PEKKA POHJOLA: Views POHJOLA RECORDS PELPCD 12 An original from the heyday of the '70s European jazz-rock scene, bassist/composer/arranger Pekka Pohjola just released Views, his first solo album in quite some time. Back in the mid '70s, Pohjola just about single-handedly invented what came to be known as Finnish progressive symphonic rock. His early albums, (including the '76 classic Keesojen Lehto produced by Mike Oldfield) were released in the U.K. on Virgin Records back when the label was in the process of growing an exclusively progressive rock label with groups like Henry Cow, Mike Oldfield, Wigwam (another great Finland group co-founded by Pohjola) and Gong. Recording over a dozen incredible instrumental rock albums, in Finland over the past nearly 28 years, Pohjola now further diversifies his sound with the eclectic, cosmopolitan and jazzy / classical sounds of Views. Compared to his hard hitting rocked-out albums of the '80s, the sound on Views could be considered a toning down of the rock-solid guitar-based Pohjola sound boldly witnessed on '80s classics like Urban Tango and Space Waltz. Instead, the sophisticated harmonies on Views focuses on Pohjola's innate skills as a jazz and pop-classical composer-arranger. A number of musicians help take Pohjola's symphonic sound to the next level including long time Pohjola group members, keyboardist Seppo Kantonen and guitarist Markku Kanerva. With it's heavy accent on strings and brass arrangements, Views takes a good look back to Pohjola's trend-setting second album, released on Virgin in England back in '75 with the title B The Magpie. In fact the only song to feature a guitar here is a really different-sounding, Zappa-inspired track entitled "The Red Porsche". The first pop vocal track featured on a Pohjola disc since the early '80s, the song features a few hot vocalists singing the original lyrics (in english) taken from a poem written (and reprinted here) by Charles Bukowski. Views makes for some pleasant listening indeed. It might not be the album you expected from Pekka (well, what is?), but the music is (still) so good, you just can't help but enjoy it. www.rockadillo.fi Robert Silverstein - May 2001 ------------ Robert Silverstein is the music editor of 20 Century Guitar Magazine and MWE3.COM, an on-line CD review web site based in New York City