Wigwam - Being (1974/2001 24 bit Remastered Edition)
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Album: Wigwam - Being (24 bit Remastered Edition)
Released: 1974 (2001)
Genre: Cantebury Styled Progressive Rock
Love/Siboney LRCD 92
wigwam's dense 4th album from 1973 saw the band enter progressive rock territory. Complex and strange album that can only really be described as a thoughtful, unpretentious and quality progressive rock album typical of it's time. Certainly not commercial and within it's complex jazzy passages there are all kinds of instruments from guitar through strings and various keyboards plus of course Pembrokes weird lyrics. This is really the companion to Jim Pembroke's brilliant solo album 'Wicked Ivory' which was recorded around the same time. 24 bit digital remaster with expanded booklet - Freak Emporium
This is an odd one. Maybe the weirdest album I have ever heard. Most of the music here is written by Jukka Gustavson (vocals, pianos, organs, Mini-Moog & VCS-3 synths). The music is REALLY complex and the lyrics are quite political. The songs are so complex that even if you had heard them about 20 times and you tried to sing them, you wouldn't get it right. Of course there are some Pembroke songs such as "Marvelry Skimmer" that are quite simple. But the weird thing about this album is that when you really understand "Being" it sounds as simple as some pop/rock albums. "Being" doesn't sound like any other album. I can't think of anything that sounds like this. This album has a quite dark mood. Especially if you listen to the lyrics. I guess this is some kind of jazzprog. I really don't know. Gustavson's singing sounds much like Steve Winwood or Stevie Wonder. You should get this right away. "Being" is one of the best albums that has ever come out of Finland. - Toni, ProgArchives.com
"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 !. - James Unger
This release is not only the best album I've ever heard from Finland, it's one of the best executions of progressive rock as a style that I've ever heard. The three pillars of the band at this point were bassist and composer Pekka Pohjola, who later had a monstrous solo career and collaborated with Mike Oldfield, Jim Pembroke, the singer and chief provider of rock elements, and keyboardist Jukka Gustavson. They are also helped by guests from Tasavallan Presidentti. The more Finnish prog you hear, the more you realize this was pretty much a supergroup for the country.
But simply listing a line-up doesn't communicate why I love this album so much, so let me try. First, the melodic content is among the best in progressive rock, with the kind of delicious chord progressions that would be familliar to fans of Tony Banks or Chris Buzby. In addition to the melodies, there is also a density, a harmonic language, comparable to bands such as Gentle Giant, who can keep multiple competing melody lines together in mutual support. In both these respects, despite being fairly complex they are also accessible. While the album is likely to grow upon repeated listening, it is eminently listenable from the beginning. Furthermore, there is a wide tonal palette; not just keyboards, bass, and drums, but woodwinds such as flute, oboe, and saxophone. The band doesn't have any guitar parts, but you don't miss it either. And while I do love the Mellotron, using real instruments instead ends up making this album sound more timeless and less dated. Next, there is a wide mixing of styles here; these guys can swing like a jazz band and rock like a rock band. They do both of these while having the musical meat of a classical music ensemble, without sounding like they are trying to sound like a classical music ensemble (i.e. ELP, Ekseption). Finally, their lyrics deal with real-world issues in a way that is neither too academic nor too banal.
