November, En Ny Tid Är Här… (1970)

Eons from now, when rock archaeologists — rockaeologists? — unearth the ruins of our civilization in search of righteous tunes, some lucky muck will dust off a copy of November‘s 1970 debut, En Ny Tid Är Här…, and wind up crediting them with inventing heavy groove itself. They didn’t, of course, but there’s little doubt the Stockholm outfit were ahead of the curve in the post-hippie, post-psych movement of what was coming next in guitar-led fare. Informed by the blues much as were Cream, Sabbath, Hendrix, Zeppelin and Purple before them, November nonetheless preceded an entire wave of bands in taking the rock-via-blues licks and beefing them up with significant thrust of tone and rhythmic nod, so that songs like “En Annan Värld” and “Sekunder (Fövandlas Till År)” didn’t just shuffle, they nodded. Bands like Atomic Rooster and Bloodrock were still about a year off from figuring this out, but soon enough there would be an explosion of heavy rock and roll in their wake, and November — who released En Ny Tid Är Här… in the summer of ’70 with leadoff track “Mount Everest” as a single — seem to have got in just under the wire as an early adopter of the style.

Maybe that’s no less a narrative than someone saying they invented the whole thing, but at least it’s more realistic. November formed in 1969 with the lineup of bassist/vocalist Christer Stålbrandt, drummer/vocalist Björn Inge and guitarist Rickard Rolf, coming together around various other incarnations from Stålbrandt and Inge, and during their time together, they’d offer three full-lengths, gradually becoming more progressive over time. One might then think of the bounce in “Varje Gång Jag Ser Dej Känns Det Lika Skönt” as formative, but if that’s the case, the freshness of its energy remains steady even these 47 years later. Ditto that for the stomping “Gröna Blad,” which seems in direct conversation instrumentally with Leaf Hound‘s “Growers of Mushroom” — until one considers that it would be another year before that track and album surfaced from the British band. In terms of that conversation, however, it’s worth noting the use by November of Swedish-language lyrics and titles throughout the record. The notion of mass-marketing a project through the adoption of singing in English is something bands still grapple with, and while November are certainly well remembered thanks in part to reissues of En Ny Tid Är Här… both legitimate and bootleg, one can’t help but wonder if their legend would be even more widespread if they’d called the album A New Time is Here… instead.

Whatever the rockaeologists ultimately decide on that one, En Ny Tid Är Här… stands among the stronger offerings of its era in English or any language. In 1971, it would be followed by 2:a November and in 1972 by 6:e November, rounding out a trilogy of releases after which the group had run its course, members moving on to different projects in progressive rock and jazz. They’d get back together in the early ’90s and release a live album in 1993 via Mellotronen Records that was recorded in 1971, and have played periodic reunion shows since 2007, but they have remained underrated even among their entirely underrated epoch, and particularly En Ny Tid Är Här… seems ripe for a revisit, whether that’s through a deluxe vinyl reissue, new album from the band, whatever it might be. Some stuff is just too good to leave alone.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for listening and reading.

—

Well, today’s it. My last day at work. For the last year, I’ve been employed on a contract basis for Hasbro and that contract has expired. I was hoping said contract would get picked up for full-time employment, but I suck and am awful at everything and am too weird and off-putting as a human being for that to happen, apparently. People here have been nice enough about it, but yeah. I pretty much blew this one. Story of my professional life, to some degree or other.

On the right is a picture of one of my few cubicle decorations: a wall scroll for Final Fantasy VIII that I bought at the comic book store Pegasus Enterprises in Boonton, NJ (since closed), around the time the game came out. I was in high school, working at KB Toys #1051 in Morris Plains, and I also bought myself a new television for the sole purpose of playing that game on it. I still like Final Fantasy IV best of the bunch — VI or VII are the wider consensus picks; they’re both great — but VIII was a special time. 1999 had its ups and downs, I suppose.

Anyway, I don’t get to hang that thing up at home, so after I took that picture I rolled it up and it’s in the closet upstairs at home, already tucked away until who knows when. Bye Hasbro. The last thing to be taken out of the cube was the box of protein bars that I’ve been rotating through for lunch for the last however long and my water bottle. I met my replacement yesterday and I’m sure she’ll be better at this job than I was. I don’t know if she runs a music blog on the side. Somehow it didn’t come up. Ha.

If you know of anyone who needs a freelance editor or writer, I’m available.

Just not really for the next two weeks. Starting today, The Patient Mrs. (and thus the Pecan), the Little Dog Dio and I are hitting the road. The trajectory is Maryland this weekend for a family wedding. That’s Saturday. Sunday, we (minus the dog) are going to an Orioles game, and hanging out on Monday before heading to North Carolina on Tuesday to see my father. In North Carolina from Tuesday through Thursday, then back north. Stopping in Maryland again for Thursday night because seven hours of driving is enough for one day. Might hang in MD for the early part of Friday, but it’s really just a stop-over (I do feel guilty for missing Maryland Doom Fest), because up in Jersey my family will be celebrating my grandmother’s 102nd birthday. She’s the oldest lady. Very old. So you show up. That’s what you do. After that, next Saturday, we’ll hang out in NJ and see friends, then bring my mother back north probably to CT for the night and then eventually back up to Massachusetts to spend a week hanging out and doing baby-prep stuff.

It’s a lot of trip, but I’m looking forward to it. I haven’t been to New Jersey since Xmas and there’s a part of me that I suspect will always think of it as home, so yeah. Will be tiring, but good. I enjoy writing on the road as well and hope to hit a record shop or two along the way.

And in the meantime, the notes for next week are of course packed. Here’s what’s in store, subject to change:

Mon.: Mouth album stream/review; Skraeckoedlan announcement/video debut.
Tue.: Abronia album stream/review; new Sons of Morpheus video.
Wed.: Serpents of Secrecy track(s) premiere; Pyreship video premiere.
Thu.: Streaming the Burnout split from Tee Pee Records; Six Dumb Questions with Esben from Monolord.
Fri.: Greenbeard album stream/review.

Like I said. Jammed. The week after was supposed to be the Quarterly Review, but I’ve decided to push it back to the week after. That’s the 4th of July here in the States, but whatever. Maybe I’ll make that day all European bands or something just for fun. Most of that is planned out, but I figure with being on the road and the above-noted posts, plus any of a given day’s news that comes along, I’ll have plenty enough happening without worrying about gathering images and putting together the back end of those posts — let alone writing them — which is always time consuming.

But anyway, adventure begins. I hope you have a great and safe weekend. If you’re on the I-95 or I-81 corridors, I’ll see you there, and if you know of any record stores I should hit in Asheville, North Carolina, please let me know, as I’m thinking we might make a quick run over that way in the middle of next week, since I have fond memories of when I was there in 2009.

And while I’m asking for favors, please check out the forum and radio stream. Thanks for reading and listening.

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