KEESOJEN LEHTO [AKA: THE MATHEMATICIAN'S AIR DISPLAY; THE CONSEQUENCES OF INDECISIONS]

I bought this LP when it came out in 1977 because it had Mike and Sally Oldfield on it (the title was "Mathematician's Air Display", by "Pekka", and it had a different cover from the one pictured here). The songs that feature them are good, and some of the other tracks are good, too. It's interesting to note that an LP reissue (on a different label, with different artwork) appeared a few years later, this time listing the artists on the front cover "Mike & Sally Oldfield and Pekka Pohjola", with the title "The Consequences of Indecisions".

The third work announced in 1976 "Keesojen Lehto". Music is extremely unique with the originality. Genius musician's talent shines. The dynamism is felt by me. Music is different from progressive extremely unique, usual music. It is a new age music with the life feeling. All tunes are instrumental. It was announced from VIRGIN by the title of "Mathematician's Air Display".

Probably at the behest of Virgin Records' majordomo Richard Branson, Pohjola was paired with Virgin cash cow Mike Oldfield for his third solo outing. It didn't make for a TUBULAR BELLS level of sales, but the music, definitely more Pohjola than Oldfield, is certainly valid.

This was as close to a "band record" as Pohjola had ever come thus far, with synthesizers and other keyboards the only means of orchestration. Oldfield's distinctive mega-compressed guitars crop up here and there, adding a decided Oldfield touch. Big sister Sally gets into the act as well, adding some airy wordless vocals to several tracks. Most of the rest of the band (keyboardist Wlodek Gulgowski, guitarist Georg Wadenius and drummer Vesa Aaltonen, specifically) are made up of members of the band Made In Sweden, with whom Pohjola was playing bass at the time. Gong's Pierre Moerlen also sits in on drums on a few tracks, making this truly an all-star supersession.

The music, Pohjola's usual transcendent blend of jazziness and symphonic flourishes, varies from the epic 15-minute, 2-part "Pääntaivuttelun seuraukset" to the cartoony album-closer "Varjojen varaslähtö". The latter features frantic piano/harpsichord/mandolin playing, plus some crazed laughter from Sally.

I checked out this album when I was listening quite much to Wigwam. This album was not a disappointment to me, but it neither made a big impression on me. Maybe there weren't enough strong elements in the music like on the maestro's debut record. The dynamic rhythmic parts from the opening track have stayed most clearly in my memory, most of the other vivid twists of the instrumental jazz-rock symphony escaping my mental grasp. The recording is done professionally, and maybe those who are interested of Mike Oldfield's symphonic works should give this album a listen. As an anecdote, the names of the tracks were invented by a Finnish rock musician Hector, who has small relations with progressive rock scene. At least he recorded a Finnish cover version of King Crimson's "Epitaph" as "Tuulet kirkuu hautoihin".

I can make this quite simple: If you like late 70s Mike Oldfield, you will like this album. A lot. Mike and Sally Oldfield are guests on the record and their impact is not just felt, but overwhelming. This really sounds like an Oldfield release from that time period. Blissful and soaring instrumentals that prove again how disposable vocals are when the music is compelling. The mood of the music varies but is generally quite upbeat. Nothing dark or nasty in the sound. The sound on this CD is just OK, and this release could surely use a bang up remaster. But if you are an Oldfield fan this must be on your shelf.

This must be one of the great Lost Prog Albums of the 1970s. It's described here as jazz- rock/fusion, but to my opinion it's even closer to symphonic prog. If you enjoy Focus's subtler moments, Pierre Moerlen's Gong or even Wobbler's instrumental tracks, you will feel right at home with Pekka Pohjola. In addition, Mike Oldfield fans will be happy to know that their hero appears on the album. However, the most ambitious track, "The plot thickens", is more strongly marked by the virtuoso guitar playing of Pekka's old friend George Wadenius.

Recommended to all admirers of melodious, non-bombastic instrumental prog, provided they're not allergic to the plangent sounds of Mike Oldfield's electric guitar and string synthesizer.

