TOMBSTONE VALENTINE

Wigwam's second album, Tombstone Valentine (1970), was in a way a landmark in prog music, because within it Pekka Pohjola entered the scene. Arguably the best bass player of his generation, Pohjola not only brought his ear-dropping bass fingerings to the band, but also his composition style that would become clearer in his solo albums throughout the 70's, albeit only a couple of years later.

Tombstone Valentine was produced by Kim Fowley, and this meant a more compact yet maybe also somewhat cleaner product compared with Wigwam's debut album, Hard N'Horny. Another notable inclusion is Jukka Tolonen's guitar playing, although for whatever reason, Tolonen remained a fringe member of the band and didn't join the official roster. Like Pekka Pohjola, Tolonen was only 18 at the time, but he was already a masterful and inventive musician. The only question mark lies in his unfathomable use of a home-made fuzz - at least it sounds like that!

Much like the debut album, Tombstone Valentine is divided by organist/pianist/singer Jukka Gustavson's and singer Jim Pembroke's pieces. Of the latter, Frederick & Bill is an interesting work, whereas Autograph and Captain Supernatural prove that Pembroke could pen good pop songs, too. Gustavson's jazzy side surfaces especially in For America. Pohjola's hilarious instrumental 1936 Lost In The Snow is a lovely opener for a composer and musician and showed way to his latter, more sophisticated works. The inclusion of contemporary electro-acoustic composer Erkki Kurenniemi's Dance Of The Anthropoids seems a bit odd, although it's not a bad piece of music at all. All in all, Tombstone Valentine again was a promising album and can be still today recommended to everyone.