FANTASIA

FANTASIA were a band from Pietarsaari, a small town in the West coast of Finland. Their origins were in St. Marcus Blues Band, formed in 1967. When they changed their style towards progressive rock in 1973, the new name was invented from the Amazing Blondel album Fantasia Lindum. Only vocalist- guitarist Hannu Lindblom and drummer Karl-Erik Rönngård remained from the original line-up, as there were disagreements about the musical direction. The new line-up took part in the national rock contest in 1974 and won the first prize. But in practice they were too late in the game to reach more permanent succes, as the Finnish progressive rock movement was losing popularity. The record company didn't give them a chance to make another album after the eponymous debut which sold 2000 copies. This was all too common story...

On to the music. At the time they were compared to WIGWAM, and that comparison still seems very valid. The cleanly produced sound resembles quite a lot the new "deep pop" era Wigwam (Nuclear Nightclub came out the same year). Keyboards favour Moog, string synth and electric piano, and the electric guitar is not far from the style of the new Wigwam member Rekku Rechardt. Also TABULA RASA were mentioned in the reviews. If Fantasia had a flute too, the resemblance would be obvious.

The songwriting differs more from those contemporaries than the sound. This album is more emphasized on airy instrumentalism. The majority of the tracks are instrumentals. Luckily so, as the vocals are rather mediocre. Mellotron Storm's review underlines the beautiful melancholy. Yes, there is that, and combined with an airy and jazzy elegance it produces music which is easy to enjoy. I don't care to go to the track by track approach as all tracks are fairly good and the album flows nicely in a way it becomes unnecessary to stay on the map all the time. I really love the Fusion elements in this relatively peaceful album. The closing instrumental 'Depressio' is excellent.

This isn't necessarily one of the very finest Finnish prog albums, but definitely too unnoticed here.