KINGSTON WALL II

This I believe is the most appreciated of the three studio albums by this band. "We Cannot Move" opens the record with marching rhythms and oriental chants, the composition having good melodies and verses. This tune sums up quite well their musical style in my opinion: Hard rock with Arabic oriented melodies. "Istwan" has euphoric melody flow, and I believe this track is also presented as an audio stream sample on this site. A good constructed composition, like many other of the bands songs, so though this is clearly psychedelic music, improvisation was more present on their concerts than on their studio recordings. This track leads directly to "Could It Be So?", being a dreamy hazy song with fine solos and melodic. Interesting sound layers make room for "And It's All Happening", a slow and melancholic instrumental tune, holding a wonderful guitar solo in it. This tune turns nicely as "Love Tonight", first driven by bongos and acoustic guitar, which turn to crunchy fuzz guitar. Again a good, thoughtful composition served rarely from a psychedelic dish. These four songs make a wonderful one piece of music, only it's sad that the entity fades out with a bit less imaginative manner. "Two of A Kind" starts with acoustic guitars, which introduce a peculiar rhythm driving this song, having also long passages for guitar solos. This also fades behind some programmed loops and Petri's whisperings, not a very pleasant solution to my ears. "I Feel Love" is then a quite primitive song, relying on a straight basic beat. "Shine On Me" has a fine guitar intro sounding very much like Jimi Hendrix, and there's also a tasty sax from a guest musician, who'll contribute also on their following album. The tune is quite simple, and there's lots of space for instrumental solos. Following "You" is the longest of all tracks reaching ten minutes, and it begins with some Spanish sounding notes from an acoustic guitar and bongos. Soon electric guitar jumps on another key, and the composition progresses to a slow blues after some tasty maneuvers. Some very fine acoustic licks are to be heard here, also the jamming evolves to a very pleasant jazzy chaos. "Palékastro" concludes the album with a firm and tight grasp, being a fast instrumental rocker with interesting rhythm arrangements, and a very uninteresting fade out.

I had a chance to hear the 1998 re-mastered CD version of this album, and it has a mini bonus CD with three bonus tracks. The first two tracks are from a single "We Cannot Move". "Between The Trees" is a quite basic hard rock track without many psychedelic or progressive elements, still being a catchy tune. "She's So Fine" is another Hendrix cover, actually being Noel Redding's composition. Nothing special in my opinion, but good 1960's oriented pop rock song however. Over eleven minutes long "Can't Get Thru'" is a live recording done same year as the album was released. The sound quality isn't very good, but the performance is great, being a very fast wahwah-pedal dominated song with lots of room for jamming. I believe that the song is actually a medley, as later the song has sequences that I'm sure I have heard on other albums of this band. Also sadly another extremely irritating fadeout ends this concert recording. Unless you are a very diehard fan of this band, I wouldn't spend much money on upgrading from an older original CD pressing to this version.

I would also like to mention that bassist Jukka Jylli really shines on this record; There are lots of small spaces left for him to fill in the compositions, and he really uses these opportunities in a fine manner. This is a very good record, but still it hasn't grown as an exceptional album in my own listening catalogues. There are anyway very great moments on it, so give this a listen if you can.

I love this band ! This one isn't as spacey and psychedelic as the next one "Tri-logy" as that one had synths on it and this one doesn't. But man, talk about guitar driven rock with a psychedelic edge ! The production is great too as you can hear the fantastic bass playing clearly throughout this record. As a matter of fact this three piece band are just amazing players period.

"We Cannot Move" is a melodic song with some beautiful guitar melodies throughout. "Istwan" is an instrumental that reminds me of LED ZEPPELIN at times, and features some guest violin playing and some tasteful guitar melodies.This blends into the next song "Could It Be So ?", again the guitar playing of Petri is the best part of the song. This has a real a pychedelic feel to it. "And It's All Happening" is an instrumental and one of my favourite songs on the album. Everything is slowed right down and is atmospheric. The guitar playing is so beautiful, he had such a gift. The melody picks up before 3 minutes. "Love Tonight" opens with percussion and vocals and we get a full sound 2 minutes in.The sound is heavy and we are treated to some great solos after 4 minutes. The rest of the song is simply awesome !

