Anyone familiar with the later albums by the Finnish jazz saxophonist Eero Koivistoinen might well be taken aback by this solo debut from 1968, with its wildly eclectic mix of psychedelia, progressive rock, spoken word, comedy music and Finnish folklore. There’s a bit of jazz in there too, mind you, but Koivistoinen is capable of more than just jazz, as he demonstrated in the years prior as a member of Blues Section, Finland’s first prog-rock band.
Koivistoinen himself describes Valtakunta as a »literary album« because, on it, he sets the texts of Finnish poets to music with more than a dozen musicians and singers. Everyone involved seems to have had a great deal of fun during the recording sessions. At times, Valtakunta sounds like a Disney musical that’s got completely out of hand because someone has slipped illegal substances into the participants’ drinks. The album has all the hallmarks of 1960s psychedelia: flute, sitar, vibraphone, cacophonous sound effects and wild guitar solos that drove my great-grandfather round the bend back in the day.
