''Music Inspired by Watership Down'' is a 1977

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

album by Swedish musician Bo Hansson. The album is Hansson's fourth solo album and is, as its name suggests, built around musical ideas inspired by Richard Adams'

heroic fantasy Heroic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy in which events occur in a world where magic is prevalent and modern technology is nonexistent. The setting may be entirely fictitious in nature or based upon Earth with some additions. Unlike dark fiction ...

novel ''

Watership Down ''Watership Down'' is an adventure novel by English author Richard Adams, published by Rex Collings Ltd of London in 1972. Set in Berkshire in southern England, the story features a small group of rabbits. Although they live in their natura ...

''.

Recording and release

''Music Inspired by Watership Down'' was the second album of Hansson's to have been based on a novel; his first solo album, '' Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings'', had likewise been based on

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

high fantasy High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot.Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, ...

novel ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...

''. Hansson had already composed and released a musical suite inspired by ''Watership Down'' on his previous album, ''

Attic Thoughts ''Attic Thoughts'' is a 1975 instrumental progressive rock album by Swedish musician Bo Hansson. Recording and release The album was recorded during 1974 and 1975 at Studio Decibel in Stockholm, and at Hansson's home, which had virtually become ...

''. However, beyond its title, the ''Music Inspired by Watership Down'' album contains few overt references to the novel and instead features excerpts from the works of various poets, such as John Keats and

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

. The album was originally released in Sweden as ''El-Ahrairah'' by YTF Records in 1977. This title was taken directly from the pages of ''Watership Down'', with El-Ahrairah being the name of a trickster, folk hero-deity rabbit, known as "The Prince with a Thousand Enemies". The album was subsequently released with its English title by

Charisma Records Charisma Records (also known as The Famous Charisma Label) was a British record label founded in 1969 by former journalist Tony Stratton-Smith. He had previously acted as manager for rock bands such as The Nice, the Bonzo Dog Band and Van der ...

in the United Kingdom and

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehre ...

in the United States, but it failed to chart on either side of the Atlantic. ''Music Inspired by Watership Down'' was reissued on CD in 2004 by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

Track listing

All tracks composed by Bo Hansson except where indicated.

Side 1

#"Born in the Gentle South" (Bo Hansson, Kenny Håkansson) – 16:35 #"Allegro for a Rescue" – 1:23

Side 2

#"Legend and Light" (Bo Hansson, Kenny Håkansson) – 3:39 #"Trial and Adversity" – 4:10 #"The Twice – Victory" – 8:14 #"The Kingdom Brightly Smiles" – 1:24

2004 CD reissue bonus track

"Migration Suite" ive studio recording(Bo Hansson, Kenny Håkansson) – 11:38

Personnel

* Bo Hansson –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

* Kenny Håkansson – guitar, bass guitar * Bo Skoglund – drums,

maraca A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas (from Guaraní ), also known as tamaracas, were ...

s *

Göran Lagerberg Göran Bertil Lagerberg (; born 20 September 1947) is a Swedish musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist and co-lead vocalist in Swedish rock band Tages and later progressive rock act Kebnekajse. In the 1990s, he was a ...

– bass guitar * Tomas Netzler – bass guitar * Sten Bergman – flute * Torbjörn Ekman – wooden flute * Fredrik Norén – drums * Pontus Olsson – piano,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

References

1977 albums Bo Hansson albums Charisma Records albums Sire Records albums Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis {{1970s-rock-album-stub