THE HOOK

- First Review of this Album -

This is the third solo album by the most legendary guitar hero in the Finnish prog history (in addition to a large and respected solo career - mainly in Fusion - he was a key member of TASAVALLAN PRESIDENTTI). Already the list of musicians is very promising: Esa Kotilainen (moog, clavinet, accordion), Pekka Pöyry (saxes, flute), four other blowers, and the rhythm section of Heikki Virtanen and Esko Rosnell. Tolonen himself plays also piano. The music was recorded in Stockholm's Marcus Music AB and produced by Måns Groundstroem.

The nearly 13-minute 'Aurora Borealis' is a gorgeous celebration of excellent musicianship, and it gives a lot of attention to various instruments - both in combo playing and in soli - in the slightly funky environment. Wow! What a moog solo and drum work! Perhaps the groove continues a bit too long occasionally.

'Starfish' is equally energetic Fusion, loaded with reeds and brass. Full of musical joy that makes you feel happy. The band is just fantastic. All of them. 'The Sea' slows the pace graciously. Nice laid-back groove starring piano, accompanied by the rest of the group in perfect balance. The flute solo... lovely, lovely! The title track starts in a very funky manner and gives the main attention to Tolonen's technical excellence on guitar. This is my least favourite track but still quite interesting as it proceeds.

The relatively brief (3:15) closing track 'Together' is mellow, emotional ballad focusing on piano but containing also nice guitar sounds. I think this album has deserved full rating. In a word, Top Class Fusion in an international scale!

This is solo album number three for guitarist extraordinaire Jukka Tolonen. The man can play multiple instruments and is a great composer as well. Probably why he was in the mighty WIGWAM and TASAVALAN PRESIDENTTI while doing his solo stuff. There are five horn players on this 1974 release playing various saxes along with trombone and trumpet. Flute too along with clavinet, moog and accordion besides the usual rock instruments.

The album cover represents this opener "Aurora Borealis" and it made me realize that it has decades since I've seen the northern lights. I grew up where you could see the northern sky over Georgian Bay and we saw them several times. This track is the longest one by far at almost 13 minutes. A nice heavy sound from the keyboards here as drums support, horns and synths will also take part. A catchy melody takes over just before 1 1/2 minutes and it's sax led. Back to the previous soundscape as contrasts continue. The guitar starts to solo over top then we get a calm with nothing but piano left. It then starts to build as bass and drums join the piano, then synths sounding melancholic which I like. Soprano sax takes the lead around 7 1/2 minutes then it's the guitar's turn before 9 1/2 minutes as Jukka lights it up.

The other two songs I really like are first "The Sea" with the opening and closing atmosphere that is quite heavy. Piano joins in then drums and bass. Flute will lead then guitar as well as a couple of horns in there as well soloing over top. My favourite is the title track "The Hook" with the many intricate sounds that come and go to begin with sounding very cool actually. The guitar is so good on this one as Jukka just plays and plays. Nice bass later on.

Another solid release from one of Finland's best guitarists.

Recorded in Stockholm 5-11 August of 1974 at Marcus Music AB and produced there by MÃ¥ns Groundstroem but not released by Love Records until December.

1. "Aurora Borealis" (12:56) a very unusual sound and stylistic palette for a song dedicated to an atmospheric phenomenon. (I just would have never conjured up a borderline-funk-jazz-rock tune to do the deed.) Jukka is climbing further into the jazz-rock lexicon for his musical expression with even greater commitment to jazzy horns and the latest funky-jazz technologies in electronic keyboards. The second movement of the suite is quite cool, starting out in the second minute of the tune, it tests out the infusion of new synth sounds and low-end horn arrangements within his piano-and-bass jazz-rock mainline. Then there is a brief return to the first movement followed by another go round the second motif that lasts until the end of the fourth minute before the music seems to devolve and fall apart, but, no! This is just a clever "bridge" into the third movement, which starts at about the 4:50 mark: it is two-chord vamp in which even more new funky techniques and new synth sounds (one that is a bit familiar to all lovers of Kool And The Gang's "Summer Madness"). This movement is even a step higher in terms of listener enjoyment, thanks to the great synth play of Esa Kotilainen and amazing space-sax play of Jan Kling on tenor sax and the perfect support from Jukka's piano, Heikki Virtanen's awesome bass play, and Esko Rosnell's very cool drumming and percussion work. Even when this motif switches into a funkier variation with Heikki's ramped up bass play and Jukka's excellent rock guitar with Esa Kotilianen's clavinet joining Jukka's piano it remains at such a high level of musicianship and engageability. I love songs like this in which it just keeps getting better and better the further you go. Though I don't like the title (it doesn't feel fitting to me) I love this song--especially those last two movements! (23.5/25)

2. "Starfish" (6:17) a very full rendering of this audience-pleasing composition with a full-scale horn section arrangement, jazz rhythm guitar, and multiple variations on a very catchy melody establishing a very sophisticated multi-layered orchestra-like composition that reminds me quite often of the perspective that composers like Bill Conti (Rocky OST) and Burt Bacharach. (10/10)

3. "The Sea" (8:22) another amazingly rich, mature, multi-layered orchestra-sounding song that sound like an all-time favorite Adult Contemporary hit from a French romantic film soundtrack. That two-chord piano riff! (As if stolen from Teddy Randazzo, Bobby Hart, and Bobby Weinstein's song "Hurt's So Bad" which became such a big hit for Little Anthony And The Imperials in 1965 and Linda Ronstadt in 1980.) If I didn't know better, I'd say that young Jukka is destined for greatness as a composer for orchestral music--or even as a orchestra conductor. Absolute beauty and awesomeness! (19.5/20) 4. "The Hook" (8:36) now we get a big-band sounding R&B motif--with accordion and all the horns (including the low end pulsing bass ones)--and some great guitar work, acoustically, rhythmically (both acoustically and electrically--with wah-wah), and in the lead tracks. Is Jukka trying to go for the Billy Cobham/Herbie Hancock kind of iconic bass- anchored stuff of Spectrum and Head Hunters with a little Also Sprach Zarathustra thrown in there for good measure? This is definitely a pretty radical shift from the previous three songs, though Jukka continues the masterful display of thinking of songs as lush tapestries of multiple threads of sophisticated and melodic particles and waves all woven together into an awesome work of art. (18.25/20)

5. "Together" (3:15) a return to simple, gentility, though with the time and key shifts to denote masterful songwriting skill: a duet with hissself between his piano and his Roy Buchanan-sensitive skillful guitar play. Nice finish to a great album. (8.75/10)

Total Time: 39:26

As stated above: I think this might be the breakout album that proves Jukka's extraordinary talent for sophisticated orchestral-level arrangements.

A/five stars; a full masterpiece of amazingly layered compositions rendered beautifully by MÃ¥ns Groundstroem for the world to cherish and uphold for all time! One of my favorite Jazz-Rock Fusion albums I've heard from the Scandinavian worlds--maybe even one of my favorite Jazz-Rock Fusion albums of all-time! Certainly one of the most unique and creative!