APOLLO

(3,5 stars) The only release of a Finnish group that - along with their contemporaries Tasavallan Presidentti and others - explored the rock music by adding some free jazz and avant garde. In fact, Jimbo's thorough introduction to APOLLO says it all better than I can do. I borrowed this a couple of years ago and taped it partly. I'm not so deeply fond of it but I find it quite interesting and I wonder how non-Finnish proggers would like it. The singing (Harri Saksala) in Finnish may be hard to take, though Saksala has a strong, a bit raw and Gabrielish voice. But the lyrics sound a bit clumsy to a countryman too. Aside from singing, you might hear some King Crimson, or e.g. Procol Harum in the soft ones.

I think it's the drummer Edward Vesala who's the main character here. His wide set of instruments, including flute, and a fierce percussion style (he comes from the jazz scene) is the key whether one falls for this album or not. Some instrumental pieces are quite hard to digest. The easiest to enjoy are ethearal numbers that remind KC tracks like 'Moonchild' or 'Lady of the Dancing Water'. This one's for the adventurous listeners of early foreign avantgardish prog. Oh, one more thing: the instrumentation info misses "wool socks" by Harri Saksala. Whatever it means...