Sidewalk – The Time Is Here

Description

The Time Is Here is the sophomore album by the Swedish pop/rock band Sidewalk, released on the Swedish gospel label Royal Music in 1987. (The original Swedish version of the album, entitled Tiden är här, was released on Royal Music the same year.) The album was recorded by Bosse Reimer and Benny Lundin, as well as Olle Junholm, Peter Hallstrom, Bjorn Asplind, and Charles Norman, at Royal Music Studio in Mölndal, Sweden; with ABBA-sideman Rutger Gunnarsson producing. Mixed by Pontus Olsson at Sonet Studios in Stockholm, Sweden; and by Bosse Reimer at Royal Music Studio. Arranged by Gunnarsson and the band.

Only two members remained from Sidewalk’s debut album – lead singer Ken Wennerholm (later with Triple & Touch) and guitarist Tommy Kaså (later to become a producer, songwriter, and member of Ten Tigers). The band’s new rhythm section, Thomas Axelsson (bass) and guest musician Pär Gustafsson (drums), came from the disbanded Licence. The album as well featured keyboard player Jörgen Ingeström (who actually did play on the final single by Licence, “Ge mej dina tankar”, released in 1984). (This five-piece constellation of Sidewalk – considered kind of a Gothenburg’ish “super group” – released their first single in August 1986, “Våra vingar” (b/w “Lågan”), a song also included on the album Tiden är här released the following year.) Background vocals provided by Peter Hallström, Ki Ryberg, Ann Wennerholm, and Charles Norman.

Björn Ström, the lead vocalist of Licence, later founded the Swedish pop/west-coast band Fingerprints together with Sidewalk members Thomas Axelsson and Jörgen Ingeström. (And when Fingerprints disbanded, Ström and Axelsson continued as the pop duo West Of Sunset).

This one crawled out some months back but is worth searching out if your taste veers towards the techno-pop of Erasure et al yet with lyrics that shine a candle in the darkness. Ken Wennerholm is a pretty good rock vocalist and the rhythms conjured up in Royal Music’s Gottenburg studio are occasionally dance worthy. Another example of the rock gospel talent flowing through Europe. [Tony Cummings, Cross Rhythms, October 1991]

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “Confusion” – 3:23
A2. “Fallen Angel” – 3:58
A3. “The Flame” – 4:15
A4. “Chameleon Girl” – 4:30
A5. “Home Again” – 4:30

Side Two
B1. “The Bridge” – 4:36
B2. “Run Away” – 3:49
B3. “The Dancer” – 3:54
B4. “Where I Belong” – 3:59
B5. “The Time Is Here” – 3:30

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and 12-inch vinyl LP by Royal Music. The English version was re-issued by Royal Music Productions in 1990, this time as a self-titled album featuring new cover artwork, distributed in the US by Spectra Distribution.

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“The Dancer”

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“The Time Is Here”

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CREDITS. Produced by Rutger Gunnarsson. Recorded at Royal Music Studio, Mölndal. Engineered by Bosse Reimer and Benny Lundin. Mixed at Sonet Studio by Pontus Olsson. Arranged by Rutger Gunnarsson and the band. Graphic Design by Stefan Ceder/Ceder Art. Photo by Torleif Svensson.

Musicians: Ken Wennerholm (Vocals), Jörgen Ingeström (Keyboards), Tommy Kaså (Guitar), Thomas Axelsson (Bass), Pär Gustafsson (Drums). Guest musicians: Ki Rydberg (Duet Vocals, Background vocals), Peter Hallström (Background vocals). Background vocals on track B2: Ann Wennerholm, Ann Martinsson, Lollo Åström.