Petri Pettersson's first album Nuoruus (The Youth) from 1977

Without a doubt some of the most beautiful music I have heard in the last year.  I don't feel it's right to hide this stuff away from those who might love it as much as I do.  Many thanks again to Mr. Morgan for sharing with us this material.  I wouldn't be far off in describing this as similar to classic Tombstone Valentine or Being-era Wigwam with its impressive mix of rock, pop, folky guitar, and progressive ingenuity.  There are the Beatlesian or McCartney-like thumping piano chords (e.g. With a little help or Your mother should know), there is the gorgeous hard sound of the organ hammering away at solos, the sheer interest of every single song-- with the ability to combine an interesting sung melody with original chords, the nice electric guitar, drums, and bass basis, it just can't get any better, in my opinion...

About Petri Pettersson:

Ilkka Olavi 'Petri' Pettersson (born December 1952) is a Finnish musician. He became known in the 1970s, established the Petri Pettersson Brass, a brass-pop-band's  leading figure (the Band was
founded by 4 Pettersson Brothers). The band's best known song is 1971's Maalaismaisema (originally Elton John's song Country Comfort from the Tumbleweed Connection LP).

In 1977, Pettersson recorded texts by different poets and the album Nuoruus was the result.  The Backing band included musicians from Finnforest. The title track was based on a poem by Mika Waltari, and Pettersson got to present it and a couple of other similar pieces for Waltari's 70th
anniversary celebrations in Helsinki's Finlandia Hall.

Pettersson has also worked as a radio journalist in Savo starting in 1984 for YLE Kuopio.  This ended 17.11.2005 after negotiations broke down and the Yle dismissed a number of music journalists.

Lyrics by Pablo Neruda, Bertold Brecht, Mika Waltari and Aaro Hellaakoski.

Music written by: Pekka Tegelman (Finnforest) and Ilkka (Petri) Pettersson.
Full band information can be found here:
http://www.discogs.com/Petri-Pettersson-Nuoruus/release/1351858

Here's the title track, with its nice string quartet background, again, originally a Beatles or George Martin concept: 

And if that was not progressive enough try the closer:







In 1979, Petri Pettersson and a posthumous Pablo Neruda collaborated on progressive rock -- with Finnforest members!!

Please observe the transformation of the book into sand... From 1979, the album title: "Ehkä meille vielä jää aikaa" signifies Maybe We still have Time Left...

Nobel prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904 to 1973) was not just a formidable writer, among the greatest in the history of humanity, but also politically active.  I will refer you to the Wikipedia entry, but I beg you to read some of his poetry below.  He and Garcia Lorca were always my favourite writers in the Spanish language...



On this second album I will feature, the music was written by Pekka Tegelman (Finnforest) and Ilkka (Petri) Pettersson.

First of all observe the backing band that was collected here:
Pekka Tegelman is on guitar, Otto Donner and Juhani Aaltonen were two jazz luminaries in Finland who collaborated on the insanely gorgeous Strings album which Jorma Ylönen also arranged or conducted.

This is absolutely a stunning album of great beauty and surprisingly progressive composition.  I'm pretty sure most will agree with me, despite the usual occasional dissenters who will feel obliged to express their disappointment.   An incredible find, to think that it is so unknown -- even among the progressive cognoscenti -- utterly amazes me.  And it's clear by now this is my purpose here: to make people aware of some of these lost treasures of creativity so they have a fighting chance of surviving into the future.

Lyrics authors + Title translations into English:

 a1 Pentti Saaritsa / Maybe We still have time left
a2 Unknown / You got Your life to the Theatre play
a3 Vuokko Tikka / Night commanded day to come
a4 Mika Waltari / Secret
a5 Pablo Neruda / Faces in the Stone
b1 Bertold Brecht / To the memory of Marie A
b2 Aaro Hellaakoski / Stranger
b3 Nâzim Hikmet / Let give the Globe to Children
b4 Pablo Neruda / Tonight I can write My saddest verses
b5 Tommy Taberman / Kiss me Wings


"then once, on a night of storms,
with snow spreading
a smooth cloak on the mountains,
on horseback, there, far off,
I looked and there was my friend -
his face was formed in stone,
his profile defied the wild weather,
in his nose the wind was muffling
the moaning of the persecuted.
There the exile came to ground.
Changed into stone, he lives in his own country."

--Pablo Neruda, Portrait in the Rock




I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.       

--Pablo Neruda, Tonight I can write the saddest lines




From my favourite old Garcia Lorca poem:


It's filled with light,
my heart of silk,
and with bells that are lost
with bees and lilies,
and I will go far,
behind those hills there,
close to the starlight,
to ask of the Christ my Lord,
to return to me
my soul of a child, ancient,
ripened with legends, 
with a cap of feathers
and a sword of wood.

Federico Garcia Lorca, Ballad of the Small Plaza (1919)