Elonkorjuu: Harvest Time

In 1969, Finland’s Elonkorjuu won second place in a music competition held in Helsinki’s House of Culture. Eventually, this led to further exposure on television and appearances at some of the country’s largest festivals. Two years later, the early prog-rock quintet entered the recording studio and released their only LP Harvest Time. Since then, the album has become a highly sought-after rarity for collectors of progressive rock. Sadly, rare does not always equate with great. Although the musicianship is of a high standard with fine, if occasionally overlong, guitar solos by the group’s founding member Jukka “Jusu” Syrenius and some excellent keyboard workouts by Ilkka “Ike” Poijarvi — especially the jazzy psych-organ run on album highlight “The Ocean Song” — there’s nothing that really makes them stand out from the pack. File under “for collectors only”.