Description
Purple vinyl, 150 copies.
Matti Järvinen’s Matin Levy (Hi-Hat, 1976) is one of the most sought-after Finnish rock records from the 1970s. Though the album was critically a success and had interesting, riff-driven songs, it didn’t reach a wide audience at the time or spark any hits. Järvinen played only a small batch of gigs after the album’s release before vanishing from the music scene entirely. This setting makes this Popstudio set particularly interesting since it’s one of the rare opportunities – possibly the only one – to hear Järvinen’s entire live set.
The lineup is a bit different than on Matin levy. Järvinen himself (vocals, electric guitar), Harri Merilahti (electric bass), Upi Sorvali (drums) and Kari Kuusamo (electric piano, clavinet, organ, synthesizer). Kuusamo also played at the time in Cascade that was the second band of the night. He was recruited to the live lineup since multi-instrumentalist Järvinen couldn’t play both the synthesizer and electric guitar like he did for the album.
Musically the two acts differ quite a lot from each other: whereas Matti Järvinen played prog-influenced rock, Cascade played a set of Stevie Wonder’s soul classics. Three out of four songs were from Wonder and Korvissa soi is a Finnish translation of the Ruby & The Romantics 1963 hit Our Day Will Come. Cascade’s Rokkibeibi (a cover of George McRae’s Rock Your Baby) from 1974 is often considered to be the first Finnish disco single.
MATTI JÄRVINEN
Live Broadcast on Channel Two, Wednesday, October 13th, 1976, 8 pm to 8.40 pm. Produced by YLE. Hosted by Jake Nyman.
A1. SPOKEN INTRODUCTION by Jake Nyman (0:20)
A2. LAISKA MIES (6:11)
Music and lyrics by Matti Järvinen
A3. PIENI SIENI (4:01)
Music and lyrics by Matti Järvinen
A4. LÄHTÖ HUOMISEEN (3:02)
Music by Matti Järvinen • Lyrics by Seppo Tammilehto
A5. SELVÄÄ SULLE SE ON (7:40)
Music by Matti Järvinen • Lyrics by Seppo Tammilehto
MATTI JÄRVINEN – vocals and electric guitar
KARI KUUSAMO – Fender Rhodes electric piano (A2, A3, A5), Hohner D6 clavinet (A2, A4, A5), Minimoog synthesizer (A2, A4, A5), Elka string synthesizer (A3, A5)
HARRI MERILAHTI – electric bass
UPI SORVALI – drums
CASCADE
Live Broadcast on Channel Two, Wednesday, October 13th, 1976, 8 pm to 8.40 pm. Produced by YLE. Hosted by Jake Nyman.
B1. SUPERWOMAN (WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I NEEDED YOU) (4:33)
Music and lyrics by Stevie Wonder
B2. SMILE PLEASE (4:29)
Music and lyrics by Stevie Wonder
B3. PERFECT ANGEL (3:52)
Music and lyrics by Stevie Wonder
B4. KORVISSA SOI –Our Day Will Come– (3:04)
Music by Mort Garson • Original lyrics by Bob Hilliard, Finnish lyrics by Irina Milan
AMI ASPELUND – vocals
MARJO-RIITTA KERVINEN – vocals
KARI KUUSAMO – Fender Rhodes electric piano, Hohner D6 clavinet, Minimoog synthesizer, Elka string synthesizer, vocals (B2) and backing vocals
PEKKA LEMINEN – electric guitar and backing vocals
RENNE ANGELVUO – electric bass
HEIKKI LYTTINEN – drums
