Lizards - HerÃtkÃÃ Vartiotorni kaatuu

Lizards was a pop band from Virrat, a small town in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a large triangle formed by Tampere, Jyväskylä and Seinäjoki. A town with no happenings and no possibilities for leisure time activities at the time, so a lot of young people played music in order to have something to do. The most popular local band was Liz & Lizards, who differed from the mass thanks to a saxophonist and a female vocalist.



Lineup was: Teija Peltomäki (vocals), Kari Mäki (vocals, saxophone), Jukka Myllylä (guitar), Harri Karvinen (guitar), Teijo Rantanen (bass), Tapio Syrjänen (drums).



Liz & Lizards released two singles, "Kujan kuningas / Sä lähdit pois" and "P.A. Ska / Lista" in 1980, then shortened their name to Lizards and cut an LP and two more singles before disbanding in 1982.



The second single "P.A. Ska" was, as you might guess, a ska song that criticized the world of bewildering abbreviations. The b-side was a successful cover of Rezillos' "Top of the Pops".



The album "Herätkää! Vartiotorni kaatuu", produced by Juha Torvinen from punk/rock group Eppu Normaali, came out in 1981, half a year after it was recorded. Not because the LP was bad, but because the printing of the cover was delayed and Poko Rekords switched to another distributor. Lizards present a total of 11 nice tunes that vary from sweet pop songs to rockers to fast and danceable ditties. Some message songs are also included, like "Body Building" ("Muscles aren't enough to impress women / at least not me / or are you even interested in such things? / Lifting weights can be quite hard sometimes / but you can always relax by reading Donald Duck") and the title song, which attacks some religious sects for merely exploiting gullible old women and taking their money. But Lizards was not a message band, they just wanted to play good music and have fun.



The main songwriter was Harri Karvinen, the youngest member with only 17 years under his belt at the time of the LP. After the band he started a still ongoing career as gig booker.



Some songs were penned by outsider Jyrki Salminen - "a guy from Helsinki, whose wife is sister to one of our friends", as the band told in an interview. He had a bunch of songs that happened to reach the ears of the band, and so he started providing them with material. Later Saminen had his own groups like J. Salminen Systems (1981), JSS (1983), and Rip Kirby (1988-1991).



Jari Yliaho and Hannu Tervaharju from Juice Leskinen's band also did some contributions.



Lizards put out a stack of very enjoyable and pleasant pop records that I spin frequently, with no signs of boredom in sight. Here you have everything they released, so I hope you enjoy them as well!



Album:



1. Body Building

2. Roxene

3. Turvattu tulevaisuus (Secured Future)

4. Bändi tää (This Band)

5. Matkaa teen (I'm on the Road)

6. Teräsmies (Superman)

7. Herätkää! Vartiotorni kaatuu (Wake Up! The Watchtower Is Falling)

8. Uutisten lukijaksi telkkariin (I Wanna Be a Newscaster on TV)

9. Turhaa (Useless)

10. Mun pikkusisko (My Little Sister)

11. Syksy (Autumn)



Singles:



12. Kujan kuningas (King of the Alley)

13. Sä lähdit pois (You Went Away)

14. P.A. Ska

15. Lista (The Charts)

16. Valttikortit (The Trump Cards)

17. Body Building (single version)

18. Pamaus (Bang)

19. Ilman sua (Without You)



http://finnishrock.blogspot.com/2008/09/lizards-hertk-vartiotorni-kaatuu-1981.html