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1. High-Heeled Shoes (Ranskalaiset korot)  
2. Muistatko Monrepos’n
3. Too Little Time (Liian vähän aikaa)
4. Armi (instrumental shuffle)
5. Etkö uskalla mua rakastaa
6. Dream of an Island (Tahdon saaren)
7. Armi (instrumental jazz waltz)
8. Tell Me (Kuiskaa minulle)
9. Wind Will Take Away (Tuuli tuo, tuuli vie)

The Story Behind

When I, as a blues harmonica player, had the idea to make a record based on old Finnish popular songs, I started to look for songs that could be suitably arranged for the chromatic harmonica and into the blues genre. Erik Lindström’s “jazzy” way of composing intersted me the most and I decided to make this record based only on his 1950’s compositions.

Erik Lindström was born in Helsinki on 29th May 1922. Lindstrom started playing violin and later played also bass, piano, vibraphone and accordion. Learning to play by-ear and not following his father’s request to study to read sheet music made him an outstanding musician and one of Finland’s most popular studio musicians of the 1950’s.

Lindström’s first popular song was Armi in 1952. (We recorded both a shuffle and a jazz waltz version for this album.) But his first official hit wasn’t until 1955, when Annikki Tähti sang Muistatko Monrepos’n. The song received Finland’s first Music Gold Record Award. His other notable songs from the 1950’s included Pikku Midinetti (number one for fourteen weeks on Yleisradio) as well as Ranskalaiset Korot and Etkö Uskalla Mua Rakastaa, all performed by Helena Siltala.

As a composer, Lindström differs from the Finnish popular mainstream by always managing to flavour his songs with some jazz, which makes his songs personal and very original and gives them an international feeling.

I would like to thank all the great musicians of the band and specially Jukka Gustavson, who had the huge task of arranging all the songs and translating some into English. I would also like to thank Nylands Svenska Kulturfond (Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland) and Eugène, Elisabeth and Birgit Nygrens Stiftelse for supporting this project. And of course, huge thanks to Erik Lindström himself, who composed all of these outstanding songs that have become classics in Finnish popular music.

Helsinki, October 2011, Helge Tallqvist