BIOGRAPHY

THE BAND - THE ALBUM

Pan were a Danish prog/psych/blues rock band from the early 70's which featured the following musicians: Robert Lelievre (vocals, guitars), Thomas Puggaard-Müller (lead guitar), Henning Verner (piano, organ, vibes), Arne Würgler (bass, cello), Michael Puggaard-Müller (drums), and in the group's second incarnation: Jens Elbøl (bass) Torben Enghoff (sax, flute) and Nils Tuxen (steel guitar). Danish Singer Niels Skousen also joined the group for a couple live radio show performances.

The band was named after the Greek god Pan. As the legend goes, Pan was the god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music: paein means to pasture. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. Once Pan had the audacity to compare his music with that of Apollo, and to challenge Apollo, the god of the lyre, to a trial of skill. Tmolus, the mountain-god, was chosen to umpire. Pan blew on his pipes, and with his rustic melody gave great satisfaction to himself and his faithful follower, Midas, who happened to be present. Then Apollo struck the strings of his lyre. Tmolus at once awarded the victory to Apollo, and all but Midas agreed with the judgment. He dissented, and questioned the justice of the award. Apollo would not suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer, and turned Midas' ears into those of a donkey…

In Copenhagen, Denmark in June 1969, from the ashes of Danish/French/English folk-rock band High Crossfield, former Cy, Maia & Robert folk trio member singer/songwriter/guitarist Frenchman Robert Lelievre formed Pan with former Burnin' Red Ivanhoe bassist and jazz musician Arne Würgler. They soon added former Delta Blues Band guitarist Thomas Puggaard-Müller, and his brother Michael Puggaard-Müller (also of Delta Blues Band), and lastly jazz organist Henning Verner (from Henning Verner's Trio) to the line-up.

Pan's debut concert was on November 29th 1969 in Dagmar as part of the concert series Middle Session, which also featured Burnin Red Ivanhoe and Free Buffalo. The band however, first recorded music a week earlier on Edmont Jensen's colour TV show The Beat Goes On, with other Danish bands; The Maxwells, Day of Phoenix, and Peter Thorup's Group. The title of the programme they appeared on was called Will The Beat-culture Exist? and was not broadcast on TV until May 21st 1970, but it proved that after only one month of intense daily practise, they were a superior band and already generating interest from Danish radio and television. On December 27th, the group played at Beat 69 Goodbye-Hello Beat 70, with all the well-known groups in Denmark of time, including Alrune Rod, Beefeaters, Burnin Red Ivanhoe, and Day of Phoenix; with a psychedelic lightshow by Andromeda Lightcirkus. Songs from these radio programmes were selected for the Pan In The Air CD released by Karma Music in 2004. The radio broadcastings show with clarity Lelievre's talent to write music. The group's official TV debut was on January 7th 1970, as part of Erik Moseholm's music series, Radiobeat. Danish singer Niels Skousen shared vocal duties with Robert throughout the show, most notably on "From A Tree". It was clear however, that Robert was the best one to interpret his own songs, resulting in Skousen leaving to join Peter Ingemann in Skousen & Ingemann. Though the show was recorded January 7th 1970, it was not broadcast until February 21st, already being delayed from the initial January 24th broadcast date. Earlier, on January 14th 1970, Pan went into Wifos recording studio for the first time, and over two days (January 10th and 14th) recorded three songs: "Right Across My Bed", "In A Simple Way" and "To Get Along Alone". The first two tracks were eventually chosen to be the band's debut single, released on the Sonet label. The same night as the first recording to the single, Pan played a gig at Hans-Otto Bisgaard's Brøndby Pop-club, supporting bands: Atomic Rooster and Pete Brown & Piblokto! The single was also presented on Danish television-programme Top Pop on February 7th 1970, though the record did not sell well. Despite the lack of sales, the group were again sent to Wifos studio, this time to record a full album.

