough to compose a melody around it.The song, which opens with a
fade Fade or Fading may refer to: Science and technology * Fading, a loss of signal strength at a radio receiver * Color fade, the alteration of color by light * Fade (audio engineering), a gradual change in sound volume * Brake fade, in vehicle brakin ...
and folk instruments before Tages' members enter with their instruments, was meant to set the tone for the rest of the album. "It's My Life", which follows, bases its sound on a
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
riff which complements the somewhat introspective lyrics by Lagerberg. The track has prominent vocal harmonies and a chorus where the backing vocalists sing in a counter-melody to Lagerberg's lead vocals. On the track Henriksson plays an
accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
in the style of French bal-musette. "Like a Woman" was composed by Lagerberg, Henriksson and rhythm guitarist
Danne Larsson Dan "Danne" Tage Bexér (né Larsson; born 11 January 1948) is a Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist and businessman who is best known for being the rhythm guitarist in the Swedish rock band Tages (band), Tages, and subsequently Blond, between 196 ...
. The song was allegedly written during the night before the recording session as Tages did not have any other songs ready. Wiremark states that "Like a Woman" lyrically features Lagerberg singing about how a sixteen year old moves and
loves Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores, doing business as Love's (or stylized as Loves), is an American family-owned chain of more than 500 truck stop and convenience stores in 41 states in the United States. The company is privately owned and hea ...
like a woman. The midpoint of side one provides a change as the focus switches from songs written and sung by Lagerberg to songs written and sung by Blom. The first of these is "People Without Faces", which is mixed low and has a melody accompanied by a
string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...
from the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The lyrics were personal for Blom, who was tired of his grandparents. The song makes references to an older generation with nothing better to do than "complaining on a television show". "I Left My Shoes at Home" was written by Blom and Larsson. The song is about Blom as he sits in a park without shoes, because he had forgot his shoes under the table in his living room. It features a moody and abrasive piano opening line performed by Larsson. The band is accompanied on brass by Lasse Samuelson's Orchestra during the choruses, after which a "battle between strings and guitars", as Wiremark describes it, occurs during an
instrumental break In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece. A break is usually interpolated between sections of a song, to pr ...
. Side one's closer, "She Is a Man", is the first song on ''Studio'' without the involvement of any band members, as it was written by Henriksson and the 19-year-old producer Bengt Palmers. Wiremark calls it the album's most "conventionally psychedelic song" due to the usage of backmasked guitar by Töpel. The song features two lead vocalists: Blom sings during the verses and Henriksson provides the
falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...
lead during the chorus. "She Is a Man" is lyrically about a transvestite or a trans woman.


Side two

Side two opens with the song "Seeing with Love". It was largely written by Lagerberg but credited to the entire band because he thought the creative process in the studio made it a group composition. The song features some of ''Studio'''s more complex arrangements regarding both the brass performances and vocal harmonies, the latter of which have echo applied through a mechanical process. The song features session musician Janne Kling, who contributes the cornett, crumhorn and the Swedish folk instrument
spilåpipa thumb The spilåpipa (or ''spelpipa'', ''spälapipa'', ''låtapipa'') is a type of fipple flute traditional in Sweden. It is traditionally from the pastoral/transhumant cultures of that country, though more widespread in the modern era. It is or ...
through multitracking. The song's ending features a performance on the
fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
mirroring the melody line. The following track, "Created by You", is the first and only composition not related to the band, having been written by Claes Dieden, guitarist of the band Science Poption, who gave Tages the song on 4 October 1967 during the recording of the programme ''Julgransplundring med Tages'', a Christmas special on
Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...
(SVT). The ballad features sporadic appearances of a flute and Henriksson on celesta. The following song, "What's the Time", was written by Blom and Larsson but sung by Lagerberg. The song deviates the most from the rest of ''Studio'', as it is an upbeat soul-pop song which heavily features Lasse Samuelson's Orchestra playing brass instruments. The flute which persists during the instrumental break keeps it connected with the album's folk sound. The lyrics are about love from the perspective of a longing narrator. "It's in a Dream" was written by Lagerberg and Henriksson. The song is characterized by a piano riff performed by Henriksson, which repeats after the verses and choruses, and Töpel's lead guitar recorded through a Leslie speaker. Lyrically, the song tackles peace through metaphors involving Robin Hood, while alluding to
child soldiers Children (defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child as people under the age of 18) have been recruited for participation in military operations and campaigns throughout history and in many cultures. Children in the military, includ ...
and war. "She's Having a Baby Now" revolves around out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancy. Lead vocalist Blom describes the lyrics as social pornographic and as criticism of
family separation Family separation is the condition where family members are involuntarily separated from each other, often because of immigration systems, although it can happen for other reasons such as military service or involuntary adoption. Family separation ...
s. Musically, the song was a group composition. It is largely fuelled by vocal harmonies and interchanging lead vocals by Lagerberg and Blom. The album closes with "The Old Man Wafwer", which is the only instrumental track Tages ever recorded. The composition is split into two section, one which uses an arrangement of brass instruments played by Lasse Samuelson's Orchestra which leads into a riff on the accordion played by Henriksson. The second part is based on
musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous ...
and features Kling's flute playing throughout, while Svensson's drums have a major part in the arrangement. The title was taken from a man who lived on Vaverön, an island in the lake Siljan in Dalarna.


