Wow. I just realized this is the most viewed thread on the whole forum?
If so I will happily add something else to it as I stumbled over a long forgotten gem this early morning hours, inspired by an announcemnt and a Finnish Aki Kaurismäki movie about them on Spanish Television (mind you, this post will be looooong but hopefully worth the while, it is raining here and I have done a lot of research into my music past during the last 8 hours for lack of other work...):
EDIT JAN 2010: As we now have the
limits enabled for three vids to be displayed per post, you will have to
click on the links to see most of them, R.)
Do you remember these hairdos?
Or those shoes?
Well, they are not gone, they are still *very* active (and as I know that the identity will be revealed in the video I will not try to hide it any longer): The from my POV
best ever Live and Show Band (though they call themselves the "Worst Band Of The World") is still performing (since ´98 with - nebst other lossses - a new singer and a new lead guitarrist), is on a new European Tour and will this summer perform in Palma de Mallorca, already looking forward to it (I have seen them about 10x live between ´88 and ´98, in small clubs and on big stages, and each concert was a blast. It looks, tough, that I will have to pay black marked prices for the concert her, all 60.000 tickets were sold on Friday within 1.5 hours...
- not bad for a 500k inhabitants island):
Please, welcome the
Leningrad Cowboys, a Finnish band
pretending to be Russians who are pretending to be Americans ; brain child of already mentioned Finnish movie director genious
Aki Kaurismäki, and a superb selection of the best Finnish musicians, a bad ass cover band for everything R+B in true Blues Brothers style...
Here something from
2008 (now 20 yrs older and 20 kg heavier each, comprised of currently 11 Cowboys and 2 Leningrad Ladies; make sure you have your volume turned up and are in Party Mood
):
Leningrad Cowboys Play Hurriganes: Oowee Oohla
Now, how come that a band that does nothing but covers - though so well that some of the orignial authors could still learn a bit from them - can sell out so quickly and that people are actually fighting to see their concerts?
Well, you will have to join me on a time warp back to ´87 when nobody knew them (me neither):
At this time they did (from my POV) rather boring stuff like the following (and all non-live videos from here on are directed by Aki Kaurismäki who obviously saw their potential much earlier than the rest of the world; all screeplays allso by him). The protagonist of the video is (much missed after 1997)
Mato Valtonen, as you can see the hairdoes were not yet a "brand" sign and the shoes were still normal...:
Leningrad Cowboys 1987 - Thru the Wire (for people that like great cinema and slow ballads)
This all changed when
Kaurismäki built the background for the legend in ´89 as can be seen in this nice and hilarious clip (which actually is from 1992, but as it fit in the timeline that I want to present allow me this small lie, I will rectify later in the post in detail):
The clip provides
"the Finnish history from 1952 to 1969" and begins with the birth of the protagonist (Mato Valtonen, LC lead singer). The combo short film/music video describes typical events of the main character's life: From his school years to marriage, from the daily grind of working life to the routines of farming and his father's death, ending melancholically (how surprising Kaurismäki
) in a scene where the main character gives up farming as it no longer provides a living. The rest of the Leningrad Cowboys - as well as the in Finland ever present Vodka - appear in many parts of it in a supporting role, hairdo, uniforms and shoes long established as a "brand/trademark" by then...:
Leningrad Cowboys: These Boots
1988 or ´89 (do not recall anymore) was also the first time those guys entered into my musical hoizon, I saw them in a club/disco in Kassel/Germany (Musiktheater, for anybody who knows the scene, well worth another thread) performing for abut 1k ppl for about 3 hours, and it was probably one of the best live concert parties I ever remember.
Once I had them on my screen, I kept following the news about them (not much internet then), until in 1989 a cincema film by Aki Kaurismäki came out (that is an absolute must-see), "Leningrad Cowboys go America", a road movie and music film in the best Blues Brothers tradition but "The European Way" and on top of that in the typical dry Kaurismäki Finnish humor.
Now, I do not know what you think about the Blues Brothers as film, but it was one of my favorites always, with it´s dry dialogues, the excellent music and musicians and the "no compomise" life style it featured for me it was (and keeps being) deep philosopy. In the ´80s, when I still was rich, I abut once a year would buy all tickets for cinema that had it on, invite all my friends, pay some extra money to the guy who worked there to turn up the volume, and then we would have a party...
DISCLAIMER: If you do not like music films or road movies you can safely skip this part from here til the next appearance of a line of "-----" as I am going to present you with some highlights of the film, almost all with a great music piece, though)...
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Same with this film, it had me absolutely fascinated: Same dryness, same great music and musicians (Jim Jarmush, Tom Waits and many others both as actors as well as musicians), no place for compromises and a deep philosophical angle, also in the same way hilarious (though even more absurd in many aspects).
The background story is about a "Russian" (hence the bit about "Finnish pretending to be Russians" in the beginning of my post) band that is playing Russian music trying to get famous, but get rejected by a producer as he wants to hear "American" music (this was ´89 after all!), so they decide to leave Siberia and - pretending they were American all along (their "Manager" speas a kind of English) - to make a buck in the states.
They have a few problems to overcome: One of their buddies (the lead gutiarrist) had a little too much vodka and got deepfrozen in the tundra, but as they know about the symptoms they expect him to wake one day that they find the sun and can rapidly heat him up and so have to ake him along (in a coffin filled with ice cubes - and beer); the distance from Siberia through Alaska to the states is long, and they have only 700 dollars... Well, you can imagine (or not
, how it goes from there): Lots of citations of the Blues Brothers idea, but a completely different take...
