GEAFAR

Add another half star. This second album is still outstanding but less so than their debut. First of all the bonus track are unworthy of the album : it sounds like singles from a much later period (one from 76 and the other from 79 ). If that was the only flaw , I would not let it bother me , but the shorter tracks at the start of side 2 are also weaker both having a female vocal that I find somewhat derangesome (Northettes from Hatfield & the North). The first track of the album is somewhat a little different than what they usually do (rockier) but the rest is well in the line of their debut especially the 14 min title track. Note the absolutely crazy Dali-like sleeve artwork so macabre but somewhat well in line with the music.

I have not heard the following albums but Abjornssen says it is not like those first two albums , so stick (or at least start) with those two.

This isn't nearly as good as the debut (5 stars) but there's plenty here to enjoy from the Finnish band. I would say this one is lighter and brighter than the debut overall with lots of sax and flute. Vocals are in English.

"Change" is like a protest song and check out the major fuzz to start. Male vocals and sax join in this uptempo track.The guitar, sax and vocals share taking the lead on this one. "Kun Menet Tarpeeksi..." is kind of jazzy with sax, drums and bass standing out. Male vocals join in around a minute. The guitar before 5 minutes eventually turns aggressive. It settles with female vocal melodies and flute. It kicks back in before it settles one last time to the end with those vocal melodies. "Kantaatti" opens with piano as female vocal melodies join in before a minute. Sounds like violin to follow.

"Laulu Surullisesta Pilvesta" opens with piano then what sounds like violin and flute. Female vocal melodies arrive after 3 minutes in this melancholic tune. "Geafar" is the almost 14 minute closer. It opens with dark piano lines as drums arrive after a minute. It kicks in before 2 minutes. Female vocals too.The sax is great as it comes and goes. Strings before 4 1/2 minutes followed by a Psychedelic vibe with fuzz. Nice.The guitar, bass and drums are outstanding. Sax leads 6 1/2 minutes in as the bass and drums continue. Piano only 9 minutes in followed by a calm with flute. It kicks back in after 11 minutes with fuzz, while the female vocals follow.

Barely 4 stars in my opinion but a worthy follow-up to their debut.

(6/10)

With their second effort, Haikara move away somewhat from their first. There is a lot more fuzzy guitar, and passages that feel like extended jams. There are some good moments, but nothing quite as hard-hitting or dramatic as the best moments of their eponymous first album. There were also some personnel changes, most felt in the vocals. Out go the stronger male vocals (presumably of Vesa Lehtinen), but in come the floating female vocals of Auli Lattunen.

Lehtinen's powerful singing was one of the things I really liked about the first Haikara album (that and the blasting saxophone), and it gave the band more of it's own character, so this is a great loss. Vesa Lattunen handles the majority on his own, and doesn't do enough to retain this key feature. Consequently, songs like "Change" and "Kun Menet Tarpeeksi Kauas Tulevaisuuteen, Huomaat Olevasi Menneisyydessä" lack power.

"Change" (sung in English) sort of meanders in the same tone for a while. The sax is still effective, but there is less variance, less intensity, and the song feels like an extended semi-psychedelic jam at times, more an exercise in fuzz guitar than anything else. The same could be said of the first half of "Kun Menet Tarpeeksi Kauas Tulevaisuuteen, Huomaat Olevasi Menneisyydessä", another repetitive jazz-tinged jam that doesn't really go anywhere. About 5 minutes in though, we finally see some of the edge that made the debut great, the aggressive intent is there, and welcome, especially with respect to the guitar. This is followed by a couple of rather ethereal passage of female vocals accompanied by flute, the saxophone building well in between them.

In fact, the female vocals do add a significant new dimension to the music of Haikara, especially on "Kantaatti", a short, piano led number. Here, the haunting vocals truly float. Violin and flute come in later and make this a compact but beautiful number. They are also used to good effect on "Laulu Surullisesta Pilvestä" (where the soft male vocals are found lacking).

