WIGWAM - BEING - 1974

"Being" was WIGWAM's 5th album and represents one of the most profound and highly dramatized concept albums mixing religious and political themes in a very strange little album. The trademark of WIGWAM's music was their unique ability to compose music of high progressive quality and complexity while still incorporating strong "pop-rock" aspects. The end result is a wild mix of Steve HACKETT with the complex chording and musical themes not unlike GENTLE GIANT achieved (some pretty musically twisted parts). This album features great and varied instrumentation with great emphasis on keyboards (piano, organ, synths). Essentially"'Being" picks right off where "Fairyport" left off but does deliver a more aggressive and complex album. The Love Records Re-mastered version is quite excellent sounding really and brings this masterpiece album to life with awesome speaker separation and crisp sounds. A magical album that I recognize may take others a few listens to get into but once you have the taste watch out kids !.



Vocalist-keyboardist Jukka Gustavsson is probably the main man behind this Finnish prog classic - sadly he left WIGWAM after this one, as did bassist Pekka Pohjola too, but here we have the best moment of the original line-up. One of the most recommendable Finnish albums, no language barricades in it either.

As Jimbo said, Jukka's voice reminds of Steve Winwood's, but the fact is that he was strongly influenced by TRAFFIC/Winwood also musically. This music is more complex than Traffic but there is a hint of similarity. There are Jim Pembroke songs too, though his singing and composing style is at this point closer to Gustavsson's (only simpler) than it was later to be, from the more commercial and poppy Nuclear Nightclub onwards.

Being is also a perfect example of the very fertile music scene of the early 70's in Finland (which pretty much can be summarized as Love Records led by jazz composer Henrik Otto Donner), where the top class jazz musicians played in rock and pop albums and where therefor different genres were in close symbiosis. Not that Wigwam couldn't be classified as jazz-prog anyway, but have a look at the long list of guest players!

Why only 4 stars then? Well, I confess that a little more sharpness instead of word- stretching flowing would improve it. For example 9-minute 'Pedagogue' has somewhere else a short Finnish-language version which is more effective. Also I find most Gustavsson's tracks quite similar in a way that without close concentration it all becomes one 'porridge' and the listener gets easily bored. The most recognizable tracks - not necessarily the best ones - are 'Pride of the Biosphere' (organ and an "old man" telling of a strange event) and 'Maestro Mercy', a simple melacholy ballad. The final track 'Marverly Skimmer' is also one of the most charming Pembroke songs.
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