"I drive around in my Cadillac car, I'm just a'lookin' like a moviestar"
(that's not a pretty representative phrase, though!)
- URBAN TURBAN
- CODES OF LOVE
Well, as you might have guessed, Urban Turban is a Swedish band, concentrated to Peter Bryngelsson, who sings and plays a huge bunch of different (weird) instruments. He formed Urban Turban with the purpose to play blues covers on weird instruments, and he eventually put a lot of Swedish folk into the songs as well. The "weird instruments" inculdes a lot of Arabic instruments as well - dangit, why is it impossible for me to remember those instruments' names? - and so I suppose that this album can be looked upon as a mix of three different cultures.
The band was at first looked upon as some sort of a temporary and unserious collaboration between some more or less well-known musicians, and well, it eventually was, but the band has actually existed for some time now, and with some three strong albums behind them, they have probably became pretty accepted. Their second effort, Overtime, has actually been distributed quite all over the world, and I warmly recommend it for those who think they would like to hear something original, even if I haven't heard it myself.>
The album opens with a fun version of "Rollin' And Tumblin'", which has a newly added repetive violin line, some bongos or congas or whatever, a bagpipe and some other funny things. It's quite sped up, I think, and VERY funny! This Bryngelsson guy has a harsh, bluesy voice too, not far from Howlin' Wolf's or Captain Beefhearts, and he sounds very good singing the blues.
"Knock On Wood (Immigrantlament)" has still its original melody, but the instrumentation and accompaniment is almost wholly replaced with a lot of that Arabic instrument and a violin, and there's also some Laplandic vocals. As a whole, it's a smooth-going, almost unstoppable music machine where everything is played in perfect harmony. Heck, it's dang fun hearing these old blues classics being converted to folk, but it is still very professional. Very professional, actually - this is not a parodic album!
"Voodoo Chile (Bergspolka)" is, as I suppose you
know, a Jimi hendrix tune, but now mixed up with a lot of Swedish folk. That
polka part of it is fun! There's also some pretty heavy guitars and a "serious"
guitar solo, in case the listener would want something like that. That heavy
guitar makes the song whole in some way; it fills up the verses most ultimately,
I think. A must for hendrix-lovers, if anything!
"Wang Dang Doodle (Rävparty)" is now built upon a steady rollin' bass/marimba
(or whatever) background, accompanying Bryngelsson's Chester Burnett-ish vocals
(heck, it could have been The Wolf himself!) and some cool saxes are added to
the choruses. It sounds amazing! The "Rävparty" part of the song is
pretty cool, too, with some awesome saxes. When the song moves over into "Wang
Dang Doodle" again is the chorus pretty mightily sung by a whole choir.
How come that no one have evr tried this guy's formula before? This sounds good
in every sense of the word, if not even excellent!
"Let's Work Together" is a darkly tuned version of Harrison's old classic, with a creepy guitar line in the background. The choruses are pretty scary, and as a whole, it's actually a pretty scary piece, with lots of Arabic harmonies.
"Punklira" is an instrumental tune containing almost every instrument ever created, or so it sems at least. It hasn't got much of a melody, but it's still, er, um, well - awesome. Cool. Weird. Whatever.
"That's All Right Mama (OK Mamma)" is again an old blues classic with a lot of Swedish folk, but also a bagpipe mixed into it, and a loud drum section. And this Bryngelsson must be some sort of a second Howlin' Wolf! For you who don't know how The Wolf sounds, well, he sounds almost like Freddie Wadling, but somewhat harsher, and this explanation only works for Swedish readers. Nevermind, it's a godawesome tune.
"300 Pounds Of Joy" is, just as "Wang Dang Doodle", originally a Howlin' Wolf tune, though written by Willie Dixon, and it's one of my favorites by him. This time there's a lot of Arabic instruments and weird percussives, though, and for the first time I've been able to hear that the singer actually sings "this is it, this is it", not only mumbles something. Bryngelsson still sounds like Howlin' Wolf, though.
"Folsom Prison Blues" opens on a weird note, sounds like something coming from a late Canterbury band, but the rest of the song has a much more "sane" touch. Again, there's a lot of Arabic instruments and movements, and again, the vocals are really bluesy. The jam parts rule. Heh, think I'd better get deeper into Arabic culture...I suddenly fell in love with these instruments' sound! The song is a cool tune with lots of resonance, in the case you haven't heard Johnny Cash's original version.
Everybody should've heard "Hoochie Coochie Man", though, especially in this Urban Turban version! Is it an accordion or what is it which fills up the background? Anyways, Peter Bryngelsson sounds somewhat more Freddie Wadling-like this time, with some disgusting howls. There's an almighty guitar, too - heck, everything's almighty! I'd better finish this review before I actually upgrade the 13 to a 14! This one is for the bluesy or folky public indeed, and since I'm a part of both, I love this album! And - it's innovative! Innovative in 1994, playing covers! Imagine that!
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?
