Pophitit 1995-2003

Is this the best ever Finnish CD? Quite possibly, even though there are some strange exclusions and inclusions. First of all, why some of the best songs from their English album are missing, namely Glittering Lights, Give It All and maybe also Rock Me Baby? On the other hand, it's very fortunate that they've also left out Little by Little, which was, after all, a single...

#1 Odota 10

Oo, this is just so good that I can't get over it. What I said in the review for Tähtikaaren taa: "Wonderful kaihea dance song telling about running into a bear. Let's hope the bear was not like shot in the ass. Probably my favourite of all of their songs, linking strongly to Ihobit (Biohit) where it played practically every day during my work practice there."

#2 Keltainen 9

"The first sound is so attached to our evergreenish assembly back in high school. But which one was it? The one with Haluan vessaan!, Ö-Mappi and Ugly Girl? Probably the other one, with Kypso and... and what? Something from Savage Garden? I so don't remember." It was either Truly, Madly, Deeply or To the Moon & Back, more probably the latter.

#3 Tulisitko 9½

I've recently quite learnt to like this. A lot. Wow, really that much? Maybe that's thanks to Harri, who talked about the chords. Mysterious and floating. I don't remember if this was a single but nevertheless I'm glad it's included here. It must've been a single and even a successful one to have achieved such a frontal position on this compilation.

#4 Tähtikaaren taa 10

"Was this really their first single? I never heard this before buying the album. A very mobile tune with the feeling of actually being launched into space." According to my more recent knowledge, no. I read somewhere that, after all, it was Odota that was their first single.

#5 Nti Groove 10

My second favourite. "Oh Miss Moo, how we love you. One of the best Finnish wrong-hearing songs there is. Why haven't I put this onto any of the famous Dance Cow compilations?"

#6 Anna mun bailaa 9½

These newer fast songs were somehow shadowed from me for some time but lately I've recognised them more and more.

#7 Alla vaahterapuun 8½

"Their biggest hit, never one for me, though lately I've began to understand it. Contains also a hidden Arla advert: "Mansikalle Muu maistuu". Except that I don't remember if there ever was a strawberry-
flavoured variant... Why oh why didn't I keep a Muu container as a souvenir?"

#8 Opettelen salaa 8

I've never quite understood this one. And nowadays I can't even listen to it without remembering the wronghearing by Maki himself, "Kustaan peiliin..." "One thing that's definitely changed from the first album are the arrangements that now sound less plastic. There's also less power."

#9 Magiaa 9½

This's story is quite identical to that of AMB. They are also musically very similar.

#10 Taas saan lentää 8½

"One of the funniest höpsöttelyes, like a children's show in Paris on overspeed. The vocals even have some Ankkaräppi influences."

#11 Aarresaari 9

I think I've got to raise the score by a half, to get it into line with tracks #6 and #9... or maybe not. Maybe I'll lower #10 instead. By the way, this is very fast for a western piece, almost 160 BPM, if I remember correctly. But Rakkauslaulu is even faster, 162 something. "Then a quick rescue with classic style."

#12 Perhosten yö 8½

There's only one possible association with this: what my cousin Eveliina (about 2 at the time) said when I had borrowed the Maa album from the library and she was visiting us and came to my room where I was listening to the album and pressed her ear to the speaker: "Tämä on ihhana musiiikki!" Unfortunately, I doubt she spoke from her musical taste because later on she declared the whole pile of library CDs as her favourites one by one... My favourite things in this are the rising "haa-ah" sounds that always make me stretch my head up.

#13 Matkustanut oon 8

I often think of Viikonloppu jokainen when this begins but am always let down. I would've replaced this and Taas saan lentää with VJ and Enemmän. "Good chords in the chorus, not much else."

#14 Hiljaisuus 7

The scores have been steadily going down since #11 and this is not going to reverse that process.

#15 Hear Me Now 10

And so begins the English period. But two questions. Why are there only these two (#15 and #16) and why are they hidden here in the back? I would've included all the four or five best tracks from Hear Me Now and scattered them around the album, because they are really good, just like this one. I so remember the period when I went regularly to the gym and every day hoped for this to play on the radio and wondered whose it was. Oh, I seem to have said that already. Remember to fix the HMV album's review! And now I'm going into a double quote: "From the single review: 'I can remember hearing this for the first time at the old Hallintorakennus gym (rest in peace). From the very first seconds I was hooked and spent the night trying to find the song on the net. I couldn't because it hadn't been released yet. There's something intrinsically magical in this simple piece. How I wish their album had been better... However, I fear the qualities of this track alone won't suffice to gain a 10, in comparison to a certain other one with an even greater song, good remixes and a terrific B-side... Sorry.' I still remember so well how Maria complained about the lyrics. Somehow the idea of a girl crying to make her lover stay was strongly against her principles..."

#16 Wonder Why 9

"Unbelievable lyrics, just like it says in the Aika standard. 'I lost all I had and made you feel sad / I lost all your love and that's why I feel bad'..."

#17 Stay 10

Thank god they've at least included this! I don't know if they'd done in ESC better than Laura did but it's good that they weren't sent because they would so have fallen into plagiarism accusations. La Cream's Say Goodbye, need I say more? But like I usually say, most good things come recycled...

#18 Carousel 9

English version of Keltainen, but why? However, it's not just a translation but there are some differences, even though not major ones.

#19 Uudet tuulet 8

Not very bad but still not what I'd like to have as my last release...