Thursday, May 13, 2010

Make Lievonen (Fin, 1977)

This is the last gem I'll be posting here, I promise to all. It's a miraculously superlative album of all-instrumental progressive jazz-rock, like a cross between Moose Loose and Bo Hansson maybe, just the right mix of originality and accessibility-- the former to satisfy the jaded long-standing music listener's need for newness, the latter to get the right emotional kick. In the overall sound it is most like the Hiro Yanagida albums. This stuff just feels like a power outlet plugged directly into my soul, that could be used to power up streetlights from here to downtown, it can't but make you happy and wholesome. The greatness of this album is the way the composer has fit the music to the vignettes so perfectly.

"Rain Dance" is pure F major happiness, a key often used for this kind of nature composition (e.g. Beethoven's pastoral symph) perhaps due to the rain-like sound of the b flat - ? Again synaesthetes will have to help here. "Sea Horse" tries to get that ocean feeling going again with the inevitable fender rhodes sound. A really weird melody then plays out in saxes and ?clarinet. Quite inappropriately the sea horse starts getting all funky with a banged out bass line and bluesy saxes. Hey! let's ride that sea horse straight outta town man! Funk makes a reappearance later in "Tickets please" (to a disco full of cougars?) "Monster Rally" does a fantastic chord change of D minor, heavy synth riff, to a surprising Bflat chord-- sounding quite monstrous indeed. "March of the Lonely Riders" does a plaintive, mysterious A minor to Aflat major-- great change, melody goes A C F E -- Eflat D C D -- then C Aflat A-- suddenly a tritonal E flat based chord clashes in on top of the A -- oh that great and magnificent tritone, said to be the most dissonant interval, so essential to good progressive and the health of the cerebral cortex! Later a bridge does a bass going up by semitones with a sax melody winding around on top-- reminds me of Mingus' Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife but it may be just coincidence, so often musical similarities are just that. "Peace Street" is again F major happiness, rolling down like a happy bus of schoolchildren into fields of gold, I can't imagine a human being who can't feel happy listening here, except maybe myself, for whom happiness is always clouded by the realization of the ultimate fate of extinction for humankind (latest IPCC predictions for business as usual temperature rise, 6 degrees by end century). There is one throwaway song ("Etyk" ) which keeps to the same chord (C7?) through the whole track, 8 minutes of it, it may move out of it but I didn't have the patience not to fast forward through most of the track. It should be a crime to dwell on the same chord like that, no matter how interesting the jazzy riffs on top are. Album ends with a cute 'farewell' song, this really reminds me of the Moose Loose style with a lot of flutes and soft chord landings. As I said, it's like a kind of pictures at an exhibition album, with very visual representations of moods.
Please enjoy this last treasure posted.

Peace Street Two...

33 comments:

Tristan Stefan said...

whoops i lost the link!!

Anonymous said...

Very great, Tristan.

Must be a strong album. I love Yanagida works and also Moose Loose is outstanding.

Anonymous said...

whoops?

This looks good, certainly quite the buildup.

avdo said...

What's happen with link/links???

Anonymous said...

Ok , Ok but where´s the fucking link?

Fol de Rol said...

any way to recover the link?

Anonymous said...

Where´s the link? C`mon friend, please!

Anonymous said...

hey, tristy, how come you're not answering? you comment all the time in this section and now silence? come on

Tristan Stefan said...

tristy?? Anonymous who swore needs to apologize... that's really inappropriate.
http://flameupload.com/files/0C9X3QI8/Make_Lievonen__Fin_Love_Rec._77_.rar

Anonymous said...

Tristan - thanks for sharing these records, most I'd never heard of previously. I was aware of Kornet, but had no idea they'd produced that EP as a last gasp. So...thanks again.

Anonymous said...

I apologize for the nickeyname, Sir Tristan. thank you for this record.

rickk

Amacord said...

yeah, patience is a virtue .)
thx for the album mate

ushaped said...

hi tristan stefan,

thank you for the shares, but I very much appreciate your thoughts. all of us who collect music aspire to be the man who has everything. what you have written about is a cautionary tale for some of us. I know that feeling of "needing" to find that one last item and personally know of someone who ruined a relationship doing so. thank you for writing about this, I know it's made me think a little more about what I'm doing and about the nature of collecting and sharing. if this is indeed the last album you are posting, thank you for taking the time and energy to let some us know there are still interesting artists and music yet to be discovered. it remains to be seen how much energy I will devote to continue seeking it.

all the best

Anonymous said...

any way to recover the link?
wonderful~~~~~~~

isabelbc said...

hi Dolly,

link in comments

Isabel ;o)

Anonymous said...

