JARTSE TUOMINEN

The opening piece 'Snack' is a lively jazz-rocker in a breath-taking fast tempo. The guitarist's and his bandmates' technical competence is amazing, no doubt, but frankly that's about the only thing that impresses me in this one. 'Flying With You' starts softly but accelerates into a faster tempo before the halfway. There are keyboards involved, even though the album info doesn't mention any keyboards, and my CD is a promo disc without the full information. Anyway, this brilliant fusion track is my favourite. 'First' returns to the adrenalin-fueled speed and technical boistering.

'Scare' builds the intense atmosphere with a march-like drumming and a wailing guitar on top of the repetitive and simple melodic phrase. As expected, the playing gets wilder but there's not much of other progression in the composition itself. 'Sledgehammer' hits hard exactly the same way as the first and third high-tempo tracks. I rather concentrate on the excellence of bassist and drummer in it. 'One Night in Tokyo' (8:02) is the longest -- 'Flying With You' close behind -- but at this point I'm up to my ears of that killer speed, and despite the length the piece has not much of else to offer. Well, there's a brief middle-part focusing on buzuki, as if a moment to catch one's breath before the run continues. 'Shaving Cream Man' gave an earlier reviewer some associations of Moving Pictures -era RUSH, and yes, I've got them too. Also this one's in a fast tempo but maybe there's slightly more dynamics in the composition and arrangement than in other fast numbers.

I guess I made it pretty clear what this music is primarily all about: technical brilliance and fast playing, starring electric guitar. If that's what you wish to hear, look no further, but personally I'm having a more critical view than all the others who have rated this album. Good, but not exactly my cup of tea, thank you.

What he brings us a nice jazz rock album, with a lot of guitar (no surprise), accompanied by a really tight band. On the first three tracks (Extraordinary, Hybrid Fusion, Mesa), it's well performed jazz rock, which reminds of Progressive, but more relaxed and with a nice percussion interlude in Hybrid Fusion.

Time To Go, released as a single in January as part of the Finnish release of the album, is a melodic, melancholic electric guitar ballad with an initial riff that reminds me of Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight every time. It works, but leaves me wanting for a conclusion when it ends. This in contrast to the title track Untold, which is just as emotional but has a stronger build up, from acoustic guitar to electric and then to a crying end. In fact, when you think it's done after 4 minutes, the guitar starts crying again.

In between these two tracks are Simppa Goes to Töysä (is this Finnish phonetic for Simple goes to Tulsa?) which jazzy but not too much and has a nice guitar solo, and the straight forward blues rock track Trouble Shuffle. An odd piece on this album, but as a break in the middle it works for me.

Nine Lives is the low of this album for me. Not bad in terms of guitar and keys, but a bit too long (because of it's repetitiveness), but the follow up Yeah Right, another well done jazz rock track makes up for that, together with the heart felt Gary Moore like guitar work on closing track Farewell.

So, Jartse did slow down a bit, but hasn't lost the touch. If you like instrumental, guitar oriented music that leans toward jazz rock, give this a try. If you don't, do the same. It's not Jartse's best album, I have a life long weak spot for Progressive, but still recommended.

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To me personally this kind of stuff oriented towards technical delivery rather than the emotional, more introspective depths of the music is usually a bit tiresome. The first three tracks are just that: energetic and spicy rock-fusion but in the end quite meaningless boasting. 'Time to Go' then is The Love Ballad of the album, and as such easily a highlight as well. A relatively slow tempo, and soaring guitar melodies filled with passion, melacholic longing for the loved one. The composition was made into a very romantic promotional video featuring the beauty of Finnish nature and summer evening by the lake with sauna and all. Have a look, you'll surely find it in the net.

The sixt track 'Trouble Shuffle' is a shameless roots piece, something I really don't enjoy. 'Untold' is another slow and sentimental tune comparable to 'Time to Go'. At first it has some nice acoustic guitar, and the majestic lead for electric guitar may bring some of the most grandiose CAMEL instrumentals to one's mind. Also the organ and piano appear to a good effect. 'Nine Lives' returns to the rootin' tootin' blues-rock. The last track 'Farewell' is the album's third step into the sentimentality.

Definitely this is a well-done instrumental rock album and warmly recommended to all who appreciate the guitar heroics of artists such as JEFF BECK, GARY MOORE or JOHN McLAUGHLIN. There's nothing especially progressive, and I'm afraid the whole is very evidently divided into three types of tracks: the ballads that are very enjoyable if not the most original pieces of music, a couple of openly rootsy tracks, and the majority of more or less ordinary guitar centred rock-fusion tunes to make the impression on the technical lavel instead of compositional substance. Maybe it's just me that they mostly leave me unimpressed. A solid three-star album anyway. Collaborating with another kind of composer would probably bring the very best out of this excellent musician.

