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SUMMARY
"The opening bars remind us of Ry Cooder's version of Dark End of the Street. Soon the melody undergoes a change, but with the same very rich and lyrical slide-tone, the same richly charged beauty.
Also Peder af Ugglas moves equally unerringly and tastefully between the various styles. He develops a blues-saturated tonal picture in Wino's Dance without slide. With the electric slide, smartly used wah wah-pedal and heavy organ-chords he performs a freely flowing blues in Central South. Otherwise he moves freely between delta-blues and Gospel, occasionally spiced with New Orleans.
But af Ugglas guitar playing puts music at the centre. The tone is warm and full, sometimes rich, his solos precisely expressive, and the Spanish guitar in Passion is so soft and passionate that time stands still. Then the supreme moment is near."
REVIEWS
Having initially learnt keyboards primarily in classical music, Peder moved on to rock and jazz and along the way picked up the electric guitar. This is a refreshingly varied set with Peder’s fluid guitar and keyboards supported primarily by upright bass and percussion, fleshed out across the tracks with a mix of accordion, trombone, bowed saw and even digeridoo.
The anthemic opener ‘Harvest Song’ sees Peder’s blues-y guitar soaring above rock solid bass and drums with accordion adding that essential ‘downhome’ touch. This track alone is enough to secure your attention. ‘Wino’s Dance’ opens with a big fruity trombone (superbly caught in this recording) over crunchy guitar chords before a powerful solo.
The title track sees acoustic guitar and Bo Nordenfelt’s upright bass leading before the slide guitar lays down a wall of sound across the back of the soundstage. Other strong numbers include the blues-y ‘Central South’ featuring a Hammond B3, the all acoustic ‘Passion’, and the raunchy ‘Passing By’ which features just Peder’s slide against Bjorn Hamrin’s harmonica. Perhaps best of all is ‘A Hymn’ recorded in a church with Peder’s slide soaring high above the earth-shaking notes of the church organ.
This is another fine recording from Opus 3: weighty, punchy and with a capacious soundstage. HiFi+ - Issue 39
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Harvest Song
Wino's Dance
Autumn Shuffle
Central South
Passion
Last Call
Far Away
Dawn
I Sold My Boat
Stockholm
Passing By
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