The Limping Man (1953)

Too Late for Edelweiss, The Tallest Man On Earth – the project of Swedish musician Kristian Matsson weaves together a sparse collection of home recordings made in Sweden and North Carolina, captured fresh off a 39-date run with the adrenaline of tour rattling through his veins. His first release since 2019’s I Love You. It’s A Fever Dream, and his signing to ANTI-, the songs on Too Late For Edelweiss have been with Matsson since he started playing music as The Tallest Man on Earth in 2006. In those early years, Matsson used to perform “Lost Highway” before he had enough songs to flesh out a full set.

Ray Russell has had quite the glittering career. Setting off at age 15 with the John Berry Seven, the guitarist went on to play with the Graham Bond Organisation and then Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames. Eventually, Russell would lend his talents on-stage and/or in the studio to a plethora of performers, from Tina Turner to Lulu, the Bee Gees to Phil Collins, and branching out in the '70s to compose for the small screen. Amidst this busy career, Russell also put together the odd band, like the Running Man, whose sole, eponymous album was released with little fanfare in 1972. The core trio of Russell on both guitar and bass, vocalist/organist Alan Greed, and vocalist/drummer Alan Rushton was supplemented by Harry Beckett on trumpet and flügelhorn and the late Gary Windo on tenor sax.

Kristian Matsson has never remained in one place for very long. Having spent much of the last decade touring around the world as The Tallest Man on Earth, Matsson has captivated audiences using, as The New York Times describes, "every inch of his long guitar cord to roam the stage: darting around, crouching, stretching, hip-twitching, perching briefly and jittering away…

Reissue of wild 1972 Danish hard prog with Yes-like vocals, wild, frantic guitar soloing, organ roars, lengthy tracks.
The Old Man & The Sea offers a heavy prog type of music quite typical for that era, organ laden with similarities towards british school of that time like Uriah Heep, Purple or Atomic Rooster. The sound is accesible and melodic but also are some more hard rock parts that is well integrated in the overall prog atmosphere. The opening Living Dead or the ending Going Blind are quite more then ok, hammong melted with bluesy guitars but under prog flag. Nice vocal arrangements, Ole Wedel has a very good tone for such music.

Record collectors into Nordic rock are well aware of this band that recorded one album that is very much sought after, with its highly rated Hammond-driven hard rock rather typical of that era. They do have their own sound but can be compared to a rough Jethro Tull (Aqualung-style) or Atomic Rooster, playing tight music, but also leaving some space for instrumental interplay on some tracks. "1972-75" is a collection of songs that should have been the second album plus a few archive gems. Sadly in 1975 The Old Man & the Sea was dropped by CBS even before releasing anything on that label and it meant the end of the band as they couldn't get another deal.