Artwork and title

The front and back cover photographs of ''Studio'' were taken during the same photo session. It is generally accepted that photographer Walter Hirsch took them and that they were shot in Gothenburg, but the location is disputed; according to Brandels and Wrigholm, the cover was taken at the Pop-In club, while Wiremark say that it was taken at another club, Jazzen. Hirsch was hired by Parlophone to take a set of photos that could be used in promotional material, depicting Tages' members jamming or rehearsing. The photos were allegedly shot during drummer Lasse Svensson's first rehearsal with the band on 22 January 1967, but this has never been confirmed by Hirsch or the band. The cover was a departure from the group's three previous albums by being a straightforward picture of the band. ''Studio'' was the first album by Tages to be released in a gatefold cover. The inlay of the gatefold depicts the band members during the recording process of the album. Their faces are
superimposed Superimposition is the placement of one thing over another, typically so that both are still evident. Graphics In graphics, superimposition is the placement of an image or video on top of an already-existing image or video, usually to add to ...
over the words ''Studio''. The typeface used for the album title, both on the front and back covers, was Futura Black, which was a reference and homage to the Who's album '' My Generation'' (1965). One of the photos in the inlay depicts Henriksson, included on request by Tages' band members. There is a picture of the fiddler Hubert Westerman as a homage to Dalarna. The liner notes were written by either guitarist Töpel or journalist Hans Sidén, both of whom had written liner notes for previous albums by the band. The title ''Studio'' was a suggestion by Blom who thought it was an internationally viable name. The name was chosen as a nod to Henriksson for his work in producing the album, and to the amount of effort and editing the recording sessions took.


Release and commercial performance

Cashing in on "Treat Her Like a Lady" and the Christmas rush that was to come, Parlophone issued ''Studio'' on 4 December 1967 in a limited pressing of 5000 copies. Despite being marketed as Tages' international breakthrough, ''Studio'' was upon original release only issued in Sweden and Denmark. After having two singles, "I'm Going Out" and "Treat Her Like a Lady", chart in the Danish top ten, Parlophone believed that the band were big enough to warrant a release of their album in Denmark. There, it was issued in January 1968. The Danish and Swedish issues share the same cover, which was printed in Sweden, but feature different discs, pressed in their respective countries. Swedish-printed copies of the album were also distributed in Norway and Finland, where the band were relatively well known. ''Studio'' did not sell as well as Parlophone and Tages wanted, and the latter were shocked when the album failed to become a big seller in Sweden. Unlike their two first albums, which sold well enough to become certified
gold albums Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
, ''Studio'' barely sold the 5000 initial copies that were printed. According to Wrigholm, the commercial failure was because ''Studio'' alienated Tages' teenage fans. At the same time, Tages were considered too much of a pop band for an older generation that might have enjoyed the album, but refrained from buying it. In a last effort to promote ''Studio'', Parlophone and Tages got SVT to finance the half-hour television special ''Dalamania'', produced by Peter Goldmann and shot on location in Dalarna and at Radiohuset in Stockholm. The film features Tages lip syncing to songs from the album, including "Have You Seen Your Brother Lately", "Like a Woman" and "Seeing with Love". The name ''Dalamania'' was a nod to Dalarna and
Beatlemania Beatlemania was the fanaticism surrounding the English rock band the Beatles in the 1960s. The group's popularity grew in the United Kingdom throughout 1963, propelled by the singles "Please Please Me", "From Me to You" and "She Loves You". By ...
. ''Dalamania'' was aired on SVT's only national channel on 31 May 1968. Despite positive reviews of the show, it did not increase sales for ''Studio''.


