Tages (band)

Tages was a Swedish pop band formed in 1963 in Gothenburg. The group initially consisted of Tommy Blom, Göran Lagerberg, Danne Larsson, Anders Töpel and Freddie Skantze. Although hugely successful in Sweden and where they achieved thirteen top-20 singles on Kvällstoppen, the band failed to garner any major attention outside of Scandinavia, despite several attempts by the band members. Initially led by lead vocalist Tommy Blom, for much of their career the band was led by bassist and vocalist Göran Lagerberg, who wrote a large amount of the group's material.

Tages
(left to right) Anders Töpel, Danne Larsson, Göran Lagerberg, Freddie Skantze & Tommy Blom
Background information
Also known as	Blond
Origin	Gothenburg, Sweden
Genres	pop
Years active	1963–1969
Labels	Platina Parlophone
Past members	Tommy Blom Danne Larsson Freddie Skantze Anders Töpel Göran Lagerberg Tommy Tausis Lasse Svensson

The group garnered much critisism from other musicians, who considered them inexperienced. This led to them quickly developing as a group. Between 1965 and 1967, Tages managed to record five studio albums, including Extra Extra, which was amongst the first psychedelic rock albums recorded. Tages fifth and final album Studio is their most well-known and is considered one of the best Swedish albums of the 1960s. Following the departure of Blom, the members rebranded themselves into Blond, releasing one album on the Fontana label in 1969.

History

Formation and breakthrough (1963–1964)

Tages was formed during the summer of 1963, initially as Tages Skifflegrupp (Tages Skiffleband) in Gothenburg.[1] The initial line-up of Tages included lead vocalist Tommy Blom, bassist and vocalist Göran Lagerberg, rhythm guitarist and vocalist Danne Larsson, lead guitarist Anders Töpel and drummer Freddie Skantze. Their name stems from Danne Larsson, who's middle name is Tage, a common Swedish name. They chose this due to the fact that they considered the name Tage to sound lame. None of the members had previously played in a rock band.[2] The group initially sang mainly sing-along songs and were influenced by instrumental rock band The Shadows.[3]

In early 1964, Tages Skifflegrupp had changed their name to simply Tages, as they largely ventured away from skiffle. The group catched their first break during 13–17 August of 1964, when the group signed up for Göteborgs-Posten's contest "Västkustens Beatles" ("The West Coast's Beatles"). The concept behind this was to sound similarly to the Beatles, with a requirement of four members. The prize was a free recording session to the victor.[4] Tages however, consisted of five members at the time. This problem was solved since Blom was in London at the time, a two-week vacation he took to improve his English skills, while connecting with other people at a Youth Hostel.[3] Without Blom, Lagerberg, Larsson, Töpel and Skantze successfully made Tages into a quartet.[5] They won the contest, garnering 600 votes out of the 1300 voting members of the audience.[5][6]

Blom had by now returned to Sweden, and the band were authorized to record their first single. For this release, they chose to record a song which was written by Blom, "Sleep Little Girl". The first recording of the song was not recorded at a professional studio, but rather at Nylöse Ungdomsgård, where a makeshift studio had been created in the cellar.[3] The group entered the studio on 20 September 1964 to record the song.[7] The song features Blom on lead vocals, while Larsson plays the acoustic guitar. Lagerberg sings backing vocals on the recording. The single was released on 16 October 1964, by independent record label Platina Records. "Sleep Little Girl" became an immediate smash hit. It reached number 3 on Kvällstoppen in December of 1964, and topped radio chart Tio i Topp, staying eleven weeks on that chart.[8][9] Due to it's massive success, "Sleep Little Girl" was re-issued in January of 1965.[10]

Band members

• Tommy Blom (born Tommy Albert Blom, 3 March 1947, Gothenburg; died 25 May 2014) – vocals, guitar, harmonica (1963–1968)
• Göran Lagerberg (born Göran Bertil Lagerberg, 20 September 1947, Gothenburg) – vocals, bass guitar (1963–1969)
• Danne Larsson (born Dan Tage Larsson, 11 January 1948, Gothenburg) – vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, organ, spinet (1963–1969)
• Anders Töpel (born Per Anders Töpel, 16 January 1947, Gothenburg; died April 2014) – vocals, lead guitar (1963–1969)
• Freddie Skantze (born Fredrik Howard Skantze, 10 September 1945, Gothenburg) – drums, bongos (1963–1966)
• Tommy Tausis (born Tommy Roland Tausis, 22 March 1946, Södertälje) – vocals, drums (1966)
• Lasse Svensson (born Lars Viktor Emanuel Svensson, 12 May 1947, Järvsö) – drums (1967–1969)

Timeline

Discography

LPs

• Tages (1965)
• Tages 2 (1966)
• Extra Extra (1966)
• Contrast (1967)
• Studio (1967)