"Two Of A Kind" is another killer track. It gets better as it goes with some blistering guitar half way through."I Feel Love" features bass and drums that create an uptempo rhythm as vocals soar overtop.This is like a dance song played by a hard rock band ! A real hypnotic beat to this one. "Shine On Me" has a bluesy feel to it at times although the bass playing reminded me of RUSH. There is some atmospheric guitar and some nice sax melodies in this slow but powerful tune. The guitar is too beautiful for words ! "You" is the longest track and another favourite.Tempo shifts, vocal melodies and some amazing bass playing in this one. The melody around 6 minutes in rocks and is the best part of the album for me. "Palekastro" is an instrumental that hits you in the face right away with a heavy blow.The guitar playing is mind boggling man and the drumming is world class!

Well I may have felt that "Tri-logy" was not quite a masterpiece, but this one definetly is a masterpiece of progressive music !

Hey Phish and Moe fans! Now THIS is my idea of a jam band!

Another tip of the cap to Sinkadotentree for leading this horse to water (And I drank this time!) The legend that is guitarist Petri Walli doesn't take much effort to appreciate.

Sometimes it's just hard to find the adjectives to do something justice. Kingston is pure fiery rock and roll joy, a burning power trio that is a little bit Dungen, a little Dazed and Confused, a little Hendrix, a little jam band, a little Frusciante, a little pysch flavored magic mushroom music. Or maybe just real rock and roll played with spiritual intensity.

There's no point in a track by track. With the exception of 1 or 2 fairly conventional rock songs (which are still good) every other song is pure jam-rock nirvana. Blissful, soaring, epic lead guitar playing by a true master of the instrument, solid bass that you can actually hear, and monster drum playing. Lather-rinse-repeat. Occasionally some nice acoustic, violin, or sax add icing to the cake. Exceptionally intuitive playing will leave you breathless. Especially "Shine On Me" and "You" which actually make me feel young again if you catch my drift. How many songs do that to you? "Shine On Me" literally makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, especially when Walli sings "see my future see a dead man." Terribly haunting stuff that stands up with the great epic rock songs. The drumming on here is also unbelievably good, Sami just rolls and pummels with killer instincts.

Petri's singing voice is somewhat limited but this album isn't about the vocals. I'll make this as simple as possible. If you are a fan of Zeppelin, Hendrix, Dungen, Cream, Rush, or any combination thereof, you need to hear Kingston Wall 2. You need to hear it soon. Sadly, Petri took his own life at a young age denying the world of a truly special, gifted songwriter and guitarist. A damn shame. But this is not mopey, depressing music. This music is alive with passion!

A solid 4 stars for me although I completely understand those who gave it 5. I was very close. Essential for guitar rock fans and a clear candidate for one of the top albums of the 90s.

Sometimes a band comes along which gets lavished with praise but, when you come along to see what all the fuss is about, they just plain fail to win you over. That's how Kingston Wall are for me. I guess they're good at lifting motifs and techniques from Pink Floyd and the Ozric Tentacles, but what results are bland Ozrics-esques jams littered with Floydisms learned by rote. I guess if you are hopelessly addicted to Floyd-derived space rock this could tickle that itch, but for me there's simply nothing exciting to write home about here. Not incompetent, but hardly essential either, I'd say this deserves two and a half stars (tack on a half star if you're a Floyd fan).

A flying carpet to explore sand temples

Whereas their previous album was promising but still a bit immature and uneven, KINGSTON WALL's second opus shows important improvements on many points. The band reinforces its identity by mixing elements from LED ZEPPELIN, JIMI HENDRIX, PINK FLOYD and middle-eastern music into more structured, more melodic and less improvised compositions. The result is quite progressive and unique in the psychedelic / space rock genre. This disc is also the first one to truly display Petri Walli's great guitaristic talents.

As an opener, the arabic hard prog "We Cannot Move" is efficient and catchy. On the contrary, "Istwan" is a calm pleasant folk instrumental tune that can remind LED ZEP's "III" at the beginning, but differs after. "Could It Be So?" is one of the best passages of the record. Its spacey intro unveils a powerful track with a great guitar solo. The slow melancholic "And It's All Happening" has a floyd-ish introduction and then becomes more nervous. It contains many evolutions and rhythm changes, but also demonstrates the incredible guitar play of Petri Walli. "Love Tonight" possesses a mystical opening and its melody has reminiscences with "We Cannot Move". Another nice moment of the record.

Despite, its synthesizer beginning, "Two of a Kind" sounds more like a grunge song but is nonetheless pleasant. Although a bit out of place, the cover of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" is quite rocky and fun. "Shine On Me" is a sweet melancholic ballad reminding HENDRIX's "Little Wing", but incorporating a saxophone. The 10 minutes mini epic "You" is the longest and the most progressive track of the record. It features various ambiances and rhythms and alternates calm and aggressive moments. To prettily conclude the disc, the instrumental "Palékastro" can be described as a strong middle-eastern space metal track with cosmic guitar, and will become a classic at the band's concerts.

