In early 1972 Einar and friend Jonas had just completed their Lp making a tv show in Sweden and completed some touring. A friend of their's pointed out that there was a music festival in Tokyo Japan (World popular music festival) and that they should send some songs before the deadline. Einar went to the state radio and they gave him some time to record 3 songs. "It was just me singing and playing my guitar, very simple stuff" say Vilberg.

Then the LP was sent to the WPMF and to everyones amazement some weeks later they got a letter inviting the two to participate. Free airline tickets, hotel and some money on daily basis made this trip that much more enjoyable. 1086 people had sent in songs for consideration and only 46 will reach the finals which included Einar Vilberg and the Swedish band Abba. As a side note: 70's pop star Neal Sedaka submitted material and was not one of the artists picked.

The next thing the two did was go to their friend Diddy the fiddle and he arranged the strings and all the strange instruments to be used. The two went to Tokyo in October 1972 and got some strange receptions from the custums people who told them the visa in their passports wouldn't do. To compound the issue, after that 20 hour flight Einar had a terrible toothache and was really sick so they gave them an 8 days pass so Einar could get his tooth fixed and do the concert. "So you can say my tooth saved us" said Einar in an interview with EvO:R founder. "I went to the dentist and he fixed my tooth and we did the concert."

The next day some very polite Japanese suits turned up and asked for a meeting and offered the two a record deal and they made a single in some Japanese studio. The recording featured Einar Vilberg playing guitar and doing backup vocals Jonas singing the lead and 52 Japanese guys playing the other instruments. The single "When I look at All Those Things" was only released in Japan and sold 60,0000 copies.

After the recording session the two went home happy as spring chicken's. They had a great time, played a concert in Japan to a huge audience, recorded a song to be released in Japan and made a little money. A few weeks later they got a copy of the record as well as the live recording of the show (which was later eaten by a tape recorder and destroyed). Years later, Einar lent the single to a friend of his and it was soon lost. "After 34 years I haven't heard the song or seen it anywhere," exclaims Vilberg. Einar told EvO:R News that he even brows the Internet vinyl sites looking for a copy. "With 60,000 copies sold there must be a couple copies somewhere," says a frustrated Vilberg.

Then something amazing happened: "To my amazement," says Einar Vilberg. "I saw that a guy in Sweden was selling the long lost single to a guy in the Chech Repuplic." Einar e-mailed the guy in Chech right away and it tured out that he had all his records but one. "It's really nice to have one fan in the Chech repuplic" says Einar. So he made him a deal. Einar would send him his "Noise" record which was the only record missing from the fans collection and in return the fan from Chech Republic would burn a cd from the Japan session.

And so it went, a happy ending don't you think?
Einar Vilberg

Download this EvO:R exclusive MP3 from the Lost Japanese Sessions.

CD offer

The Best of Einar Vilberg
Einar Vilberg
Distriburted Exclusivly at Peacework Music Network

After looking for a couple International artists over the course of a few months we picked Einar because he had a long history of music success dating back to the late 60's and early '70's and his musicial contributions over seas needed to be read about in the United States. Einar became a wonderful addition to the website within weeks of his addition. Fans and friends have flocked to his pages to check for updates on when and if he will return to his earlier glory. He is currently playing guitar with his son-n-law who is fast becoming one of the top DJ's in Iceland.

Exclusive Download:

Click the song title to listen to a music sample, click the CD cover to order.

 /  Facing The World /  Words Can't Tell /  Take Me Home / 
 /  I Love You For A Reason /  Doctor Can't You / 
 /  Dark Shadows /  For You /  Just Want To Be Me / 
 / I'm Not All Bad /  Music Is My Light /  Boogie /  Starlight / 
 /  Perfect Charlie /  Gypsy Queen /  Freedom For My Loving / 
 / My Lucky Day /  Sensitive Kind /