FINNFOREST

1. "Alpha" (8:10) delicate, spacious horn-like synthesizer notes backed with gentle electric piano support open this song before bass and drums join in during the second minute. Electric guitar joins in a rhythm support capacity in the third minute as the band establishes a medium-paced two chord jazzy rock motif for guitarist Pekka Tegelman to solo over. There's both a Herbie Hancock (post-Mwandishi) and Larry Coryell feel to this music. And then the solo stick is passed to Julla Linkola for an electric piano solo during which the music thins a bit and the rhythm track becomes more straightforward than it was (though retaining its driving funky-jazz-rock momentum). In the early eighth minute the keyboard solo ends and the musicians all seem to just quit: they stop. For quite a lengthy pause. But then they restart for a 30-second finish. Weird ending to a weird song. The sophisticated foundational weave is kind of cool and interesting, the solos all proficient and, likewise, interesting, but something is lacking in the spirit of "purpose" and "ending" that bewilders--as if, despite their obvious skills and intelligence, the band still has some growing to do. (17.75/20)

2. "Elvin" (8:30) opening with a cryptic, cinematically-tension-filled syncopated keyboard, bass, drums, and guitar weave, the syncopated chord and note hits become more insistent as the drums assert more power and influence, but then they back off and really promote the decay of their hits with lots of spaces between the hits. In the third minute Peter Tegelman's volume-controlled electric guitar takes on a little solo-like leadership role though the band as a whole--Peter included--remain quite focused on keeping to the odd rhythmic syncopation pattern. Then, at 4:25 the band shifts into full forward with a synth-led Percy Jones-like bass-backed two-chord cruising weave over which two synthesizer players (Perti Pokki and Julla Linkola) then take turns squirting and screaming their solos as if they were both Jan Hammers. And this is the way it plays out till the engineering fadeout ends the song four minutes later. What starts out with such amazing discipline and coordination turns into a full-out jam session! Weird. (17.875/20)

3. "Don" (4:21) a very proggy weave and sound palette plays a pseudo-jazz opening before devolving into a funky rock instrumental with Pekka Tegelman's distorted electric guitar taking the first solo. His followed by the odd electronic sound of Pertti Pokki's synthesizer, then a tight, professional drum solo from Jussi Tegelman which is followed by a return to the main motif for the finish. (8.75/10)

4. "Lähtö matkalle I" (8:36) beautiful symphonic orchestra opens before smooth jazz rock gets involved and takes over. Turns into a great jam with great keyboard and bass play from Julla Linkola and Jarno Hiekkala, respectively. Mahavishnu Orchestra's orchestrated album Apocalypse obviously had a huge impact on the band's composers. (19.25/20) 5. "Lähtö matkalle II" (10:39) opens with gentle piano chord play fading upward while subtle orchestral instruments support. Heavily distorted bass steps up to solo in the third minute over the six cycling piano chords. Drums begin to join in during the fourth minute--very dramatically--never really settling into a supportive rhythm pattern until the very end of the sixth minute. The footprint of this song is quite heavy, quite bombastic, and kind of celebratory (like the end of a war or something like that.) Not sure if this song is meant to be paired with "Lähtö matkalle I" since they both seem so isolated and self-contained, but what a pair of songs to finish this album! Oh, and Jarmo Hiekkala can play bass. (17.75/20)

Total Time: 40:16

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece from a band that feels as if it still has room to grow despite their impressive musicianship and compositional skills. Highly recommended to any self-acclaimed prog lover.

On one hand, music is all instrumental fusion which by its definition should be in my favourite territory. I love almost all 70's fusion albums. The band features a couple of memorable moments. The band stays primarily in the slow and medium waters of fusion. Each time they try to go faster, they stop too soon so the typical fusion speed isn't manifested convincingly. The second criticism - I'm missing longer compositions to hear their looser jamming abilities or more developed compositions.

So all in all I consider this an average fusion album a bit shy of the band's potential.

