bob hund
Jag rear ut min själ! Allt skall bort!!!
Silence

It seems like bob hund has done it again: released another solid piece of music. The Swedes has gained quite a following of devoted fans in Norway over the years, charmed to death by their happy-faced, powerful, new-waveish pop'n'roll. bob hund is simply the band it's impossible to dislike. I'm not a big fan of the word "cozy", but speaking of bob hund this word gets a "revitalized", more positive meaning. They radiate warmth, goodness, and hilarity. Their songs can be compared to how it was when you as a kid unwrapped your X-mas presents.

Jag rear ut min själ! Allt skall bort!!! (My soul is for sale! Everything must go!!) is bob hund's 3rd full-length album. It's been two years since their last album, but it was in 1997 they really convinced me with an absolutely awesome version of Pere Ubu's Final Solution, brilliantly converted into Swedish as Ett fall & en lösning. And, this is maybe their strongest force - their excellent lyrics. Exciting, touching, entertaining. You name it! Anyway, Jag rear ut... starts with a instrumental track, bob hunds 115:e dröm (bob hund's 115th Dream), a "James Bond"-sounding tune. A track that is related to the closing track, bob hunds 115:e sång (bob hund's 115th Song), and explained by vocalist Thomas to be influenced by Neil Young in the way of constructing, or arranging the song. And, yes, you can even hear Mr. Young in the singing and guitar playing as well.

Tralala lilla molntuss, kom hit skall du få en puss! (La-la-la little cloud, come here and I'll kiss you! - damn those long titles...) is the album's most catchy song. Up-tempo and energetic, almost Pixies-styled, with vocals up front, surf-guitars, and beachy harmonies. I mentioned new-wave as a reference earlier, which means bob hund sounds inspired by music from ca. 1980. Names like Magazine (the sound of the keyboards, the guitars, and maybe the singing), the younger David Byrne in the early days of Talking Heads (spasmodic vocals, being everywhere, both physically as well as mentally), and of course Pere Ubu (vocals and the cunning guitar experiments) comes to mind. Especially the song Raketmaskinen (Rocket Machine) sounds very Ubuesque, and that's a compliment.

Together with the songs already mentioned, I'd like to hail the fine title-track and Nu är det väl revolution på gång? (Shouldn't there be a revolution on right now? - or something like that...) as the most shiny songs on an album that sure has some weaker moments as well. But, that's just me being Mr. Sour-puss. And for all you out there not understanding a word of any of the Nordic languages: bob hund is planning to go "international", which means: in English. Watch out for Bergman Rock later this year!

Copyright © 1999 Håvard Oppøyen