Excellent prog from Wigwam bassist
Jeffrey J.Park | Massachusetts, USA | 04/02/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This 1974 solo album by bassist Pekka Pohjola is an instrumental concept album based around the story of a manic-depressive magpie (or at least I think so) and was released in the same year as the great album Being by Finnish Prog band Wigwam. In fact, I was so impressed by Wigwam and Pekka's playing that I tracked this album down, which is apparently his second solo album - Pihkasilma Kaarnakorva (1973) being his first. What is most impressive about Harakka Bialoipokku (B the Magpie) is that Pekka is not only a great bassist, but an extraordinary keyboard player. To top it all off, he is an amazing composer and like Robert Fripp, composes first and plays second. It is his abilities as a composer that resulted in an album that is comprised of interconnected and composed pieces that range in texture and mood, and not just a series of bass solos. In fact, there is only one very short bass solo on the entire album (The Madness Subsides) and it is this property that makes the listening experience so enjoyable for me. Even though I am a bassist, I would much rather hear proper compositions than endless soloing over bass ostinatos (no matter how good they are). With respect to instrumentation, Pekka plays bass and mainly acoustic piano, with a brief electric piano part on Sekoilu Seestyy (The Madness Subsides). Unfortunately, synthesizers are not used at all. There is also an excellent drummer (Tomi Parkkonen), a very brief (and clean sounding) guitar part (The Madness Subsides), some uncredited cello playing, and other musicians that play a wide variety of woodwind, reed, and brass instruments including alto, soprano, and baritone saxes, trumpet, and piccolo. Although three and four part saxophone parts are scattered across the album, and there are some jazzy chords here and there, the playing is generally very rigid and disciplined - in fact, it is more classical than jazz. However, the soprano sax player is finally allowed to "cut loose" in a jazzy solo on the final closing track (Life Goes On). With respect to the remastering, there are some decent liner notes in both Finnish and English that are somewhat informative. All in all, this is an excellent album that is recommended to those listeners that do not mind a tiny bit of jazz with their prog. Also recommended is the album Being (Wigwam, 1974) along with Pekka's first solo album from 1973. Apparently, he turned to a more hard edged, guitar-based instrumental approach after 1974 with albums like the Mathematician's Air Display (1977)."
Great album! Take a listen...
Heather Klein | Miami, FL USA | 11/17/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a great album by a virtually unknown Finnish artist. Enjoy!"
Track Listings (7) - Disc #1