It is in this film that the "Leningrad Cowwboys Legend" really started, the hairdoes, the shoes and the face of the manager became a trademark...
Here is the ppening scene of the film where they present (excellent) Russian Music to the "Producer" (dont worry about a bit not being in English, this will rapidly change) and decide to leave as they need to be "Americans":
Leningrad Cowboys Go America, 1989:"Somewhere in tundra... in no mans land":
More of Blues Brothers similarities, the way they do get their first gig (and actually the way I saw them perform first), check out the hilarious end after 3:20...:
Leningrad Cowboys performing: Rock´n Roll is Here To Stay" (for some reasons sometimes a "This vid is not longer available" comes up,
in this case just click on the YouTube logo and listen to it directly over there)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcovyF8j50g#normal (Embedding disabled, limit reached)Ok, you might wonder, how did they change from tractors to the car? Check out this marvellous short scene (only clip in this post w/o at least one music piece) where Jim Jarmush as 2nd hand car dealer gets them mobile: "I hope one of you guys got a pilot´s license, you know, a car like this you don´t drive, you *fly* it... With a car like that you can go to the moon and back..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utdCwtTbC-A#normal (Embedding disabled, limit reached)Then, at "Joes Place, Huston, Texas" (a bar where bikers hang out, after getting ignored with their rock´n roll, having lost half of their jackets and the singer having lost his voice, they - on a hunch:
Leningrad Cowboys perform "Born To Be Wild" (with a badass guitar solo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxLzRocKxcM#normal (Embedding disabled, limit reached)These just some impressions...
Of the original band members from the film Sakari Kuosmanen left soon after and has pursued a music and acting career in Finland, appearing in many of Aki Kaurismaki's movies. Of the 10 original band members only Silu Seppälä, Sakke Järvenpää, Mauri Sumén & Mato Valtonen were still around by the time of the 1994 for the sequel,
Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses (like all sequels the film didnt catch me as the firstl, but the music was again spectacular...).
----------------------------------------- End of the film discussion part -------------------------------------------------------------
It was after the film that the band got really famous and great (actually, "megalomanic" might be my choice of words for what happened), espeically after they got sponsored by Nokia: There was a Nokia "Leningrad Cowboys" mobile, branded beer and vodka, comic books, t-shirts that glowed in the dark, earrings and so on, AFAIK the contract was the biggest ever sponosring for a band by a company.
From the Nokia Balalaika Show 1994 in Berlin that
I had the chance to attend (
with the Russian Red Army Choir as explained in the next paragaph) the absolutely smashing performance (which makes clear why I call it the best ever live band) of
Leningrad Cowboys - Kasakka
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=savAEIOGsAU#normal (Embedding disabled, limit reached)Just before that, in 1993 the produced the "Total Balalaika Show" where they had the excellent idea to join up with the Red Army Choir, they performed to 70,000 fans and the concert in Helsinki was just electric. The concert was performed in the historic Senate Square. This was where thousands of people came to see the body of most famous Finnish leader, Mannerheim who was head of the Finnish Army during the 2nd World War when the country fought valiantly against its deadly enemy, Russia. And here, some 50 years later, this Finnish band were performing with the Russian Red Army. It was an unforgettable experience. Rock n'roll that day really did stop the traffic.
Unforgettable: Leningrad Cowboys & Red Army Choir perform Sweet Home Alabama: (this is actually the 1994 MTV Awards version, excellent quality but a bit low on volume, you can safely turn it up; the
original Helsinki concert version can not be embedded so you have to follow the link by clicking on the YouTube Logo in the lower vid, much more emotional and anytime better than Lynyrd Skynyrd's)
Leningrad Cowboys & Red Army Choir - SWEET HOME ALABAMA (Embedding disabled, limit reached)
Red Russian Army Choir & Leningrad Cowboys (Embedding disabled, limit reached)
More from this concert (you
*always* have to click the logo to hear it,
embedding is disabled)
Russsian Red Army Choir and Leningrad Cowboys performing "Happy Together"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3l48_EGNdY#noexternalembed-normal (Embedding disabled, limit reached)Now, they have since tuned down a bit, their CDs do not sell as before, but they are by no means gone and live theyre worthwile a visit anytime, the last time I saw them was 2003 during their "Global Balalaika Tour" with this *super* version (Uriah Heep could learn from it) of
Leningrad Cowboys performing "Easy Living"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKH63LKQBQc#normal (Embedding disabled, limit reached)Last, a gimmick (and what we all should do?
)
Leningrad Cowboys performing "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" from 1997 (
ATTENTION TURN VOLUME DOWN ON THIS ONE !!! IF YOU DO NOT TURN VOLUME DOWN YOUR LOUDSPEAKERS WILL GO TO WHEREVER THEY GO WHEN THEY GO HEAVEN !!!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdkCkIaDf2U#normal (Embedding disabled, limit reached)Enjoy, and Good Night!
Rattler
(much more stuff of them on youtube and on torrents, incl:
Gimme all your lovin
It´s Only Rock´n Roll
I Saw Her Standing There
Smoke On The Water
Rockin` In The Free World
Just A Gigolo
Stairway To Heaven
Fly For A White Guy)