Gärdet 12.6.1970 / Gardet 12.6.1970

The Gardet festivals were the Swedish equivalent to Woodstock, an outdoor gathering of underground bands and other counterculture freaks. Recorded live at the first Gardet festival in June of 1970 and not released until 26 years later as part of Subliminal Sounds' Swedish Underground Archive Series, this CD catches an early Träd, Gräs & Stenar in top form, before the release of the band's eponymous first LP. The versions of "All Along the Watchtower" and "Satisfaction" are rawer than those from the debut, though offering a similar stretched-out and stripped-down minimalism to these rock classics. The two longest tracks, "Frihetsdans i D-moll" and "Lifeforce No. 3," build slowly into intense raga mantras of powerful minimalist rock, with heavy droning guitars and locked-groove rhythms that seem like they'll never stop. The live recording quality, done by someone in the front row of the concert, is quite good for that time. Combining energetic recklessness and Velvet Underground-like minimalism and even Swedish folk melodies into their hippie jamming, these Swedes leave the more conventional tie-dyed bands like the Dead in the dust.