The original debut self-titled Pan LP was recorded between February and March 1970 at the Wifos studio in Copenhagen, Denmark. Freddy Hansson served as both producer and recording engineer on the album, while the band they were in charge of production. On February 23rd, the almost-finished tape recordings of Pan's debut LP were stolen from Freddy Hansson's red Morris Mascot, as he was busy catching a show at the Carlton SIC. Apparently two thieves broke into Hansson's car and stole not only the tapes, but also two expensive reel-to-reel tapes recorders. The group's manager, Walter Klæbel, quickly offered a reward of 1.000 DKK for the procurement of the tapes. The group had to re-recorded the entire album at a cost of 25.000 DKK. On March 5th, Pan was soon back on the stage in Falkoner Centre supporting Booker T. & The M.G.'s. During the spring, the group also recorded three instrumental numbers to a short film for the Trafikrådet, again in Wifos studio (though from a 2008 Q & A piece for this site, Pan's 2nd bassist Jens Elbøl recalls the group recording music for a Polish short-film at ASA Studios in Copenhagen around October 1970 - which is correct, who knows?)... Pan's debut LP was soon released in May that year with a pressing of 1000 copies on the legendary Sonet label. Poul Brunn, along with the band, created the LP's striking cover artwork, while Teit Jørgensen shot the inside cover photographs. The original track listing of the LP features the following songs: "My Time", "If", "Song To France", "They Make Money With The Stars", "Il N’Y Pas Se Longtemps De Ca", "Many Songs Have Been Lost", "Tristesse", "To Get Along Alone", "We Must Do Something Before The End Of The Day", and "Lady Of The Sand". The album received positive reviews in the Danish daily papers. Noted Danish music journalist Erik Wiedemann compared them style-wise to foreign groups like Crosby, Sills, Nash & Young, and thought that the record was, "so far the best realized record by a Danish beat-group". Jørgen Kristiansen from Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende agreed, praising the album and band in a full-page article titled NY Dansk Topplade. The band also had a pretty good following on the Danish club circuit, along with contemporaries of their era such as Culpeper's Orchard, Alrune Rod, Young Flowers, and Hurdy Gurdy to name but a few. Late that summer, Pan headed to Germany to play the Pop & Beat Koncert Festival in Nordseehalle, Heligoland on August 15th. Golden Earring, Slade, and Made In Sweden were among many other groups who also played at the festival. Radio Nordring sent in excerpts from the festival the same day on the radio's P1 as Helgoland-International sommerradio. Back in Denmark on August 21st, Pan played the Copenhagen Beat Festival '70 in KB Hallen. Black Widow, Humble Pie, Mungo Jerry, Alrunes Rod, and Affinity also played that day. The next day on August the 22nd, Pan were invited to play half an hour of live music on the programme Dansk Beat. Also in August that year, bassist Arne Wurgler would leave to form Blast Furnace, and be replaced by Jens Elbøl. During this era the band also played a vast number of other concerts and were a crucial part of the summer of 1970.

Circa December 1970 - January 1971, Pan recorded just under twenty minutes of original instrumental music exclusively for Swedish director Stellan Olsson's feature film drama/thriller Deadline aka Sidste Frist, which was a Swedish-Danish film-project released by Omega Film and Nordisk Film. Pan also feature as actors in the film as a band on tour. When first released, the film attracted alot of attention, due to its relatively shocking storyline for the time, and also because it showed how abruptly quiet and tranquil day-to-day life can be changed so much without warning. The music Pan recorded for the film is a departure from their usual prog/psych/blues style, as the group had intentionally created this gentle and somewhat romantic sound to contrast a certain way with the film's action scenes. It was also the last time they recorded as group, before they disbanding later that year.

