ISO LINTU

Haikara is a quite famous Finnish band which first and second records have gained a lot of appreciation. This third record though seems to be forgotten. It has an ugly cover, low rating and it's perhaps impossible to get outside Finland, I don't know. Well I saw it on Spotify and couldn't resist listen to it.

"Iso lintu" is Haikara's third record and it was released in 1976. The cover is very special. I wrote it was ugly but it's also quite unique. Please study the picture at least! They look very nice in their white dresses.

I loved this music, that is my statement of this. Even if the song format is short I am not doubting about say this is prog. The instrumentation is very good and Haikara uses different instruments in a very professional way. Actually there is no weak moments here. The Finnish language is allways different but I think it works perfectly here and gives the music a national feel that is necessery to make music real. The record is also varied, from the comical "Hotellinainen" (with a Beatles-noise), to a prog pop song in "Leppäkerttu" and a medieval tune (à la Gryphon) in "Für Hanna". "Leppäkerttu" is so joyful and there is som much vital joy here. Especially the wind instruments adds perfection to this music. In "Romanssi" the sweet melody reminds me very much of The Web's "War and Piece-suite". Listen to both, Web's song is a masterpiece and Haikara's very good.

Perhaps the vocals could have been little more professional and they could have made longer, even more interesting songs. That doesn't make this worse. Yes I admit I haven't heard earlier Haikara. Is it a crime? I'll se when I hear them. This is a recommended record!

All songs: Für Hanna(10/10), Kuinka ollakaan(8/10), Romanssi(8/10), Leppäkerttu(8/10), Golgata(8/10), Hotellinainen(7/10), 2+2=5(7/10), Aamu(7/10) and Jäähyväiset(7/10)