FINNFOREST are highly appreciated by many friends of instrumental prog fusion, especially for their eponymous debut album (1975) and Lähtö matkalle (1976). The two pieces heard here didn't appear on Finnforest's studio albums, but 'Odd Tale' was later included in the one-time spin-off project Jargon (1980), a rather mediocre fusion album. Composed by keyboardist Pertti Pokki, this 10-minute piece starts very slowly but pretty soon we're in the middle of endless soloing, in turns for Pekka Tegelman's electric guitar and Pokki's synths. The musicians are excellent, despite being still young of age, but there's a feeling of going nowhere in the music. My mind would probably wander around everyday things if I were among the audience in the Liisankatu studios.

'Juan' composed by drummer Jussi Tegelman has a tighter, slightly funky tempo but suffers from the similar lack of depth, containing self-indulgent soloing for its own sake. But the fast synth soloing admittedly has some highlights. Worth mentioning is also the impressive bass playing of Jarmo Hiekkala.

The 40-minute gig's second act ELONKORJUU is caught here between the entirely different musical worlds of their debut, heavy prog classic Harvest Time (1972) and the funky instrumental fusion of Flying High, Running Fast (1978) released as HARVEST. This non-album three- song set doesn't much resemble either of them, and also the songs have a varied approach. 'Hey Brother' is a fast-tempo funk song sung by bassist Veli-Pekka Pessi. Electric piano and tenor sax are fairly equal to the electric guitar of the band's leader and composer Jukka Syrenius.

'Yours Tonight' (sung by the main vocalist Kari Tamminen like the third song too) has a light-hearted soul and blues spirit. Quite nice. 'Rolling Down the Highway' is compared in the album's liner notes to the band's prog past -- partly due to the long guitar solo -- but the song is fairly joyful in mood. I'd rather compare it to American bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd instead of prog.

Both acts display great musicianship but the composition material is in the end a bit mediocre. Hence only three stars.

The two earlier albums by this instrumental prog group from Kuopio, Finland, are highly respected even internationally, whereas this third and final one -- which came out just before the legendary Love Records went bankcrupt -- is generally seen as a notably weaker work, or at least as an unoriginal Weather Report imitation. I like WR but it's been too long since listening to them to be able to spot the suggested striking similarities between WR and this album. But perhaps the other way of seeing it is that the jazz fusion on Demonnights is so good that it's on the level of Weather Report. The playing is brilliant to start with.

BTW, I'm listening to the complete Finnforest 3-cd set "Alpha to Omega" featuring lengthy liner notes. An excellent package to have, even if you already owned an album or two by Finnforest.

The most obvious difference between the preceding Finnforest albums and Demonnights is that here the saxophones (mostly played by the legendary jazz veteran Juhani Aaltonen who has also played in Tasavallan Presidentti) are in a very central role. The band's line-up had also changed, new members including Jarmo Savolainen on Arp Odyssey, piano and Fender Rhodes plus guitarist Jari Rissanen. The former main composer, guitarist Pekka Tegelman has composed only one track here, the Victor Jara inspired 'Fighter' with a fiery guitar solo and a more mystic solo for bass flute. It's his twin brother Jussi (drums) who led the project at this point and wrote seven of the nine tracks.

The opening track is an upbeat and groovy fusion piece with delightful soloing for synth especially. 'Ann' is a moody, beautiful slow- tempo ballad. The airy title track focusses mostly on Aaltonen's sensual sax melodies, whereas the 2-minute 'Half Blues' is basically a freaky free-jazzy sax solo backed by piano and drums.

The liner notes reveal that 'Religions' was gloomily inspired by the Jonestown tragedy in Guyana (an organised mass suicide of over 900 people); it begins quite joyfully but turns into a distorted mayhem. 'Firth' is a sax- oriented and almost meditative piece that reminds me of Jan Garbarek. 'Far Away From' is a tender duet for sax and piano, and the album closes with 'Pablo' which is a definite highlight. The bass of Tuomo Helin sounds gorgeous and Jari Rissanen's guitar solo is impressive. I expected Petri Pettersson's wordless vocals to be more audible, but a great track anyway.

