Short but sweet - Pan!

Fourth category - Short but sweet! Bands that were not around long, but released great material. First up, Danish prog heroes from the early 70's Pan.

Who
To know Pan, one must first know it's driving force, Robert Lelievre. He started his musical career in the folk trio Cy, Maia & Robert. This was one of the first folk music groups in Scandinavia, and consisted of British born Cy Nicklin, French born Lelievre and Danish born Maia Aarskov. During their time together they released two albums that are near unobtainable today, and had the priviledge of warming up for Paul Simon and Donovan, and backing folk singer Alex Campbell at his famous concert in Tivoli Gardens.

After the group broke up, Lelievre wanted to move towards more of a rock direction. Together with Nicklin, he briefly played in the band High Crossfield, of which no recordings exist. When that fell apart, he decided he wanted a band of his own. He was joined by brothers Thomas and Michael Puggaard-Müller, who played guitar and drums respectively. The brothers had played in Delta Blues Band but were tired of playing blues standards, and wanted to move on to writing their own music. Together with pianist Henning Verner and bass player Arne Würgler, they started the band Pan in 1969. Initially they also had a second vocalist, Danish actor and singer Niels Skousen, but he soon left to form Skousen & Ingemann which would go on to become one of Danish musics best folk rock bands.

Discography
Pan went into Wifos studios in 1970 and cut what would become one of the most sought after albums in subsequent years, their self-titled debut. The style was a proggy kind of folk-rock, topped off with Lelievre's bluesy vocals. Immediately upon it's release it was hailed as a classic, and it's status would only increase over the years until it was finally released on CD by a British bootlegger sometime in the late 90s.

This album is a favourite among 70's rock fans and collectors, not least because it contained one of the best songs ever written by a danish band, called 'Lady of the sand'. A near-7 minute guitar workout, blessed with one of the greastest recorded guitar solos of the 70's and some quasi-mystical lyrics. The second best track on the album is called 'Song to France', and it's a touching track of longing for one's home country. Lelievre had escaped military service in France, and knew that he would be forced into jail if he returned to his home country. This longing for country and family eventually had dire consequences. 'Song to France' is a short but powerful track, which again features some awesome guitar work and great lyrics. The whole album is good, and the quality of tracks seldom dips.

The complete discography is as follows:

'Pan' (LP, 1970 on Sonet)
'Ride across my bed/In a simple way' (single, 1970 on Sonet)
'Pan' (1970 LP released on CD with above single as bonus tracks, bootleg released sometime during the late 90's)
'Pan' (Official Danish re-release on Karma Records of 1970 LP with above single, and exclusive demos as bonus)
'On Air' (Danish Radio performances (some with Niels Skousen) from 1969 and early 1970, released on Karma Records)

What then ?
Sadly, Lelievre's longing for home got the best of him. After Pan broke up due to internal strife, he made a living selling leather belts for a while. In early 1973, he hung himself in one of them. A great talent was lost at the age of 33. The remaining members of Pan went on to play in a multitude of other great bands. Their legacy as a band is one of the best albums recorded in Scandinavia in the 70's.