Kaada
Thank You For Giving Me Your Valuable Time
EMI

Kaada is Cloroform-head (totally numb...?) John Erik Kaada, who signed to EMI for his solo debut. Cloroform gained massive press for their albums and especially their blistering shows, and Kaada (behind the keyboards) was the creative boss of the trio. The title Thank You For Giving Me Your Valuable Time is kind of, well, a salesman trying to impress and convince us consumers to go for it. Probably with a laugh.

When Cloroform played in New York City last year they met the Harlem Gospel Choir whose Allan Steed contribute vocals to many of the tracks on the album. Kaada plays most instruments himself, but his Cloroform buddies Øyvind Storesund (bass, guitar) and Børge Fjordheim (drums) can also be heard, along with other guest musicians. Kaada is an artist in love with samples, and Thank You For... is a wild cut'n'paste mixture which blends elements from many genres and styles of pop from (according to Mr. Kaada himself) the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, and the 70s. Maybe with the majority of songs dominated by 50s and early 60s 'stuff'. Opening track Care (which was the theme from the Norwegian feature film Mongoland) is back to the 1950s rock (Grease style...), including sampled vocals taken from I'm So Glad You Love Me, Juanita Rogers with Mr. V's Five Joys. Right. Tongue in check. A corny piece. Say no more. The single Black California is a macho, stomping piece of music, while Burden is one of my favorites. Plain and soulish. My other fave is the title track, simply because of its catchy-ness. Otherwise most of the album holds too much kitchy-ness, I'm afraid. I had great expectations, and must admit to be a bit disappointed.

Thank You For Giving Me Your Valuable Time is playful and adventourus, but I don't think all the samples (less is more...) is working well all the way throughout the album, and I sometimes get the feeling of an record running on empty. Nevertheless, the record is colorful and different. And, it's legal to experiment. I still miss Cloroform's off-track, yet controlled anarchy, though.

Copyright © 2001 Högda