Riki Sorsa - Rin Tin Tin - Rip Kirby

RIKI SORSA

Changing Tunes (1980)

Desert of Love (1982)

Rock in the Bag (1982)

FinnArctic-esittely:

Last February I introduced The Zoo's LP "Hits Back" (1975) and told a bit about its lead singer Riki Sorsa. He made two solo LP's in English in the beginning of the next decade. Both consist of pleasant pop/rock mainly penned by Jim Pembroke.

"Changing Tunes" includes Sorsa's Eurovision song contest entry "Reggae O.K.", which is fun in a campy way. My favourite here is the slightly disco-ish single cut "Can't Stand Dancing" which has stomping drums and a good sax solo by Pentti Lahti.

"Desert of Love" kicks in with an excellent title song, a song I've been very well familiar with ever since my childhood days. I especially love the intro. "Right on!"

The ethereal ballad "Misty Island" surprises with its bagpipe-dominated arrangement, topped by nice vocal harmonies by Sorsa, Kassu Halonen, Pembroke and Kim Lönnholm. The Wigwam ballad "Wishful Thinker" also deserves a mention, if mainly for its origins.

"Desert of Love" included a one-sided bonus 7", "Rock in the Bag", which they were probably unable to squeeze into the album. It's a good AOR tune with nice piano and a decent chorus to hum to.

Both records were masterfully produced by Kassu Halonen. Warner Music remastered these LP's years ago and put out CD versions, but it's a sad thing that this company has never heard of anything called bonus tracks. Leaving out "Rock in the Bag" from the "Desert of Love" CD was inexcusable, so the vinyl version of the album is still the preferrable one.

I had no heart to leave out an old Riki Sorsa favourite of mine. I just love the version of the Japanese hit "Sukiyaki", which he recorded for his first Finnish solo LP "Riki Sorsa" in 1983. He decided to sing it in Japanese (!), and the result is amiably sympathetic - Japanese-sounding keyboards and the whistling solos are the cherries on the top.



Desert of Love julkaistiin CD:nä 2002, mutta Warner Music Finlandin surkimukset eivät valitettavasti ymmärtäneet bonusraitojen päälle edes sen vertaa, että olisivat tajunneet pistää CD:lle mukaan yksipuolista singleä, joka tuli alkuperäisen vinyylin mukana. Niinpä Desert of Love piti hommata vinyylinä, jossa on Rock in the Bag -sinkku tallella. Se ei ollut vaikeaa, ja sain vieläpä kappaleen, jonka takakannessa lukee "Tero Liete -82".

Artikkeliskannaukset:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1fkKaB2Ztg4WqTPz7R3bPkcd9vbHV_32D

RIN TIN TIN

Swazi-Beat (1984)

FinnArctic-esittely:

It's time to meet Tommi Läntinen again. Three years after Fabrics, and his very brief Tom Dozen disguise, he formed Rin Tin Tin. Commercial success seemed to elude the man again, and Rin Tin Tin folded after their first and only album "Swazi-Beat", released on the small label Cityboy (8 LP's, 18 singles). The title was misleading, because there's absolutely nothing African here. Instead it's pop/rock peppered with enough of originality and production tricks to make for a tasty little snack. Läntinen wrote all songs with the exception of Ari Lampinen's contribution on "The Edge" and "The Heat". The former was good enough to be covered by Läntinen's later band Boycott.

This time I'll let you judge the album, and form your own opinions why Läntinen didn't make it this time either.

RIP KIRBY

Tiina / Tunteiden hautausmaa (1988)

Yhtyeistään J. Salminen Systems ja JSS tuttu Jyrki Salminen veti vielä tätäkin bändiä, joka teki kolme sinkkua vuosina 1988-1990. Tämä on niistä ensimmäinen, ja varsin tavanomaista poppia. Kumpikin biisi on menevä, mutta kumpikaan ei tarjoa mitään erottuvaa. Ainoa singlen myyntivaltti oli sen kansi, joka oli napattu suoraan yhdestä Alex Raymondin piirtämästä Rip Kirby -sarjakuvastripistä. Puhekuplien tekstit vain oli vaihdettu mainostamaan singlen biisejä. Omassa Divari Kankaasta saamassani kappaleessa ei harmillista kyllä ole noita kansia.