V/A - Pop Job LP 1980

This was the first LP to be released on Klas Lundings legendary Stranded Rekords, a label that started out as a fanzine but eventually merged into a successful record-company (the peak being reached when the major label Polar bought the entire Stranded-roster). on this fine sampler we can hear four young bands (and one really bad one) in the start of their musical career. two of them would gain national fame and one would suceed all others and live on in the 21th century, its such a shame.
Lustans Lakejer started out as a mediocre new wave-band, as can be heard on this record with two very early songs. eventually they became pop-heroes and sold quite a lot of records, always with a kind of distance to everyday life, taking the new romantic movements dreams of a life in luxury and blending it with some james bond-style of dekadence. does it sound good? decide after youve heard the songs. johan kinde, the singer and lyricist in LL, have, i must say, one of the dullest voices ive ever heard (think of david sylvian/ferry meets a politician) AND he wrote (and still writes. the mans been writing a book now!) the worst lyrics of all time. at least from my point of view. LL is still around today, and even appeared in the swedish schlager-festival.
but putting Lustans Lakejer aside for a moment, the other bands are great. Kai Martin & Stick!, the other band that got some kind of fame and released four fantastic records, also just started out as a band and the tracks here lacks some of the great majestic nature of what they would perform later on. still, theres some excellent ska-pop in them.
Schnabel which youve heard from my previous posts appears here with two equally fantastic songs. a bit darker than their singles, possibly a hint of what would come next in their evolution.
N-Liners came from Uppsala (Kai martin were from Gothenburg, the others from Stockholm) and released one single in 78 but at that point they played punk-pop. for this release they have matured into a great jerky organ-driven fast-paced pop-band much alike that of say, XTC! its a shame they didnt release any more stuff than this one and two more tracks on another compilation.
finally Studio Sex, the worst of these bands. ive never liked their two mod-rock bits and i doubt that i ever will. despite some low marks though, this is a great compilation of the swedish new wave. enjoy!
SÅ LÄNGE DET FINNS LIV FINNS DET HOPP