Bo Hansson and Bo Hansson

... yes, pals... two Bo Hanssons... one Bo Hansson, the Swedish Prog musician who wrote and played and recorded on Charisma "Mad Hatter" record label, two great records: "Lord of the Rings" and "Magician's Hat" - sort-of "ante-litteram" fantasy-tinted soundtracks to Tolkien's masterpiece - untimely passed away on last April 24th... R.I.P. to him.

The second one, also from Sweden, Bo "Bosse" Hansson, is fortunately still and well alive and kickin'... he founded back in the late '70s/early '80s The Audiophile's Audiophile record label: Opus3 and - as a parallel business - he ran Rauna of Sweden, devoted to some classy audio... the older among us will sure remember the concrete-made speakers from the '80s.

Bo, always gentle, supportive to every music lover - yours truly included - recorded several dozens discs with tube gears - tape recorders and microphones - and golden ears, using no studio gimnicks and tricks, BUT only well-rehearsed musicians recorded in natural sounding venues - i.e. churches, school halls and the like.

Bo's Opus3 discovered a young Eric Bibb and recorded him several times, alone and with Bert Deivert, an itinerant musician and busker who settled in the friendly Sweden for some time, just to record some records and make some money for other journeys, but Opus3's production spanned from Indian classical music, to organ to Irish folk, classical and jazz.

Bosse used Revox G-36, Telefunken M-15A, Neumann USM-69 and AKG C-24... and plenty of Basf and AGFA tapes... and produced among the very best sounding vinyl discs ever, also thanking the great mastering job made in Solna, at The Mastering Room.

His actual interest are also audio, notably speakers, analog turntables and tube amps... also an arm, a linear tracking arm produced by Rauna, is a very nice sounding, cheap piece of gear and a well-kept secret in analog.

Mr. Hansson has been and sure still is a BIG influence on my recording tastes and techniques and a quiet lighthouse to me, as he, rock steady, still uses his trusty, huge M-15 open-reel recorder and analog open-reel tape and it's not rare seeing him and his Telefunken's at some audio fair, demonstrating his gears with first generation, superb master-tapes.



An humble genius... thanks for being, Bosse!