VA - 12 tähteä

VARIOUS ARTISTS

12 tähteä

Satsanga SATLP 1032
1977
Compilation LP






12 tähteä (12 stars) is one of the countless compilations Satsanga and other labels released during the 1960s and 1970s. Usually these compilations were about songs only released as singles or other compilations. The best track on this one, Anita Hirvonen's "Älä tule myöhään" (don't come home too late) is released on this compilation only. Although the voice of Anita Hirvonen have always given me a little creeps, On the other hand, I still can't pretend I don't like this funky disco track, it's really cool. The catchy chorus was even sampled to a Finnish rap song years ago. Another slightly decent track is Anita Virta's "Ja silti rakastan" (and I still love). Rest of the tracks are humppas, schlagers and other non interesting stuff.


Anita Hirvonen - Älä tule myöhään

Taru Hallama - Taru Hallama

TARU HALLAMA

Taru Hallama

Just KPLP 106
1982
LP






This self titled album of singer Taru Hallama was released in 1982. It's about half and half covers and original compositions. Covers include quite wide variety of different artists and styles. "Sovinnon aika" is a cover of Beatles' "We can work it out", "Auta minut aamuun" is a cover of Donna Summer's "I believe in Jesus", "Kasvamaan" is a cover of Eric Clapton's "Let it grow" and "Huuda mua" is a cover of "I'll be right there (call on him)" by Sherlie Matthews. The best track however is "Näen vapauden", a cover of Syreeta's "To know you is to love you" written by Syreeta Wright and Stevie Wonder. It's a nice modern soul track with some slightly disturbing electric guitars at the end..

Vesa-Matti Loiri - 4+20

VESA-MATTI LOIRI

4+20

Finnlevy SFLP 9513
1971
LP






4+20 is the first album of Finnish well know actor, comedian and musician Vesa-Matti Loiri. Best known for his lead role in countless Uuno Turhapuro movies, he is also a professional flautist. The album is mostly flute-driven jazzfunk and free jazz, but there's also elements from folk songs on some songs. Vesa-Matti Loiri's musical career headed more and more into singing after this album. Due to a quite small pressing and poor distribution, this album is really hard to find nowadays. The best songs on this album are 3 different takes of the title track 4+20, uptempo groover Turkish coffee, latin influenced Carnavalito & El condor pasa, heavy vocal track Itkevä huilu (weeping flute in English) and of course the uptempo jazzfunk monster coming home baby. There's pretty impressive list of famous Finnish musicians on this album too. Pekka Sarmanto on bass and drums, Esko Rosnell on drums, Hasse Walli on guitar, eero Koivistoinen and Esa Pethman on saxophones, Tuomo Tanska on Organ and of course Vesa-Matti Loiri himself on flute, recorder and percussion among other musicians. Highly recommended album. If there's any chance, pick it up with no hesitation. Album was reissued in 2011.


Turkish Coffee


Carnavalito & El condor pasa


Coming home baby


Itkevä huilu


4+20 (1. session)

Eero Koivistoinen - Valtakunta

EERO KOIVISTOINEN

Valtakunta

Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava OTALP 66
1968
LP






Valtakunta LP from 1968 was a pretty ambitious album by Finnish jazz scene maestro Eero Koivistoinen, who is best known for his work with psychedelic rock/blues band Blues Section among his own jazz albums such as For Children, Original Sin, Wahoo! and many others. Valtakunta was his first solo project and it's a mixture of psychedelic rock, jazz and ballads. It was even published not by any record label, but by a Finnish book publishing company Otava. The musicians in this album are familiar from other projects such as Blues Section, Suomen Talvisota 1939-1940, Wigwam and so on. With Ronnie Österberg on drums, Pekka Sarmanto on bass, Juhani Aaltonen, Paroni Paakkunainen and Eero Koivistoinen on saxophone, Hasse Walli on electric guitar Antero Jakoila on sitar among others, the line-up is top notch. Vocals are sung by well known singers of that time; Eero Raittinen, Seija Simola, Vesa-Matti Loiri and also Eero Koivistoinen himself. Lyrics on this album are written by poets Pentti Saarikoski, Tuomas Anhava, Jarkko Laine and Hannu Mäkelä. Valtakunta is a pretty weird album with really psychedelic and a little messed up feeling. Unfortunately the album is really rare these days, and even the cd reissue from 1995 is really hard to find.


Lennosta kii


Pientä peliä urbaanissa limousinessa


Kello kuusi

Farout - Further out

FAROUT

Further out

Kompass Records KOLP-16
1979
LP






Farout was a jazz-rock band from Lappeenranta, eastern Finland that won the national rock championships on a progressive line in 1978. After the success on championships, they got their debut album Further out released on Kompass Records in 1979. Unfortunately the success of the album was really poor with the sales only about 500 copies. From the beginning, the band played only instrumental music and so it is with the album too. The tracks are pretty strict jazz-rock fusion with a hint of progressive nuances. Best track on this album is the last song, funky fusion jam Brainwash (...Uhh!). Saxophonist Pekka Pöyry is also featuring on few tracks. Rare album nowadays.

Unisono - Unisono

UNISONO

Unisono

Hi-Hat HILP 106
1975
LP






Unisono was a Finnish jazz-fusion group that was founded 1973 by saxophist/flautist Paroni Paakkunainen, trumpetist Mike Koskinen, pianist Olli Ahvenlahti, guitarist Hasse Walli, bassist Make Lievonen ja drummer Reiska Laine. They recorded their only album in Stockholm in 1975 with Nono Söderberg on guitar and Pekka Pohjola on bass among Paakkunainen, Ahvenlahti and Laine. The band was disbanded few months after the album release and the players continued with their other projects. The music itself is quite strict jazz-rock fusion on a Chick Corea and Miles Davis manner. The grooviest track on this album is the opening track TVL, a nice funky fusion jam that goes smoothly the whole six minutes. This record though is hard to find for a reasonable price.

Lea Laven - Niin

LEA LAVEN

Niin

EMI 5e062-35052
1974
LP






From the Lea Laven 1974 album Niin is picked the track King Kong. I'm not 100% sure who first recorded the original, but I have a strong doubt that it was The Electric Ladies on Mainstream Records the same year. King Kong is a downtempo funky track about the huge gorilla we all know. The rest of the record is decent and not-that-decent schlager with covers from songs like We've only just begun, Dark lady, Yesterday once more, The man who sold the World, Superstar and so on. Not too common album, but not that hard to find either.