So, I'm pretty much opposing the rather negative reception and claim Demonnights to be a great and underrated item of the late 70's Finnish fusion scene.

Though the band has some of these fast paced fusion freak compositions (think of Mahavishnu), it also has symphonic prog leanings that reminds me of early Camel (mostly 'Mirage' en 'Snow Goose' era) with an added flavor of that nordic atmospheric coldness. The organs and synths used by keyboardist Jukka Risasanen produce some of the most iconic and atmospheric sounds of the seventies. Finnforest's debut also reminds me slightly of the more jazzed-up compositions of Focus, much like on their Ship of Memories album (which I really like!). The guitar of Pekka Tegelman has this fierce expressive sound that reminds me of Akkerman as well.

World-wide almost every country had one or more fusion-prog groups in the seventies (Leb I Sol, Blue Effect, Cai, Sloche, Nucleus, Tolonen, Finch, etc), and most of them have some very competent instrumentalists. What makes such a group interest for progressive rock listeners is the mainly the melodic potency, the atmosphere and the personality of the performances. Or the ability to write an instrumental song that functions as such. Finnforest debut stands out as particularly grasping, spot on and fierce. Like they are able to really get you to listen with the first two chords. The well-recorded vintage Camel-type magical sound also helps a lot.

My only complaint then would be that most compositions are rather underdeveloped, not often developing beyond its two or three main themes. The short tracks and running time of 32 minutes do actually make the album quite enjoyable for me, for that's precisely how much prog-fusion I'm willing to enjoy on a day. Actually, I might just skip back to side A after finishing side B - or so I noticed.

For such an unlikely yet well-recorded gem of Finnish progressive music I'm willing to give away a minor masterpiece rating. Highly recommended to listeners of the bands mentioned above.

Last year Svart Records released the complete studio recordings of FINNFOREST, on five vinyls /three cd's, with detailed liner notes by Arttu Seppänen. I was familiar with the band's first two instrumental albums and the early single songs, so for me the nicest thing about this wonderful set was finally getting the third album Demonnights (1979). The leaflet (20 pages on the CD set) contains the full track information in a userfriendly form. The original releases, varied line-ups, composers, even the solos in the pieces, are indicated.

Already in their teenage years the Tegelman twin brothers, guitarist Pekka and drummer Jussi (b. 1957), played together -- and with bandmates whenever they had ones as they kept moving from town to town before settling in the eastern town Kuopio. The liner notes offer several interesting facts. Prior to Finnforest they had a trio named Lex that had two 40-minute pieces in their live set, the other being Frank Zappa's 'Willie the Pimp'. The early phase of Finnforest featured vocalist Ari Mustonen whose vocals can be heard on the three Finnish-language songs recorded in 1973 but also on three studio session pieces previously unreleased on cd. 'Mikä yö!' evolved into the opening track of the vocal-free debut album; in hindsight the vocals sound rather unnecessary ingredient, but this is an interesting curiosity, as well as the English-language songs 'Folkdance' and 'It's Somewhere Out There'. They are closer to Tasavallan Presidentti reminding blues rock -- and actually Mustonen sounds like a worse version of Frank Robson -- than the instrumental fusion of the albums.

The debut Finnforest (1975) is among the finest Finnish instrumental prog or fusion albums from the seventies. The style of the pieces, pretty average in length, vary between MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA reminding intensity to more delicate moods. Pekka's electric guitar is mostly in the lead role but Jukka Rissanen's organ, synths and piano are essential too. He was replaced by Jukka Linkola on the second album Lähtö matkalle (1976) which contains longer and therefore more wandering tracks. The other of the two-week recording sessions featured also Pertti Pokki on Arp Odyssey, and the beginning of the 2-part title track features a string section conducted by the Love Records chief Otto Donner. The album as a whole is slightly lame compared to the debut, despite several highlights. Prior to the second album the band was momentarily reduced to a duo which released the single 'Ketto / Tekee meisseliä'. You can read my reviews on both Finnforest singles; as Arttu Seppänen says in his liner notes, Finnforest was far from being a "singles band", but these singles -- featuring material quite different from the albums -- are certainly one reason for this complete set to be so interesting.

