state visit - live in sweden 1973

• Edition: Official archival release featuring six previously unreleased recordings
• Packaging: Clear-tray jewel case with a 16-page booklet

State Visit – Live In Sweden 1973 captures Tasavallan Presidentti during one of the strongest periods of the Finnish progressive rock group’s career. Following the release of the acclaimed Lambertland album and a successful British tour, the band had developed a confident mixture of progressive rock, jazz, blues and extended improvisation.

The performing line-up features Eero Raittinen on vocals and percussion, Pekka Pöyry on saxophones, flute, keyboards and percussion, Jukka Tolonen on guitar, Heikki “Häkä” Virtanen on bass and Vesa Aaltonen on drums. Tolonen’s fluid electric guitar and Pöyry’s expressive wind instruments frequently move to the foreground, supported by an exceptionally flexible rhythm section and Raittinen’s powerful English-language vocals.

The first four tracks were recorded at Valand in Gothenburg on 24 or 25 March 1973 while the group was returning from its British tour. They were professionally captured for Swedish radio and first broadcast on the Tonkraft programme. These performances include an expansive vocal interpretation of “Ramblin’,” originally recorded as an instrumental for Jukka Tolonen’s first solo album.

The final two selections were recorded at Skansen in Stockholm on 7 August 1973 for the television and radio programme Opopoppa. Across more than seventy minutes, the band stretches its compositions into lengthy improvisational performances, with “Dance” developing into a particularly intense twenty-one-minute jazz-rock workout. All six recordings were previously unreleased before this Svart Records edition.

Track Listing

1. Celebration Of The Saved Nine / Bargain – 14:32
2. Ramblin’ – 19:41
3. Lambertland – 7:45
4. Dance – 21:24
5. Spoken Introduction / Milky Way Moses – 6:53
6. Lounge – 6:23

Tracks 1–4 recorded at Valand, Gothenburg, on 24 or 25 March 1973 and first broadcast on Sveriges Radio P3’s Tonkraft on 28 April 1973.
Tracks 5–6 recorded at Skansen, Stockholm, on 7 August 1973 and broadcast live on Opopoppa, Sveriges Radio P3.