LOVE PROGE

This double CD offers a quite wide presentation of Finnish artistic rock music of the 70's, which was released through the famous Love Records company. So as this is a label sampler, there are some essential artists missing here. I analyze the tracks in their order, except for bands which have several tracks on the compilation in review in a batch.

The music packet opens with BLUES SECTION's "Semi-Circle Solitude", which is a nice single cut from this proto prog band, which gave birth to both WIGWAM and TASAVALLAN PRESIDENTTI (PRESIDENT OF THE REBUBLIC). This tune proves that JIM PEMBROKE was an awesome songwriter and had a beautiful singing voice in his youth (the decline of this skill can be heard f.ex. on the musically good "The Live Music from Twilight Zone" album, where the booze has done its job).
BABY GRANDMOTHERS is actually Swedish band, who only recorded on Finnish "Eteenpäin" record label! Re- releasing this tune is a great cultural act, but it's a bit weird selection on Love Records sampler, as this suggests to a compilation not focusing on record-companies. For example HAIKARA (STORK) or KALEVALA werenn't signed on Love Records either, and they are missing here even they were very important groups in Finnish scene. However, "Somebody Keeps Calling My Name" is a good jam to be listened, and this performance was originally shortened due to it's releasing on a single format.
WIGWAM is represented here with several tracks, and I analyze them all here for once. "Luulosairas" (hypochondriac) was released originally as vinyl single only, but recently it has been also released on other compilations. It is maybe a bit naïve but still interesting and funny bluesy keyboard driven track. Then maybe "Crisader" from their "Being" album could have been replaced with some live recordings which were yet unreleased at 1996. "Do or Die" is then a hit song from the more commercial oriented WIGWAM, and maybe also here a more rarer track could have been a more interesting selection. "Oh Marlene" is the last LP pick from the band, and I don't really see the point of this inclusion except the need to fill the album. One track from the late 70's should have been enough for WIGWAM.
PEKKA STRENG's "Sisältäni Portin Löysin" (If Found a Gate from Within Myself) is the most famous Finnish psychedelic folk song, describing the consciousness expansion process of cannabis usage. (?!) The band backing up Pekka is TASAVALLAN PRESIDENTTI, and they recorded their own version of this song, which is better and stronger version in my opinion. I would have preferred hearing that rarer version here, which was released a s a single and also added on some compilation, instead of some of TASAVALLAN PRESIDENTTI's more conventional songs selected here, and maybe some other track by Pekka.
But instead to this there are several LP selections from the band mentioned. "Deep Thinker" is a fabulous track, but this was re-released on the early CD version of their first album already. There are also some fabulous live stuff safe kept at the vaults of YLE by this band, which were broadcasted in documentaries of this band and the famous Ruisrock festival. Also, it's weird that this was placed as the singles B-side originally, as it's much better song than the original A-side or even many of their LP songs. Later we hear their "Lounge" which is the opener from their famous album, ad this in not a very good pick in my opinion.
Well, PEPE WILLBERG gives us "Ajatukset" (Thoughts), which is a WIGWAM song with Finnish lyrics. This was a B-side of a single with other Finnish sung version of a WIGWAM song. Pepe is a famous popular music singer in Finland, who's career began at late 60's. This is an interesting anecdote, but not very essential performance.
"Like The Purpose Told Me" by CHARIES is just a cut from their LP, but I really liked this stuff, as it is wonderful CREAM oriented hard rock jamming with a saxophone. The pronouncing of English is a bit weak like in many other European prog acts, but it doesn't ruin the listening experience for me. I was so impressed by this tune, that I'll have to acquire the two long players of this group!
MAGYAR's "Elävien Hauta" (the grave of the living) is a basic bluesy rock tune with politically strong lyrics, and not very proggy song, and it has an annoying fadeout in the end. As this was a rare single release, this is an interesting release still.
Also the song "Black Friday" by group FERRIS is not a prog related song in my opinion, but just basic 70's rock.
Well, the next track is PEKKA POHJOLA's "Virtojen Kiharat" (Curls of The Current), which is a pick from the WIGWAM's bassist's solo album. This is a nice instrumental symphonic prog tune with jazzy touches.
"Ode to Eagle2 by NIMBUS is a fine track to be released, as it never saw a light of day even as a vinyl. There are challenging rhythmic movements in this song, and the guitars play soft mantra-like patterns, but the pronouncing of English is here very poor. The album "Obus" which they recorded for Love Records is a very pricy collector's item nowadays.
The obscure artists MANDALA recorded a single, which had the tune "Don't Wake Me Now". This is a jazzy rock tune with catchy melodies, and also good bass and flute lines.
15. Session : Persialaisella torilla Another wonderful gem is SESSION's "Persialaisella Torilla" (On A Persian Market), whixh is an instrumental song with predefined parts and themes, but still containing space for fun of pure playing and jamming. This was originally released on a Love records compilation during the 70's, and it would be interesting to hear more from this group.
Another filler in my opinion is JIM PEMBROKE's "No New Games", which is just a pick from his 1974 solo album.
The first CD ends on MANIFEST's "Tie" (road), which is a nice B-side rarity from a band, which didn't do anything else except this one single. Sadly the music isn't very challenging.