Demonnights was one of the last albums of Love Records that went bankcrupt; the Finnish prog scene in general was dying at the time. The compositions are mostly by Jussi Tegelman since Pekka had actually left the group (even though he plays on the the album). I was positively surprised by Demonnights which sounds pretty different from its precedessors, not least because of the saxophone participations of Juhani Aaltonen and Heikki Keskinen. I'll probably review it separately sometimes. The final three tracks of this 3CD/5LP set, recorded in 1980, haven't been released on cd before.

Summa summarum: even if you have an album or two from Finnforest, Alpha to Omega is well worth the price as the definitive history of this extraordinary band.

'Ketto' is a serene track featuring basically just synths and piano, rather similar as some minor, instrumental CAMEL tracks on albums such as Nude and Single Factor. Beautifully airy, but it lacks the recognizingly Finnish (and forestial, ha ha) Fusion spirit of the eponymous album.

'Tekee meisseliä' (that's an outdated idiom meaning "to feel good [e.g. sexually]") is a funky, airy and lighthearted jazz-rock piece. Nice but quite forgettable. Also these tracks are featured on "Love Proge 2". 2½ stars rounded down for rather mimimal originality.

'Tyhjyyteen syvyyteen' (= Into the void, into the depth) is a fast-tempo rocker with lots of vintage organ work by Jukka Rissanen. Listening to this [proto-]proggy but very brief song one can hardly avoid thinking of WIGWAM as the central pioneers of Finnish prog, but I'm not saying the composition would sound very much like Wigwam - no Pembroke nor Gustavson. In a way it sounds like it was done few years earlier; there's also a little scent of psychedelia. A pretty good track even if not a priceless classic.

'Sanomaton kirkkaus' (= Unspeakable brightness) is a mellow and relaxed mid-tempo song with quite romantic and esoteric lyrics. The comfortable sound resembles PROCOL HARUM with its organ and piano and simple electric guitar notes. If this was a Wigwam song, it surely would be by Jim Pembroke instead of Jukka Gustavson. Both songs can be heard on the "Love Proge 2" two-disc Various Artists compilation.

Finnforest found their own style later on, to the great pleasure of many Fusion-minded prog listeners in and out of Finland, but it's interesting to wonder how they would have succeeded (in the artistic sense, hardly in the commercial sense) with this vocal oriented style. Most certainly they wouldn' have been as unique anyhow.

Thanks to my Finnish friends I had the first two albums on LP for decades. Both of them are excellent and are treasured possessions.

"Demon Nights" was released much, much later and is very different, practically bears no semblance to their earlier works. The band here falls into the common trap of trying to imitate WEATHER REPORT, a band that I am rather fond of. Many leading artists have attempted to do the same and those imitations were generally rather poor efforts. Efforts that didn't enhance the artists' profile, but resulted in rather the opposite. "Demon Nights" did just that for FINNFOREST, resulting in one of the most forgettable WR imitations. This work is rather pointless and should never have been made public. You have been warned!

Still, I would wholeheartedly recommend their first two albums which have been released on one CD, sporting one of the finest presentations I know of.

The only two possible critics that I could have against this release, is that it ignores the band's third album, released after the band's reformation in 78, and that has yet to find a CD reissue (at least to my knowledge), while the second objection is that it doesn't feature one of the album's respective original artwork (parachute and lonely trees), but replaces it with typically Finnish taiga picture. Outside these minor recriminations, this is a splendid indispensable release that every Scandinavian JR/F lovers must own.