Compositionally this is NOTHING like Bo Hansson or, for the matter, Yanagida.

Both were organ-dominated.

Artists that have that unique Hansson-sound are:Bjorn Olsson,Sagor & Swing,Kvarteten som Sprangle, Sound Express... NOT this.

Here we have rhodes-sax (with electric guitar on the better tracks). This is mainly soft (Americain-sounding) fusion. The first 3 tracks are particularly schlaggery smooth jazzfusion.

And I wouldnt class Make alongside Mooseloose either -they were way better.

Tristan Stefan said...

wow anonymous, thanks for convincing me again not to post here! Talk about ingratitude!

Tristan Stefan said...

You may find it fun to hide behind anonymity but you have no idea how time-consuming for someone with a full-time job and kids to take the time to post this stuff and write something about it, whether or not you agree with it. Try not to be such a coward next time.

Robert said...

Tristan, you post wonderful music here and wonderful reviews. To read certain others' comments is a sad reminder for me that this is still "the Internet", but not all of us are like that.

We do appreciate all of your work. If I had never found this blog, I would still be stuck in the mainstream, wondering why music never satisfied my capacity for it.

Tristan Stefan said...

luckily I don't care what people think -- I'd still post if only one person liked it & everyone else hated my guts

Mark Meilack said...

Dear Tristan,

I'd just like to take a second to thank you a thousand times over for all the hard work you put in and the great music you share with us. I've been an avid follower of prog not frog for two years now and it has turned me onto some unbelievably great music. As for the people who only take the time to leave snide music snob comments, well, I hope it isn't to cold up there on your high horse. Christ people are ungrateful.

Many thanks

Mark

Anonymous said...

Thanks for allowing me to hear a lot of music I would NEVER have heard otherwise! -joey

Steve H said...

Tristan, thank you. A little late in the day for me ... I downloaded this days ago, and almost forgot to thank you (I've done so in the past, I'm afraid, as life gets hectic, and then I fall asleep without having followed up on things). I LOVE this, reminds me of Pekka Pojhola's stuff, great jazz musicianship with a pop sensibility in places. And, if I might be a bit provocative, a bit like BO HANNSSON (yes!), maybe from Magicians Hat (which featured jazzie Bobo Stenson on one track, if I recall), so bite that, snobby guy. Anyway, this music helped me chill out after work several days last week, so I'm grateful. Now I'm off to grab that Edward Vesala, I've been looking for that!

Anonymous said...

tristan stefan rules!!!

what more can i say

you're a legend

peace, doctor zoots

Oracus said...

Ok, I'm sorry for beeing so late writing this but I'm passing some rough times lately. Propably noone going to read this but I felt obliged to say my feelings. It makes me mad to see people beeing so ungrateful. So mad that if I had them near me I'd punch them to the ground. Please, people from PnF, don't pay attention to those assholes, they are the lowest form of life, keep going please, there are people who APPRECIATE so much your work.

With infinite respect, your always friend, admirer and hardcore fan,

Oracus

Dr Dopo said...

My god you're right this is just musical bliss! Thank you thank you thank you again for this sharing this wonderfulness!

hooks said...

wether you care what i think of you or not mr. stefan, i find your intelligence, eloquence and willingness to spend your time sharing brilliant music with people inspiring, your wife is a lucky woman and may your children grow up with even half your charizma to be fantastic humans, blow the trolls

Anonymous said...

Hi !!!
Is it possible to repost this album PLEASE?
Thanks in advance.

microBatteur

isabelbc said...

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PSOB8M2U

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much.
It's very kind of you.
Much appreciated.
Thanks for sharing.

microBatteur

Anonymous said...

Completely blown away by the quality of music that your putting up in this blog. Huge thank you. Big G!

Anonymous said...

Could you repost this one for us?
Thanks!

isabelbc said...

new link http://netkups.com/?d=fa4ae865f6b5c

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