Bye Bye - Moi moi

Arto Sotavalta recorded "Moi moi" in 1975 and it was released on the B-side of "Seilaan", his cover of Rod Stewart's "Sailing". The A-side was a modest hit, but this flipside has been unjustly forgotten. The Finnish lyrics are by Chrisse Johansson and the arrangement by Veikko Samuli. The original song "Bye Bye" was written and performed by Brtish singer/sogwriter/producer Peter Shelley (b. Peter Alexander Southworth). Peter made his breakthrough as a singer in 1974 with "Gee Baby". This "Bye Bye" is from the "Gee Baby" -album. Peter was also closely connected with Alvin Stardust, see this earlier finnpick.

Only 1 Finnpick to go. 

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Space Oddity - Kapteeni Tom

Arto Sotavalta was perhaps a bit underrated artist in the 70's. In addition to his own material, he did several decent cover versions that for some reason sank without a trace. One of those was "Kapteeni Tom". (Captain Tom). It was released in 1973 on the flipside of "Siirryn leikkimaailmaan", finnpicked here.  The Finnish lyrics were made by Arto himself, following closely the theme of the lyrics of the original song. Which was "Space Oddity", the first big hit for David Bowie, released in 1969. This tale of unfortunate astronaut reached number 5 in UK chart and has became a classic. It was on the album "David Bowie" (his second), but the rest of the album was not so commercial, and it didn't sell vast quantities at the time, but later re-releases did. BTW, keyboardist on this album was one Rick Wakeman.

Just 13 Finnpicks to go.

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Green Green Trees - Meidät toisillemme luotiin

Arto Sotavalta recorded "Meidät toisillemme luotiin" (We were created for each other) in 1972 It was released only as a single, and failed to draw any attention. Arto also wrote the Finnish lyrics for this nice song. The original, called "Green Green Trees", was written by the quality songwriting team of Albert Hammond & Mike Hazlewood. It was first recorded already in 1968 and released on the first album of UK pop group Cupid's Inspiration. This group can be counted as a 'One Hit Wonder', becoouse their only (and big) hit was "Yesterday Has Gone" in 1968. Probably Arto, however, got his inspiration (;-)) from the version released by Leapy Lee (famous of "Little Arrows" that Sotavalta covered in 1968) in 1970. You can hear it, here.


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The Wonder Of You - Sä ihmeitä teet

Arto Sotavalta released "Sä ihmeitä teet" (You're working wonders) in 1970 as a single, but it flopped. The song was also on his "Arto Sotavalta" album, released in the same year. The Finnish lyrics were provided by Pertsa Reponen. The original song "The Wonder Of You" was a big hit for Elvis Presley in 1970, but the first version was done by Ray Peterson already in 1959. The song became a Top 40 hit for him on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 25. But Ray's breakthrough happened in the following year when his "Tell Laura I Love Her" was a worldwide smash hit.

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Alternate Title - Voitko lopettaa

Arto Sotavalta recorded "Voitko lopettaa" in 1967 and it was released on the B-side of his big hit single "Löysin rantein" (finnpicked here) The lyrics were written by Arto himself. The original song was written by Monkee Micky Dolenz as "Randy Scouse Git" while visiting England and after partying with Beatles. The nonsense title is a modern day English idiom (deriven from a popular TV show) meaning something like 'sexually aroused Liverpudlian jerk'. So, we can easily spot some odd reference to Beatles. The record company refused to release the song under that title and asked Micky to come up with an alternate title, And he did just what was requested. Hence the title "Alternate Title". The song was a Top 5 hit for The Monkees in UK, but was not released as a single worldwide. However, it was the last track on their "Headquarters" album. You can see them perform the song here in unfortunatle badly off-sync video clip.

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Playground In My Mind - Siirryn leikkimaailmaan

Arto Sotavalta was very active in releasing records in the beginning of 70's. One of those was "Siirryn leikkimaailmaan" (I'll move into playworld). It was released as a single in 1973, with no great success. The lyrics were done by Arto himself. The original song was called "Playground In My Mind", and it was sizeable - and only - hit for American singer-songwriter Clint Holmes. It peaked number 2 in Billboard charts in 1973. The nursery rhyme-styled song features Holmes duetting with producer Paul Vance's son Philip on the chorus. "Playground In My Mind" was written by hit songwriter team Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss.

