MADE IN SWEDEN - MADE IN ENGLAND - 1970

"Made In England", created by trio Made In Sweden, as well as all the band's three previous albums (except their second which featured a guest violinist in addition), has a very rich sound - as if there were four to six musicians performed on the album. While Made In Sweden prefers to sing in English and to play music that is typical for early British Progressive (exactly of the same 1970) and in which I don't hear any Swedish (at least Scandinavian) roots at all, I can still easily see that their music is all their own: it's as highly original as music of the majority of Rock bands at the time in general (let alone the progressive ones). Yes, talking of originality, I consider such a charisma as the main trump of any artist of any genre. It's obvious, however, even (the best manifestations of) pop-music demonstrate various forms of true originality. So, concerning Progressive, there are at least two more important points that artists of our genre need for their music to be of a high 'progressive' quality. I mean composition (including arrangements) and performance (including the musicianship). Listening to "Made In England" I find all those progressive 'ingredients' that are necessary to rate it as an excellent album. However, bearing in mind that "Made In England" was released at the very Dawn of Progressive, I have to admit that this is a bit more than just an excellent progressive album. There are no instrumental compositions on the fourth Made In Sweden work, but each of the eight songs featured on the album is filled with variegated vocal and instrumental arrangements. I've listened to the album already five times (though it arrived to me just three days ago) and still can't 'choose' which of the songs I like most. Probably, this case just indicates the band's stability, in other words the equal quality of the 'production' the band is able to offer the listener at the moment. The mastery of each of the trio is really amazing, and their joint instrumental work is especially impressive.

Summary.Of course, 1970 was already a year of such progressive monster-albums (read 'pure masterpieces') as "Jesus Christ Superstar", "H To He Who am the Only One" by Van Der Graaf (Generator), "Trespass" by Genesis", "Lizard" by King Crimson and self-titled by Emerson, Lake & Palmer. However, such albums as "Made In England" by Made In Sweden are not only some significant documents of the development of Progressive Rock. The music the band perform is so intriguing and interesting, it's so sincere, after all, that sounds incredibly refreshing even now - more than years after the album was released. All in all, "Made In England" is one of the best progressive albums of 1970.
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