MuzikMan's Reviews And News

Showing posts with label Hans Annellsson. Show all posts

4/17/2026

Prog Duo The Vegetarians Release New Album “Ampersand On The Beach”

The Vegetarians are a Swedish-American duo consisting of Hans Annellsson, composer & musician from Sweden, and composer & songwriter John Tabacco from Long Island, NY. Their eagerly anticipated new album includes a 48-minute suite called “Ampersand On The Beach”. Stylistically, the music is a mix of Prog Rock & Classic Rock. “Ampersand On The Beach” released on Spotify April 17.

Says Hans, “For the past year and a half we have released one single per month, often including two songs mimicking an A-side and a B-side (like in the good old vinyl days).When the time came to do the new album we picked the ten best songs, which form the first part of the album, and then took the remaining songs and put them together as a suite, adding interludes, transitions and themes for the continuity of the piece. Anybody familiar with Genesis “Suppers Ready” will get the picture.

Hans Annellsson: Composer & musician from Sweden. On the Annellssongs label Hans has released both music in Swedish, with The Vegetarians in English, and some instrumental music. The instrumental music is available on the albums “Louisiana”, “Zenotation”, “Q&A with Gerry Fialka”, “A Pirate In Ambient Waters”, & “Scenes & Takes”. Being a massive Frank Zappa fan Hans got permission from Frank, before he went on his last tour, to release a Swedish version of “Penis Dimension.” That version can be found on an album called “Från A Till Ö” by Hans and Mats Öberg. Hans also produced Mats Öberg’s album “Frankful,” solo piano renditions of the music of Frank Zappa and “Frank Zappa for Prepared Piano”.

John Tabacco: American composer, singer songwriter, engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and graphic artist. He is co-founder of SA3 (a proprietary analog to digital conversion technology for sound and video) and has engineered /mixed and mastered music for the past 40 years. The president of Modern Voices Digital Distribution - distributed by The Orchard a Division of Sony Music Entertainment.

Tracks:
1. Make Earth Great Again (3:53)
2. Living For (3:38)
3. East Pomona Nights (3:07)
4. Shootin’ At The Moon (3:02)
5. King Ludwig’s Tune (2:48)
6. Don’t Call Me Your Fool (4:10)
7. A Calm Has Taken Over (3:27)
8. Lust Dynamite (3:11)
9. The Greatest Story (3:35)
10. Songs Of Yesterday (5:34)
11. Ampersand On The Beach (48:37)

All songs composed by Hans Annellsson & John Tabacco except track 8 by Annellsson-Tabacco-Pomes.

Liner Notes:
Produced by Hans Annellsson
Performed by Hans Annellsson & John Tabacco with the help of the following fine musicians:
Lead guitar - Jonathan Mehler, Chris Pati, Jimmy Ågren, Pelle Jernryd & Olle Helgesson
Bass guitar - Gustaf Hielm & Sven Bornemark
Keyboards - Roger Altenstam
Harmony vox - Bobby Halvorson, Robin Schell, Lovisa Laine, Alexandra Hamnede,
Johan Pihleke & Robson Diem

For more information: http://www.annellssongs.com/

The Vegetarians on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063471005376

To purchase: https://thevegetarians.bandcamp.com/album/ampersand-on-the-beach

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6Tg6lJdXzqPPCdsHfzRSMY?si=uzpuembXQl-5O0REhuEwsA

Press inquiries: Keith James, Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com

3/16/2026

Hans Annellsson Releases New Cover of Frank Zappa’s “Sinister Footwear”

Hans Annellsson, one part of the prog duo The Vegetarians, has recorded a complete cover version of Frank Zappa's orchestral composition Sinister Footwear. This new version has been arranged for keyboards, bass, drums, guitar, violin, woodwinds & mallets. This recording was produced and performed by Hans Annellsson with Andreas Hagman (violin) & Viktor Enebjörn (drums). The new recording released on March 1, 2026 on Bandcamp, and is available as a digital download or as a numbered limited edition CD.

The complete version of Sinister Footwear, which had its world premiere at Zellerbach Auditorium, Berkeley, California on June 15, 1984, has never been officially released by Frank Zappa.

Most of the instruments on this new version were recorded in Annellssongs studio during the second half of 2025. The drums were recorded by Viktor Enebjörn in his studio, and the violin was recorded at Studio Loftet, Malmö, Sweden by Janne Brovall. The mixing and mastering was also done at Studio Loftet by Hans Annellsson & Janne Brovall.