Swedish singles

Year	Song	B-side	Chart positions		Album
			Kvällstoppen	Tio I Topp
1964	"Sleep Little Girl"	"Tell Me You're Mine"	3	1	A:Tages (re-recording) B: non-album
1965	"I Should Be Glad"	"I Cry"	2	2	A: non-album B: non-album
	"Don't Turn Your Back"	"Hound Dog"	2	2
	"The One For You"	"I Got My Mojo Working"	6	2	A: Tages B: Tages
	"Bloodhound"	"Whatcha Gonna Do About It"	3	6
1966	"So Many Girls"	"I'm Mad"	5	4	A: non-album B: non-album
	"I'll Be Doggone"	"Hitch Hike"	10	7
	"In My Dreams"	"Leaving Here"	1	1	A: Tages 2 B: Tages 2
	"Crazy 'Bout My Baby"	"Go"	16	—
	"Miss Mac Baren"	"Get Up An' Get Goin"	1	4	A: non-album B: non-album
1967	"Secret Room"	"Friday On My Mind"	—	—	A: Extra Extra B: Extra Extra
	"Every Raindrop Means A Lot"	"Look What You Get"	4	2	A: Contrast B: non-album
	"Gone Too Far"	"Understanding"	—	—	A: Extra Extra B: Extra Extra
	"I'm Going Out"	"Fuzzy Patterns"	3	2	A: Contrast B: Contrast
	"She's Having A Baby Now"	"Sister's Got A Boyfriend"	—	—	A: Studio B: non-album
	"One Red, One Yellow, One Blue"	"True Fine Woman"	—	—	A: Extra Extra B: Extra Extra
	"Treat Her Like A Lady"	"Wanting"	7	3	A: Studio B: Contrast
	"Dancing In The Street"	"Those Rumours"	—	—	A: Tages 2 B: Tages 2
	"Mohair Sam"	"Ride Your Pony"	—	—	A: Extra Extra B: Extra Extra
1968	"There's A Blind Man Playin' Fiddle In The Street"	"Like A Woman"	—	10	A: non-album B: Studio
	"Doctor Feel-Good"	"Dimples"	—	—	A: Tages B: Tages
	"Fantasy Island"	"To Be Free"	—	—	A: non-album B: non-album
	"I Read You Like An Open Book"	"Halcyon Days"	—	—

Other singles

• "Hey Mama" flexi-disc (8/65; Platina RM-4066)
• "I'm The Man You'll Be Lookin' For" / "Leaving Here" (8/66; His Master's Voice [Norway] AL-6137)
• "In My Dreams" / "Dirty Mind" (9/66; His Master's Voice [Norway] AL-6140)
• "Crazy 'Bout My Baby" / "In My Dreams" (10/7/66; Columbia [UK] DB-8019)
• "House Of Soul Hill" / "Sister's Got A Boyfriend" (12/67; Odeon [Germany] O-23-671)
• "Fan Club" flexi-disc (12/67; Platina RM-4115)
• "Treat Her Like A Lady" / "Like A Woman" (8/68; Columbia [Germany] C-23-851)

EPs

• Tages (6/65; Platina PAEP-2001)
• In My Dreams (1966; Impact [France] IMP-200-006M)
• Tages (9/66; Platina PAEP-2002)
• Hits, Vol. 1 (8/67; Platina PAEP-2005)
• Hits, Vol. 2 (8/67; Platina PAEP-2006)
• Hits, Vol. 3 (8/67; Platina PAEP-2007)

Compilations

• The Best Of Tages (10/67; Platina PALP-3005)
• Forget Him (5/28/68; Platina PALP-3007)
• Good Old Tages! (2/69; EMI/Odeon PMES-577)

References

1. "Tages - Lisepedia". www.lisepedia.se. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
2. "Göran Lagerberg". www.fuzz.se. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
3. "tomyblom". 60spunk.m78.com. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
4. Brandels, Göran; Wrigholm, Lennart (2012). Boken om Tages: från Avenyn till Abbey Road. Premium Publishing. ISBN 9789189136885.
5. "HISTORIA -" (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-08-15.
6. "Svenskt Rockarkiv - Sveriges radios popbandstävling". web.archive.org. 2011-05-09. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
7. "Tages - Sleep Little Girl". www.svenskpophistoria.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-08-15.
8. "SLEEP LITTLE GIRL av TAGES". NostalgiListan (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-08-15.
9. "Tages - Tio i Topp". www.svenskpophistoria.se. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
10. "Tages - Sleep Little Girl - Reissue". www.svenskpophistoria.se. Retrieved 2020-08-15.

External links

• Tages Official Website.
• Swedish Pophistory. The 4 Biggest in the sixties.
• Japanese fansite
• Tages discography at Discogs