Released in 2001 but recorded in 1991, Jartse Tuominen's 'Progressive' is an album of whirling drums and guitar acrobatics played within several different musical contexts: boogie-rock ("snack" with cheerful guitar and vintage keyboards, bringing to mind Dixie Dreg's "the Great spectacular" of 'dregs of the earth', and the second half of "scare"), jazz-rock ("flying with you" with opening and closing sections in a light smooth-jazz vibe where Gary Moore-like guitar replaces the saxophone, followed by some more upbeat piano-driven jazz madness), jazz-funk ("first", with clever use of cymbals, crushing guitars and pompous keyboards not far from the "cheesy" sounds of Frank Zappa's "easy meat" as performed on the live recording 'tinseltown rebellion'), military march (first half of "scare" and the "worrying" - hence the song title - interplay of repetitive and echoing rhythm guitar and keyboards, reminiscent of Cure's opening track to 'seventeen seconds', the aptly named "a reflection "), hard-rock ("sledgehammer" like Led Zeppelin's "Moby Dick" on steroids and Van Halen-like guitar phrasing, as well as the last third of "shaving cream man" with its Annihilator-like rhythms including Jeff Waters-like soloing), far east folklore ("one night in Tokyo, with accents of japanese tradtional music in main theme), progressive rock ("one night in Tokyo" again, with dark crimsonesque atmosphere - think "lark's tongue in Aspic pt 2" - and the first two thirds of "shaving cream man" that we can regard as a tribute to Rush's 'moving pictures' with the overture of "red barchetta" and the soloing of "YYZ" in the middle of the track).

This album showcases the "extraterrestrial" skills of the musicians and is a good addition to anyone who likes their music dynamic and cheerful, where jazz-fusion would meet the guitar-shredding world of the Shrapnel label records.

The opening instrumental is a biting sharp track concentrating on Jartse's electric guitar. Then comes a calm song 'Ghost of Love' with Annika Wiklund's nice, slightly raspy voice. Timo Rainio, singing on two tracks, sounds like he's from a melodic hard rock band (he might be, I don't know). 'On the Other Side' reminds me of some hard rock ballads of bands like Scorpions or Whitesnake. Hannu Leiden sings on three tracks, one of them being a duet with Wiklund. His voice is also attempting to sound "rock". 'Inca Princess' is another semi-ballad with an acoustic-oriented sound. 'The Loner' is an instrumental blues ballad written by Gary Moore. The duet 'Hearts on Parole' is melodic AOR with some Toto-like edginess in the guitar. The brief keyboard solo sounds a bit muddy, but I sort of enjoy the catchiness of that song.

It's obvious that the technical excellence of Jartse's guitar is in a central role on the album. That said, maybe there are too many vocal songs, all of them not very good. Ila Loueranta (better known as a multi- instrumentalist in the band of the late Juice Leskinen) sings on 'Never Enough', one of the tracks I rather skip. The final track 'Northern Lights' is a moody, melancholic instrumental. Concerning the producton and playing this is a good album, easily entertaining at least, but as for the music itself, I find it hard to believe it would be a great find to very many prog listeners.

Jartse Tuominen is an accomplished finnish guitarist who played with a host of renown artists: Joe Satriani, Jackson Browne, Doobie Brothers among others. With 'Time Of Change' he recorded a bunch of instrumental songs (except two sung ones) in a melodic jazz-rock approach, throwing in elements of shredding guitar, pop, heavy prog, southern rock, blues, space rock, funk, organized as described below in the track-by-track review.

"Midnight Express" is a dynamic track where drums are excited like the boiling magma of a volcano ready to explode, and with excursions into southern-rock/heavy-prog (the sabbathian guitar and the strange keys in the chorus)

"Seven Seas" features aquatic (see the title of the song!) and echoing rhythmic guitar together with floating keyboard layers like a breeze blowing, and aerial guitar solos. Drumming is complex and retains the same hypnotic effect as the rhythmic guitar loops with its repeated pattern. The song builds slowly into more aggressive territories when drum chops go to prominence and guitar solos go faster and devoid of any clear direction. The control is not completely lost as the echoing guitar and the regular pattern of drums remains. The expression ?calm before the storm" takes all its sense here : the waves of the "seven seas" keep quiet before becoming turbulent.

"Texas Roots" : one immediately thinks of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Texas blues, and ? bingo - this is the case with the bluesy opening guitar theme, which is repeated all over the song. Drums are in a funky mood. Hammond reinforces the vintage 70's funk side. A Vai-esque and anthemic guitar solo bursts in the chorus. Crazy guitar soloing and soaring Hammond interpserse the choruses.

