Apollo - Apollo (Remastered) (1970/2014) Vinyl

Apollo was formed in 1969 by three ex-Topmost members (Harri Saksala, Eero Lupari, Heimo Holopainen) and one Edward Vesala. Topmost was a very popular group in Finland in the late 60's, so when Apollo was formed, they were considered somewhat of a "supergroup". LED ZEPPELIN had just released their debut, and they were apparently a huge influence for the band, which is a bit strange as those influences are not that clear when listening to their only, self-titled album. The debut was released in 1970, when progressive rock (in Finland at least) was still in its babyshoes, and that does show. It's very much a mixed bag, blending (possibly too) many ideas together, but it's nevertheless a quite charming album. The album consists of a few rough rock tracks ("Red" era KING CRIMSON meets LED ZEPPELIN), and a couple of interesting "ballads" in the vein of PROCOL HARUM. The most progressive ones are definitely Edward Vesala's experimentations in Labyrintti and Trimalcion, which don't seem to have any clear structure, blending together different percussions, flutes and what not.

The album was reasonably succesful in Finland, but soon after releasing the album, Apollo was already gone. Edward Vesala went on to become one of the most respected Finnish jazz musicians, and Harri Saksala later appeared as the lead vocalist on KALEVALA's excellent debut album "People No Names". I do recommend the album for those who are interested in the early days of prog (assuming you can find it..), but it's not the missing masterpiece you've been searching your whole life.