Critical reception


Contemporary reviews

Upon original release, ''Studio'' received favourable reviews. Reviews appeared in both major publications and teen magazines, including '' Bildjournalen'', where the in-house reviewer, Håkan Sandén, was an admirer of Tages. Sandén said he initially was disappointed by the album but nevertheless thought it was "phenomonal". He said that despite Tages' ability to "borrow" aspects from their favourite bands, ''Studio'' in no way plagiarizes them. He said he heard influences from the Beatles and that the inclusion of Swedish folk tones was great. He called the album "excellent throughout" and praised the album cover. ''Studio'' was reviewed by a staff writer for ''
Expressen ''Expressen'' (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden, the other being '' Aftonbladet''. ''Expressen'' was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or "''Expressen'' to your rescue". ...
'', who said that ''Studio'' was less "odd and strange" than ''Contrast''. The reviewer praised the songs on ''Studio'', writing that several of them easily "get stuck in your head". The critic said that pretentiousness sometimes ruins the immersion, and criticized Tages for the inclusion of folk instruments, stating that "they were lost in the forest of gimmicks". The critic did praise some of the lyrics, believing that Tages "have found the importance of lyrics as well as music".''
Svenska Dagbladet ''Svenska Dagbladet'' (, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. History and profile The first issue of ''Svenska Dagbladet'' appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the ...
'' gave the album a brief, positive review, stating that it is a well-produced and well-performed album by musicians who "very well know what they are doing". The critic called the gatefold cover unique. The reviewer for ''
Aftonbladet ''Aftonbladet'' (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lars Johan H ...
'' praised most of the material on ''Studio''. Despite praising the production and recording, the critic was slightly disappointed in the string arrangement, comparing it unfavourably to a contemporary record by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The critic described some of the lyrics as "stiff or awkward", particularly in "People Without Faces". Despite the criticism, the critic called the album "worthvile" and considered it one of the best Swedish album as of lately. In '' Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning'', Henning Svensson wrote that ''Studio'' is Tages' most personal album. Svensson said Tages "were trying to find new ways" with the album, something they succeeded with. He praised the inclusion of folk musicians which "makes the album unique, possibly the first of its kind" and applauded the general songwriting and production effort. In ''
Hudiksvalls Tidning ''Hudiksvalls Tidning'' is a Swedish local newspaper published in Hudiksvall, Sweden. History and profile ''Hudiksvalls Tidning'' was founded in 1909. The paper is based in Hudiksvall. It is close to the Center Party. In 1999 the paper was parti ...
'', the critic wrote that ''Studio'' showcases Tages' "ever growing musical ambitions" and complimented the songwriting.