On the second CD we can hear JUKKA HAURU's tune called "Enema Syringe". The delightful title takes all credibility away from the first impression of this LP pick, and the song is a bluesy jazz rock tune with bad sounding keyboards, but still having thoughtful rhythm changes.
TABULA RASA is introduced with their "Vuorellaistuja" (Sitter on A Montain), which is very pretty ballad with a faster movement in it's ending. This is a pick from their first LP out of two, and it has Finnish lyrics from MIKKO ALATALO. There are some JETHRO TULL resembling flutes, and overall this is very nice music, but not pioneer stuff, as this from the year 1975 and the influences are from the previous change of the decade. The album from where this song is taken is quite popular among Finnish prog listeners among the other Finnish big names, but I'm not sure if this is valued very high outside the country.
The next pick of DONNA's "Epilogi" has some sentimental values, but musically this is just pop rock of the late 70's.
NOVA's "Atlantis" has also ended up on this compilation, and I see it as quite representing choice from this rare and in my opinion interesting and good sole album by this band.
"Huono Juttu" (Bad Case) is an early single B-side from the group JANUS, which started the career of the Finnish lady singer MAARIT HURMERINTA. The track is a nice groovy rock song, but there's no prog here in my opinion.
SAMI HURMERINTA, who's of course Maarit's husband, did some solo projects, and here's a song "Summer -72" from him, which is a nice and slow melancholic tune with acoustic piano and guitar. If the electric guitar solo would have been changed with JAN GARBAREK's saxophone, this would sound like RALPH TOWNER's stuff from early 70's (a possible innovator?).
TASAVALLAN PRESIDENTTI's guitarist JUKKA TOLONEN did some solo LP's, and here's "A Passenger To Paramaribo" from them. There's some fast licks over a basic groovy 4/4 beat. This is quite nice, but I think he has done some more artistic stuff in his solo career too.
Then we hear an excerpt from JUKKA GUSTAVSON's "Yksin Yhdessä" (Alone Tongether) solo album. For this album Jukka gathered an impressive group of Finnish prog & jazz musicians, and he did an instrumental symphonic album with jazzy tendencies. This music was also used for a dance performance, and also later he has composed music for such productions also later in his later career. What troubles me about this album, is the fact that it's a Jehova's witnesses sect propaganda album.
ROYALS did some bombastic English sung proggy pop rock of late 70's, maybe resembling a heavier version of "nuclear nightclub" WIGWAM's. I think that "Just My Situation" song here is actually JIM PEMBROKE's composition, and he did lyrics and backing vocals for the band on other tracks too. The guitarist ALBERT JÄRVINEN was very famous guitarist in Finland appearing in early KALEVALA, in the famous rock'n'roll group HURRIGANES, and in a successful comedy rock group SLEEPY SLEEPERS. Also PAAVO MAIJANEN is here singing and playing bass, who created successful career in the field of popular music.
Then we get FINNFOREST's "Pablo", which is a pick from their "Demonnights" album, brings a moody and calm jazzy tune for us, but the single mentioned in their CD inlay biography would have been a more interesting inclusion!
Luckilly the two last songs here are from singles, and the artists are also quite obscure. SUKELLUSVENE (SUBMARINE) have recorded a tune called "Savitaipaleen Polkka" (Polka of Savitaipale), which is a fast jazzy performance of old traditional polka, and the version works very well. There should be copies of one forgotten album and single of this band hiding somewhere in the record shelves of the collectors.
The last track "No Why, Nobody There" is from LIMOUSINE. This group has the rhythm duo ZAPE LEPPÄNEN and late ARI VAAHTERA, who also played in the mid 70's version of KALEVALA, and formed a classic band BLUESOUNDS with DAVE LINDHOLM during early 80's, which first albums I see as the greatest achievement of all of the three musicians mentioned. This is also a pleasant waltz, resembling quite much tune "Wintertime Love" by DOORS.

Though except for one deviation this compilation gives a quite comprehensive outlook of Finnish prog scene of the 70's, thought some smaller and bigger names like HAIKARA and KALEVALA are left out. If there would have been more rarer track selections, I would see this as a five star compilation, but the four I gave is way over the average of the quality of prog compilations which I have yet heard!

(2,5 stars or less) I'm pretty disappointed, because I know there is much better music in Finland than these. Still I'm happy because there's a few goos songs and the other's are mostly for the pop audience but still quite comfortable. Although I hate some of them.

Worth: ****Wigwam: Luulosairas - Of course, blues jazzrock. Wigwam: Do Or Die - Delightful dark bass like ****Tabula Rasa: Vuorellaistuja - of course.

Tasavallan presidentti: Lounge - very nice symphonic experimental jazz/fusion rock

****Pekka Pohjola: Virtojen kiharat - of course Nimbus: Ode to Eagle - little bit slower rock, nice melodies, pretty powerful.

