Dave Lindholm

Ever since his recording debut in the short-lived group Ferris, Ralf Henrik Lindholm (1952-) has been an exceptionally prolific and productive singer-songwriter - 27 solo albums and frequent band projects along the way make for an impressive body of work.



Lindholm shipped some demos to Love Records in the winter of 1971-72, calling himself Great Pen Lee. He was urged to change his artist name to Isokynä (Big Pen), which apparently referred to Lindholm's habit of changing the names of his backing groups faster than anyone could keep up with.



"Isokynä Lindholm" introduces an electric and very eager young musician already sporting his own style of writing words: rough spoken language mixed in with rather free-form, stream-of-consciousness expressions.



Isokynä Lindholm (1972):



1. Egon

2. Elämän värit (The Colours of Life)

3. Liity meihin enkeleihin (Join Us Angels)

4. Valovarjoon pam (Into Lightshadow Bang)

5. Ooh Bultaco

6. Luonnonlapsi (Nature Child)

7. Minun nimi on nimessun (My Name Is Yourname)

8. Sinun rock (Your Rock)

9. Kuunainen (Moon Woman)

10. Rakas rakas rakas (Darling Darling Darling)

11. Kaunis hevonen (A Beautiful Horse)

Bonus:

12. Do You Know Your Name?

(Done as Great Pen Lee, and released on the compilation "Rock'n'roll juhlaa 3" (1973))



"Sirkus" is considered one of the all-time classic albums in Finnish rock'n'roll. It's loaded with masterpieces like "Puhtaat laivat", "Jazzikansa tulee", the title track and "Kaikki menee seinään", and the lyrics depicted the life of young city people in a way nobody had done before. "Sirkus" made Lindholm a star with plenty of offers for interviews and magazine coverage, but he didn't desire to have his face fronting every paper, so he put an end to all excess publicity.



After "Sirkus", Lindholm only made some stray acoustic gigs and planned an entirely instrumental album of modern music, inspired by John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Love Records weren't interested in this project and scrapped it.



Sirkus (1973):



1. Jazzikansa tulee (The Jazz People Come)

2. Meritaru (Sea Story)

3. Olé hiljainen kaupunki (Olé, Quiet Town)

4. Rockadillo

5. Puhtaat laivat (Clean Ships)

6. Illan prinsessa (Princess of the Evening)

7. Tanssi pieni tanssi (Dance a Little Dance)

8. Sirkus (Circus)

9. Kaikki menee seinään (Everything Goes Wrong)

10. Niityt, kaste, niityt (Fields, Dew, Fields)

11. Einstein on kuollut (Einstein Is Dead)

12. Hyvä meren syli (A Good Lap of the Sea)

13. Kujakissa (Alley Cat)

14. Fafa, Chaplin & Keaton

Bonus:

15. Rock-kukko (Rock Rooster)

16. Tätä on mun rock'n'roll (This Is My Rock & Roll)

(1973 single a- and b-sides)

17. Tapaaminen (Meeting)

(1974 single b-side)



Lindholm joined progressive band Orfeus (original lineup Hannu Salakka, Hessu Hiekkala, Klaus Stolt and Wando Suvanto), and gigged performing whatever songs they desired to play at the moment. Orfeus, who had originally played Pink Floyd and suchlike material, were very skillful improvisers.



Record critics treated the album "Musiikkia" somewhat sourly, but with the passing of time this rather melancholy album has gained a good status in Lindholm's oeuvre.



Musiikkia (1974):



1. Juna sinne tänne (A Train to Here and There)

2. Kaikki saa pisteet (Everyone Gets the Points)

3. Onko komedia? (Is It a Comedy?)

4. Maalaus (Painting)

5. Se se on rokkii (That's Rock'n'Roll)

6. Linnut vei hiljaisuuden (The Birds Took Away the Silence)

7. Kaunis (Beautiful)

8. Kuningatar (Queen)

9. Sä avasit oven (You Opened the Door)

10. Kuinka yö meni pois (How the Night Went Away))



Dave's and Orfeus' originally spontaneous style of working had evolved into something much more ambitious and thought-out. This caused friction within the band, and Orfeus split soon after their penultimate gig in Lilla Teatern, 29th July 1974, was taped and made into this live album.



"Lillan" is a varied collection of songs, ranging from long live jams to blues and a fun Russian-language country novelty song. The original album had eight songs, five more were dug out for the CD reissue.



Lillan (1974):



1. Hei, mitä on olla vapaa?

2. Milk-Jug Illusions

3. Love You More Than Money (Almost)

4. Pan the Book

5. Liian nopee Lindholm (Too Fast Lindholm)

6. Limousine

7. Gruusam Tuusam

8. Blues in a Way

9. Everybody's Queen

10. Rock-kukko

11. Don't Blame Me

12. Heard News

13. Knockin' on Heaven's Door



At the end of 1974 Dave Lindholm planned to leave for USA for some time, but before that he quickly cut a bunch of his old songs in a studio, doing them all in one take. "Fandjango" was taped in two days.



In America Lindholm joined Dance Theatre of Harlem and wrote material that later ended up on Rock'n'Roll Band's "Everybody Needs Dance Music Sometimes" (1975) and Pen Lee's first LP "Closer to the Drum" (1976).



Fandjango (1975):



1. Anu Pyen

2. Keskellä kapinaa (In the Middle of a Rebellion)

3. Casanoova yöt (Casanova Nights)

4. Mun laulu juoksi jokeen (My Song Ran Into a River)

5. Hyvin lainsuojaton (Very Outlaw)

6. Lyhyen kadun päivä (The Day of a Short Street)

7. Fandjango

8. Linnut laulaa niinkuin ennenkin (Birds Sing Like They Used to)

9. Cabana-systerit (The Cabana Sisters)

10. Sure musta (Be Sad, You Black)

11. Sataa & 22

12. Mä lähen himaan (I'll Go Home)

13. Juostaan, Madame (Let's Run, Madame)

Bonus:

14. Voi kun riittäis pieni taivas

15. Vanha ruskea kirja



Kenen laulu (1977) (compilation of singles and other odds & ends):



1. Rock kukko

2. Tapaaminen

3. Voi, kun riittäis pieni taivas

4. Vanha ruskea kirja

5. TIITTA SPOUT: Linnut laulaa niinkuin ennenkin

6. TIITTA SPOUT: Sataa & 22

7. Tätä on mun R & R

8. Rock kukko (Live)

9. PEN LEE & CO.: Do I Have to Throw Stones?

10. ROCK'N'ROLL BAND: Gotta Go Downtown

11. PEN LEE & CO.: Motorways

12. Don't Blame Me (Live)

13. PEN LEE: Romanian Train Jump, Part I

14. PEN LEE: Romanian Train Jump, Part II



"Vanha & uusi romanssi" is another very simple guitar troubadour album, but "Aino" is deservedly a classic, almost a legendary record. Four long songs with only producer-arranger Otto Donner's strings backing Dave's voice. Immensely beautiful, Devout with a capital D! The song "Pieni & hento ote" was a major hit. Extremely recommendable!



Vanha & uusi romanssi (1979):



1. Nämä yöt (These Nights)

2. Joo, joo, mä rakastan sua (Yeah, Yeah, I Love You)

3. X tarvitsee enemmän (X Needs More)

4. Tervetuloa junaan (Welcome to the Train)

5. Miss mun rakkaus uinuu? (Where's My Love Sleeping?)

6. Nyt (Now)

7. Ja sinun äänesi (And Your Voice)

8. Ainoo laps (Only Child)

9. Vanha & uusi romanssi (Old & New Romance)



Aino (1982):



1. Taivaaseen (To Heaven)

2. Toinen ballaadi (Second Ballad)

3. Pieni & hento ote (A Small and Gentle Grip)

4. Naisen ääni (A Woman's Voice)

http://finnishrock.blogspot.com/2008/06/dave-lindholm.html