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Lady Hi Lady Ho - Lady Hoi

Arto Sotavalta recorded "Lady Hoi" in 1972. His popularity wasn't established yet at this point, and so this nice little ditty has been left in obscurity. Hard to find stuff, that is. The original song was of French origin. The vocal duo Les Costa had a hit with "Lady Hi Lady Ho" in continental Europe. The group consisted of brothers Georges and Michel Costa, who had a couple of other minor hits in the seventies. Since the 80s they've been busy with their production company, e.g. producing a very large number of jingles for French FM radio stations.

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January - Kalenteri

As we now say farewell to January, let's listen to a song dedicated to this very month. Arto Sotavalta (see earlier entry) recorded "Kalenteri" (Calendar) in 1976. It is very rare recording, becouse for some reason it wasn't released as a single or on any of Arto's albums. It appears only on one of the "Maailmalla soi" (What's played in the world) series albums that presented cover versions of selected world hits. The original song "January" was recorded by the Scottish rock band Pilot. It was written by band member David Paton and produced by Alan Parsons. Pilot was formed during 1973 in Edinburgh, Scotland by the former Bay City Rollers members, David Paton and Billy Lyall. "January" was UK number one single, spending all of its 3 week chart run at the top - ironically - in February 1975. It also charted in the United States, and went to number one in Australia where it stayed up top for eight weeks. The Pilot, together with their pruducer , later formed the nucleus of the Alan Parsons Project. You can see the band perform "January", here.


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Rock and Roll (I Gave You The Best Years of My Life) - Rock & roll (sait parhaat vuodet)

Arto Sotavalta (see previous entry) recorded "Rock & roll (sait parhaat vuodet)" (Rock'n roll, you got the best years) in 1975. It was not the only Finnish cover of this song but perhaps the most touching and sincere. The original song was written and performed by an Australian singer and songwriter Kevin Johnson in 1973. This is by far Kevin's best known song. It charted in several countries. According to him "the song reflected his frustration with his own stagnation, and the futile attempts of Australian artists trying to break into America or England". US singer Mac Davis had a big hit in USA with the song in 1975 (charted in Billboard at number 15).

Beautiful Sunday - Kaunis sunnuntai

Even if it's grey and foggy day here in Finland. I have chosen "Kaunis sunnuntai" (Beautiful sunday) to be the song of the day. Arto Sotavalta (see previous entry) released it in 1972. It was his single number 12, and quite popular at the time. The lyrics were done by Arto himself. The original "Beautiful Sunday" was composed - like yesterday's Finnpick - by Daniel Boone (born Peter Green). And this time he performed it himself. The song was a big hit around the world. In 1958 Peter took a stage name Peter Lee Stirling, and released altogether 10 singles between 1963 and 1970. In 1971 he changed his name to Daniel Boone (after the American pioneer). He had several hit records with the new moniker but none of them as big as "Beautiful Sunday". He seems to have been jolly good fellow, becouse in 1972, Boone was the recipient of the "Most Likeable Singer" award from Rolling Stone magazine.

Airplane Song - Löysin rantein

Arto Sotavalta was only 14 years old when he fronted the group Rattle Sound Five and won second prize in Finnish Battle of the Bands. More success came with the group Rogues in 1966–1969. (This group included future Finnish guitar legend Jukka Tolonen). The first hit for Arto was this song "Löysin rantein" (literally "with limp wrists", a finnish idiom for "take it easy", not to confuse with the homosexual meanings it has in English language world today) recorded in 1967. The original song was Royal Guardsmen's (see yesterdays entry) 3rd and first non-Snoopy single. It was not nearly as successful as the two preceding Snoopy -singles and reached only number 46 in the charts. But for some reason it was picked by the Finns and made to relatively bigger hit here.

Here's the pair: