Eero Koivistoinen - Valtakunta (Vinyl LP) PRE-ORDER

Expected Release Date: 11-September-2026 - This Pre-order will be shipped on or just before this date. Release dates are subject to alteration.

A1 Centaur Eero Koivistoinen / Pentti Saarikoski 1:14
A3 Hurry up! Eeero Koivistoinen / Jarkko Laine 5:22
A5 A little game in an urban limousine Eero Koivistoinen / Jarkko Laine 6:02
B1 Six o'clock Eero Kovistoinen / Hannu Makela 3:27
B3 Once upon a time there was no kingdom Eero Koivistoinen / Tuomas Anhava 4:29
Musicians:
Eero Raittinen: vocals
Juhani Aaltonen: flute, alto saxophone (A1, B1, B3)
Matti Bergström: electric bass (A3)
Antero Jakoila: sitar (B1)
Eero Koivistoinen: orchestral conducting, piano (A3), tenor saxophone (A1, B3), vibraphone (B1)
Pekka Leander: trombone (A1, B3)
Erkki Lipponen: trombone (A1, B3)
Eero Ojanen: piano
Seppo Paakkunainen: baritone saxophone (A1, B3)
Pekka Sarmanto: bass, electric bass (except A3)
Hasse Walli: electric guitar (A1, A3, A5, B3)
Ronnie Österberg: drums
Reino Isoaho: sound effects
Eero Koivistoinen had received a large bundle of poetry books from Otava's publishing editor Hannu Mäkelä for the composition of the album. In the end, poems by Tuomas Anhava, Jarkko Laine, Hannu Mäkelä and Pentti Saarikoski were selected for composition. The lyrics of the songs are printed on the inside cover of the LP edition. Other soloists are Eero Koivistoinen, Vesa-Matti Loiri and Seija Simola. This album was purchased by the library in my hometown of Polvijärvi and I often went there to listen to it when I was 15-16. The small library otherwise had a surprisingly diverse selection and also had music available.

The album is quite different from the music of the time, both musically and especially in terms of lyrics. Koivistoinen's music and the lyrics of Saarikoski, Laine, Anhava and Mäkelä made a great impression on the young man from a small country farm. The artists and musicians on the original album were among the best of the era. Pekka Sarmanto, Hasse Walli and Ronnie Österberg had previously played with Koivistoinen in the Blues Section, and Koivistoinen joined the Jussi & The Boys crew with Antero Jakoila and Ronnie Österberg shortly after the album was recorded. Some of the players were familiar to Koivistoinen from jazz circles. Eero Koivistoinen had played on the single I Was Made To Love Her / Fine And Mellow released under the name Eero and Boys in June.

At the time of the album's recording, Eero's Vanha tolvikirkko, released in the spring , was number one on the charts. Few artists would have agreed to record such strongly different songs in that situation. On the other hand, it was a time of great upheaval; Martin Luther King had been assassinated in the spring and Robert Kennedy in the early summer, there were widespread unrest in Paris and Berlin, it was said that 400,000 children in Biafra were dying of hunger, Soviet troops occupied Czechoslovakia in September. The Vietnam War was broadcast on television news every day and black athletes protested at the Olympics.

The album was recorded in July-August at Finnvox studio. According to Koivistoinen in his memoirs, the song bases were recorded with varying lineups in three different sessions. "Despite its limitations, modern four-track technology also allows for complex arrangements for an inventive mind," Koivistoinen described. Effects for some songs were mixed secretly at night in the Yle studio by Koivistoinen and Reino Isoaho, who worked as a Yle recorder. Eero's " Once upon a time there was no kingdom" begins with Hitler's greeting, and in the middle of the song, a conversation between Mannerheim and Hitler is heard, which Yleisradio had recorded when Hitler visited Mannerheim at his 75th birthday party.