Thors Hammer - Thors Hammer (1971/2005 GoD/Thors Hammer Edition)
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Album: Thors Hammer - Thors Hammer (Remastered Edition)
Released: 1971 (2005)
Genre: Jazz Rock, Canterbury Styled Prog
Gnosis Rating: 10.07
Garden of Delights/Thors Hammer - THCD 001
Released in 1971 by a Danish band, this is a highly collectable chunk of quality progressive Canterbury style rock and close to Traffic's style od jazz rock that has some great sax playing and fine extended instrumentals.Check out the 6 minute "Mexico".Good to see the CD finally back in on CD after a long absence. - Freak Emporium
Good progressive from Denmark, with jazz touch. Their one and only LP was released in 1971 and holds the sad record of being the most bootlegged LP in Denmark. Until now it can be found as CD editions on three illegal labels (Walhalla, Crystal Emporium Productions, and Won-Sin), and as an illegal LP reprint. All these editions were made up very poorly. The now first legal CD is accompanied by a 32-page booklet, containing a detailed band history in German, English and Danish language, a comprehensive discography including side and solo projects, cover and label reproductions, and much more. It is the very first release of Garden of Delights' sublabel Thors Hammer which, to honour this great band, was named after it. This label is destined for bands coming from outside the German-speaking countries. - Garden of Delights
THORS HAMMER were founded either in 1969 or 1970 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The band played progressive rock mixed with a lot of jazz elements. The members were as follows: Michael Bruun (*9/26/1950 in Copenhagen) who played the guitar and sometimes the piano. Before he had played with Ham and Art Collection some keyboard rock, like The Nice, but with definitely more blues influences. Simon Koppel who was on drums and Jesper Neehammer who was on saxophone (tenor, alto and soprano saxophone). Henrik Bødtcher, formally called Henrik Bødtcher-Hansen, who was on bass. Henrik Langkilde who played the organ and the piano, and finally Thomas Helweg who did the singing and wrote the lyrics. Sometimes they were joined by Søren Berggreen who played flute and an additional saxophone. They all were experienced musicians, like Simon Koppel and Jesper Neehammer who had played in various jazz bands before. The band's name was an idea of Michael Bruun and actually it is not that unusual in Scandinavia. The Nordic God Thor (= Donar) who throws thunder and lightning with his hammer Mjöl(l)nir is a well-known figure of the religion. Today the hammer even became a piece of jewellery which can be seen quite often. Concerning their music, the band had no direct examples. Yet, they can be compared to Burnin Red Ivanhoe, Day of Phoenix, Gasolin', or Soft Machine. They even had gigs together with the two first bands. Finally, Thors Hammer had become that good that the contract by Metronome. In January and February of 1971, they recorded some tracks for an LP at the label's studio in Copenhagen. All the tracks were written by the band. One of the composers for "Mexico" was Niels Henriksen with whom Michael Bruun had already played together once. The record was produced by the experienced Freddy Hansson and Leif Pedersen. The sound was engineered by Bent Hulsrøj. It served the record audibly well that they haven't been under time pressure when recording. The LP was still released in 1971 under the title "Thors Hammer" (Metronome MLP 15412). It belongs to the finest of Denmark's progressive rock. The record's glossy flipback cover was printed by Knud Hansen Offset. Its front shows a picture painted by the band's drummer Simon Koppel. On its reverse can be found a photography of the band. It shows from the left to the right Jesper Neehammer, Michael Bruun, Henrik Langkilde, Henrik Bødtcher, Simon Koppel, and Peter Nielsen. Unfortunately several mistakes had been made on the cover. Accidentally a further track had been listed "You could be there" (4:10 minutes playing time), written by Thomas Helweg and Henrik Bødtcher. Yet, it hadn't been taken for the record, because of its poor English lyrics by Thomas Helweg. Furthermore, none of the given playing times are correct. Also, Henrik Langkilde's name appears falsely as "Langekilde". Moreover, Niels Henriksen is named erroneously as one of the composers of "Blind gypsy woman". In addition to that, the artists' names aren't related to their pictures and no indication to their PDH Booking Agency is given. All these mistakes could only be corrected on those LPs which hadn't yet been handed out to dealers. The corrections appeared on a sticker which was glued below the band's picture. What a shame, the sticker was only semi-transparent and the old botch could be seen shining through. Concerning the number of the pressing, it can only be guessed. For less than 1000 copies Metronome Denmark wouldn't even have started to give the band a big build-up. More than 3000 wouldn't have made the record a rarity today. Thus, the number of the pressing must have been between 1000 and 3000. How many of those records wore the sticker can't be told at all today, but they are even harder to find than the records without sticker. The LP which was released only in Denmark unfortunately wasn't noticed outside the country. Yet, it isn't that astonishing either, because the some hundred gigs the band had given had only taken place in Denmark. At some point the musicians just lost interest in playing together and preferred to go on separately from each other. Thus, in 1972, Thors Hammer simply disbanded without having had a major dissension. They never made it to a second LP and singles haven't been their cup of tea anyway, because their music was just too complex, too ambitious and too bulky.
