Saft - Horn (1971) {2021, Remastered}

SAFT (meaning squash, as in the concentrated liquid made from fruit juice and sugar, which is diluted to make a drink, in Norwegian) is a progressive rock band from Bergen, Norway, with their most active period in the early 70's. They were one of the first Norwegian rock bands to sing in Norwegian Nynorsk (which is based on rural, spoken Norwegian, and is one of four official languages in Norway). The core of the band is the two brothers THUE, Ove and Trygve, who are the only members to be part of both of the band's incarnations, both of which set benchmarks in Norwegian rock.

Initially the band's music was rooted in typical early 70's heavy prog and pop rock. It was with the original line-up the band first gained national popularity, by winning European Pop Jury (Norway's first victory in the competition) in 1971 with "People in Motion", the band's biggest hit. After disbantion and subsequent comeback, with major line-up changes, following their sophomore album, their style shifted, moving more towards folk and country rock, but once again they caught the public's attention, this time with a groundbreaking mix of rock and Hardanger fiddle.

The band was formed in the winter of '69-'70 by members of two well-established bands in the Bergen area; Ove THUE (lead vocals and acoustic guitar), Trygve THUE (guitars, piano, flute and vocals) and Tom Harry HALVORSEN (keyboards and vocals) had played together in NEITHER NOR; Magne LUNDE (drums) and Rolf SKOGSTRAND (bass guitar and vocals) in HUMAN BEINGS.

One of the band's first assignements was to play, both as musicians and actors, in the hippie musical "Hair" ("Hår" in Norwegian) at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen in the fall of 1970 (a recording of the performance was released on LP by Polydor just before Christmas that year), which worked as an effective warm-up for albums and live shows to come, as the band members got acquainted and gelled. At about the same time as playing in the musical, SAFT also recorded a demo tape of self-composed material, which secured them a record deal with Polydor.

The band released its self-titled debut LP in 1971. The album was a good mix of progressive rock, Norwegian folk songs, pop and hard rock. All of the tracks were sung in English, except for "Fjøsvise", which was sung in, not only Norwegian, which was basically unheard of in a serious rock context up to that time, but in Norwegian Nynorsk, which was something completely new.

The album's centerpiece, "All the Time", written by Ove THUE (like most of SAFT's songs are), was based on a slogan from the US during the Vietnam War; "Fighting for freedom is like fucking for virginity". The line was used as chorus, which was a bit too much for the BBC, who refused to play the track when it was sent in as Norway's contribution to European Pop Jury in May 1971. SAFT's response was to print Censored by B.B.C over a nude Ove THUE on the front cover of the single. Eventually the track was played by the BBC, but with the mentioned line bleeped out.

SAFT's next release was the single "People in Motion / Albertine Hall", in August '71, with the A side being chosen to be Norway's contribution to European Pop Jury in November the same year, were they beat SLADE, with their hit "Coz I Luv You", to record Norway's first victory in the competition. "People in Motion" was unquestionably SAFT's biggest hit. The song sold over 70 000 copies, and over the years it's been used in several Norwegian films, and also TV commercials. The song was later covered by another Norwegian band, CC COWBOYS, who sold 120 000 copies of their version, to take the total number of copies sold of the song close to 200 000.

The victory in European Pop Jury made the European offices of Polydor consider international launch of SAFT, but they eventually went with the Dutch band FOCUS instead, who gained major world wide success soon after. The disappointment of not being chosen was one reason the band's next LP, "Horn", was a bit of a letdown. Another was the democracy witihin the band that led to the main song writer, Ove THUE, getting minimal space for his songs, which in turn led to the album becoming an uneven and noncommercial affair, where "People in Motion" stood head and shoulders above the rest of the material.

After "Horn" the band started to disintegrate. Two of the members moved to Oslo; drummer LUNDE moved to study at the Royal Academy of Music in Århus, Denmark. Soon it became too difficult to gather all the members. Their last release, the "Can You Feel It? / Working Man" single, showed their next album could have been another good one, but instead they disbanded.

Ove THUE continued to write music, while Trygve THUE moved to a collective where he, along with, amongst others, Rune WALLE (ORIENTAL SUNSHINE), on vocals, guitar and banjo, formed the country/folk/psychedelic rock band HOLE IN THE WALL. They released one album before disbanding for the first time. Trygve THUE then took with him WALLE, along with Kaare Øivind MOLDESTAD (bass), who, incidentally, also had been a member of HUMAN BEINGS, and Gunnar BERGSTRØM (drums), from HOLE IN THE WALL, to resume collaboration with his brother and reform SAFT.

With WALLE in the band their style moved closer to country rock, and also folk. HOLE IN THE WALL had collaborated a bit with renowned fiddler Sigbjørn Bernhoft OSA, SAFT now took this collaboration even further. Together they performed at The RagnaRock Festival at Holmenkollbakken Ski Jump Hill in Oslo in the summer of 1973, which was a great success.

Three of the tracks performed was released as a single, and also made it on to the band's third LP, "Stev, sull, rock & rull", released later in the year. The album, a mix of Norwegian folk and THE ROLLING STONES inspired rock & roll, with lyrics both in English and Norwegian, won Spellemannsprisen (the Norwegian equivalent to the Grammys) for best album. While hugely popular with the younger generation, the collaboration did not go down well with most of the traditional folk music community, including the leader of Spellemannsprisen, Egil Monn-Iversen, who refused them to perform at the award ceremony.

This incarnation of SAFT didn't last long either though. Early in 1974 WALLE and BERGSTRØM left to form the country rock band FLYING NORWEGIANS, while MOLDESTAD continued as guitarist in several different bands. He died in 2004. In the spring of '74 Ove and Trygve reunited with original SAFT members HALVORSEN and LUNDE, along with Håkon VELLESVIK (bass), to form Brødrene Thue's Danse Ensemble. Their first LP, "Brødrene Thue" (The Thue Brothers), was a continuation of SAFT, as some of the songs on it was composed as early as 1972. Four of those tracks were therefore included on the SAFT compilation "1971-1996", released on CD (the band's only CD release) in '96.

Over the years the band, always with the original line-up, has reunited for several concerts, including sporadic performances throughout 1996 to promote the "1971-1996" compilation release. In 1997 the original line-up recorded together for the first time in 25 years; for Ove THUE's "Eg e Brann-fan", music for the fans of the football club Brann from Bergen.

The band, and also the individual members, have won several awards, including RagnaRockprisen (The RagnaRock Award) awarded by the foundation Arven etter RagnaRock (The Legacy of RagnaRock) to SAFT and Sigbjørn Bernhoft OSA in 2011, and Kongens Fortjenestemedalje (The King's Medal of Merit), awarded to drummer Magne LUNDE in 2012 for his work in Norwegian rock for over 40 years. As of 2015 SAFT is still active as a live band.

Recommended to fans of English bands from the 70's like PROCOL HARUM, BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST and THE MOOY BLUES, as well as fans of other bands on the Norwegian prog rock scene in the '70's like POPOL VUH (ACE), RUPHPUS, TITANIC and HØST.

Main source:
"Norsk pop- og rockleksikon" (Norwegian Pop and Rock Encyclopedia) from Vega Forlag (Vega Publishers) (2005)

Bio by The Bearded Bard