The title track is a ballad with its lulling rhythm and gentle picking in the first part : a kind of mix ? when you listen carefully ? of slowed down spanish flamenco, a bit of slowed down country/bluegrass, and echoes of shredding guitarists like Satriani. Electric guitar then bursts together with Hammond and gives a taste of Gary Moore's "parisienne walkways" to the song. As the song progresses, the lulling air of the debut comes back and even offers a wink to Pink Floyd in the passage with aerial/anthemic guitar and soaring Hammond.

"Out there" is a song with strong echoes of Steve Morse's melodic lines in the main guitar theme and an overall jazz-funk mood. The "impossible guitar part" at 1'49 is reminiscent of Steve Vai at the time he was with Frank Zappa.

Except for, once again, the Steve Morse aerial and melodic approach in the chorus, "one of these days" is in an even more jazz-funk tone than the previous one, with nice hypnotic guitar picks. Towards the two thirds though, the dynamic jazz-funk has been traded for a short hazy jazz-rock passage with a bass solo, then the hopping jazz-funk comes back after the melodic solo of the chorus.

"Weird Timing" is a briliant heavy/jazz rock tune with energetic playing. Zappa comes to mind with the eccentric guitar solos, but the blasting guitars give also a southern rock feel to the whole. On a par with the title of the song, a drum solo punctuates the music.

In the beginning, "Dreamer" starts as a sunny folksy balad with some echoing pastoral rhythm guitars and lulling guitar solos. It soon turns to a shredding affair, with the virtuosic and punchy solos of Jartse, alternating between weeping solos and more acrobatic ones.

The album ends with two sung tracks, with the beautiful voice of Yvonne Charbonneau. The first of these two songs, "Love And The Perfect Game" is a positive pop song with solid rhythmic base. Guitar solos are in a Gary Moore's bluesy tone.

The second song, "the longest mile" retains a sadder atmosphere, with a slower pace, echoing guitars of Jartse, the suspended Hammond, and more tremolos in Yvonne's vocals.

Overall, this album is very enjoyable with great dynamics, the right balance between guitar acrobatics and melodic themes, and a great diversity of influences.

Jartse Tuominen is an accomplished guitarist who started his solo career at the end of the 1990's. 'Northern lights' is his second record, and the material proposed here (AOR [read "melodic rock"] declined in several styles ' see detailed review further on) contrasts with another record, aptly entitled 'progressive' (a progressive and complex musical tour de force) released by Jartse around the same time. On to 'Northern Lights': we have here a collection of songs that overall give a flair of AOR to the album, but that are covered with different musical sauces : - Instrumental rock/jazz-rock with the 3 instrumental tracks (the opening track, "Introducing", in the vein of Simon Phillips' projects with Steve Lukather or Derek Sherinian, "the loner", which is a little tribute to Gary Moore ' without looking at the credits you recognize instantly Phil Lynott's long-time friend's phrasing, and finally the light and jazzy closing track "northern lights", with its first and last quarters lead by bass (Patrick O'Hearn comes to mind with his ambient stuff) and guitar touches reminiscent of Joe Satriani's "I believe", a song which had, what a coincidence!, Simon Phillips on drums. - Pop, first on "ghost of love" with its superb and delicate female vocals and memorable chorus. Then on "on the other side", with intonation of vocals reminding Joey Tempest of Europe. - Hard rock/southern rock on "Over", an upbeat midtempo song with male vocals reminiscent at times Glenn Hughes, at others Danny Joe Brown of Molly Hatchett fame. - Folk-rock on "Inca Princess" with theatrical male vocals. - Arena rock/AOR, first on "Hearts on parole" where strong male vocals alternate with raspy Bonnie Tyler'esque female vocals. The guitar line in the chorus is reminiscent of TOTO's "hold the line", a liquid Hammond B3 comes in the bridge. Then on "Love me, hate me" with female vocals that could be placed somewhere between Janis Joplin and Doro's aggressive singing styles. - Soul in "Never enough" with funky guitar picks, brass section, saxophone, Hammond B3 all along, congas, and vocals praising like in a gospel song. - Prog-rock on "Miracle Man", with processed vocals not far from the Beatles ("blue jay way"), and Genesis ("grand parade of lifeless packaging") in the introduction and Pink Floyd ("waiting for the worms") in the conclusion, and the right balance between straightforward rhythm and more tortuous ones, like on Spock's Beard albums.

What strikes in the album is the diversity of material but also the diversity of vocals (4 lead vocalists in all). Jartse's guitar can be heard all along the album, but is never overwhelming, rather always giving directions to the song and in harmony with the band.

This album is full of catchy melodies, and lifts the spirits. This would be a shame not to listen to it.