Retrospective assessment

Retrospectively, ''Studio'' has received acclaim by reviewers. In a review for AllMusic, music critic Richie Unterberger states that ''Studio'' sounds "pretty close to a mid-60's British group", which he attributes to Tages' ability and willingness to adapt to the current musical climate. While he says that ''Studio'' is "carefully arranged and produced", the songs found on the album "do not live up to their British influences". Therefore, Unterberger states that it is not surprising that ''Studio'' contains "florid-pop psychedelia" with "productional gimmicks", whimsical songwriting and "soul and orchestration in the arrangements". He says there are no bad tracks on the album which is composed "of approaches that were in fashion". He ends the review by praising Henriksson's work, stating that the album features "unique production tricks" which increase its appeal. Due to the variety of genres, Wrigholm says the album is not "plagiated from Beatles nor any other English bands", while stating that it is a product of its time. Writing for ''Mojo'' magazine, Kieron Tyler describes ''Studio'' as a "groundbreaking riposte" to the Beatles' ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composi ...
'', stating that it is the best Swedish album of the 1960s. He says that Tages were "progressing forward" with the album and that it is "as striking" as '' Odessey and Oracle'' (1968) by The Zombies and "much more hard-hitting" than '' Butterfly'' (1967) by the Hollies. He positively reviews Tages' decision to use folk instruments rather than looking elsewhere for inspiration, stating that this was radical for its time. Tyler believes that the album was groundbreaking as it "fused tradiitonal Swedish instruments" with "psych-pop", and ends the review by stating that it is as "important as any album by the Beatles". According to journalist Andres Lokko, the thing that distinguished ''Studio'' from contemporary albums, both Swedish and international, is "the confidence and usage in the Nordic folk music that characterizes so much of the content". In 2010, a critic for '' The Times'' described ''Studio'' as "a record in a palpable thrall" compared to the "nascent psych-pop" from the United Kingdom. The critic singles out "Have You Seen Your Brother Lately" and "She's Having a Baby Now" for praise, considering them "punchier" equaivalents to David Bowie's debut album from the same year. The critic calls ''Studio'' a "magnificent period piece". According to a staff review in 2017 for ''
BrooklynVegan ''BrooklynVegan'' is an American online music magazine founded in 2004 by David Levine. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, United States and originally focused on vegan food and the music community in and around New York City, ...
'', the album could not have been more "aptly named". The critic states that the album "reveals itself" with repeated listens and is a "finely crafted piece of work" and a "treat", despite that Tages never made it big outside of Sweden. In 2010, ''Rock & Roll'' magazine critic Martin Theander compared ''Studio'' with work from the Beatles, stating that both took inspiration from the same sources which lead him to call ''Studio'' "a Swedish ''Sgt. Pepper''". Despite this, Theander says that ''Studio'' has a place reserved right next to ''Odessey and Oracle'' rather than any Beatles album, while simultaneously believing Tages deserves the same cult status as the Zombies have. He says ''Studio'' should be listened to by "every pop musician" and considered their "holy heirloom". In 1997, the
Swedish Musicians' Union The Swedish Musicians' Union ( sv, Musikerförbundet, Musikerna) is a trade union representing musicians in Sweden. The union was founded on 19 December 1907 in Stockholm, with about 700 members. It grew very slowly until World War II, but thi ...
magazine ''Topp 40'' placed ''Studio'' at position 36 on a list of the best Swedish albums of all time. The music magazine ''Sonic'' placed it as number 35 on its list of the 100 best original Swedish albums, where it was the only one by a Swedish pop band of the 1960s.