Although the arabic theme is - once again - half-respected, this flawless second album is KINGSTON WALL's most personal. No weak track or abrupt changes here, the flow remains good while the compositions are varied. Quite unique in the psychedelic genre, "II" is a mastered interesting mixture of early hard rock, space rock and middle- eastern music, with top-notch guitar play from Petri Walli, as well as their most progressive and varied opus. The band has created its own identity.

KINGSTON WALL's best studio album. Highly recommended, you'll travel on a magic carpet to discover a new continent with its hidden treasures...

Petri Walli & Company mature and polish, try a little more adventure, unfortunately it's Petri who has done the most work, the most growing; Jukka and Sami are really not in the same league. Petri's guitar has so much to say that almost every song has to go over six minutes just to fully express himself.

1. "We Cannot Move" (4:39) let the Indian influences begin! (8.5/10)

2. "Istwan" (4:02) acoustic guitar picking with droning strings leads into a kind of BEATLES/BEACH BOYS C&W song style. Interesting! (8.5/10)

3. "Could It Be So?" (5:52) back to psychedelia: guitar drenched heavily in reverb leads of and solos from the get go. This is HENDRIX/Frank MARINO heaven! And the band does very well to keep up with Petri. (Maybe they've finally awakened.) And he's singing about reincarnation! A top three song for me. (9/10)

4. "And It's All Happening" (6:07) slowed down, spacious blues-rock instrumental. Pure Hendrix or maybe Gilmour amped up by ten. Masterful and emotional. (8.75/10)

5. "Love Tonight" (6:40) though the electric guitar is bleeding over from the previous song, strumming acoustic guitars, Indian-sounding percussion, and either bowed electric guitar or violin establish a TRAFFIC or Alvin Lee-like song structure before Petri begins singing and then turning full on LED ZEPPELIN. Amazingly piercing electric guitar playing during the solo section. And then he's holding back--turns to strumming for his lead work! Absolutely amazing! (8.5/10)

6. "Two Of a Kind" (6:23) returning to the Arabian deserts with acoustic guitar strumming, joined by odd synth-sounding bass before Petri starts singing and the rest of the band joins in. During the first instrumental section, Petri's solo is full-on HENDRIX. It's as if he's channeling the master! Drums get a chance to show off (nice job Sami!) before second verse of singing starts. Another blazing, faster-than-light guitar solo follows. Wow! (8.5/10)

7. "I Feel Love" (6:39) Yes! THE "I Feel Love"! Done Euro-Petri-style! It almost works! (8.25/10)

8. "Shine On Me" (7:05) introduced with a heavy, bluesy picked electric guitar chord progression accompanied by soloing saxophone, Petri's almost-whispered voice delivers the first verse as the band's rhythm track kicks in, before the first guitar solo. Sax does a great job of dancing around Petri's vocals--and the bass and drums intensify nicely after the second verse, encouraging Petri to amp it up for his second guitar solo. Unfortunately, it's rather blues-rock solo by the numbers--the sax is actually outshining the guitar! The music tones down significantly after the third verse, paving the way for a much more sensitive, bluesy GILMOUR-like solo. (13.25/15)

9. "You" (10:11) the opening feels like something from an AL DiMEOLA album. The Latin flavor soon diminishes (@1:15) as electrified guitar sound amplifies. Petri's vocalise and Jukka's bass play are strongly entrained. Then everything backs way down for a spacious, more RY COODER-like acoustic guitar section before electric guitar reenters in a dramatic fashion. Soft, spacious in the fifth minute as Petri finally starts to sing--in a soft, relaxed, Robert Plant-like way. Amped up drums in the sixth minute signal a shift in dynamics: bass and guitar take off, with Petri's wah-ed lead taking us through some Pete Townsend moves before settling on a more staccato approach. Around 7:40 it begins to sound as if there are multiple guitar tracks contributing. New Spanish chord structure at 8:00 leads to another round of Petri alternating between vocalise and lead guitar. Then, at 9:00, we switch back to the soft, spacious motif for Petri to finish the singing off. (17.5/20)

10. "Palékastro" (4:54) a fast paced instrumental rocker to finish off the album unfortunately showcases the discrepancy in skill level between Petri Walli and both of his band mates. (8.25/10)

Total Time: 76:36

B/four stars; an excellent step forward for this guitar god--the possible reincarnation of Master Jimi.