UNIKUVA

The Finnish band Session were founded in the early 70's in a small southern Finnish town of Kouvola from the ashes of a band called Horizon. Session's first achievement was becoming third in the national contest for bands, in December 1972. (The second was Tabula Rasa!) Session played guitar rock influenced e.g. by Allman Brothers Band, and their debut single 'Sanni Blue / Pääsky' (1973), released by Love Records, is regarded as one of the finest Finnish debut sigles in that style. The same sessions produced also a rock instrumental version of Albert Ketelbey's "In a Persian Market".

The vocalist and 2nd guitarist Jokke Seppälä was replaced by Osmo Seppälä on organ and electric piano, while the singing duties were given to drummer Juha Tykkälä. Having been dropped out by Love Records, Session self- produced their only album Unikuva which was distributed by EMI. The short, Finnish-language album contains 'Sanni Blue' and the Ketelbey cover plus six other tracks.

The 7+ minute title track proceeds as an organ/sax oriented instrumental before the arrival of the guesting female voice. Elsewhere, Tykkälä as a vocalist reminds me of a rough version of Kirka (highly popular Finnish vocalist at the time and later, too), but he suits fairly well into the soul flavoured rock. The compositions are mainly by bassist Hannu Kaiko, whose bass sound is very distinctive on the album.

Due to weak success Session collapsed in the spring of 1975. Several members joined Danny, the Finnish entertainment music icon. Even though Session wasn't exactly a progressive rock band when it comes to the song structures, their sole album does have a certain vintage charm.