Description
Mega rare original private pressing. Limited 500 copies
Swedish act Opus Est has had a long history but they only manage to release one album during the years. The history of Opus Est is just like for many other acts. Under the right circumstances they could have developed into a big act but history wanted something else. Opus Est had it all against them from the start. They were formed in 1977 when punk and disco were in the limelight and prog rock had been pushed back into the underground. Founders were guitarist Kent Olofsson, drummer Anders Olofsson and bass player Torbjörn Svensson. All three of them were in love with Mahavishnu Orchestra and wanted to form a band with that sound. Their project was baptised Krishna. But after a trip to Spain and a meeting with a drunk guy who persisted that they would call themselves Opus Est, they decided that it wasnt a bad idea after all and at the same time they had decided that they needed a vocalist so Håkan Nilsson joined the line-up. They writes material influenced by anything from prog rock giants like Yes, Genesis and ELP to classic music like Stravinsky. Things starts to move when they wins a music contest held by Radio Blekinge and with the help of Radio Blekinge mobile studio they get the change to record a couple fo tracks during five days in March of 1983. The result is Opus 1 their one and only album. This private pressed album is released in 500 copies and thats it. The band seems to have ceased to exist in 1984. They were asked to release this album on cd in 2004 and the band went through their archive and also managed to find more recordings so a cd called Opus 2 were released at the same time. This second album featured material written in 1979 (before the first album) as well as 4 tracks written and recorded in 1984 (after the first album). Opus Est was a very interesting act that should have deserved greater things
Line-up / Musicians
Håkan Nilsson / lead vocals
Anders Olofsson / drums, percussion
Kent Olofsson / acoustic & electric guitars, bass
Leif Olofsson / organ, piano, synthesizers
Track list:
1. The Bonfires
2. Ventis Rem Tradere
3. A Walk After Dark
4. Times
5. Miss Gee
6. What Is That Sound
7. If I Could Tell You
8. Mirrorcle