09 April 2008

Back to the Seventies



My other (better?) half suggests that I use this blog to bring an old album to the attention of Norse-and-Vikingists everywhere (thereby giving away his age in the process...). It's called Lucky Leif and the Longships and was made by Robert Calvert (ex-Hawkwind, for those of you who remember those halcyon days) in 1975. The title and the cover art say it all: it is a 'concept album' based on the Viking voyages to North America. But the songs are mostly really good (the album was produced by Eno), with lots of intertextual and intermusical references. Thus, fans of both the Beach Boys and skaldic verse will appreciate 'The Lay of the Surfers', either for its parodic refrain 'Ba Ba Ba Barbarians' or for its use of kennings like 'steed of the waves'.

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