Kalevala - 1972.1975 - People No Names & Boogie Jungle (2003 Walhalla)
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Artist: Kalevala Album: People No Names & Boogie Jungle Released: 1972.1975 2003 Walhalla (WH 90306) Genre: Prog Rock
KALEVALA was formed in 1969 by Juha Salonen (bass), Remu Aaltonen (drums/vocals) and Albert Järvinen (guitar). Their first name was VIENAM, but they had to change it in order to get concerts. This first line-up played straightforward rock’n’roll, and they were a popular live act in Finland. There was no studio recordings from this line-up, but the Finnish broadcasting company recorded their performance from 1970 “Ruisrock” festival. After this the line-up changed. Remu founded HURRIGANES, which Albert also joined later.
Now KALEVALA’s musical direction was changed to more progressive direction. The new musicians on their second line-up were Markku Luukkanen on drums, Matti Kurkinen on Guitar and Harri Saksala doing singing. They recorded one album, “People No Names” (1972) which was released by Finnlevy. They had some guest musicians helping on doing it: pianist Olli Ahvenlahti, Raimo Wallen playing flute and on acoustic guitar Ile Kallio, who was playing on HURRIGANES during that time. The result was quite unique.
The band was very unstable, as they had again changes in their line-up. Now they had Zape “Limousine” Leppänen on vocals, who has worked with many respected Finnish artists. The band recorded an album “Boogie Jungle” (1975), which is again more basic rock music. They had Jim Pembroke doing their lyrics plus backing vocals, and Jukka Gustavson playing keyboards on one track. Shortly after this band faced a sudden catastrophy, as Matti Kurkinen got in to a fatal car accident. Their name was defined as KALEVALA ORCHESTRA for their next album ”Abraham’s Blue Refrain” (1977). After this they toured Europe with ANGE, but they faced financial problems, and the musicians disbanded KALEVALA went to different directions.
Some members of the band rejoined in studio 1995, but they couldn’t get a record deal. These new tracks are available on “Anthology” (2004), which has some live recordings and before unreleased material on it.
Track List: People No Names (1972) 1. People No Names 2. Where I'm From 3. Waves 4. In the Net 5. My Friend 6. Lady With The Veil 7. Escape From The Storm 8. Tamed Indians
Boogie Jungle (1975): 9. Mind The Fly Hunter 10. Attack At Nineteen Hundred 11. If We Found The Time 12. While The Fire's Warm 13. Boogie 14. Rockin Fish 15. Snow Bill 16. Capseller 17. Jungle
Personnel:
1974 line-up: l to r Ari Vaahtera, Beaver Aitto-Oja, Matti Kurkinen, Lido Salonen, Zape Leppänen
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