Another groover from Lea Laven with two good ones. On side a there's "Soley soley", a cover of "Soleil Soleil" as written by Fernando Arbex and first recorded by Middle of the road in 1971. The better one can be found on side b. "Sano suoraan" is Lea Laven's own composition with arrangements by Kaj Backlund. It's a funky uptempo beat track that suits for the dancefloors anytime and in my opinion it's one of the best Laven ever did.
This single release from 1972 is backed by Made in Finland. It was a studio band consisting of Risto Oinaala (trumpet and flugelhorn), Pertti Fält (saxophone and flute), Seppo Alajoki (guitar), Veikko Samuli (organ), Matti Tyni (bass) and Paavo Rajala (percussion), that never had any own releases. Officially Made in Finland was Danny's backing band at the time, but they also backed other acts as well. Both songs on this one are covers of Shocking Blue originals. A-side track "On miten on" is a cover of "Shocking you" and "Sinustakin apua ois" is a cover of "California here I come". The latter one is clearly the better one, a little lazy but funky pop rock number.
Aleksandr "Sammy" Babitzin was the older brother of singers Kirka, Muska, Ykä and Anna Babitzin. He was considered to be even more talented than his more succesful brother Kirka, but a car accident on a way to a gig ended his life too soon. He was 25 when he died in 1973. During his life, he released several singles. He started his career in 1966 and released few singles under a pseudonym Sammy-boy, but they received very little attention. In 1972 he gained an overwhelming victory in the national Syksyn Sävel -competition with a song "Daa-da daa-da". This single, "Kuin tuhka tuuleen" / "Paina puuta" was released in 1972. "Kuin tuhka tuuleen" is a cover of "Don't pull your love", a billboard hit from 1971 performed by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds. It's a very powerful grooving mid-tempo song with a really cathy hook. The b-side song "Paina puuta" is a groovy cover of a Gerry Monroe ballad "It's raining roses" written by Les Reed. Both songs are backed by Nacke Johansson's orchestra and Finnish lyrics are by Chrisse Johansson.
Kari Tapio (born Kari Jalkanen) is one of the most famous schlager singers in Finland. He started his career attending Danny's tours and acting as a keeper for the snake used in the shows. This first single was released under his real name Kari Jalkanen, but shortly after he took the artist name Kari Tapio. Despite the slightly unfunky singing on the funk song Niskavuoren Nuorimmainen, this 45 is one of the most sought after funky records from Finland among the Finnish groovy music enthusiasts. The song itself is pretty strict rip from Quincy Jones' hit Hicky burr with Jukka Virtanen's lyrics about the fictional Niskavuori family (propably related to the famous Finnish drama series). They've even wrote a "thanks also to Quincy Jones" on label, but no writing credits. The song is arranged by Esko Linnavalli and backed by his band. The a-side song Tuuli kääntyköön is quite non-interesting schlager song.
Kuinka voit sä kaukomailla is a groovy cover of Nancy sinatra's How are things in california. Arranged by Jaakko Salo and backed by Jaakko Salo's orchestra it can't go wrong. A-side song is a vocal version of early electronic pop classic Popcorn made originally by the great moog maestro Gershon Kingsley. Somehow Popcorn have always given me the creeps but I kind of like this version arranged by Olli Heikkilä and backed by his orchestra.
I've never been a big Dionne Warwick fan I must admit, but Say a little prayer makes an exception for me. I've always loved the song, and the way Eija Merilä did the cover version of that song gives me goose bumps. In a good way. It's a quite pompous song in a strong Bacharach-David way. Really good groover I must say. A-side song Mä tahdon teidän oppivan is a cover of The New Seekers song I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing, a song originally for a Coca Cola commercial in 1971.
LEA LAVEN
