Week of November 4, 2007

Flax

Personnel:
Hermod Falch - Lead Vocals
John Hesla - Guitars, Flute
Lars Hesla - Keyboards
Arve Sakariassen - Bass
Bruce Rasmussen - Drums
Jørun Bøgeberg - Bass
Willy Bendiksen - Drums

Albums:
One - 1976 Vertigo 6317 751; CD: Pan (PACD 018) 1999
A counterfeit vinyl issue featuring "swirl" Vertigo labels (unlike the original) also exists
Monster Tapes - 1980 Harvest 8C062-37415

A heavy rock group, formed in 1972. The first Flax album sold poorly at the time of release in 1976 and has become something of a collector's item. It contained theatrical heavy rock (vocalist Hermod Falch was occasionally dressed in a skeleton costume when the group performed live), strongly influenced by Deep Purple (at the time of “Machine Head”) and, to a lesser degree, Uriah Heep and Queen. Their music also had some symphonic elements.

Flax disbanded in 1975, some months before their debut album was released, but a new line-up appeared in 1978. The resulting “Flax Tapes” (1980) showed some musical improvement, but was indeed closer in content to heavy rock than to progressive rock.

Willy Bendiksen also played with Høst and Jørun Bøgeberg - occasionally with Junipher Greene.

Taken from Scented Gardens of the Mind - A guide to the Golden Era of Progressive Rock (1968-1980) in more than 20 European Countries, by Dag Erik Asbjørnsen, Borderline Productions, ISBN 1-899855-12-2


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