Jesper Neehammer tirelessly had already been in other bands when still being with Thors Hammer. In 1970, he participated in recordings for two jazz-rock LPs: as guest musician on an LP without title (Spectator SL 1007) by Carsten Meinert Musictrain and he had played on "Peace" (Spectator SL 1019) by Tordenskjolds Soldater. By the way, Jesper Neehammer spells his last name with a double "e" in the first syllable only on "Thors Hammer", whereas otherwise he often uses only one "e". Søren Berggreen played his saxophone also with Blue Sun and can be heard on their LP " Peace be unto you" (Spectator Records S.L. 1013) from 1970, on their 7" single "Festival"/"Katedralen" (Parlophone DK 1712) from 1970, and on their CD "Live 1970" (Karma Music KMCD 1970) which was released in 2001 presenting archive recordings. In 1973, Peter Nielsen founded together with Flemming Volkersen (an ex-Beefeaters) and Carsten Meinert the band Ragnarok which never did a record, though. In the same year, too, Simon Koppel, Henrik Bødtcher, and Michael Bruun released with Anaconda the soft-rock single "Baby, turn me loose"/"Daytime" (Epic EPC 1555). At the end of 1973, they changed the name to Tyggegummibanden and released some LPs on EMI. In 1975, Michael Bruun was involved in the LP project "What we are" by a band named Sensory System (on EMI). Henrik Bødtcher and Michael Bruun played in Heavy Joker from 1975 until 1979. The music was progressive, faintly jazz-rock, in the way of Weather Report, Herbie Hancock or Pat Metheny. They released the LPs "Heavy Joker" (Polydor 2444044) from 1976, "Caesar's palace" (on Mercury) from 1978, and "Peter Klixbull & Heavy Joker" (Polydor 2380051) from 1977. Henrik Bødtcher released with his band Buki-Yamaz two jazz-rock LPs. Their titles were as follows: "Buki-Yamaz" (Hook Farm HLS 75-2), 1975, and "Segundo" (Stuk 501), 1976. Both LPs are definitely stamped by flute and guitar. From 1979 to 1986, Michael Bruun even made it to six LPs with his band Tøsedrengene (girls and boys). Yet, their music had nothing in common with the one played by Thors Hammer. Later he even did some more CDs with various bands. Today Michael Bruun still plays music, he composes and works as producer. By the way, he isn't related at all to the Danish guitarist Torben Bruun who played with Spillem?ndene and Blue Sun. The only legitimate LP by Thors Hammer was done on Metronome Denmark. In the eighties and nineties, when it probably got about with collectors that "Thors Hammer" was a kind of gem, worth to discover, its value rose steadily. Today, looking at the latest bids in the collectors' magazine "Oldie-Markt" and at the record's bourse Ebay, "Thors Hammer" is worth about US$400 when in mint condition. In "1001 Record Collector Dreams" (Vienna 1997) by Hans Pokora it is graded appropriately with four units. Thus, the record is worth between 330 and 585 €. "Aga's Database" (THCD-ROM 01) gives detailed reasons and lists the record with 360 €. All this attracts bootleggers and thus "Thors Hammer" holds the sad top-position of being Denmark's most bootlegged record. At first, in 1998, an illegal CD (Walhalla WH 96003), taken from the vinyl, appeared in Germany on the market. Owner of the label was then a certain Rolf Krause from Hamburg who had died of a brain tumour some years later. The record's cover shows on its reverse "Licensed from F. Hanson" which is an outrageous lie. Freddy Hansson, as it is supposed to be written, never ever has heard of this release, as he told when being enquired. Even more bold is the fact that on the cover's flip side the label code number LC 4909 was printed, a number which belongs to Motor Music, a label of Universal. Only a few months after this release already a new bootleg CD (Crystal Emporium Productions CEP-013) came over from the U.S. Here the number which is stamped in at the run in by the press factory - as it is well-known, CDs are playing from the inside to the outside - had very wisely been eliminated on every single CD by the bootlegger to impede investigations. All CDs on Walhalla as well as on Crystal Emporium Productions are illegal. The third and hopefully last bootleg CD (Won-Sin WS 885678-2) had been released in Germany in 2002 as part of a collection of the 100 world's best rock rarities, as there is written in bad English. It now is on sale because of an oversupply. The CD doesn't cost much and rightly so, because it isn't worth a lot. Its imprint, "Manufactured in South Korea", only leads astray. The owner of the above-mentioned bootleg label is a stout record dealer in track-suit trousers from Berlin. This person is also responsible for other bootleg labels like BOD, Lizard, Black Rose, Sunrise, Mason, Free Records, Red Fox, Progressive