While the preceding battery of sentences gives some idea of the seeming contradictions which are overcome in this recording, it's still very hard to describe the sum effect. It is this persisting inability to truly describe what I hear that has kept me interested since I first unlocked this recording. It's like opening a door part way but not being able to pass through, and it has captivated me for years. The only caveat to add is that Jim Pembroke has an idiosyncratic voice; it's not bad, but it's kind of nasal and some people won't enjoy it. His ability to sing these lyrics convincingly makes him somewhat of a hero nonetheless. I can't recommend this album highly enough. If you are like me, the initial "huh?" will give way to enduring satisfaction. - review by Sean McFee, Ground and Sky
"Being" was a concept-album with a religious and political theme. The sound is very similar to "Fairyport" but less accessible as many of the songs follows some rather weird and complex melodies that can be hard to grasp at the first listen, especially "Pedagogue" and "Prophet". Gustavson(who was the brain behind most of the concept of the album) had also begun to use synths in addition to the organ and piano. "Planetist" is an excellent instrumental-number that showcases great use of strings and wind-instruments. "Petty-Bourgeois" is probably one of the most complex and progressive "pop"-tracks that I've ever heard and features some interesting vocal-acrobatics. The earlier mentioned "Pedagogue" and "Prophet" are complex and lengthy tracks with an obvious jazz-influence in both the weird, twisted melodies and the arrangements. "Pedagogue" also features some atmospheric flute and clarinet-work. "Marvelry Skimmer", "InspiRed Machine" and "Maestro Mercy" demonstrated on the other hand their talent for writing simple strong melodic tracks. "Being" is usually considered to be a classic of Finnish progressive rock, and I'll agree on that. - VintageProg.com
This is a weird one. How about an album that sounds like nothing else before or since (a few very vague influences notwithstanding) yet never, throughout its 38 minute duration, veers into avant garde territory? I've never really known what to make of 'Being'. On first hearing it sounds as though it was made up on the spot: the tunes seem random, tentative and unresolved. But unlike, say, 'Trout Mask Replica', there's nothing shambolic or chaotic happening here. Musos will freak at the virtuosity going down, especially the bass playing of Pekka Pohjola which is straight from Planet Genius in the galaxy of Awesome XXI. But repeated hearings reveal far more than technical excellence. 'Being' is a timeless work of the utmost originality which, in spite of a loony communist manifesto lyrical concept, just knocks me out every time I play it.
First, a bit of background for those of you unfamilar with this Finnish wondergroup. Wigwam's history essentially falls into two phases: the first from 1969 until 1974 when the band was dominated by the muse of one Jukka Gustavson, a Stevie Wonder/Steve Winwood-obsessed keyboard-playing vocalist who steered Wigwam from cabaret jazz through Europrog to the unique soundworld of the album under discussion here; and the second from 1975 up to the band's split at the end of the decade when Hull-born Jim Pembroke led a much more conventional, guitar-orientated (but still good) band. The latter phase coincided with a record contract with Virgin and a tour supporting Gong, the nearest Wigwam came to a commercial breakthrough. But it was the earlier phase that was the most interesting, and it remains a crime against human existence that classic albums like 'Tombstone Valentine', 'Fairyport', and, most tragically of all, 'Being', never obtained a UK release. Even now you'll be lucky to get your mitts on this one outside of right-on shops like Freak Emporium or Ultima Thule. I will endeavour to explain why a trip to the said establishments will more than justify the effort and cost.
'Being' consists of ten tracks grouped into segued pairs (mostly with freaky psuedo-lefty titles beginning with the letter P). The first thing that grabs you is the nature of the tunes. With a few exceptions they sound as if they're being played backwards, a bit like Robert Wyatt's contemporaneous 'Little Red Riding Hood Hits The Road'. But they're NOT. Gawd knows where Gustavson and Pohjola got these chord sequences from, but they're like nothing else on Earth. Try to define the tune in the opening 'Proletarian'. It's there, somewhere; the whole thing's thoroughly tonal, the vocal harmonies are intricate (if vague) and Pohjola's Mick Karn-predicting bass "whoops" are a joy to behold, but jeez, as I said before, this is a weird one. Even the lyrics (perhaps thankfully) are difficult to comprehend, and it takes several hearings to be satisfied that you're actually listening to songs being sung in English. 'Inspired Machine' follows with another backward tune over a stilted, oompah beat and the most spaced out fairground theme since 'Mr Kite'. Pembroke gets a rare spotlight with 'Petty Bourgeois' which is far more 'normal' in sound, a fast mover with a delicious middle section, catchy finger-clicking sequence and a coda that could have graced a Mothers' opus, but its companion, 'Pride Of The Biosphere', returns us to never-never land. It's the album's definite low point: a tasteless monologue recited in a mock Tommy Beecham voice over what sounds like Procol Harum jamming on Jupiter. But it's presence is jusified by its contrast with the epic pairing that follows.
