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Sunday, April 7, 2013

Rain - Norsk Suite (1969 norway, elegant art psych with early prog touches, 2012 Shadoks issue)



Norway's most well kept secret has been betrayed and solved! This great band has only released a very rare 45rpm EP, which was the soundtrack for the Norwegian movie 'Rivalen'. 

Very much like Frank Zappa and The Mothers, RAIN's complex compositions were based on the skills of modern classic composers such as Varèse and Strawinsky. As a strong influence they've mentioned Vanilla Fudge. The album features 10 excellent tracks with horns and orchestral arrangement, great fuzz guitar, Hammond organ and amazing vocals. 

This Norwegian rock band had the strong urge to exceed limits, both musically and technically. Rain's members were Carl Jurgen Kionig (drums), Knut Heljar Hagen (organ, piano, vocals, bass) and Asmund Feidje (guitar, violin, vocals, bass). 

Album was recorded in 1969-'70. Besides 7 own compositions they played mind blowing versions of 'A Day In The Life', 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Isolation'. Their very complex and difficult arrangements required a lot of practice, but the band managed to turn their concerts into a total experience with a spectacular psychedelic light-show and experiments with "surround" sound. 


Tracks
1. A Day In The Life (Lennon, McCartney) - 4:51
2. Whine And Wail (Hagen, Feidje, Kionig) - 5:25
3. Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon, McCartney) - 5:17
4. Norsk Suite (Kionig) - 6:08
5. Join The City War (Kl. Hagerup, Hagen, Feidje, Kionig) - 4:07
6. Ikke Vær Redd Far (Hagerup, Hagen, Feidje, Kionig) - 4:38
7. Have You Seen Your Father's Face (Hagerup, Hagen, Feidje, Kionig) - 3:59
8. Svein's Vise (Hagen, Feidje, Kionig) - 8:26
9. Isolation (Lennon) - 2:49
10.Siste Ordre (D. Hare, T. Bical, N. Bical, Kionig) - 5:54
11.Tapha (Bonus Track) (Hagen, Feidje, Kionig) - 21:03

Rain
*Åsmund Feidje - Vocals, Guitar, Violin
*Knut Heljar Hagen - Vocals, Piano, Organ
*Carl Jorgen Kionig - Drums

Free Text

23 comments:

  1. very interesting thankss for the up.......k.c.

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  2. Δισκαρα εξαιρετικο. Excellent disc

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  3. Very good. thankx a lot.

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  4. Norwegian band that starts with cues from Revolver-era Beatles,of both original songs and covers of Beatles / Lennon songs "A Day in the Life," "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Isolation", but gets way out with funk moves, heavy bass,along an organ, prepared piano free-for-alls, crazed yelling with distorted stabs of guitar that switches into angelic choirs,but the variety & subtlety here still pretty impressive.

    Altogether, this has been a very interesting album, and although the content of course is somewhat inconsistent, it gives a picture of a band of skilled musicians who also had great willingness to experiment. It's no exaggeration to say that if Rain had worked out an album of its time with some content here, it would Rain written into the Norwegian rock history to a far greater extent.

    @Laurent & Marios...Thanks a lot

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  5. Very good indeed!

    Rich
    www.aftersabbath.com

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  6. Fantastic. I've liked this a lot. Thank you very much!!!

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  7. I am intrigued... Lovely album! Thanks.

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  8. A very fantastic surprise again in this site. Excellente. Thank you very much.

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  9. I don't like the whole album,but there are some fantastic track,which made the album awesome.Many thanks for this rarity...

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  10. Links don't works. My connexion problem maybe?

    ~Senhor X~

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  11. Very very good. Thanks a lot for all.

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  12. Thanks a lot Marios and Laurent !!

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  13. Great post, great blog. Thankx.

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  14. Que gran descubrimiento. Muchas gracias por todo. Este blog es la polla en vinagre.

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  15. εψαχνα το Rain του 1972 το γκρουπ απο τη Φιλαδελφεια και επεσα τελικα πανω σε αυτο.Εξαιρετικο

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  16. Thank you Nikos Kazantzakis for rarities! Your blog are the best! Merry Christmas!

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  17. Good day! Unfortunately the links are unavailable. Could you make a repost? Thank you!

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  18. Anonymous, "Rain - Norsk Suite", updated...

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