Probably "Geafar", the title track, will bring the most attention. Just shy of 14 minutes, it is Haikara's longest song to date. It breaks down into brooding or mellow quieter passages a lot, but the noisier passages just don't have the energy to make the contrast as effective as the debut. The overall structure is still very progressive and enjoyable though, and some of the parts are really good. As with the rest of the album, the guitar is often prominent, but isn't quite doing enough to earn that status (same with the male vocals). The strength of this track is definitely in the instrumental passages, some of which are really great. Overall the track is good, and I do like it, but at the same time it doesn't quite live up to the standard set by previous longer songs like "Yksi Maa & Yksi Kansa" or "Manala".

Most instruments do still get their time to shine, but it is sometimes done in a casual way, and often without enough drama or drive. "Geafar" is lot less aggressive, a lot less mellow, less sonically broad, and really a bit more middle of the road compared with "Haikara". Much like "Haikara", the album really gets going more in the second half, but "Change" is not nearly as fun as the first track off the first album. It's possible others might prefer this slightly more laid back and straightforward version of the group, but not me.

To me, this was a bit of a step down for individuality, but not a huge disappointment. There is still much to be enjoyed here. There are passages that are a bit of a drag, but nothing bad. In particular, "Kantaatti" and "Geafar" are the best offerings. This would probably be the logical next step for someone wanting more after having enjoyed the first album.

Both the debut and Geafar by HAIKARA are being re-released on vinyl by Svart Records. I had the honour to write the articles for them, and here's the one for Geafar in an abridged form (roughly 70%; buy the album to read the full version with further facts and anecdotes!). My rating would be 3½ stars if that option was there.

The international prestige of Haikara is mostly based on their eponymous debut album (1972), a unique, dark-toned and eclectic progressive rock masterpiece that has been compared to the music of King Crimson, Van Der Graaf Generator and Tasavallan Presidentti among others. The next album Geafar, released at the end of the following year, may not be as coherent as its predecessor, but it certainly continues the band's classic era and contains some of the finest moments in Finnish prog.

Around the time Haikara was released, the vocalist-lyricist Vesa Lehtinen departed to rejoin the reformed Charlies, the other of the vintage rock bands hailing from the Southern Finnish town of Lahti. In a sense this was a blow for Haikara but the band soldiered on. The composer and frontman Vesa Lattunen's somewhat mediocre singing found a much needed counterpart in his sister Auli, whose beautiful voice is present to varying degrees on Geafar. This time Lattunen also wrote the lyrics by himself.

The opening track 'Change' is a lively rocker with revolution-themed lyrics sung, unusually, in English. Vesa Lattunen's vocals sound rather shaky in it, probably on purpose though. The jam-like funkiness on the first two tracks is quite a departure from the dark and symphonic seriousness of the debut, which of course is not implying that it would be musically less accomplished. The second song (with a long title meaning "When You Go Far Enough to the Future, You'll Find Out You're in the Past") calms down around the sixth minute for a fascinating slower section featuring flutes and Auli's wordless vocals.

The brief and elegant 'Kantaatti' is practically an art music piece for piano, cello and wordless female voice. Lattunen, who had played double bass in the Lahti Town Orchestra, had witnessed a deep prejudice against rock music among the musicians on the classical side, which only stirred up his will to combine the two musical worlds in his own composing work.

'Laulu surullisesta pilvestä' (Song About a Sad Cloud) is another genre-fusing little piece with Auli's background vocalising and classical instruments accompanying Vesa's tender vocals and a rhythm section. But perhaps the best is saved for last: for those listeners who are hungry for epic and complex prog in the vein of Haikara's first album the 14-minute title track will be most rewarding. This time Auli Lattunen sings with lyrics, and the arrangement is very varied in this superb composition. The orchestral section with sharp trumpets reminds me of 'Salisbury' by Uriah Heep.

Some critics at the time blamed Geafar for being too introverted and uneven. From today's perspective it can be said that the closer one listens to this album, free of prejudices and expectations, the better it sounds in its own right.

The morbidly surreal cover art of Geafar, strongly influenced by Salvador Dalí, was again painted by the band's drummer Markus Heikkerö. It's worth noticing that Haikara also had another member keen on visual expression: the reeds player Harri Pystynen withdrew from music due to stage fright in 1985 and became a cartoon artist until his death in 1990.