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| original cover |
release date: 1975
format: *cd (2004 remaster)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Nils Henriksen
label: Frituna - nationality: Denmark
Track highlights: 1. "Louis Band" - 2. "På en fortovsrestaurant" - 5. "Flik-flakker" - 8. "Pak dit grej"
2nd studio album by C.V. Jørgensen and the follow-up to En stynet strejfer (1974) originally C.V.'s second and final on the label Hookfarm. The album is his first with actual producer credit, attributed guitarist Nils Henriksen (from the band Culpeper's Orchard), who would also later produce the sequel, on which he got a more significant part, but with this album he actually initiated his career as a record producer. The backing band is largely identical to the musicians from the debut. Per Wium has taken over the role as guitarist from Ivan Horn, but both bassist Erik Falck and drummer Gert Smedegård participate here. Although, Nils Henriksen contributes on slide and electric guitar, his role here is primarily as producer, whereas on later albums he took a more prominent part in Jørgensen's backing band playing guitar and keyboards. Incidentally, the album's title is a line from the first track, where the words come in a different order: "...han rendte fremmedgjort rundt på Vesterbro iført T-shirts terylenebukser og gummisko".
Musically, Jørgensen's first two albums are closely related in that both are clear expressions of psychedelic rock, and they also both take their point of departure from roots rock and folk rock, as characterised by The Band, Neil Young, Little Feat, and Dylan in particular. At the same time, both albums also point in several directions - sometimes they are experimental and bold psychedelic expressions, where you hear hints of inspiration from Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, and Cream), at times you'll notice an influx of funk rock, and at other times the music is characterised more by straightforward folk rock and country rock, which sometimes makes the band sound like a Danish copy of British and American idols. With this album, Jørgensen introduces a more distinctive narrative style of his own towards more positive stories with a touch of irony in portraits of people like himself: artists on the road, young people doing nothing or who are searching for their path in life, or when he outlines the daily life of common people.
T-Shirts, gummisko... was promoted with the release of the single "Flik-flakker" which didn't come close to a national success. However, the album clearly helped establish C.V. Jørgensen as a new Danish songwriter worth keeping an eye on, and the album paved the way for a better record deal. It's not an album that has aged particularly well, and in the main it mostly sounds like Jørgensen and band, who are attempting to make a Danish version of what international names have already established. Still, the album is a clear evidence of the development that C.V. has started, and especially with tracks like "På en fortovsrestaurant" and "Pak dit grej" it points quite nicely in the direction of the much more original and solid third album, Storbyens små oaser (1977), where he demonstrates a new high level in contemporary Danish rock songwriting.
The album was released with two different covers: the first edition had a 'beach' front cover (à la Neil Young On the Beach), whereas a later edition came with a 'portrait' cover.
*included on the compilation De 2 første ['The first two'] (2004), a 2-cd-release containing Jørgensen's first two albums.
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| 'portrait' cover |
