A Swedish jazz-rock band building on the foundations laid in that country by
Bo Hansson and Janne Karlsson,
Made in Sweden had already released two albums (plus a live set) in their homeland before arriving in London at the behest of
Colosseum's Tony Reeves. He would produce their third set, with
Neil Ardley handling musical arrangements, and the result rose high above either of the group's earlier efforts. As wildly ambitious as its components demanded, it opens with the soaring "Winter's a Bummer" and then cruises on through eight further slices of wild virtuosity.
Made in Sweden even found time to revisit a cut from their second album, "Little Cloud," and reinvent their own past under lush new surroundings. With no track exceeding the seven-minute mark, and most settling around half that, nothing on
Made in England (released in the U.K. as Mad River) overstays its welcome. Rather, it's one of those records that leaves you demanding more of the same -- which makes the band's breakup just a few months later all the harder to bear. ~ Dave Thompson