BEING

Being is the Wigwam album which took the most time to sink in. Now that if finally has, I regard it as being one of their finest albums, if not the finest. It is certainly their non-accessible album in my opinion.

Being was to be the last studio album of the classic line up of Gustavson, Pembroke, Pohjola and Österberg. It is also the only album of that line up which flows almost perfectly, especially considering the very different composing styles of the main songwriters (Gustavson, Pembroke and Pohjola). The reason for that might be because most of the album is Gustavson's brainchild, especially the overall theme and atmosphere. Still, it's remarkable how the Pembroke songs and the lone Pohjola composition fit so perfectly in. On previous albums the songs were fantastic but the overall mood was a bit disjointed. Now the songs complement each other nicely and the Pembroke songs even bring some needed pause to catch your breath.

The music could be classified as progressive jazz rock, and that's not even coming close. The mood is very dark and gloomy, and the album is filled with hammond organ, electric piano and various woodwind instruments. The songs (especially the Gustavson penned) are full of tempo changes, keyboard solos and snaking vocal melodies. The lyrics are somewhat undecipherable, but they seem to about humanity, religion and politics. The artwork is stunning in my opinion, definitely fitting to the music inside.

A masterpiece of progressive rock, and one of the crowning moments of the finest prog rock band ever to come from Finland. 5 stars.