Mike Oldfield's famous, so we'll credit him with the album

When a friend told me he had a rare Mike Oldfield album titled "The consequences of indecisions (sic)" released in 1981, I was intrigued to say the least. Such an album does not appear anywhere in Oldfield's discograhy, even as the alternate title or regional release of one of his albums around that time.

Further investigation revealed that the album was in fact the subject of some convenient slight of hand by the record company who had acquired the rights to the music. The first hints of this are on the LP label, which shows the performers' names as Mike and Sally Oldfield, with Pekka Pohjola listed below them.

The album is in fact a repackaging of an album originally released under the name of Pekka Pohjola in 1977 under the title "Keesojen Lehto" in most countries, and "The Mathematicians Air Display" on Virgin records in the UK. Pohjola's association with Oldfield stems from when he played bass for him on tour. Pohoja is in fact the principal artist on the album, as all the material was composed and arranged by him. Apart from Mike, he also brings in Sally Oldfield to vocalise on two tracks, Pierre Moerlen (Gong) and vesa Aaltonen to play drums and percussion, George Wadenius on guitar and Wlodek Gulgowski on keyboards.

Oldfield plays on four of the five tracks but does not feature at all on the opening "The sighted light" (The translation of the titles vary according to the version, but the order remains consistent). That said, the music has the definite feel of an Oldfield album, this is not jazz/fusion (Pohjola's assigned genre here) album by any means. Only the two part feature track which dominates side two "The consequences of indecisions" stands apart as being a little more experimental and generally looser.

While this may not be the holy grail it purports to be for Oldfield fans in terms of being a long lost album, it will undoubtedly appeal to those who enjoy his music. To borrow from the words of Roger Waters, it is a pretty fair forgery.

Pekka Pohjola's third album was released under several titles - Skuggornas Tjuvstart, Mathematician's Air Display, Keesojen Lehto - and a few years later under Oldfield's name to capitalize on his fame. The music here was a marked change from the previous "B the Magpie". For one, the winds and brass arrangements are missing here, the album being instead dominated by various keyboards and guitars. Also we have the voice of Sally Oldfield which adds to the variety. Stylistically this album largely left behind the jazz tilt of the first two, but it can still be described as symphonic jazz-rock I guess. "The Sighted Light" has a funky syncopated piano riff and good melodies. A different version of "Hands Calming the Water" was released on Wigwam's "Being", I think both of them are equally good in their respective contexts. "Mathematician's Air Display" is decent but slightly less exciting. "Consequences of Indecisions" is a 15 minute piece which goes through many sections and is quite brilliantly composed. Not even once does the listener feel that there is a lack of progression and structural clarity in it. Many prog suites fail in this aspect. The last track is a happy little post script that is more typical of Pohjola style, with some beautiful vocals from Sally Odfield over secular medieval harpsichord noodling. I don't know just how much Oldfield has contributed to these compositions, because all you hear is Pohjola's stylistic harmony, and none of that new age crap, although the album does have it's share of such influence in the arrangements and productions. Still it is more of a Pohjola album than an Oldfield one.

Pekka sure has some impressive guests to help him on this his third studio album. The most significant would be Mike Oldfield who would leave his stamp for all to see when this album was completed. Sally Oldfield would lend her vocals and Pierre Moerlen the drummer for GONG would also help out. The band MADE IN SWEDEN would also guest on a couple of tracks. I'm a Mike Oldfield fan and his unique sounding guitar is welcomed as far as i'm concerned, but I must say this album pales when compared to Pekka's first two solo recordings. This one is too straight forward and simply lacks the magic of the first two. It was recorded in 1976 and released the following year. Oldfield also co-produced it.

"Oivallettu Matkalyhty" features Pekka and the MADE IN SWEDEN guys. It has a fuller sound after a minute as spacey synths come in.The guitar is prominant then the piano takes over as they trade back and forth. Good song. "Kadet Suoristavat Veden" opens with Pekka on the harpsichord as string synths then guitar from Oldfield joins in. A change before 3 minutes as Sally starts to sing. I like the guitar after 4 minutes but the song ends quickly thereafter. "Matemaatikon Lentonaytos" features the trio of Moerlin, Pohjola and Oldfield. This is my favourite track on here. Pekka opens with piano as drums and a fuller sound comes in. From 3 1/2 minutes to the end this is quite impressive.There is no mistaking Oldfield's guitar playing here.

