If you think this is what this is about, you are wrong. DEAD WRONG.

Track list

1. Plastic Svensson
2. Morgondimman
3. Verkligheten
4. Betygsterror
5. Den Vita Snön
6. Miljöförstöring
7. Värderingar Om Skolan
8. Balladen Om Fyristorg
9. The Spoon

Genre

Prog, blues, rock

Release

1977

Label

???

Background Information

There’s not much to say except mention again that this is NOT about Lord of the Ring, although the band name is certainly relative to Tolkien. I can’t be sure the songs speak about the Middle Earth universe or not either, due to SWEDISH. The only song I can understand talks about spoons, which, I assume, are not purely restricted to Tolkien books.

On a more serious note, Gandalf is a band from the late 70s, who released their eponym in 1977. There is not much else I can know about them, their fan base seems to be really restrictive, and the band is [unsurprisingly] not really popular today. I guess their strategy to steal the band name and album name of another artist didn’t even help them.

My Opinion

Right at the first track, there is a thing you are sure of: this certainly doesn’t sound like The Lord of the Ring’s soundtrack! This old Swedish record got a pretty bad recording quality and has thew typical rock n’ roll vibe all over it. While Plastic Svensson has a good composition, the song itself and the arrangement are nothing to phone home about. I must say it’s been a while since I didn’t feel like giving an album its chance when it’s old stuff like that, but I had serious doubts about it.

Fortunately, Morgondimman began in a tone I like more, a bit like Gandalf is Camel’s old uncle (except Camel were there before). It’s far less aggressive, more balanced. It has flute, which I guess has to be expected when you consider listening to instrumental music probably deriving from the Tolkien world.

The tracks that follow (Verkligheten, Betygsterror, Balladen Om Fyristorg) are nothing too impressive, nothing sounding bad. Gandalf was probably an alright record for its time, but I guess what remains popular has something special, and Gandalf did not have it. The songs do have interesting points, but to me it sounds like the band is just trying to find which way to go and can’t decide.

Maybe it’s the fact there were too many influences, or that Gandalf came in when prog music began falling down, but it’s hard to spot a piece I’ll like from beginning to end. Miljöförstöring could be the worst offender in this category: you even get surf rock there! Some bands and artists can get this kind of shit right (same goes for genre transitions), but Gandalf fails pretty hard.

At least, the ending track, The Spoon, is actually good. A bluesy song, the only one in English, and the tone is relatively different from everything else on the record. This may be the only song worth it on the album.

Conclusion

Meh. Gandalf is not bad, but it’s not good either. Well, it doesn’t compare with this chocolate bar that kid got me to buy 15 minutes ago for some school activity. This is your run of the mill progressive rock derivative. It wasn’t known enough to have 2 other bands taking the same name through history (another progressive artist, and a hard rock band in the late 90s). I’d advise not to bother with the album, unless you’re really intrigued or want to give an ear to The Spoon.

Links in Comments

Category: Reviews