Despite such glowing reviews from newspapers and various music magazines, as well as interest from TV and radio, the band's debut album did not sell as expected. The results of this left the group disenchanted with the lack of success, and in the autumn of 1970 the band began to disintegrate. According to Arne Würgler, the team spirit was a little tense. The fact that Robert could only speak French and English also made the situation more stressful. The spoken language in the group for the most part was English, yet there were times when someone happened to speak in Danish around Robert, making him feel somewhat left out. As much as he loved living and recording in Denmark, Robert was disappointed that the country never became the springboard for an international breakthrough as he had hoped for deep down. The added stress of Robert's personal struggle with his inner demons also no doubt made it difficult for him to cooperate properly with other members of the band. Prior to the group's split, they managed to record around eight new songs, including "Eternally (aka Sooner or Later)", "It's Such A Hard Way", "Tristesse", "For Me To Cry Is Just Another Way To Say Goodbye", "Don't You Know (aka Remember)", and three others. Four of these tracks, "Eternally (aka Sooner or Later", "It's Such A Hard Way", "Tristesse", and "Don't You Know (aka Remember)" were recently released as bonus tracks on Karma Music's 2005 CD reissue of the 1970 Pan LP. While working on these new tracks, the group were also invited to do yet another 1971 Radiobeat radio session.

In the last incarnation of the group, Torben Enghoff from Maxwell's played sax and flute also joined the group. The band's line-up now consisted of Robert Lelievre, Nils Tuxen, Thomas Puggaard-Müller, & Henning Verner. The group dropped Pan as their name and were advertised simply as Robert Lelievre, Nils Tuxen, Thomas Puggaard-Müller, & Henning Verner. The band's final broadcast was on March 5th 1971, containing both new and old compositions.

Arne Würgler once described Pan's music as: "We play hard beat, with a lot of jazz elements. That is maybe reminiscent of Nice". The group rehearsed with intense daily practising of self-composed material at a backyard practice room at Vesterbrogade. Robert also once said of Pan: "To begin with we try to win the ear in Denmark, after which we'll turn towards the foreign countries, if we can trace one whose progress. All things considered, Denmark is a springboard, because you cannot go so awfully far as a beat-group here. Its land is too small". Many other Danish groups since also acknowledged this fact, but at the same time a small country such as Denmark also has certain advantages. Robert agreed, stating: "It is the only place where you really can live relaxed".

In 1993, Little Wing re-issued the 1970 Pan LP for the first time on vinyl, limited to only 1000 copies. The reissue contained two bonus tracks, "In A Simple Way" and "Ride Across My Bed", which as it happens were the A-side and B-Side on Pan's only ever 7" single release. In 2005, Karma Music also reissued the album on CD, this time with extensive liner notes (in Danish), unpublished photos, the following seven exclusive bonus tracks added: "In A Simple Way", "Right Across My Bed", "To Get Along Alone (alternate studio take)", "Eternally (live on Radiobeat, May 1971)", "Such A Hard Way (live on Radiobeat, May 1971)", "Tristesse (Mon Ami) (live on Radiobeat, May 1971)", and "Don’t You Know (live on Radiobeat, May 1971)". These live radio broadcast tracks were recorded without original members, bassist Arne Würgler and drummer Michael Puggaard-Müller, yet included newcomer Nils Tuxen on steel guitar. To purchase a CD copy of the 2005 reissue or the equally rare Pan On The Air live album (which features "Far Away From Home", "Freedom", "Time", "I Cannot Keep From Crying", "I Ain't Got No Home (Ramblin' Man)", "Deliverance", "If I Was Another Man", and "From A Tree"), visit Karma Music's official website at: www.karmamusic.dk - For more information regarding the careers of the members of Pan, check out the 'BAND MEMBERS' page.

The above bios were written with various books, and music sites as reference, mainly Claus Rasmussen's liner notes in the accompanying CD booklet to Karma Music's 2005 Pan reissue, the Pan feature/section in Dag Erik Asbjørnsen's Scented Gardens of the Mind - A guide to the Golden Era of Progressive Rock (1968-1980) in more than 20 European Countries (Borderline Productions), and from various internet website resources which have no clear authors or copyright restrictions… this is a non-profit fan site after all, and if you do think you need to be referenced for particular piece of information, just let me know and I shall make the adequate corrections at once. All quotes/text where featured in the three biography sections remain the work of both the writers and the magazines/books in which they originally appeared. Please overlook the typos, grammatical errors and downright ineptness of my writing in the above bio sections and elsewhere on this site, thanks… - 7devonapes