Tasavallan Presidentl - Lambertland

[Teddy Vengeance]

Any love for this outstanding piece of Canterbury-tinged Finnish Jazz-prog-rock from 72? This one’s a stunner for me - never gets old. Tolonen has to be considered one of the guitar greats, Poyry on flute/sax is both soulful and lyrical, all fronted by Eero Raittinen’s very idiosyncratic voice. Comps, chops, the whole shebang.

I rate this even higher than the undeniably great Wigwam. Any other thoughts on El Presidenti?

[Mascodagama]

Wonderful, wonderful music. I must confess that when I first got it I had some difficulty reconciling Eero Raittinen's sometimes rather boisterous and unpolished vocals with the highly sophisticated context they appear in...but it's just a matter of acclimatisation.

[Sputnik]

I like Tolonen's solo stuff. Can't say I've ever heard much Tasavallan Presidentti. Listening now on Youtube. I like the music, vocals will take some getting used to. Never been a fan of Wigwam, I think I like this better, but will have to see how those vocals sit after a few listens.

Bill

[Scrotum Scissor]

One of my fave Nordic progressive albums indeed. A most 'organic' complexity and virtuosity permeats the whole thing, and the raw intensity level is bar none compared to contemporaries except for maybe Magma and Area. An absolutely fantastic journey displaying how even the most rehearsed can kick arse as horse. Everyone complains about those vocals, but I kinda like them.

If you can't get enough of this, move on to Jukka's debut solo record Tolonen!. It's completely instrumental but almost as exhilarating as the most energetic stuff on Lambert.

[strawberrybrick]

Made the Top 33 list in my book, an absolute desert island disc. One of the pieces of music I use to audition equipment. The atmosphere of this album is nonpareil; Raittinen vocals are a dream.

[Zeuhlmate]

Tassavallans best, songs from the woods...

[Sputnik]

Tassavallans best, songs from the woods...

Ironically, when the vocalist shuts up. If the whole album was like this, I'd be all over it. As I said, I love Tolonen's solo stuff. But I'm going to sample Lambertland a bit more and see if I can get my ears around (or past) the vocals. The music really is quite good!

Bill

[Zappathustra]

Tolonen man, Tolonen. Probably the greatest natural talent of the instrument, along with Schenker (not Rudolph, the other one). These guys are seized by divine forces and they are destroyed by them. And we stare with admiration at what we think it's fireworks, but it is actually flaming sparks of the fire that consumes them...

[Zeuhlmate]

I was never bothered by his vocals... taste I guess. (I have heard of people who likes Bernardo Lanzetti's vocals. )

Eero Raittinen was probably one of the few finnish people who spoke english at the time.

[Mascodagama]

Tassavallans best, songs from the woods...

There's a great jammed-out version of this on the Svart Pop Liisa 1 album that runs to about 14 minutes.

[nosebone]

Great album!

Tolonen's off the rails on this.

[Miciah]

For me, this easily sits somewhere within a top 100 prog albums of all-time list. I like all of the TP albums, but this is my fave (though I have a lot of love for Milky Way Moses also). The import section of the record store was always my friend, and I still remember the day I bought this as a JEM import back in the 70s. The band is top shelf, and besides the obvious talents of Tolonen and Pöyry, I've always loved Vesa Aaltonen's drumming. The music is sophisticated, full of energy, complex, but best of all, not self-conscious.

As recommended above, Tolonen! is also a must-have.

As a side note, for some reason the cd release of Lambertland added reverb to the vocals on the title track. When I first heard the cd it hit me like a slap across the face. While I ultimately got used to it, I still prefer the original version on LP.

[interbellum]

Don't know this band, but I had a lot of fun with Jukka Tolonen's album JTB:

[Steve F.]

I was never bothered by his vocals... taste I guess. (I have heard of people who likes Bernardo Lanzetti's vocals. )

Eero Raittinen was probably one of the few finnish people who spoke english at the time.

I like Eero aok. He fits in with the times!

[alucard]

Big fan, together with the early Wigwam records and the solo records of Pekka Pohjola Lambertland is one of my favourite Finnish prog records. I prefer Pembrokes singing with Wigwam so.

Envoyé de mon GT-I9195 en utilisant Tapatalk

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ For me it's a pretty close race between this one and Wigwam's Being. There are other utterly fab albums from Finland (by Pohjola, Gustavsson, Haikara, Kalevala, Nimbus, Finnforest, Fantasia and many more), but these two somehow stand out.

Raittinen's vox is somewhat less pronounced on the following Milky Way Moses, on which the material itself is generally a bit subdued in comparison with Lambertland. It's more squarely "jazz-rock", of course - but very good nonetheless.

[yesstiles]

Great album!

The remaster cd also has a great unheard bonus track from the album sessions.

I prefer the follow-up album "Milky Way Moses" I think but I know most don't.

[Progbear]

As a side note, for some reason the cd release of Lambertland added reverb to the vocals on the title track. When I first heard the cd it hit me like a slap across the face. While I ultimately got used to it, I still prefer the original version on LP.

There’s been some monkeying around with this band’s music on CD. I noticed that on my vinyl copy of Milky Way Moses, there’s the raw ambient sound from the studio at the start of “Caught From the Air,” with someone counting in the song (in Finnish!). That little intro is gone from the CD.

Tolonen’s subsequent work, solo and with JTB, is all pretty good up through and including Just Those Boys.

[yesstiles]

There’s been some monkeying around with this band’s music on CD. I noticed that on my vinyl copy of Milky Way Moses, there’s the raw ambient sound from the studio at the start of “Caught From the Air,” with someone counting in the song (in Finnish!). That little intro is gone from the CD.

Is this the Janus LP or the Love LP or the Brain LP or the Sonet LP?

[Progbear]

Mine is the US release on Janus.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

I like Tolonen's solo stuff. Can't say I've ever heard much Tasavallan Presidentti. Listening now on Youtube. I like the music, vocals will take some getting used to. Never been a fan of Wigwam, I think I like this better, but will have to see how those vocals sit after a few listens.

Bill

precisely my take

I owned 2 TP albums back in the 80s-90s but sold them both as collectibles

[spacefreak]

I think that it's their finest album and one of Finland's most important ones in the realm of progressive rock.

[Zappathustra]

The music is sophisticated, full of energy, complex, but best of all, not self-conscious.

That's a great remark. It kind of makes all the difference.

[Zappathustra]

The only problem with the vocals is that he's not singing in Finnish. One can sense an element of refraining coming from the obstacle of the language. I am convinced that in his native language he would have sounded way better. Still like his vocals though.

I am listening to this beauty this morning and I just air-guitar the whole thing from start to finish (no puns here!). What a ridiculously talented guy this Tolonen! I guess his name should be going with an exclamation mark all the time. Just listen to Dance, and I am not just talking about the "take no prisoners" guitar solo. His understanding of the instrument's potential is just incredible, every single rythmic part is a token of how the electric guitar ought to sound, it doesn't get any better than this. Or the quiet parts of Last Quarters...

But yes, this demonic energy is permeating all musicians, and the result is a truly outstanding record.

[Teddy Vengeance]

I understand that Eero Raittinen is actually very famous in Finland, something of a household name. I think it was in a Dave Bidini book that he was referred to as the ‘Elvis Presley’ of Finland (?!).

Regarding Tolonen, one of the most appealing things about his playing is the fact that he doesn’t draw attention to his own virtuosity.