1) Kalifornian ruosteiset kukkulat; 2) Jäätelöauto; 3) Hei kuule Suomi; 4) Sokeana hetkenä; 5) Ilmiöitä; 6) He kääntävät tyynynsä; 7) Jos haluatte; 8) Kirjoituksia; 9) Tylsää, tylsää; 10) Kun vaihtuu vuosituhat; 11) Tyttöjen välisestä ystävyydestä; 12) Helsinki-Vantaa; 13) Musta, niljaisten lehtien kaupunki
A victory lap of sorts: a band playing to their strengths after taking over the country with the last album. More of what you loved, even if not as consistent or striking.
Key tracks: "Hei kuule Suomi", "Kirjoituksia", "Tyttöjen välisestä ystävyydestä"
Most of Kalifornia is vividly familiar to anyone who lived in Finland in the 90s. This was Ultra Bra’s imperial phase, where all the success and exposure from the first two albums paved way for cultural omnipresence, where even album tracks could get heavy airplay exposure. The video for “Kirjoituksia” seemingly never stopped playing on TV’s music programs, the unsuccessful Eurovision candidate “Tyttöjen välisestä ystävyydestä” became a national treasure almost as quickly as it appeared (and no one even remembers which song ultimately was sent in its place to the competition), “Jäätelöauto” is the sound of now-nostalgic summers. Kalifornia is as much an encapsulation of a specific point in time as it is a music album, and there’s no escaping that legacy.
Defining the era is ultimately what defines Kalifornia itself because musically it’s a very comfortable release, in lieu of a better word. It’s the most archetypal representation of Ultra Bra’s music - the other albums show more visible development one way or another, but Kalifornia is the plateau moment of the band’s style. Taking its musical cue from the past key moments and stretching it across an entire album, it bears the very sort of sound you associate with the band the most, for better or worse: it’s exactly what you’d expect from the band but lacks the more interesting (or unique) traits the other albums have. It’s a little bit bigger, maybe: Ultra Bra never shied away from grand arrangements (can’t really help it when you’re a 12-piece band featuring four vocalists and three horn players among others) but Kaliforniaespecially loves its woodwinds and strings. But that too exemplifies how at this stage Ultra Bra were the biggest band in the country, so Kalifornia has the sound to match it - and in a roundabout way, it manages to make their cultural placement at the time the album’s defining sound characteristic. It’s Ultra Bra playing Ultra Bra hit songs right after they had become a national phenomenon playing songs exactly like these: a reprise rather than a sequel.
The thing is, you can hardly fault a band from playing to their strengths and if it’s Ultra Bra that you want then Kalifornia does the job really well. The tracklist flicks through the band’s multiple guises and rarely actually misses: only “Tylsää, tylsää” feels like filler that the album could have been stronger without (that its so aptly named “Boring, Boring” is the best thing about it). Six singles were released from the album and every single one of them merited it - “Hei kuule Suomi”, “Jäätelöauto”, “Sokeana hetkenä”, “Tyttöjen välisestä ystävyydestä”, “Kirjoituksia” and “Ilmiöitä” are all basically varying degrees of brilliant and together form a microcosm of the band’s range of sounds from anthemic to moody, from community-gathering pop choruses to showcasing their strength as a(n occasional) rock group. “Kirjoituksia” in particular is one of their very best: a dry, groove-laden rocker driven by a raw organ riff and flourished by so many of the band’s famous vocal harmonies, and despite the years it has never stopped being exciting and downright thrilling. A number of album tracks could also just as well be a part of the pantheon - I’m particularly drawn to the triumphant “Kalifornian ruosteiset kukkulat” and the beautifully apocalyptic, atmospheric late album hidden gem “Kun vaihtuu vuosituhat”.
But it’s not a big exaggeration to say that Kalifornia doesn’t feel as important in the band’s story as it by all accounts should be, based on all the big songs in its tracklist. It’s arguably the album that most people have the fondest memories of, but it simultaneously feels like their least mentioned, and from a personal perspective there’s definitely a grain of truth in thinking that it comes across almost too typically Ultra Bra. The various facets of the band’s personality come across better on the other albums and if I’m looking for just the core distillation, their actually quite excellent best of compilation feels more compelling. And yet, that’s not really the album’s fault given how good it is, with what half the album being classics of some degree and most of the other half happily standing nearby. On the other hand though, if you want a time capsule to late 90s Finland, few albums come close to this - the sheer amount of cultural weight on this album’s shoulders is incredible, and the fact that an orchestral big band pop album like this could dominate the country is one of the things I love about the Finnish pop culture acceptance of absolutely anything. So, context included, Kalifornia is probably not the very best of Ultra Bra, but out of all the four albums it’s definitely the most Ultra Bra -esque.
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