SYMPHONIC SLAM

Timo Laine and his family emigrated from Finland to America in the 50's. He began playing guitar at the age of 12 and became a guitar teacher at a local music store during his late high school years. He worked with new guitar synthesised technology and was therefor a pioneer in this genre. After quitting college he began performing in the club scene where his band was discovered by A&M Records. They released the self-titled album "SYMPHONIC SLAM" in 1976, which contained 10 magnificent and diverse songs, ranging from jazz-rock to symphonic & progressive rock. When Timo was asked to record a follow-up, the record label wanted a disco album. This was of course a humiliation for Timo, he said no, and since then he has been doing film music and albums. As far as I can remember, this is the earliest album I've heard containing guitar- synthesizer. This is an interesting historical musical moment captured on vinyl/CD. I don't know which dignity and impact this album has had on guitarist who play guitar-synthesizers. I hadn't heard about Timo Laine and SYMPHONIC SLAM until I heard this album in 2001, but it's however a real masterpiece, and it's a shame that it hasn't been re-released until now.