Jukkas' jazz: Jukka Hauru: Enema Syringe - psychedelic eastern jazz with thick rock instruments. I like this, though repetition is maybe too powerful. Jukka Tolonen: A Passenger to Paramaribo - nice jazzrock, though little bit stupid. Compare Mahavishnu Orchestra. Jukka Gustavson: Yksin yhdessä - diverse jazz, bit like Tasavallan presidentti.

Other pretty good: Session: Persialaisella torilla - reminds me of Kalevala. But there's stupid pop melody in this song (compare nutrocker/cracker)

Basic psychedelic jazzrock: Baby Grandmothers: Someone Keeps Calling My Name - Nice psychedelic rock experimental, reminds me of Amon Düül, mostly harsh instrumental (without some special characteristics of AD). Charlies: Like the Purpose Told Me - I don't like this much, but it's so basic rock with prog elements. Ferris: Black Friday - same as ^

And somehow Tasavallan presidentti: Deep Thinker - almost pop, but still progressive jazzrock with jumping rhythms and melodies. And Nova: Atlantis - symphonic psychedelic..

Other songs are fairly banal or hateable rock.

First I must say that Eetu's review on this 2-CD compilation (subtitled on the back cover as "Progressive Rock and Popjazz of the Love Records' output 1968-1979"; the front cover's word "prog classics" is partly very inaccurate) is more informative and detailed than mine. The second issue was compiled too, and together they paint a comprehensive picture of the proggy side of that pioneering, legendary Finnish label. However, it must be pointed out thatit's not the same thing as the Finnish prog in general; there were at least two important bands - HAIKARA, KALEVALA - and a bunch of short-lived worthy groups that were NOT released via Love. Even some groups here made their main albums elsewhere and are thus represented by 7" or V.A. compilation tracks.

Nor is it a puristic "prog only" compilation. Probably more than half of the artists are not to be found in ProgArchives, but then again the representative tracks of those internationally best known household names such as TASAVALLAN PRESIDENTTI, WIGWAM and all the related solo paths (TOLONEN, GUSTAVSON, POHJOLA) form the majority of the contents. Examples of the choices: TP - 'Deep Thinker' (7", 1970) and 'Lounge' from Lambertland. WIGWAM - 'Luulosairas' (7", 1969), 'Crisader' from Being, 'Do Or Die' from Nuclear Nightclub and 'Oh Marlene' from 1977' Dark Album. Hmm, the fourth one is already rather unnecessary... PEKKA POHJOLA - 'Virtojen kiharat' (from the 1972 debut Pihkasilmä Kaarnakorva). JUKKA TOLONEN - 'A Passenger to Paramaribo'.

Other PA-included prog bands featured here are NIMBUS (though their only album wasn't released by Love, here's a previously unreleased track), NOVA (the 9-minute title track of their sole album Atlantis, 1976), TABULA RASA (the wonderful 'Vuorellaistuja' from the eponymous 1975 debut), FINNFOREST ('Pablo' from their final - and in comparison weaker - album Demonnights, 1979) and PEKKA STRENG (beautiful song 'Sisältäni portin löysin' from the Tasavallan Presidentti -featured 1970 album Magneettimiehen Kuolema).

The rest of the artists/groups are more or less unknown for non-Finnish listeners and some of them are not prog artists, such as PEPE WILLBERG (popular singer whose track is a Finnish translation of Wigwam's non-prog song 'Wishful Thinker'). CHARLIES played heavy blues-rock in the late 60's. ROYALS were an ambitious supergroup of mid-70's, but not considerably progressive in style. Guitarist-composer JUKKA HAURU and a one-album (1979) group SUKELLUSVENE played instrumental Fusion and are not very well remembered by us Finns either.

Many groups are only obscure footnotes to the Finnish rock history, such as FERRIS (featuring Dave Lindholm), MANIFEST (f. vocalist Harri Saksala also known from Apollo), MANDALA (whose vocalist made a couple of solo albums as "Kristian"), LIMOUSINE (whose leader Zape Leppänen participated in Kalevala) or DONNA who managed to record one single only. A single-only rarity is also JANUS featuring Maarit & Sami Hurmerinta; the latter - best known as the main collaborator of his popular singer-wife - made a solo album in 1977, represented here with a good instrumental 'Summer -72'. MAGYAR's sole album unfortunately cannot be considered progressive unlike 'Elävien hauta' and other single releases from the beginning of the 70's.

If you're non-Finnish and use these "Love Proge" compilations in order to widen up your picture of the Finnish prog history, please note that texts are only in Finnish, and also the musical contents should be taken with a pinch of salt; these two compilations are not compiled (and simply couldn't have been compiled) with such goal in mind. If you primarily want to have a good selection of the Finnish prog legends, it's more recommendable to purchase their own albums or compilations in order to avoid overlapping as your music libary grows, and because so many of the lesser - and less proggy! - acts here may not be very interesting for you.

The cover designs are hideous and totally unsuitable for a context of vintage prog. (PS. As I corrected some details I also decided to drop my rating from three stars to two that may be more honest for an international audience.)