The story of the music:

00:00 JAKE, WHO DESIGNS IT
01:06 SOMEPLACE IN NEW JERSEY WHERE THEY MAKE THEM
02:55 ILLEGAL ALIENS ON A LUNCHBREAK
03:35 AT THE CATERING TRUCK
04:15 JAKE EATS A MOLDED JELLO SALAD
05:16 JAKE'S SECRETARY
05:55 ILLEGAL ALIENS WORK SLOWER IN THE AFTERNOON
06:06 JAKE'S SECRETARY READS HER MAGAZINE
06:22 ILLEGAL ALIENS WANT TO GO HOME
06:30 JAKE'S SECRETARY EATS COTTAGE CHEESE
06:41 UGLY SHOES ON THE ASSEMBLY LINE
07:51 WHAT YOU THINK YOU LOOK LIKE WHILE YOU'RE
WEARING THEM
09:11 SOMETIMES THEY MAKE YOU WALK FUNNY
09:48 OTHER PEOPLE PRETEND NOT TO NOTICE
12:08 SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO TAKE THEM OFF FOR A MINUTE
12:28 THEN YOU PUT THEM BACK ON BECAUSE YOU THINK THEY LOOK SO GOOD ON YOU
13:18 CHILDREN CAN ALSO HAVE UGLY SHOES
15:03 THE FOOT DOCTOR SAYS YOU MIGHT NEED AN OPERATION
15:30 BUT YOU'RE GONNA WEAR THEM ANYWAY
16:04 VARIOUS NEW POSTURES
16:42 EVERYBODY HAS A PAIR SOMEWHERE
18:19 A PLACE YOU CAN GO WHEN YOU GOT THEM ON

Hans Annellsson

Musician/Composer from Sweden. One part of the Swedish-American Prog duo The Vegetarians with John Tabacco. Has released music on his label Annellssongs since 1989. Has his own studio where the majority of the music is recorded. Got permission from Frank Zappa to release one of Frank’s compositions in Swedish, Penisens Storlek, (Penis Dimension) 1993. Performed with The Vegetarians at the Zappanale Festival in Bad Doberman, Germany in 2011. Has worked with Morgan Ågren & Mats Öberg (Mats&Morgan Band), Gustaf Hielm (Meshugga), Napoleon Murphy Brock (Frank Zappa & George Duke) & John Tabacco.

Andreas Hagman

Violinist from Sweden with an interest in contemporary & avant-garde music. A member of the Opera Orchestra in Malmö, Sweden.

Viktor Enebjörn

Freelancing drummer from Sweden. Also supporting himself as a drum teacher.

To purchase digitally or on CD: https://hansannellsson.bandcamp.com/album/sinister-footwear

Press inquiries: Keith James, Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158 (USA), glassonyonpr@gmail.com

8/23/2021

Eclectic Music Ensemble The Vegetarians Release New Album “Bill Haley”

The Vegetarians is a project lead by Hans Annellsson, composer & musician from Sweden, working together with several different singers such as John Tabacco, Robin Schell, John Crowe, Marc Mollan, John Marshall Gibbs and Napoleon Murphy Brock. The project started around 2000 as a vehicle for recording some prog covers of YES, Frank Zappa, King Crimson, Genesis, ELP, Adrian Belew, Peter Hammill etc. The prog covers can be found on the albums “Remustered & Remixed Salad” and “The Calling”.

Billy Sherwood said this about the song “The Calling”: “A good rocking version, well done boys.”

Adrian Belew had this to say about The Vegetarians version of his song “Dream Life,”: “Beautiful, I was really moved to hear your version, maybe I'm not forgotten after all.”

The new album, “Bill Haley,” a mixture of Prog/Alternative/Classic Rock, consists of fourteen original songs, mostly written by Annellsson-Tabacco, and one cover written by Susan DeVita. The recording was done by sending files back and forth. John recorded all his vocals at his studio in Long Island and Hans recorded his parts at Annellssongs studio, the mix being done at Studio Loftet in Malmö, Sweden. There are plenty of musicians on the album, most notably Morgan Ågren (Devin Townsend, Mats/Morgan Band, Zappa’s Universe) on drums, Mats Öberg (Mats/Morgan Band, Zappa’s Universe) on keyboards & harmonica and Dan Bornemark on keyboards.

The Vegetarians performed at the “Zappanale Festival” in Germany in 2011, and hope to perform there again in the future.

Hans Annellsson

Composer & musician from Sweden. On the Annellssongs label Hans has released both music in Swedish, with The Vegetarians in English, and some instrumental music. The instrumental music is available on the albums “A Pirate In Ambient Waters” & “Scenes & Takes”. A new instrumental album “Goodly Odd” will be released later this year. To support himself Hans works as a music teacher at Malmö International School. Being a massive Frank Zappa fan Hans got permission from Frank, before he went on his last tour, to release a Swedish version of “Penis Dimension.” That version can be found on an album called “Från A Till Ö” by Hans and Mats Öberg. Hans also recently produced Mats Öberg’s album “Frankful,” solo piano renditions of the music of Frank Zappa.

John Tabacco

American composer, singer songwriter, engineer, multi instrumentalist, and graphic artist. He is co-founder of SA3 (a proprietary analog to digital conversion technology for sound and video) and has engineered /mixed and mastered music for the past 30 years.

To purchase The Vegetarians “Bill Haley”:
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3sxA7e1
Bandcamp: https://thevegetarians.bandcamp.com/album/bill-haley

For more information about The Vegetarians:
Homepage: www.annellssongs.com
Facebook: https://bit.ly/3iOXuw7
https://www.johntabacco.net/

Press Inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 1-828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com