While Lord of the Rings remains Bo Hansson's best known, not to mention best selling (sold quite well in Europe and Australia), I really believe that Attic Thoughts (known in Sweden as Mellanväsen), which is his third solo album, to be by far his best album. After the somewhat lacklustre (but still worth having) Magician's Hat (1972, aka Ur Trollkarlens Hatt) he really rebounded big time with this album in a huge way.
The final cut, "A Happy Prank" is a wonderful way to end the album. I don't know how to describe it. Bo Hansson is just about the only prog rock artist out of Scandinavia whose albums are real easy to come by in America (his albums had American releases), so Attic Thoughts is a great place to start if you want to get in to Swedish prog rock. This album, along with Änglagård's Epilog (1994) are amongst the best prog rock I have heard out of Sweden. If you like Lord of the Rings, you need Attic Thoughts
- Bo Hansson: organ, guitars, bass, synthesizer, Mellotron, special effects
- Rune Carlsson: drums- Kenny Håkansson: electric guitar
- Jöran Lagerberg: bass and acoustic guitar
- Gunnar Bergsten: sax- Rolf Scherrer: acoustic guitar
- Thomas Netzler: bass
- Mats Glenngård: violin
1. Attic Thoughts (5:30)
a) March
b) Repose
c) Wandering
2. Time and space (1:37)
3. Waiting... (7:34)
4. Waltz for interbeings (3:21)
5. Time for great achievements (3:11)
6. The hybrills (1:28)
7. Rabbit music (6:23):
a) General Woundwort
b) Fiver
8. Day and night (4:30)
9. A happy prank (3:15)