Bo Hansson - Sagan Om Ringen (Lord Of The Rings) (1970)

Bo Hansson is a Swedish musician, most known for his 1972 concept album. 'Music Inspired By Lord Of The Rings, but before that album he had worked as one half of the duo Hansson & Karlsson. The duo were relatively well known in their native Sweden and between 1967 and 1969 they released a series of well received albums, all of which are worth checking out , but by early 1969 Janne Karlsson had embarked upon a successful career as a television presenter and comedian, resulting in the breakup of the duo. At around the same time, Hansson became fascinated with the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, and in particular 'The Lord Of The Rings', after being introduced to the book by a girlfriend. Hansson moved into a friend's apartment and began working on a musical interpretation of the book, and then approached sound engineer and founder of Silence Records, Anders Lind, with the idea of recording an album based on the book. Lind was encouraged by Hansson's demos and agreed to release the album on Silence. However, the fledgling record company could not afford the expensive recording studio time needed to realise the production of the album, and so a small summer house on the remote island of Älgö was converted into a makeshift recording studio, and throughout late 1969, Hansson and Lind worked on the album with the help of a handful of session musicians and friends. They then relocated to Studio Decibel in Stockholm to complete the album in early 1970, with Hansson's original ideas of including a string section and other exotic instruments having to be replaced by primitive electronic keyboards and Moog synthesizers due to lack of finances. 

The album was released in Sweden by Silence Records in December 1970 under the title 'Sagan Om Tingen', and it enjoyed modest commercial success in its native country, leading Hansson to compose additional material based on Tolkien's book. News of the album's success and popularity in Sweden travelled to England and as a result, it was licensed to Tony Stratton Smith's Charisma Records in 1972, although Hansson and Charisma were forced to give the album the augmented title of 'Music Inspired By Lord Of The Rings', at the insistence of Tolkien and his publishers Allen & Unwin. Tolkien's publishers also had a hand in determining the musical content of the album, insisting that it remain completely instrumental, and so the retitled album was released in September 1972, housed in a new cover, and including two extra tracks. It was a huge success in the UK, with the strange other-worldly music and Tolkienesque subject matter proving popular during the early 1970's, a time when interest in Tolkien's writings among college students was at an all-time high. The album peaked at number 34 on the UK Album Chart in November 1972, and is still considered a classic of the progressive rock genre. My only criticism of it is that it was quite a short album, at just over 35 minutes, and so when it was re-issued an extra track was added, which consisted of early demos of the first three tracks, titled 'Early Sketches From Middle Earth'. These were significantly different from the finished versions, and so I thought it would be interesting to use a couple of these slower-paced, alternate takes, (I felt that 'The Old Forest' needed to be the faster version), and also try to extend the three shorter tracks, which resulted in an album just shy of 40 minutes. As I imagine that most people who own this already would probably have the 1972 UK re-issue, I've used the original 1970 album cover, with Hansson's name added for this post, and although it's not massively different from the original, there are enough changes to make it worth at least one listen.  

Track listing

01 Leaving Shire (Första vandringen) 
02 The Old Forest (Tom Bombadil) (Den gamla skogen/Tom Bombadil) 
03 Fog On The Barrow-Downs (I Skuggornas rike)
04 The Black Riders (Flight To The Ford) (De svarta ryttarna/Flykten till vadstället)
05 At the House Of Elrond (The Ring Goes South) (I Elronds hus/Ringen vandrar söderut)
06 A Journey In The Dark (En vandring i mörker)
07 Lothlórien
08 Shadowfax (Skuggfaxe)
09 The Horns Of Rohan (Battle Of The Pelennor Fields) (Rohans horn/Slaget på Pelennors slätter)

10 Dreams In The House Of Healing (Drömmar i Läkandets hus)
11 Homeward Bound (The Scouring Of The Shire) (Hemfärden/Fylke rensas)
12 The Grey Havens (De grå hamnarna)