Henriksson: “Well, it worked. George Martin thought it was a well-produced album and hired me for his company Air Productions on 108 Park Street. I stayed there for two years and worked with acts like Procol Harum, The Hollies and various Cook/Greenaway jobs. For instance, I did the arrangements for ‘My Baby Loves Lovin’’ by White Plains, which was one of their many groups. During my stay at Air I also produced the Quatermass album and have continued to work with John Gustafson and Peter Robinson of that band for several other projects.”


Most of The Lilac Years was comprised of solid original compositions. Only two songs came from outside sources. The title track was an English version of the old Swedish folk song ‘De Sålde Sina Hemman’ with new words by Kathe Green, the other was written by noted UK arranger John Cameron. Henrikson explains, “John was a really good pianist and sat down and played me his song ‘Flowers In The Morning’. We arranged it together. I then played our version for George Martin and he decided to record it with Cilla Black but changed the title to ‘If I Thought You’d Ever Change Your Mind’.


“I’ve always liked that song and have since recorded it with other artists. In 2004, Agnetha Fältskog of ABBA used it as the lead off single for her comeback. I didn’t produce that one but we once did the song as a duet with me on the piano at this music industry event.” Even Kathe Green recorded the song on her ’69 Deram album Run The Length Of Your Wildness, again with Cameron arranging.


Svensson: “I didn’t stay on for the mixing sessions but instead went back to Sweden. I was at this Stockholm nightclub when I got an urgent phone call. They were one song short and insisted I’d return the very next day. I felt really important flying back to London just to record one more track [laughs]. Of course, this wouldn’t have been possible without the big advance Richard got for us. The song in question was ‘Caroline’. That was a weird one! It went on forever. Nice and heavy, though.”


The Lilac Years was to be released in several different countries across the world and the decision was made to change the band’s name. Henriksson: “We didn’t want to change. It was Richard Reese-Edwards who pushed for that.” Svensson: “He figured Tages didn’t work abroad. So we went for Blond instead. Much later, in ’97, this boy band named Blond represented Sweden in The Eurovision Song Contest. I knew one of the guys and sent him a text message, ‘You fuckers! You stole our name!’ [laughs]”


‘I Wake Up And Call’ was released in July as a taster for the album and the re-christened Blond went across Europe to promote it. Lagerberg: “We did this TV show, I think it was in Germany. Afterwards at the hotel, our lead guitarist Anders Töpel told me he’d do the military service – the authorities had been on him for several years – and quit the music business. He cried and we hugged. Then just a week or so later our other


“Clothes were always very important for us. We had suede suits made all in different colours. We wore them for a photo session in Carnaby Street and suddenly all these boutique owners came running out of their shops going, ‘What’s this? Who made these? Where can we get them?’”


of the American version of the album”.


Henriksson: “Anders Nordh wanted to play more complicated music and formed the trio Life instead. I produced their album and used him for various projects. Then, all of a sudden, he sold everything he owned and moved to Malaysia to become a diving instructor [laughs].” Lagerberg: “Björn Töpel came in instead of Nordh, so both our guitarists were now named Björn. He was Anders Töpel’s younger brother and had been our roadie for a number of years, often helping out with harmony vocals from behind the mixing desk in live concerts. We also added Mats Landahl on organ.”


The Lilac Years was finally released in October ’69. The reviews were good but it wasn’t the international hit everyone had hoped for. Nor was it the same band anymore. A bonus video included on the CD version of The Lilac Years shows just how


After being together for almost a year, this new Blond line-up finally appeared on vinyl in August ’70 with the single ‘Lost Child’, written by Björn Linder and Adrian Moar. It didn’t sell and proved to be the band’s swansong. Lagerberg: “We decided to pack it in after returning from Norway in the spring of ’71. Our tour bus dropped Björn Linder off at a crossroads. As we were leaving, I saw him standing there with his guitar case, trying to hitch hike home. It was quite romantic to watch. Should have taken a photo of it.”


Thus ended the story of one of the greatest Swedish bands ever. All in all, they made little or no impact on the British and American music scenes but they certainly paved the way for ABBA and a host of other Swedish bands reaping the benefit of Tages/Blond’s hard-earned lessons in the years to come.


35


guitarist, Danne Larsson, also decided to pack it in for much the same reasons.


“Me and Lasse wanted to carry on and brought in two new guitarists. Björn Linder was an old mate of mine. He’d previously been in the groups Palmes & The Shakers. Anders Nordh had already played on The Lilac Years. His band King George Discovery was also in London recording an album that is still unreleased. Anyway, he came down and played the lead on ‘Six White Horses’. Nordh wasn’t in the band for long. He never played any gigs with us but he is on the cover


different the new line-up sounded. This was footage from a Swedish TV show and included covers of The Band’s ‘The Weight’ and ‘My Days Are Numbered’ by Blood, Sweat & Tears.


In late ’69, Blond found themselves in strange surroundings: the making of the soft-porn movie The Seduction Of Inga, which starred their old band mate Tommy Blom as a rock star. Ironically, Blond was cast as his backing group. In one scene they mimed to a recording of ‘She’s My Kind Of Girl’, made by future ABBA stars Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, who wrote most of the music for the film. The movie wasn’t released until ’71 and two years later the same version of the song appeared on the international version of ABBA’s first album Ring Ring.


Although their participation in The Seduction Of Inga didn’t do them much good, Blond almost got a break in America in ’70. Svensson: “Man, it was so bloody close!” Henriksson agrees, “So bloody close it’s ridiculous! There was a series of TV shows lined up in March and April, followed by a full-scale US tour supporting Crosby, Stills & Nash in the autumn. We had the same booking agency. I was going to play piano on that tour. Then this guy from Mercury Records in Chicago, Robin McBride, insisted we’d get rid of Richard Reese-Edwards or the whole deal was off. Richard persuaded us to stay with him, saying McBride was a fool. Guess who the fools were? [laughs] I blame it on my inexperience. So, when it looked like nothing was going to happen in the US, I accepted the offer from George Martin and stayed in London.”


Svensson: “With Henkan gone and America blowing up in our faces we lost all steam. Göran fought hard to keep the band going but my heart wasn’t really in it anymore.” Lagerberg: “I too lost confidence and, even worse, developed a serious writer’s block. Richard wasn’t functioning any longer, either. He’d been keeping a far too high pace. He took a lot of pills to keep going and, finally, it caught up with him and he just fizzled out.”


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