Kingston Wall
Vol. II

Petri Walli, Jukka Jylli, Sami Kuoppamäki. There's not much to laugh about. Obviously, we are in Finland, and the names are what they are. In this case, they are guitar, bass, and drums of Kingston Wall, a band with a strong psychedelic space rock flavor born in 1987 with a compositional boom in the early '90s. Specifically, the band's essential acid psychedelic saga was released in three episodes (K.W. vol. 1 of 1992, K.W. vol. 2 of 1993, and Tri-logy of 1994). The perfect and exemplary compendium of their career is the "Kingston Wall vol. 2" that we are discussing.

The album consists of ten tracks (thirteen in the 1998 remaster edition) with a length of four to five minutes, except for the long "You" of over ten minutes. Obviously, the tracks are based on the guitar intricacies of the leader and composer Walli, who I imagine grew up with Hendrix, Barrett, and Page. There is great dynamics in the tracks with often complex, very rich, and percussive rhythms. Some parts, not many to be honest, are sung, bringing the result closer to Barrett's psychedelic song form. The use of psychedelia is strong among acidic and liquid guitars, very effected; there's a good return of dragged and slow Zeppelin-style blues as in "And It's All Happening". At times, a form of rock mixed with psychedelic new wave emerges, as in "Two Of A Kind", or the strange, disjointed, aggressive, and powerful cover of "I Feel Love" by the Moroder/Donna Summer duo. Also decidedly good is the Floydian and rhythmically expansive "Shine On Me", which also features Sakari Kukko on saxophone.

This time, I don't think there's much more to add; the formula is interesting and very personal, and I imagine that the few lines above may help the reader understand whether the product falls within their interests.