[Itse]

Sorry, it's been a real busy couple of days, just found the time to see McElhinney get his first W. Am I late?

Anyway, here's the pick. Sometimes referred to as "The greatest band no-ones ever heard of", or more simply "the best Finnish band ever". Not that I necessarily agree, but this was really a magnificent band, well worthy of international recognition. This and "III Tri-Logy" by the same band are among the dozen or so albums which I've owned seemingly forever, I keep coming back to time after time, and I never fail to be pleasantly surprised by how good they are.

For our 15th round pick, team Twist/Shout picks II by Kingston Wall in the 1991-1993 category.



Track listing:

1. "We Cannot Move" – 4:39 (Kingston Wall)
2. "Istwan" – 4:02 (Kingston Wall)
3. "Could It Be So?" – 5:52 (Kingston Wall)
4. "And It's All Happening" – 6:07 (Kingston Wall)
5. "Love Tonight" – 6:40 (Kingston Wall)
6. "Two Of a Kind" – 6:23 (Kingston Wall)
7. "I Feel Love" – 6:39 (Giorgio Moroder, Donna Summer)
8. "Shine On Me" – 7:05 (Kingston Wall)
9. "You" – 10:11 (Kingston Wall)
10. "Palékastro" – 4:54 (Kingston Wall)

All the musicians are individually great, but the drummer is one of my all time favourites of any instrument. The album is great from end to end, here's just some picks. They're all on YouTube apparently.

We Cannot Move


Could It Be So


I Feel Love (cover of the Donna Summer hit)


Shine on Me


You


Wikipedia quotes:
Kingston Wall was a psychedelic/progressive rock group from Helsinki, Finland, originally formed in 1987. Influenced by such artists as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, the group combined eastern themes, mysticism and vivid psychedelia with acid-rock.

II, was released in February 1993. This time the group brought in some more acoustic and folk elements to their songs, like acoustic guitars and violins in "Istwan" and saxophones in "Shine On Me". They also included a cross-genre cover version of the Donna Summer disco classic "I Feel Love".

During their active time, Kingston Wall never achieved mainstream popularity. All their albums were printed in limited amounts and released on Walli's own independent label, Trinity. It was only after the group had disbanded that their popularity slowly grew through word-of-mouth.

Although Kingston Wall never played outside Finland apart from one gig in Tallinn, Estonia during their early days, the group is considered even by many Finns as one of the country's best hard rock groups. The cult following status of Kingston Wall has also gained them a steadily growing fan base around the world, mostly thanks to the Internet.