TUONEN TYTÄR - A TRIBUTE TO FINNISH PROGRESSIVE

The Colossus Project has become one of Finland's greatest exports for the progressive rock world with their never-ending catalog of releases that compile some of the prog world's most cutting edge talent and unify them under a central theme that continues the fantastical legacies of the early prog universe and expands it exponentially. While the Project hasn't been limited to artists of Finland, that's exactly how it all began.

TUONEN TYTÄR: A TRIBUTE TO FINNISH PROGRESSIVE was the first edition of this series that has continued gracefully for almost two decades now. While Finnish prog hasn't exactly been in the forefront of the various strains of prog that have emerged in the last 50 years, the nation has been more of a player than many would realize and that's exactly why The Colossus Project set out to create this compilation that pays tribute to their favorite 70s offerings.

This is indeed a tribute album which finds 22 different bands covering different tracks from their favorite 70s prog artists from their home nation of Finland. While it's true that most prog lover's can probably only think of enough Finnish prog artists to fit on one hand, unfortunately this tribute doesn't exactly expand into the nooks and crannies as much as i would prefer. The average prog lover could most likely name Wigwam, Tasavallan Presidentti, Pekka Pohjohla and Haikara and it should come as no surprise that these four artists indeed are the most represented on this compilation.

As with any new projects, there are always kinks and inexperience to contend with and that's exactly what this first Colossus Project feels like to me, namely a newly coalesced idea that needed time to gel. One of the first quirks involved is the unusual situation where the band Haikara covers itself with its classic "Yksi Maa &Yksi Kansa" from their classic 1972 debut. I'm not sure i've ever heard of a band covering itself. A most peculiar situation indeed but with a prog legend willing to add itself to your playlist, how could Mellow Label Productions resist.

TUONEN TYTÄR: A TRIBUTE TO FINNISH PROGRESSIVE is a 2-CD release that contains 22 tracks. As stated the lion's share of real estate goes to the four best known bands therefore Wigwam has four tracks represented. Pekka Pohjola has four. Haikara has two and Tasavallan Pesidentti has three. Other Finnish artists represented include Matti Järvinen, Kaamos, Jukka Tolonen, Sahti, Finnforest, Piirpauke, Royals and Mandala.

What can i say about this TRIBUTE album to all things FINNISH PROG? Well, it's somewhat of a botched effort. I'm not really sure if the label was aiming at a Finnish audience to rediscover their lost heritage or if it's trying to export the glories of FINNISH PROG to a greater world audience but personally i would rather hear the original tracks by the artists who released them in the first place. While the bands that pay tribute do indeed worship their heroes quite decently, it doesn't seem like they add anything to the dynamics of the material either.

As it is, it was probably a gimmick to introduce new artists to the world via the material of the classics and i guess on that front it stands on its own, but once again, if the artists that are performing are the main focus then i'd prefer to hear original material from the bands themselves. As far as representing Finnish prog goes, it's true that Colossus covers the major movers and shakers but there were still a few names such as Kalevala, Elonkorjuu, Hector, Tabula Rasa, Fantasia and Nimbus just to name a few that could've been represented with at least a track to demonstrate the greater diversity of the local scene.

When all is said and done, Colossus pumped out a decent slice of TRIBUTE PROG for their FINNISH homeland. There are many exciting tracks on here that make me want to explore some of the albums i've thus missed from that region but unfortunately this particular compilation doesn't really invite many return listens but rather makes me want to explore the artists themselves who are being covered here. Nonetheless, despite not being the crown jewel of the Colossus Project series, it was a decent start that even its founders could've hardly foreseen as to how it would take off and as a piece of this greater collection still finds its way on my shelf for being so.

In case you're wondering here is the whole list of Colossus Project released so far:

TUONEN TYTAR: A TRIBUTE TO FINNISH PROGRESSIVE (2000)

Kalevala - Finnish Progressive Rock Epic (2003)

The Spaghetti Epic - Six Modern Prog Bands For Six Seventies Prog Suites (2004)

Odyssey - The Greatest Tale (2005)

The Colossus of Rhodes (2006)

The 7 Samurai - The Ultimate Epic (2006)

The Spaghetti Epic 2 - The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly (2007)

Treasure Island (2007)

Giallo! One Suite for the Murderer (2008)

The Empire and The Rebellion (2008)

Dante's Divine Comedy Part I - Dante's Inferno (2009)

Dante's Divine Comedy Part II ? Purgatorio (2009)

Rökstenen - a Tribute to Swedish Progressive Rock of the 70's (2009)

The Spaghetti Epic 3 - The Great Silence (2009)

Tuonen Tytar-A Tribute To Finnish Progressive Rock Of The Seventies - Volume Two (2009)

Iliad: A Grand Piano Extravaganza (2010)

The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe: A SyNphonic Collection (2010)

Decameron - Ten days in 100 novellas - Part I (2011)

The Stories Of H.P. Lovecraft: A SyNphonic Collection (2012)

Decameron - Ten Days In 100 Novellas - Part II (2014)

Decameron - Ten Days in 100 novellas - Part III (2016)