SILVA THE CAT

In the mid-70's the Finnish guitar hero Jukka Tolonen was knocking at the door of an international breakthrough. Several US radio stations played his compilation titled Crossection, especially the piece 'Windermere Avenue' from the Hysterica album. The success in America however didn't really happen, partly due to weak promotion.

Tolonen's only single features two instrumental tracks from Hysterica (1975). Happy-spirited 'Silva the Cat' is nothing special as a Fusion composition per se, in fact it's quite straight-forward in its rhythmic structure, but Pekka Pöyry's flute and Tolonen's electric guitar are delightful to listen to.

For the B side track 'Django' I have less sympathy subjectively. Undoubtedly named after the gypsy jazz guitarist Django Rheinhardt, it focusses on Tolonen's technical virtuosity, but despite being joyful and relaxed, the piece has very little to offer from an emotional point of view, instead it feels a bit monotonous. I have no idea if this single had any effect on Tolonen's popularity, but to me it's rather useless and uninteresting outtake of an album which is not among my favourites in the first place. Hence only two stars, but you can add a third one for good musicianship.