Seppo "Paroni" Paakkunainen's debut is a somewhat typical all-over-the-map-kitchen-sink styled album from 1971. Plastic Maailma opens up wonderfully in Kraut Fusion territory with 'Beat Bolero' recalling Eiliff or Thirsty Moon. This is followed by a very good blues rock number 'Laulajan Blues' featuring tough-guy male vocals (from Apollo's former lead singer Harri Saksala). The incongruity continues with an Eastern raga 'Mango' that features sitar, flute, and hand percussion. So of course we follow that with a groovy late 60s styled hippy rock track 'Kaksi Pientä Ihmislasta' complete with cute female Finnish vocals, organ, and horns. Despite how that may read, the sensuous song breaks are worth the price of admission here. 'Panu Toivoton' borrows the horn section from the previous track while Saksala and Paakkunainen provide the blues cred. Side 2 follows with 'Kun Elämä Alkaa', an introspective female-sung folk pop number that borders religious revival music, before going "groovy pop" once again. 'Ennen Ja Nyt' brings back the soulful Saksala, and the music goes forth with a Nosferatu-like guitar + flute styled rocker. So, of course given the lack of consistency here, 'Summer Flowers' follows with a moody atmospheric jazz number containing soft flute, saxophone, lightly amplified guitar, and organ. 'Vain Kaiku Jää' is an old time blues/gospel type track with female vocals, and represents the album's weakest point. The title track closes the album with its heaviest track recalling 'Ennen Ja Nyt' in style.
The production and playing are top notch here, and one can only think that more focus would have lead to an even stronger album. But yea, it's pretty great as it is.
Personal collection
CD: 2010 Rocket
An extremely rare and expensive album in original form, my first copy was a CD-R provided by a friend long ago. The Rocket CD solves the availability problem, and is fantastic, like all of their releases. All the liner notes are in Finnish, so we'd need a translation to fully benefit. While we were very fortunate to be provided such English translations for Fantasia, Scapa Flow, and Session, I didn't push my luck on this title.
Original published September 18, 2012 and completely rewritten.
The production and playing are top notch here, and one can only think that more focus would have lead to an even stronger album. But yea, it's pretty great as it is.
Personal collection
CD: 2010 Rocket
An extremely rare and expensive album in original form, my first copy was a CD-R provided by a friend long ago. The Rocket CD solves the availability problem, and is fantastic, like all of their releases. All the liner notes are in Finnish, so we'd need a translation to fully benefit. While we were very fortunate to be provided such English translations for Fantasia, Scapa Flow, and Session, I didn't push my luck on this title.
Original published September 18, 2012 and completely rewritten.
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