Line, and nowadays even Walhalla. All titles - about some hundreds - on those labels are illegal and were released without neither the artists' nor the copyright owners' knowledge and consent. These illegal records are sold mostly at record fairs or on the internet, on Ebay for example. Looking at the extent of this kind of business, you can definitely talk of organised crime. As collector you should be aware of your responsibilities: Buying a bootleg record always means to cheat on the artist. The true collector should have the patience to wait for the legal release. Otherwise he only takes the bread from honest manufacturers who pay a lot of money for the copyrights. Yet, it needs to be said that the big record companies themselves aren't that innocent of the situation. They re-release only a very few of the old gems, because the low number of copies which can be sold in this niche market isn't really worth the production. Pressings of less than 5000 units cost more money than they would bring in and most of these records just don't make it. Besides, the managers of these record companies are often very young people who have not the slightest idea of this kind of music. Instead of selling the copyrights to someone else who is interested in doing a re-release, they usually do nothing of this kind but leave them unexploited. Often it already is too much asked to be licensed. When managers are being that inflexible, it isn't astonishing at all that bootleggers fill out the gap. Their share of the market might be a third to already a half, with shares steadily gaining. GEMA, IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographical Industry), along with criminal prosecution authorities don't pay attention at all and the press factories go out to work as well on the trash, very well-knowing what they are producing. But let's stick to the point: an LP falsification (Phantastic Plastic Records 6-534026) does also exist of "Thors Hammer". It was released in 2001, as well by a stout record dealer, this time from Dortmund, who always acts with a certain arrogance. The LP has instead of the well-known blue Metronome label from the seventies a completely different one which is designed in white-grey with a black writing (see page 27). The bar code on the cover's flip side had been copied from somewhere else, like it is often the case with these cheap sorry efforts, and thus it is only a deception. The now available CD is the only legal re-release. In this case it had been particularly difficult to find out who helds the copyrights. Metronome Denmark doesn't exist since long now and all legal successors worth considering didn't know or didn't feel responsible when enquired. Finally, after years of looking in vain for the owners, we succeeded in signing a contract. The record's cover is the original one, like it is supposed to be. The new label, of which this CD is its very first release, is called Thors Hammer to honour this great band and their record. As the label's logo we have chosen the hammer with two ends. It is a double axe with which Thor is hurling thunder and lightning.
In 2003 there was a bootleg DVD sampler released with the title "Going underground -Underground treasures volume I, 1969-1976" (Missing in Action Archives DVD MIAA-0002), with mediocre quality. It presents one track by Thors Hammer (without Jesper Neehammer), filmed professionally on an open air festival. This track was probably taken from TV by a fan.
By the way, there are bands with the very same name like our Danish band Thors Hammer. For example, they shouldn't be confounded with the Icelandic beat and garage band Hljómar from the 1960's (precursor of Trubrot), coming from Keflavik. That band calls themselves Thors Hammer on some of their records, especially on those recorded and released in Great Britain (like on the sought-after 7" singles "Once"/" A memory" (DP 565) and "If you knew'V'Love enough" (DP 567) as well as on the 7" EPs "Thors Hammer" (CGEP 62) and "Umbarumbamba", all released in1966 on Parlophone). Details about the band can be found on the website of their singer and guitarist Gunnar Thórdarson (in Icelandic letters: Gunnar Póröarson). Although their style of music is very different from the Danish Thors Hammer, they had been mixed up - even by connoisseurs. And for those who still hesitate to believe, here is the line-up of the Icelandic band: Rünar Jüliusson, Erlingur Björnsson, Engilbert Jensen, and the above-mentioned Gunnar Thórdarson. As can be seen, there are no overlappings with the Danish band. Lately there is another band from Poland of the same name who seems to be quite right-wing. Also with hard rock and metal bands the name is, on the contrary, not unusual.
