Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Paroni Paakkunainen-Plastic Maailma,LP,1971,Finnland

Following my previous post of Tuohihuilu, here 's his 1st LP from 1971 .Unfortunately no pic sleeve scans again.Please urgent help needed!Those 2 LPs although not much known and much ignored by visitors here, are milestones of Finnish prog/psych scene(well some may call it Jazz,...hmm i don't think so).Here are some additional infos found:
"Woodwind-player Seppo "Paroni" Paakkunainen has had a long career as a session musician, band leader and arranger, with a stylistic spectrum encompassing rock, pop, jazz, folk and classical. On the progressive front he has been the driving force behind the progressive folk group Karelia, while his horns have graced the albums of, among others, Wigwam, Jukka Tolonen and Pekka Pohjola. His first bonafide solo album, Plastic Maailma (LP Scandia SLP 559), is a kind of sweep through those many styles, progressive in the sense that styles are juxtaposed and explored with little prejudice. Four instrumentals join six vocal numbers where the gruff vocals of Harri Saksala alternate with the purer voice of pop-chanteuse Arja Saijonmaa, criticising consumerism, poking fun at contemporary sexual mores or singing praises to Nordic egalitarianism with the kind of sincerity that makes it hard to distinguish seriousness from levity. Throughout, the "Baron" acts as an old-style band leader, tastefully adding his saxophones and flutes to the normal flow of guitars, organs, pianos and rock rhythm section, resulting in some very colourful arrangements. He goes to East with the quasi-raga sitar/flute duet "Mango", grapples some hung-over blues-rock with "Laulajan blues" ("Singer's Blues") and takes delight in lightweight vocal pop with jazzy arrangements and a few progressive touches (e.g. sudden textural and dynamic shifts) in the likes of "Kun elämä alkaa" ("When Life Begins"). More obvious homages to prevalent progressive role models appear too: The flute carries the swaying main melody of "Ennen nyt" ("Before Now"), taking to Jethro Tull-like hoarse riffing and soloing during the instrumental interlude, while "Beat Bolero" has Coltraneish saxophone stabbing riffs in unison with the guitar and wailing over gloomy organ chords and the martial drumbeat, very much out of the Crimson cookbook. The end result is a slightly dated, but charmingly odd-ball collection that can be of interest to fans of early progressive. It is still best remembered for its surrealistic cover painting. --
Kai Karmanheimo for New Giblartar Enc of Prog Rock"

get it here ,and wish and hope not to ignore it this time.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for sharing this! This is one of the few Finnish rarities that I've never seen anywhere. Keep up the good work!
I., Finland

Anonymous said...

hi there and happy new year! i enjoyed the "tuohihuilu" record by paroni paakkunainen, but must say i couldn't seem to detect the mutant spark within its gentle pseudo-medieval folkiness. based on the description, i'm guessing this earlier album is what drew your interest to this artist, and now i'm going to check it out. thank you again for sharing your vast knowledge of unusual music!

wm2007

Anonymous said...

You can get the cover art for this album here -
http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=1223689

regards,
Chris

Waterfallman said...

Thank you very much, magnificent musician!