"Paataivuttelun Seuraukset" features everyone listed above helping out except for Sally. Piano to start before gentle guitar comes in after 2 minutes. A fuller sound 3 1/2 minutes in and the guitar becomes more prominant. Piano takes over a minute later with drums, guitar and a full sound in tow. Some fuzz guitar 9 minutes in followed by a nice solo after 10 minutes. Deep bass before 13 1/2 minutes as the song settles down. "Varjojen Varaslahto" is a sad way to end it. Haha. A real romp in the park this one is. Uptempo with some vocal melodies from Sally. Mandolin and bells too. Not a fan if you didn't already know.

This album sure has it's moments, but as I said before, it's not nearly as good as the two albums that preceed it. 3.5 stars.

So one day I was trying to find a CD version of this Mike Oldfield album on the internet. Having no luck I finally said the heck with it and copied my LP onto CD. As it turns out, it was released in the United States as a Mike Oldfield album. I didn't find out it wasn't actually an Oldfield album until someone on PA told me in the forum. I just got a CD copy of the properly labeled Pekka Pohjola album (24 bit re-mastered, yay!) and now that I've listened to it, it's apparent that Mike isn't the dominant element on this album. Pekka is definitely the one behind the tunes. The keyboards are the dominant element. Great, another artist I need to get to know better.

While Mike is second fiddle, so to speak, he still makes a prominent enough contribution that it could be passed off as a Mike Oldfield album. And, after all, I would not have bought a Pekka Pohjola album those many years ago unless I had heard it in a record shop first. Sister Sally shows up too, as well as Pierre Moerlen. I don't recall him being in the credits, but then again it's been many years since I read them. Sorry to say I am not any more acquainted with the other musicians on here because they all provide a valuable contribution to an excellent album.

It was rather interesting comparing the titles as translated to English in this edition with those that were on the LP. Keesojen Lehto does not appear to translate into The Mathematician's Air Display, nor The Consequences Of Indecisions. I rather prefer the titles of my old LP to the English translations offered here, the old modifications were much better. The cover art of the LP was completely different. It shows a bird about to fly into something that looks like a water tower or nuclear plant cooling tower or something. Maybe a sneaky play on Pohjola's first name.

Anyway, if you're a Mike Oldfield fan you won't be disappointed and I suspect I'm going to enjoy exploring other work by Pohjola.

I'm one of those who bought a copy of the vinyl labeled as "Mike Oldfield, Sally Oldfield and Pekka Pohjola" in the 70s thinking it was Oldfield's stuff. It became on of my favourite albums and it still is, but I had to struggle before finding out its title.

The album cover wasn't saying anything, neither the album's title and the only written thing apart the names of the musicians was a "US 101" target so I thought it was the album's name.

The first impression was that Oldfield is in evidence only on the second track because the sound of his guitar over the clavinet is easily recognisable. The opener is still one of my favourite instrumental songs and is closer to Canterbury bands than to Oldfield. This is valid also for the rest of the album. Only on the last track the whistle and the ragtime-similar piano seems to be Oldfield's stuff.

What to say? Pekka Pohjola (RIP) was the bassist of the finnish band Wigwam and this is his third solo album. It's not strange that a so skilled bassist and composer has so big names playing in his album. Other than Oldfield there's the Gong Pierre Moerlen and Wadenius is a great guitarist. Wlodek Gulgowski is a pianist that I'd like to check but he seems to have released just an album in 1972 under his name. However what I can't understand is why the label tried to sell the album in Oldfield's name and forgot to advertise either the title on the cover.

In terms of music, this is a good fusion with a bit of Canterbury flavour and the effective contribution of all the musicians who took part on it. It's like they have interpreted the original composition by adding a touch of each one's personality, as it often happens in jazz.

