release date: Feb. 1978
format: cd (1988 reissue) (460833 2)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Stig Kreutzfeldt
label: CBS Records - nationality: Denmark
4th studio album by C.V. Jørgensen originally released on Metronome, is Jørgensen's first of two consecutive albums to be produced by Stig Kreutzfeld, who served as sound engineer on the nine-month-old predecessor
Storbyens små oaser (May 1977) and who had otherwise made a name for himself as part of the psychedelic folk duo Stig & Steen in the early seventies. The album introduces a more mainstream pop / rock sound, where focus has shifted from a primarily folk rock and country rock expression to that of a broader soft rock style, often referred to as AOR (Adult-Oriented Rock), where the jazzy element is completely cut away. Jørgensen's backing band, Det Ganske Lille Band, has here been expanded to a quartet featuring three renowned names: guitarist Ivan Horn, bassist Erik Falck, and drummer René Wulf, who all appeared on the '77 album, as well as new member, guitarist Thomas Grue (from Kim Larsen's backing band and studio musician for Jomfru Ane, Røde Mor, etc.). Grue already joined the tour in the fall of '77 to release C.V. from the role of rhythm guitarist so he could concentrate on singing. Stig Kreutzfeldt is heard on keys, but what perhaps marks the biggest musical shift is revealed in the composer credits. On Jørgensen's three previous albums, he is alone to be credited as songwriter and composer, but here the majority of the tracks are credited 'Valentin - Horn / Valentin' - with Valentin as alias for C.V. Jørgensen as songwriter and most tracks dedicated 'Valentin - Horn' as an indication of having been composed by Jørgensen in collaboration with guitarist Ivan Horn, who also acted as musical arranger.
With Vild i varmen following only nine months after the successful Storbyens små oaser, it already marks another change of style, which here implies a move towards more uptempo tracks with a tighter rhythm section, as well as showcasing more melody-based guitar and an obvious inclusion of funk.
All in all, it's a style that caters far more to a mainstream audience with preferences for J.J. Cale, Genesis, Fleetwood Mac, Kate Bush, and Little Feat and approaching domestic popular artists such as Gnags, Bifrost, and Gasolin'. "Hotel Halleluja", "Lænker & laster", and "I en blågrå kupé" are this album's three additions to Jørgensen's classics, while the final track "Clue" he actually delivers a clear love song. During this period, C.V. Jørgensen was mainly perceived as a band, and it's with three albums in the course of three years that they tour country and kingdom as one of the biggest Danish names.
Vocalist C.V. Jørgensen shows Danish rock with a flair for smart stories about ordinary people's everyday life, which is far removed from Springsteen's romanticisation of the conditions of the working class. In C.V.'s small portraits, Danes and their working life are instead made fun of with sharp ironic distance in an anonymised form, which is addressed more generally to parts of the population. He has sharpened his pen and talks about alienation and narrow-mindedness in a new and entertaining way. The songs are packed with humour without loss of the lyrical facet with a strong sense for melody and chorus, which in a way always points back to an inspiration drawn in the expression from especially American folk rock songwriters.
Vild i varman is a quite coherent album with sharp lyrics and an uptempo beat, without the same laid-back jazzy coolness of his most recent album. It's an album that shows C.V.'s new path to a position at the top of the hierarchy in popular Danish rock.
Recommended.