It took me some time, but here I am. Actually, it was the same thing with this album as with lots of other records I first dislike – I changed my mind when I started the review. Anybody who writes reviews might have felt this as well. It feels strange. How am I gonna rate it now? Duh.
Well, one of the main differences is that the 13-man band is gone. Left are Peter Bryngelsson (uh, cümbüz, bozouki, kantoloud, slide and keyboards. And vocals.), Mikael Svanevik (drums, darbouka, keyboards. And vocals.), Najraoui Abdelghani (percussion. And vocals.), Ulla Wrethagen (stick and, you guessed it, vocals) and Pelle Bolander on violin. Violin only, actually. Co-musicians are Zya Aytekin (ney, zurna) and Bobby Ringström (electric base). Lol, that’s seven instruments which I don’t have an idea about what they look like!
The other difference is that the covers of old classics are gone, just as well as the blues has gotten into the background, sort of. It’s more of Arabic pop or something now. Well, that’s all okay, I would’ve grown weary of the blues covers if they released another album in the bluesy genre. But again, here I am, with a record of songs written by the band, a neat mix of Arabic stuff and pop, and from time to time blues, and even old art/prog rock is represented. Oh, I think you’ve got it already, but it will probably take a few times before you get into it. Really into it, at least – this their music can be a little hard to swallow, at least on this album. I mean, on the earlier albums, you had heard all the songs already, and got impressed by the cool arrangements at once. That doesn’t mean that it’s a hard listening, though!
Well, the album opens with a little mood-setter, “Catch Up”, which moves over into the title track after barely a minute or so. “Codes Of Love”, then, has a groovy bass line, and if this was an “average” rock tune, it would have a guitar playing what the, um, Arabic instrument plays here. That’s cool. It proves that guitars are unnecessary. (that was sort of directed to Daniel. Guitars DO rule.)
“Killing After Math” is a slow ballad, with a pretty dull vocal melody. The vocals are pretty dull as well. A pretty dull tune, though a little 5-second section somewhere within rocks. But, in overall, I think the song could be played at double speed, and be twice as good only because of that.
“Everything Goes” has a really non-folky bass line, more like Kinks or any white 60’s r&b act. There’s some of those weirder instruments, including violin (!), which adds that Urban Turban-touch to the song. And, the violin solo, with the darker atmosphere than the rest of the song, sounds like something out of For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night by Caravan! Cool or what! Oh, there’s this quite poppy vocal melody too. Great tune.
“Sad” has a clumsy title. Call it “A Lonely Walk In The Woods” or something instead. But, song titles being put aside, it is a moody, mellow ballad with a pretty big number of solos with instruments I just can’t identify. But, weird instruments are cool. And, there seems to be a mellotron in the background, though it might be a simple synth. Mellotrons are cool too.
“Beautiful Eyes” is another poppy tune with various contributions from the “weirder” musicians. Well, honestly, Ulla Wrethagen’s voice sounds better with a band surrounding it, the vocals/base-interplay verses, well, um, doesn’t sound as good as the pretty loud choruses, OK? That’s only a minor problem, though. Nothing for anybody to get hung up upon, other than me, maybe.
“My House” opens with some sounds of a creaky bridge or something. Other than that, it has a really strong chorus, with some neat harmonies and so, and the violin has an important line in the background. And, as a whole now, it sounds like a cross between US southern stuff, blues and hillbilly or something, Arabic music (of course!) and Swedish mentality. Really, really strong challenger to being the best song on the album. And Najraoui Abdelghani sounds cool with his vocal lines.
“Aren’t You Too Aggressive Now” sounds like a song out of Disney’s version of Aladdin or something, almost a purely Arabic sounding tune but with a pretty accessible melody. Again, this Najraoui guy has a cool voice, I dig those Arab wailings!
“Turn My Head Around” is a slow blues tune, which would’ve been another “All Your Love” or any other slow blues, if it wasn’t for the weird instrumentation. Wrethagen’s voice sounds much cooler here, maybe because she wrote the song herself. The rest of the songs were all written by either Peter Bryngelsson or Mikael Svanevik, but this tune makes me hoping that she will write more songs on the next album!
“Epic Love” has some weird instrument playing a heavy line. I guess this really rocks. At least I’ve never heard any Arabic instrument sound this heavy before. Well, it doesn’t really have to be Arabic, but I THINK so. Well, there’s a slow but intriguing violin melody, and, well, everything is cool. A darn cool instrumental, really. And heavy. Cool.
“Wrong Door Right Door” suddenly reminds me of what’s the difference between this album and the earlier – before, the main melodies were all of Arabic harmonies. This time, the harmonies are Western, but with oriental instruments playing them. Whether that’s bad or good or nothing I really can’t decide, though. It just doesn’t matter too much. Well, about the song now, I guess you’ve guessed it; it’s more like before. Oriental harmonies. It’s probably a live performance, or at least there’s some audience at the beginning. Well, who cares. It’s cool and it rules.
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