More than for fans of Wigwam, this album is good for Canterbury and Oldfield fans but it's so good and "easy" enough that nobody will be disappointed by it.

This time I haven't spoken much of the music inside, but it's an album that doesn't need descriptions. Just try it.

For his third solo album, Virgin offered Pekka Pohjola the chance to take advantage of the talents of Mike and Sally Oldfield and Pierre Moerlen - an inspired choice of guest artists, since the musical direction here moves yet further away from the Zappa-influenced sound of Pohjola's first two albums to explore a more serious brand of contemplative jazz-rock of a sort which would appeal to fans of Oldfield's work or of Pierre Moerlen's Gong's albums from this era.

Sadly, the presence of a star of Mike Oldfield's stature on the album would enable a scam which proved too tempting for the publishers to resist: in some territories, the album was entitled The Consequences of Indecisions and released as a Mike Oldfield album, a completely outrageous decision particularly considering that Pekka has sole songwriting credit on the album! Some other releases of the album credit it to Mike Oldfield, Sally Oldfield, and Pekka Pohjola - with Mike Oldfield's as the most prominent. These incredibly disrespectful rebrandings of the album represents a blatant attempt at deceiving the record-buying public into thinking that they were buying another Mike Oldfield album, but whilst the album would appeal to Oldfield fans, it's very much Pekka's show, and to misrepresent that is not only insulting to him, but is also kind of disrespectful to Mike Oldfield too.

None of that is relevant to my final rating, of course, which I am basing solely on the music presented here, but I did want to highlight that because I don't like the idea of people paying top dollar for a "rare Mike Oldfield album" only to find it's this.

In mid-70's Pohjola was involved for a short time with the Jazz/Fusion group Uni Sono, before returning to his solo works at the second part of the decade, actually his third one was among his most succesful also.And that's because he collaborated with the rising star of Mike Oldfield on guitar/mandolin and his sister Sally on vocals on the album ''Keesojen lehto'', released in 1977 in Finland on Love Records (also as ''Skuggornas tjuvstart'' in Sweden and ''The mathematician's air display'' in the UK via Virgin Records).His backing band was again very talented: Georg Wadenius from Solar Plexus on guitars, Wlodzimierz Gulgowski from Pop Workshop on keyboards, Pierre Moerlen on drums/percussion and drummer Vesa Aaltonen, with whom Pohjola would collaborate on The Group.The album was recorded at two different studios, the Througham Slad in Gloucestershire, UK and at Marcus Music in Stockholm, Sweden.It would be released a few years later as Pohjola with Mike and Sally Olfield in Germany and the USA.Pohjola plays bass, guitar and keyboards.

No surprise, the album comes as a mix of Pohjola more Fusion stylings, featuring a nice Scandinavian edge, and Oldfields more dreamy soundscapes, which often flirt with Orchestral Music.This is actually a great description for a Symphonic/Jazz Rock album with the musicianship alternating between smooth and melodic lines through furious instrumental interactions with big, symphonic keyboards and jazzy guitar exercises.The atmosphere is great.It passes from fairytale-like tunes with laid-back keyboards and guitars to a style close to the likes of FOCUS with dramatic guitar playing and beautiful, sensitive piano and keys with symphonic overtones.But when it gets really serious, the music is really kick-ass, especially during the opening side.A genuine mix of orchestral underlines, jazzy interludes and progressive structures with plenty of changing tempos and interesting interplays as well as a solid rhythm section.The long ''Pääntaivuttelun seuraukset-part 2'', which should be the pinnacle of the album, sounds a bit inconsistent with a few funky moves blended weirdly with bombastic Progressive/Jazz Rock.The rest of the album is very tight, instrumental Prog Rock with fast-paced passages and mellow themes, always led by sensitive piano and sharp guitar/keyboards shifts with Sally Oldfield providing a good bunch of atmospheric, wordless experiments.

I do not know if this surpasses the fantastic debut of Pohjola, but ''Keesojen lehto'' in nonetheless a great, instrumental Prog Rock album, sure to satisfy both fans of Symphonic and Jazz Rock.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.

