TASAVALLAN PRESIDENTTI II

Take classic-era Procol Harum, make the keyboards less dominant, and switch out the classical influences for jazz and Hendrix and you might end up with something a bit like Tasavallan Presidentti's sound on their second album. The Procol Harum influence is particularly notable in Frank Robson's vocals, but also comes to the fore regularly in the music too - I Love You Teddy Bear could be a lost track from Procol's debut. Jukka Tolonen's guitar work is clearly technically skilled but at the same time doesn't seem very creative - his solo on Introduction, for example, is pretty damn tight, but at the same time it's also kind of predictable.

So, a jazzy Procol Harum without a guitarist quite on the level of Robin Trower, keyboardists less willing to completely dominate proceedings, and meaty sax interventions from Pekka Pöyry - a fun enough combination, but not quite anything to set the world on fire. It's a good album, but not much more than a good album; three stars.