Finally some reviews on Thors Hammer. The Norwegian record collector and author Dag Erik Asbjørnsen writes in his expensive but worth-reading reference book "Scented Gardens of the Mind" (Wolverhampton 2000): "They were one of those groups that promised much, but never went further than an eponymous debut album. Stylistically their music was close to Burnin Red Ivanhoe, Blast Furnace and the jazzy Traffic-style. Neehammer's sax riffing is predominant on the album's five tracks, also frequently augmented by organ and electric guitar. 'Mexico' is the most effective track (paraphrasing the well-known sax riff from Traffic's 'Freedom Rider'), while the longest tracks are less purposeful (due to the slightly repetitive solo sections)." In the above-mentioned reference book you can also find more or less detailed information on most of the other bands mentioned here in the booklet. On the internet you can find on "Tuchol's Progressive Rock Page" an entry by Piotr Tucholski from Poland. This entry had been edited before in "Tarkus", a Norwegian magazine for progressive rock: "Band playing energetic progressive rock with jazzy influences (not unlike Burnin Red Ivanhoe), dominated by Michael Bruun's guitar and saxophones of Jesper Neehammer. English vocals of Peter Nielsen remind me of Frank Robson from Tasavallan Presidentti. Unfortunately they disbanded soon after recording their only album." Another review comes from Aga's comprehensive database "Aga's DB". It only was recently released as CD-ROM in a deluxe digipak. Aga Bartels writes there: "A jazz-influenced progressive rock with an excellent guitar ('Mexico') and dynamically driving saxophone breaks. Musically close to Catapilla and Tasavallan Presidentti. They are at their best when leaving the old well-worn patterns of music and embarking on extensive improvisations which never appear to be long-winded. 'Not worth saying' takes with 13:05 minutes playing time already a weighty share concerning the time partition. It also shows the most jazzy elements and is pleasing because of its many changes in rhythm, although this is at the expense of the composition which doesn't seem to be that well-knit like in 'Mexico'. With 'Blind gypsy woman' the old progressive dynamics come back, and guitar as well as singer are as brilliant as ever. In 'Believe in what you want' they are joined by a likewise brilliant saxophone which sometimes reminds of 'Polyandry' by Group 1850's. 'Evasive dreams beyond' has some weaknesses, but it concludes a progressive (jazz-)rock masterpiece which shouldn't be missing in any record collection!" By the way, "Aga's Database" which usually assigns points quite sparsely rates the first two tracks with two from three points possible and the following two tracks with one point each. The following review written by Volkmar Mantei can also be found in the internet. It also is supposed to be printed in the record collectors' magazine "Progressive Newsletter": "In 1971 the LP of the Copenhagen band Thors Hammer saw the light of the world. Michael Bruun, Simon Koppel, Jesper Neehammer, Henrik Bødtcher, Henrik Langkilde, and Peter Nielsen had only five songs for an LP, but what songs! Already the opener 'Mexico' is fabulously composed with a blessed singing line. A song which is really striking. In its middle a long guitar solo and lovely runs in unison of guitar and saxophone. 'Not worth saying' is tough jazz-rock which in 13 minutes leaves a lot of space for improvised solo variations.
Here again the motive is striking, forming the starting point for the extemporations. The vocals sometimes aren't quite proper, especially at emotional peaks, when Peter Nielsen sings too high. The length of the song is filled out well by the long fantastic guitar solo which blasts the song and finally freaks out radically, speedy saxophone passages, and a short solo for drums. The B side begins with 'Blind gypsy woman' which again is a brilliantly composed song. These musicians not only had been very good instrumentalists, but also were especially well-up on composing crisp and striking songs (which still today would work in pop, metal, and jazz, of course played and arranged differently). Again the obligatory guitar solo has to be included, but it shows no similarity to those which could be heard before. Michael Bruun (who also composed) had enough imagination to play in every song thematically different solos. 'Believe in what you want' is again fantastic. Once more the vocals turned out well, regarding the composed singing line as well as the interpretation. The crisp tough rocker doesn't take any prisoners and is chasing ahead extremely fast; what a great piece! The mostly little active keyboard, in charge for the harmonious arrangements in the background, is allowed to come more to the fore, although guitar and saxophone still claim the solo frame; again they all are doing very well. The short 'Evasive dreams beyond', which is composed by the keyboarder Henrik Langkilde, concludes the LP. It sounds more lyrical, but not any less energetic or powerful than the other songs. Here, finally, the piano is allowed to take the solo part. But soon it becomes clear why guitar and saxophone which don't have the say here aren't letting the piano in the fore elsewhere - the guy is perhaps able to compose and to harmonise the band's sound, but he can't neither extemporise, nor is he able to compose solos for any track. After three minutes the instrumental piano consolation has ended and along with it the 37 minutes of the LP, too." - Release Notes
1 Mexico (06:25)
2 Not Worth Saying (13:09)
3 Blind Gypsy Woman (05:05)
4 Believe In What You Want (09:07)
5 Evasive Dreams Beyond (03:33)
Michael Bruun (g, p)
Simon Koppel (dr)
Jesper Neehammer (sax)
Henrik Bødtcher (b)
Henrik Langkilde (org, p)
Peter Nielsen (voc)
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