Fantastic work by one of Finland's finest Prog artists. Having played with the best musicians there, he finally went solo in 1972 and there was no stopping from there - till his untimely passing away.

Building on his previous and well received album "B The Magpie", this work finds him in fine form again. A multi instrumentalist and composer he is best known about his monsterous, thumping style on bass that could only be compared with Jack Bruce on a good day. That Pohjola is never far from playing a bass solo - either heavy, or the lyrical in the background on just about every other tune of his output - is making him a truly special and unique artist.

This work is a fine example of the best of innovative European Jazz-Rock with not a hint of paying any homage to by copying big names of that genre. A slight Scandinavian flavour is always present in Pohjola's work without getting overly folksy.

A stellar line-up of respected musicians are featured here, that includes Mike Oldfield (with Sally in tow) at his best when Pierre Moerlen's Gong were his back-up musicians for live performances.

This album is painfully short at 36 mins, that includes a quick hoedown as the last piece, a piece with Sally, that wouldn't be missed. Still, the rest of what's on offer here is excellent and represents an essential addition to any Jazz-Rock fans library. 4.5, rounded up.

The four earliest PEKKA POHJOLA albums have recently been re-released on gatefold sleeve vinyl by Svart Records. This is the third one, probably the best known internationally because it's a collaboration with MIKE OLDFIELD (producer, guitars). All music is composed by Pohjola however. Relistening to it now made me think that it's musically not as strong as the other three albums. Sadly so, since Oldfield is among my favourites from the 70's. Maybe this once-in-a-lifetime collaboration of two musical geniuses wasn't so harmonic musically as one would have hoped it to be. Of course Pekka did participate in Mike's concerts a couple of years later (double live album Exposed, 1979), but no more studio collaborations followed.

'Oivallettu matkalyhty' (The Perceived Journey Lantern) features Pohjola's bandmates Georg Wadenius (g), Wlodek Gulkowsi (synth) and Vesa Aaaltonen (dr) from MADE IN SWEDEN, curiously not Oldfield, even if it wasn't among the pieces that were initially recorded in Stockholm before the invitation to make an album in Mike's countryside home studio. It is an interesting, guitar-centred piece, but relatively hard-edged and cold, missing the certain Pohjola magic -- which comes very much alive in the second track 'Kädet suoristavat veden' (Hands Straighten the Water). In it Pohjola's bass, piano, harpsichord and string-syntheziser is accompanied by Mike on guitar and his sister Sally Oldfield on ethereal background vocalising. The harpsichord-led intro circulates the heartfelt melody familiar from WIGWAM's 'Pride of the Biosphere' (on Being, 1974). The slightly too dominant electric guitar in the end adds the Oldfield flavour.

Side A is finished by 'Matemaatikon lentonäytös' (The Mathematician's Air Display, also the album title of the Virgin release; the original release was naturally from Love Records). Pekka on bass and keyboards, Mike on guitars, plus Pierre Moerlen (GONG) on drums. In Pekka Pohjola's biography it's said that the recording of drums isn't very succesful, and if you pay attention to them you'll probably agree; they do sound quite blurred. The crescendo composition itself is an outstanding Pohjola classic.

The majority of the B side is nearly 16-minute, two-part 'Pääntaivuttelun seuraukset' (The Consequences of Head Bending). By the way, the titles were invited by the Finnish singer-songwriter Hector, whereas on earlier Pohjola albums it had been Mats Huldén, ex-Wigwam. There's interesting progression in this piece, but here and there, especially in the beginning, it feels rather lifeless and academically dry. Gulkowski's synth solo is nice. Both guitarists appear on this track but their styles are easily identified; the Oldfield solo backed also by Moerlen's bells is a highlight.

The 2-minute closer 'Varjojen varaslähtö' (False Start of the Shadows) is a humourous little piece, again featuring Sally's voice. Mike plays mandolin and whistle -- the latter makes me a bit annoyed. As usual, the musical jokes are not so interesting on repeated listening. The cover art by Risto Kurkinen is great. This is a classic album I'd really want to enjoy more, but it's not completely succesful in my opinion, and it's only 35 minutes long. Therefor only three stars.