HARVEST TIME

Formed in 1969, Finnish five-piece band Elonkorjuu (translated to mean `Harvest') enjoyed early success in local music contests, rock concerts and were even blessed to have a professionally recorded piece included on a compilation in 1971. Come the time to record their proper full-length debut a year later, the band spent one single day laying all the tracks down, with the next given to the mixing. The results, 1972's `Harvest Time' is a rough'n'ready rocker, with the band already being ambitious enough, even at a young age, to deliver a gutsy set that was firmly rooted in hard rock, but crossing over into numerous genres at a moment's notice.

Elonkorjuu's debut is a little bluesy, a touch jazzy and plenty hard-rocking, with light symphonic touches, hints of folk and a scuzzy psychedelic underbelly frequently creeping in. Despite the relatively short running time of most of the pieces, the band cram in constant direction changes, and while some parts are more successful than others, their intentions are always admirable. Lead-singer Heikki Lajunen has a gruff toughness to his voice (he even reminds of a less abrasive version of Family's Roger Chapman in parts), and the young players were already showing a range of ideas through their developing musical skills.

Firmly rooted in a cool late-Sixties rock sound, strident opener `Unfeeling' has a galloping momentum with bursts of power. `Swords' wraps mournful organ and a soulful vocal between bouts of muscular riffing and twisting lead-guitar strains (boo to the abrupt fade-out, though!), and the whole band ruptures into rumbling power between the blissful bookends of `Captain'. `Praise to Our Basement', an album highlight, is introspective and dreamy with drawn-out psychedelic jamming, and the manic instrumental `Future' is a tasty mess of murky bass tantrums, winding jazzy guitar licks and frantic drumming.

The B-side's `Hey Hunter' is fiery up-tempo blues rock, `The Ocean Song' is dominated by scorching Hammond organ soloing, and `Old Man's Dream' is a schizophrenic mangle of wild guitar explosions, gulping bass and peppy drum thrashes. Sadly the last two actual tunes on the LP are a touch unmemorable, but the rambunctious early metal/hard rocker `Me and My Friend' is saved by muscular and boisterous guitar outbursts, and fragmented closer `A Little Rocket Song' strikes a balance between lusty Led Zeppelin-esque bluesy strutting and Black Sabbath-like heavier moods.

While some of the pieces on `Harvest Time' are not nearly as well-developed as they could have been, it's admirable how a young band attempted to tick so many musical boxes. It's no lost true classic, but it proves spiky, energetic and varied with much to offer. Those looking for a rarely spoken about rarity or prog-related musical curio of the early Seventies may find plenty of worthwhile interest here.

Three stars - good but non-essential describes this perfectly :)