Legacy

''Studio'' was the first release in a row of singles and albums by Tages with disastrous commercial but superb critical reception. After "Treat Her Like a Lady", most singles by the band were ignored by the major newspapers; the following single, " There's a Blind Man Playin' Fiddle in the Street" (1968) was their final charting release, reaching number 10 on ''Tio i Topp'' for a week in February 1968. Wrigholm says these failures were for the same reason ''Studio'' failed to sell: they were artistical highpoints which did not appeal to record buyers. Lead vocalist Blom became disillusioned with Tages as he was largely considered a secondary member by 1968, overshadowed by Lagerberg who by this point was the band's artistical driving force. Blom criticized Parlophone for their failure to promote ''Studio'' and the band's failure to crack the English music market. This culminated with him leaving the band in the summer of 1968 to focus on a solo career, leaving the rest of the band as a quartet. In retrospect, Blom argued that Tages should have recorded ''Studio'' a year later, when Sweden's Ministry of Culture began to support the recording of pop albums financially. After Blom's departure, Tages would do one final attempt at international success, after they recorded the similarly folk-inspired album ''The Lilac Years'' in London in 1969; for this release the band was renamed to Blond which made ''Studio'' the last album recorded under Tages' name. After the release, ''Studio'' fell into obscurity as the musical directions in Sweden changed into heavier rock and the political movement progg. In the 1980s, the album was spreading through word of mouth and became a cult album among fans of 1960s pop music in Sweden. With the renewed attention, it began to receive widespread acclaim and was seen as a major influence on folk-rock fusion. For their usage of Swedish folk musicians, Tages were seen as pioneers by many critics. ''Studio'' was not re-issued in full until 1994, when it was released on the CD ''Fantasy Island'', a part of the 3-CD box-set ''This One's for You!'', which collected all of Tages' recorded output. The first dedicated re-release of the album came in 1998 when it was re-mastered and issued on CD through
EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...
. This edition features bonus tracks, all of which were the A- and B-sides of Tages' 1968 singles. The same bonus tracks are present on the album's first international release in 2010 on RPM Records, at the initiative of Tyler. In 2015, ''Studio'' received its first vinyl re-issue for Record Store Day, released under the Parlophone brand as an exact replica of the 1967 LP. In 2017, Bear Family Records issued the album on vinyl, featuring a different layout compared to the original release.


Track listing

Writing credits adapted from original 1967 release. Track lengths and vocals according the liner notes of the 1998 re-issue of ''Studio.''


Personnel

Personnel according to the liner notes of the 1998 re-issue of ''Studio.'' Tages *
Tommy Blom Tommy Albert Blom (3 March 1947 – 25 May 2014) was a Swedish singer, songwriter and musician. He was a member of the band Tages in the 1960s. In the mid 1990s, he started hosting Vinyl 107. In 2008, he lost that job because "he was too old", but ...
lead vocals (4–6, 8, 11), rhythm guitar, percussion *
Göran Lagerberg Göran Bertil Lagerberg (; born 20 September 1947) is a Swedish musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist and co-lead vocalist in Swedish rock band Tages and later progressive rock act Kebnekajse. In the 1990s, he was a ...
lead vocals (1–3, 7, 9–11), harmony and backing vocals (2–3, 5, 7), bass guitar *
Danne Larsson Dan "Danne" Tage Bexér (né Larsson; born 11 January 1948) is a Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist and businessman who is best known for being the rhythm guitarist in the Swedish rock band Tages (band), Tages, and subsequently Blond, between 196 ...
rhythm guitar, piano (5), harmony and backing vocals (3, 5, 7–8, 11) * Anders Töpellead guitar, harmony and backing vocals (11) *Lasse Svenssondrums, percussion Production *Anders Henrikssonproducer, technician, lead vocals (6), harmony and backing vocals (2–3, 5, 7–8, 11), piano (6, 8–11),
organ (1–3, 9–10),
celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ( ...
(4, 8),
accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
(2, 12) * Ron Richardsco-producer (3, 10) Technicians *Björn Almstedt (1–2, 4–9, 11–12) *Ken Scott (3, 10) *Jeff Jarrat (3, 10) Other musicians * Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestraclassical string instruments (4–5, 12) * Lasse Samuelson's Orchestrabrass instruments (5, 7, 9, 12) * Skansen's Spelmanslagviolins, fiddles (1) *violin, fiddle (1, 7) *violin, fiddle (1, 7) *Janne Kling cornett (1, 7), crumhorn (7),
spilåpipa thumb The spilåpipa (or ''spelpipa'', ''spälapipa'', ''låtapipa'') is a type of fipple flute traditional in Sweden. It is traditionally from the pastoral/transhumant cultures of that country, though more widespread in the modern era. It is or ...
(7), flute (8–9, 12)


Notes and references

Notes References


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control 1967 albums Tages (band) albums Albums produced by Ron Richards (producer) Parlophone albums Psychedelic folk albums Folk rock albums by Swedish artists Psychedelic rock albums by Swedish artists Baroque pop albums