Ruphus set to reissue “New Born Day”

“New Born Day”, originally released in 1973, is widely regarded as one of the best albums from the Norwegian prog scene. It was the debut album from one of the flagships in Norwegian music – Ruphus. A band that through its first lifetime from 1970 to 1981 had more members than a football team, and developed from playing hard, progressive rock to becoming a leader in jazz rock.

“New Born Day” was was conceived in a house in Meråker (near Trondheim) in the summer of 1973. A whole month was spent in this house before the band entered the studio with producer Stein Robert Ludvigsen. The crew of this milestone album featured seven members, of which Kjell Larsen (guitar) and Asle Nilsen (bass, flute) were the only ones who participated on all the records until 1981. The album revealed a band with clear references to foreign powers such as King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Yes and Savage Rose – the latter thanks to Gudny Aspaas, who was equipped with an exceptionally powerful voice. With two singers in front – the male vocals by Rune Sundby – Ruphus marked themselves as a band in a league of their own.

Luckily, producer Ludvigsen succeeded in making a recording that sounds fresh even today. At the same time, “New Born Day” is clearly a product of its time, a document from a period of rock history as goal-conscious musicians performed their music in the same room at the same time.

“New Born Day” is the first in a series of Ruphus re-issues from Karisma Records, remastered from the original masters by Jacob Holm-Lupo (White Willow, The Opium Cartel, etc). The release date is set to March 8th, 2019.