01	Metsonpelia						10:42
	02	Virtojen kiharat						05:36
	03	Armoton idylli						03:54
	04	Nipistys/ Valittaja						12:58
	05	Alku						02:10
	06	Ensimmainen aamu						05:31
	07	Huono saa/ Se tanssii...						06:49
	08	...ja nakee unta						04:35
	09	Hereillakin uni jatkuu						05:41
	10	Sekoilu seestyy						04:17
	11	Elama jatkuu						07:47

Pohjola, Pekka [Finland]
Pihkasilma Kaanakorva (72), Harakka Bialoipokku (74, aka B The Magpie), Keesojen Lehto (77, aka Mathematician's Air Display, aka Skuggornas Tjuvstart), Visitation (80), Katkavaaran Lohikaarme (80), Urban Tango (82), Jokamies (83, aka Everyman), Space Waltz (85), Flight Of The Angel (86), New Impressionist (87, comp.), Sinfonia No.1 (90), Changing Waters (92), Live in Japan (95), Heavy Jazz: Live in Helsinki and Tokyo (95)

Onetime bassist for Wigwam (way back when), his solo stuff is unpredictable but always good. His first two are very jazzy, yet stylistically unique. Urban Tango and Space Waltz probably represent his more accessible side, combining classical tendencies, fusion, folk and more, using a full band. Impressionist is an excellent compilation CD that contains tracks from Everyman, Urban Tango, Visitation and Katkavaaran.. and is probably as good a place as any to start. Flight of the Angel is a smoker as well. Note: Symphonia is an orchestral piece which does not feature Pohjola, although the entire piece was written by him. The latest Changing Waters falls somewhere between Angel and Impressionist in style, with a couple of waltzes and classically inspired tunes, a good mix of his musical pallette.

Pohjola was the bassist for the excellent Finnish band, Wigwam. (Which, by the way, would be a good intro to Pohjola as well as Wigwam itselft.) I have two Pohjola albums, Space Waltz and the compilation New Impressionist. Space Waltz consists of six songs ranging from 4-14 minutes though most are in the 6-8 minute range. The sound is modern, somewhat fusionesque and, with up to three keyboards playing, can get quite lush. Pekka contributes excellent bass and there is also ample guitar. New Impressionist is an excellent introduction to Pohjola's early '80s solo work is it covers a variety of styles and includes some horn work. Either of these are a good place to check out Pekka's work.

I have heard his first two albums. Pihkasilma Kaarnakorva is very Zappa-influenced with lots of woodwinds and some fine bass soloing. Harakka Bialoipokku is more individualistic, the emphasis being more on composing than playing, ending up sounding more like something from Canterbury, but not suggesting any one band. The last ten minutes of this album really burn!. -- Mike Ohman

http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~latvis/yhtyeet/Pekka_Pohjola/

Pekka Pohjola (born 1952) is without doubt one of the greatest electric bass players in Europe. He studied classical piano and violin at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, all the while allowing his natural instincts to lead him to a career in rock 'n' roll. After a stint with The Boys, a pioneering group often compared to John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Pekka joined Wigwam in 1970, staying for four glorious years. Wigwam was one of the most influential Finnish bands in the Seventies, and apart from being quite succesful in Scandinavia they later became a cult band in England even before being signed by Virgin Records.

After leaving Wigwam Pekka did a lot of studio work and played a for a short time with the Jukka Tolonen Band and Made In Sweden. In 1977 Pekka formed The Group, recording their eponymous album in the same year. But most importantly, Pekka recorded his first critically acclaimed solo album, the delicious Pihkasilmд Kaarnakorva, during his Wigwam days and his second (Harakka Bialoipokku, internationally known as B The Magpie) and third (The Mathematician's Air Display) albums were internationally released by Virgin Records. The latter was produced by Mike Oldfield, who also played on the record. Among the many other musicians that have admired Pekka's talents is Frank Zappa.

Pekka's fourth solo album Visitation was released in 1979 and it was another big critical success. In 1980 The Group became PEKKA POHJOLA GROUP and they released the album Kдtkдvaaran Lohikддrme (The Dragon of Kдtkдvaara Mountain). The band toured extensively on the Continent and Scandinavia in the early Eighties with different line-ups.

Somewhere along the line the word Group was also dropped from the band's name, so that they became known collectively as PEKKA POHJOLA. Urban Tango (1982) was the first album released on his own Pohjola Records label, operated by Rockadillo. There followed some work with various television film music projects, one of them forming the basis for his album Jokamies, released in Finland in 1983. It was released in the USA and Germany under the title Everyman in early 1984. The album was an overnight success on progressive radio stations across North America. Space Waltz followed in 1985 and Flight Of The Angel in 1986, adding more converts to the legion of his loyal followers. However, in the late eighties Pekka got dissillusioned with the rock scene and disappeared for a couple of years to compose his first symphony. His Sinfonia no 1 with AVANTI! orchestra was premiered live in 1989 and was released on CD in 1990.

Pekka spent two years working on Changing Waters, which marked his majestic return to the recording scene as well as to the live circuit. His new band for the Changing Waters sessions featured Finnish top musicians Seppo Kantonen (keyboards), Markku Kanerva (guitar) and Anssi Nykдnen (drums), who became his regular band. The CD was released in Finland in November 1992 and in Scandinavia, Germany and Switzerland in the Spring of 1993. In 1993 Pekka Pohjola played the band's first American shows in New York and Austin.

In November 1994 the band played three shows in Tokyo, where Pekka has a strong and loyal cult following. The shows were recorded for a Live in Japan CD which was released by Japanese label Marquee / Belle Antique in May 1995. In April 1995 Pekka Pohjola played in Barcelona and Madrid in Spain.

In November 1995 a double-CD Heavy Jazz - Live in Helsinki and Tokyo was released in Finland. The release date for Japan is January 1996. The CD was mainly recorded in April in Helsinki by Finnish Broadcasting Company's 24-track mobile, but two tracks are 8-track digital recordings from Tokyo in 1994. Heavy Jazz was mixed at the Finnish National Opera studio in Helsinki.

In late September 1997 new studio album, called Pewit, was finally released after five years since Changing Waters came out.

In May 2001 Pekka Pohjola released Views, his first solo album in quite some time. 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.