Mecki Mark Men - Running in the Summer Night (1969)

Lead by keyboardist and vocalist Mecki Bodemark, MECKI MARK MEN are considered one of the first big Swedish psychedlic acts. They released an eponymous album in 1968 but soon after, Bodemark went his own way and teemed up with a threesome called the BABY GRANDMOTHERS to form MECKI MARK MEN. In 1968, they were the supporting act for FRANK ZAPPA AND THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION at Stockholm's Concert House, as well as for JIMI HENDRIX during his Swedish tour. In 1969, they released a second album called "Running in the Summer Night", made TV appearances and were part of the Swedish cast of the popular musical "Hair".

The following year, they went on a U.S. tour and played at rock festivals headlining The BYRDS, SLY & THE FAMILY STONE and JETHRO TULL among others. However, the tour ended up in chaos. They had stayed there for 3 months yet their visas were only valid for 6 weeks; they were also stuck in a hotel room they couldn't afford. So they made a deal with their manager, returned home and paid their debts by recording a third album ("Marathon"). They then broke up, with most of the cast soon resurfacing as KEBNEKAISE. They released a fourth album in 1979 under their original name, where Mecki Bodemark features as the only original member.

Typical of 60's psych and R&B, their music resembles that of JIMI HENDRIX, IRON BUTTERFLY and VANILLA FUDGE: trippy, brain melting distorted lead guitar with plenty of fuzz and wah-wah, and lots of wasted, stoned out vocals from Bodemark who, btw, does the same things with his formidable Hammond organ as Hendrix with his guitar. Their better release is perhaps "Running in the Summer Night", an album of heavy acid space rock where everyone is at his best, particularly Bodemark and guitar wizard Kenny Häkansson. (source)

What an awful album!!! If it weren't for a guitar player who knows how to play at least one scale properly this wouldn't even merit one star! There is nothing on this album but a ton of post Vanilla Fudge pseudo psychedelic noise and I love psychedelic music! Mecki Bodemark's horrid imitation of Jimi Hendrix is so lame that I place him and Yngwie Malmsteen together as the worst insult to Swedish music ever created, only Mecki does all the damage with his two note organ riffs and suffocating voice that fails at being a super sexy Hendrix and sounds more like a croak and a groan than sexy. Don't ask me what songs are worse than others, the problem here is there are no songs. From track 1 on this is nothing but sludge. You'd think a producer could salvage something out of this slag heap, but no such luck. I mean, this is so bad that it is an insult to the listener and I got rid of my copy as fast as I could. I also suffered a headache for two days after playing this. Don't get the wrong idea, I played this album a bunch of times before deciding on my harsh words and harsh thoughts about the album, but you can only give something a fair chance before you realize you are being tricked by what it not even music! From the awful beginning of "Sweet Swede Girls" things just get more and more obnoxious until you either are laughing hysterically or are taking the needle off with a sick feeling in your stomach. I DO give credit to the guitar player in this band, he plays a couple nice solos here and there, so don't blame him for how bad this sounds. The rhythm section sound non existant here, there's nothing for them to play in terms of tight rhythms because everything is formless. If you want loud in your face mind bending music you can do better than this and find something more substantial in a Hendrix record or try to find the excellent album Stormvarning by fellow Swedes Storm which is sung in Swedish, but that's much preferable to here where the lyrics don't make any sense and the vocals are so accented he might as well not sing in English. Don't waste your money or your time here, because there's nothing that even qualifies as music. If you're a Desperate collector or fan, this is for you only, only don't be a fool like me and buy the album, buy the CD instead! (source)