'Pedagogue' and 'Crisader' form the album's centrepiece and are the tracks to play first when sampling the record. This is where Gustavson achieves true greatness. 'Pedagogue' is nine minutes of...what can I tell you? Egg, Hatfields, Wyatt all come to mind, but only fleetingly. Key and time changes seem to occur every few bars, the double-tracked vocal line is all over the place, yet it's accessible. Weird, weird, well weird, but accessible. Give it time and you'll be singing this at the bus stop while everyone around you thinks you're deranged. There's a Rhodes solo from heaven four minutes in, and the best non-classical use of woodwind on record permating the bulk of the song. A couple of times it appears to speed up, but never for long. It's tantalising and terrific. 'Crisader' evolves straight out of 'Pedagogue' and rocks big time, like Traffic on steroids, but Winwood and Capaldi never sounded like this. Gustavson sounds like Donald Fagen on speed. The piano and organ interplay is orgasmic and the song is a real foot-tapper, yet the tune, again, is straight from the Bizarro alternate world. Man, I love this record.
'Planetist' is another track with slight Zappa ('Waka/Jawaka' period) overtones, but again, the tune is without antecedent. It features a delightful string arrangement, an inspired dual soprano sax sequence at the end, and bass playing that makes Jaco Pastorius sound like Sid Vicious. It's companion piece, 'Meastro Mercy', has more double-tracked Gustavson vocals and the only guitar on the whole album, a delicately-plucked acoustic enhancing an enchanting waltz-time cosmic melody. The album closes with Pembroke's other showcase, 'Marvelry Skimmer' ('Friend From the Fields'), the most regular-sounding track on the record (and an indicator of the direction Wigwam would follow on 'Nuclear Nightclub' the following year). It is prefaced by Gustavson's 'Prophet', which sounds like an Indian mantra devoid of all ethnic influences - world music from another world - and featuring yet more skybourne bass manouevres and, a couple of times, an ass-kicking fatback beat with ace VCS3 dexterics.
'Being' was released in 1974, when rock music was in its supposed decline. A pox on that. Had Wigwam been given the exposure (and record contracts) of such as Genesis, Yes and Gentle Giant then the school haversacks of the day would have exhibited a damn sight more taste and adventure than they did (at my school at least!). Rock was not so much in decline in the mid seventies: it was simply that the bulk of the bands that dominated the scene were more concerned with musical dexterity than invention. Hear 'Being' and you'll hear plenty of the former, but in the context of some of the most innovative rock music ever created. Make up for a quarter century of neglect and hear this great unsung band's unique music. I doubt you'll regret it. - Review by Fitter Stoke
1. Proletarian 2:10
2. Inspired Machine v.25
3. Petty Bourgeois 2:58
4. Pride Of The Biosphere 3:15
5. Pedagogue 9:11
6. Crisader 4:47
7. Planetist 3:08
8. Maestro Mercy 2:32
9. Prophet 6:11
10. Marvelry Skimmer 2:32
Pekka Pohjola: bass, violin, piano (Pride of the Biosphere), mini-moog (Planetist), sheet music
Jukka Gustavson: vocals, pianos, organs, mini-moog and VCS3 synthesizers
Ronnie Österberg: drums, percussion, backing vocals (Sunny Disaster)
Jim Pembroke: vocals, sermon, piano (Sunny Disaster and Friend From The Fields)
Additional Musicians:
Juhani Aaltonen - solo flute
Erik Danholm - flute
Unto Haapa-aho - bass clarinet
Paavo Honkanen - clarinet
Pentti Lahti - flute
Pentti Lasanen - clarinet, flute
Erkki Kurenniemi - VCS-3 assistance
Aale Lingren - oboe
Seppo Paakkunainen - flute
Pekka Poyry - soprano sax, flute
Jukka Ruohomaki - VCS-3 assistance
Juhani Tapaninen - bassoon
Ilmari Varila - oboe
Kai Veistera - flute
Taisto Wesslin - acoustic guitar
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