What do you think of Ronnie Österberg of Wigwam as a drummer? Any favorite tracks of his?
Wigwam - Losing Hold
What do you think of Ronnie Österberg of Wigwam as a drummer? Any favorite tracks of his?
Wigwam - Losing Hold
Pretty on the mark. Not an exceptional talent, but adequate for the demands of this music.
I never understood why this - their most famous and representative song, sounded worse than almost anything else in their catalog, like it was recorded under a mountain of blankets.Originally Posted by regenerativemusic
That being said, I've always enjoyed Ronnie although from what I've heard he was more a fan of playing Pemroke's songs rather than the more jazzy Gustavson material.
Fairyport generally sounds rather muffled. It has been blamed on the multiple submixes needed to realise some of the rather complex arrangements on many songs with just the four tracks available in the Finnvox studio at the time. "Losing Hold" doesn't really sound that much worse than many of the other tracks on the album, but that just my opinion.
Österberg has been described as a strictly rock guy who didn't care for jazz. There are tales of others begging on their bended knees for him to play some of the jazzier ideas Gustavson had visioned. It wasn't a question of technical skill, rather than inclination. No nonsense just seems to have been his style in both drumming and in his role in the band. Like Pembroke, he was more into songs, but held his own during the long solos and improvisations the group did live. He was still highly ambitious - it was his vision of getting the best possible players into the group - and could do some excellent and tasteful drumming with ease.
It sounds like you know quite a bit more about him than the average person. Anything else you would like to share? He has his own style which is itself kind of breezy and intelligent. He sounds nothing like Chris Cutler but they are roughly in the same area, creative and subdued. I'm talking about the "rock/jazz" Chris Cutler, which I wish he let go on for a few more albums. Wigwam does have a lot of that straight rock sound, which I guess from 1969 to 1980 was fairly common except for rare bands. They make up for the lack of "prog" by having more "soul" than most prog bands.
It would be fun to get the masters tapes and do some mixes in a good studio. I bet by layering the originals, and eq and compressing about 48 tracks of them, you could come up with quite a new Digitally Remastered LP!
Anyone keeping up with Pekka Pohjola had to be good, lol.
I'm sure they had something in mind with the layering when it was done, not likely to be replicated properly by someone who wasn't that at the time. It sounds nice and natural just as it is. The drums sound open and full of life without compression. Sometimes things are better left alone.... like historic paintings don't need to be digitally re assembled.
A remix was attempted with Being and it was a disaster. And unfortunately I believe it's now the only version of the album readily available.
Osterberg's drumming was very natural and effortless in the more complicated music. He could drive a groove without ever becoming frenetic. For example, the pacing of the Rhodes solo in Pedagogue (original mix) is outstanding, bringing it to a perfect climax before launching into the vocal bridge. Goosebumps all day long.
There is a lot of that Henry Cow feeling in that song. They had done three albums before "Being" which was from 1974 and the first Henry Cow was LegEnd in 1973. Not sure who else was doing that swervy melodicism quite that heavily so early. I don't think anyone did it more beautifully.
Interesting lyrics:
Pedagogue (by Wigwam)
All half beings
Let your lips partake of sentience
And the words will be given meaning, too
All half beasts, open up your ears
To receive knowledge
And you'll belong among those who have ideas
All half humans
Open up your eyes to behold talent
And you'll light on your own dead capacity
(You better)
Buy up your conscience
And invest it in your neighbor to attain peace
External and self maximizing profit
(For heavens sake)
Don't slow the rise of your standard of living by revelry
Production, fast instead on the third world arms trade
Touching down full speed
Destroy knowingly your cars hands
MD's, years earnings and meals, homes
And you still won't understand
Just what war makes you live with
Hurl the soul into the fame stampede
And the wonders of property as history
Then you won't have time
To waste your time in vain
Bear starvation, 3*16, 6 retarded babies
And break with the strength remaining
Into a smile at the silver wings
Flying odearing tourists and two idiot hijackers
All man marks, let the population pineapple
Work to measure
And start fitting nose to ass
Gustavson's lyrics were originally written in Finnish and were translated to English by Mats Huldén (who played bass in Wigwam before Pohjola joined and is also a professional translator). They were quite eccentric to begin with and certainly didn't become any clearer when translated.
I ADORE the result.
Bless Your Lucky Stars
I was hoping people would post some of their favorite drumming by him.
I have to admit that Wigwam in some ways is a new subtle musical vocabulary for rock, and maybe the drumming is a big part of it. It sounds like an average 4/4 at times, but then there are subtle sub patterns he will do now and then which adds complexity. It's often buried down in this mix, which might add to it's charm, like you have to really pay attention to be rewarded.
All of the live Wigwam videos where the band is filmed playing don't have Pekka on bass. Here is one where you can hear him and also Ronnie. I haven't heard it all but some of his finest starts around 7:44. He tuned his kit in a pretty unique way.
Last edited by regenerativemusic; 01-11-2018 at 02:47 PM.
I just read that Ronnie died from heart failure, but the first time I read it was suicide from pain due to diabetes. Anyone know which is correct?
Suicide. Ronnie Österberg hanged himself in his home in Espoo on December 6th 1980. His children found him. Apparently, his five-year old son was holding the family's copy of In the Court of the Crimson King in his hand at time, the cover of which bore rather grotesque resemblance to his father.
Diabetes did play its part, though. Österberg was diagnosed with type one diabetes in 1977, after he went into a hyperglycemic coma. He found that he could no longer sustain the energy levels required on a gigs and the changes in diet and lifestyle were apparently hard for him to sustain (being a diabetic myself, I can symphatise with that). While he was not a composer, he was very much the leader of Wigwam and later the Jim Pembroke Band, the one who made things happen. His lack of energy contributed to those bands falling apart. With fewer working opportunities, debilitating perfectionism about his radio show, a family to support and the realisation that he wouldn't able to play and live like he had, he apparently became depressed and gradually lost the will to live. That's the story, at least.
Very sad story.
Why is it mentioned on several websites that he died of sudden heart failure? The description you gave with the son holding the album almost sounds like rock rumor urban legend material, although I don't not necessarily doubt you either.
My information comes mainly from Mikko Meriläinen's excellent band biography Wigwam (Nemo, 2006). The description of events is based on fresh interviews of people involved, including Österberg's widow and some of her friends who were first on the scene. I've never heard of anyone contesting Meriläinen's narrative, and I believe the details had been covered in other articles and interviews over the years. Certainly the fact that he commited suicide has always been the official narrative in Finland, while I haven't heard the heart failure story before. It wasn't an isolated tragedy, either. Pekka Pöyry, the wonderful saxophone player in Tasavallan Presidentti (among others), had killed himself the same way in August. He was bipolar.
To be fair, I may have misrepresented the facts myself slightly. According to the widow's friend who was the second person to arrive at the scene, the son was carrying the LP the whole time she was there, so it is not clear whether he was holding it when he found his father's corpse (I understand the record player and the albums were in the same room, so it was probably lying around there).
So sad that half of Wigwam killed themselves. Just like Badfinger.
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