It’s time to present 22 för många’s first cassette LP. On vinyl. After 43 years. ‘Shockingly good’ was the headline when Jan Gradvall wrote about the album in Dagens Industri Weekend.
It has been a long journey. Twenty years ago, we started discussing the promotion of 22 för många and their influential music. 22 för många were the band that challenged everything and everyone at the dawn of post-punk. 22 för många had been undeservedly forgotten. Even Wikipedia questioned whether the group had ever existed.
Conny Nimmersjö from Fanfar! and Mikael Söderlund from 22 för många therefore embarked on a quest to climb mountains of master and reel-to-reel tapes in various containers and warehouses, inherited from record companies such as MNW and Mistlur. Unfortunately, there was no trace of 22 för många’s legendary recordings.
However, Micke Söderlund then found two mysterious tapes in his attic.
‘3/5/81’ was written on the box of one of the tapes, indicating the recording date. We sent the tapes to the Swedish Sound Migration Centre in Gamleby for restoration. Much to our delight, the tapes were in good condition and actually contained the entire first cassette LP. It’s a cassette LP so obscure that only two users on Discogs claim to own it.
Ten songs, recorded and mixed in just two days, 43 years ago.
The vinyl will be released on 9 February. It has been lavishly produced and processed using analogue technology at every stage, as if it had been released on vinyl when it was recorded 43 years ago. And it sounds fantastic!
You can find ‘Yrkesmördare i livets tjänst’ with 22 for many here.