Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip - Outtakes

Album: Outtakes
Size: 77,5 MB
Time: 33:25
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2025
Styles: Blues, blues-rock
Art: Front

1. On Vacation (3:17)
2. Heal You (3:24)
3. Way To Go (4:04)
4. Runnin' Shoes (4:11)
5. Dontcha Know (3:08)
6. Bedtime Bomber (2:58)
7. Silver Moon (5:48)
8. Keep In Mind (2:39)
9. Spooky Ride (3:52)

Outtakes is a retrospective album featuring nine previously unreleased tracks from Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip. This unique collection contains songs, recorded over the years but for various reasons were left off past albums, that capture the band's evolving sound and dedication to blues-rock excellence.

"We usually had a few extra songs when we went into the studio to record the album in case some of the songs didn't "take off" as expected. Sometimes the direction of production can also change as the process progresses, which affects the album as a whole. However, a lot of effort has been put into these songs and they have been carefully prepared for the album and produced to completion. It is at least justified to give them another chance to reach listeners, and we felt they deserved a platform of their own. Although the songs are from different eras, I think they formed a very good and balanced whole" says Micke Bjorklof.

Spanning from the early 2000s to the present, Outtakes showcases the shifting styles and influences of one of Finland’s most celebrated blues-rock bands. Outtakes is not only a collection of rare tracks but also a kind of time travel through the arc of the band's musical and sonic evolution from the early 2000s to the present day. Each song reflects the shifting moods, styles, and influences the band has embraced over the years, capturing the essence of one of Finland’s most celebrated blues-rock bands over 30-year journey in the blues-rock scene.

Outtakes mc
Outtakes gofile

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Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip - Colors Of Jealousy

Size: 102.5 MB
Time: 43:54
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2023
Styles: Blues Rock
Art: Full

01. Highway Highway (3:43)
02. Feel It In My Bones (4:10)
03. Colors Of Jealousy (3:26)
04. Missing That Woman (3:05)
05. Are You Real (5:14)
06. Long Ago (3:58)
07. Thought You Were Mine (3:07)
08. Good Times Somehow (3:07)
09. Get Out (3:14)
10. Into The Fire (4:13)
11. It Takes Two (6:31)

This is the follow up to the critically acclaimed album ‘Let The Fire Lead‘ Bjorklof released 2020 with his acoustic power trio Micke & Lefty feat.Chef. His bands incendiary live performances have been mesmerizing audiences all over Europe. Now, with Colors Of Jealousy they´re poised to take the step to the next level. The edgy, selfproduced roots music album was recorded at bands headquarter BoomRoom in Kauhava, Finland and mixed by Finnish sound engineer legend Kimmo Ahola.

Boasting 11 original songs ranging from killer opening track “Highway Highway” classic blues rocker led by Billy Gibbons influenced riff with layered guitars and wailing Hammond organ to dramatic americana flavoured countryblues, resonator guitar driven title track “Colors Of Jealousy” with bit of Ennio Morricone vibes. You get a good sense of the range the album covers from these first two singles released.

The band flirts with tradition but pushes genre boundaries with their song writing and special instrumentation to create a sound that’s distinctly their own. “Good Times Somehow” persuasively straddles uptempo soul and deltablues mix with a touch of Rolling Stones groove. “Long ago” features Memphis soul backed up with Hammond organ and gospel feel by two female background singers. Bjorklof shows off his range with dark story of “Are You Real” and blues saturated “I Thought You Were Mine”. Dynamic “It Takes Two” starts slow with a fieldholler theme backed up with snaredrum groove, turning slowly towards funky Nawlins rhythms and ending with a bursting guitar solo. Their eight album is sure to establish Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip as potent force in roots music.

The band flirts with tradition but pushes genre boundaries with their song writing and special instrumentation to create a sound that’s distinctly their own. “Good Times Somehow” persuasively straddles uptempo soul and deltablues mix with a touch of Rolling Stones groove. “Long ago” features Memphis soul backed up with Hammond organ and gospel feel by two female background singers. Bjorklof shows off his range with dark story of “Are You Real” and blues saturated “I Thought You Were Mine”. Dynamic “It Takes Two” starts slow with a fieldholler theme backed up with snaredrum groove, turning slowly towards funky Nawlins rhythms and ending with a bursting guitar solo. Their eight album is sure to establish Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip as potent force in roots music.

”After several international studio projects we desited this time to record in Finland. Well, borders were closed so we didn´t have any other choice anyway”, Micke Bjorklof laughs. ”To make Colors Of Jealousy we chose this time to work at our headquarter BoomRoom with my longtime partner, Finnish engineer legend Kimmo Ahola. It´s a really good sounding room, specially for drums, although there´s no control room and it is designed more to work as rehearsal studio,” explains Bjorklof.

Album was originally planned to be released in 2021 to celebrate their 30-years Anniversary as touring band but then the pandemic started. That lead to domino theory kind of delays and rescheduling time after time. Specially arranging rehearsals is not an easy task when everybody in the band live across the country and are involved in other musical projects too. ”We started working on new material already in early 2017. We had most of the material written by 2020,”, Bjorklof says. At the end of the year he got a phone call from Ruf Records to join Ruf´s Blues Caravan tour the following spring, unfortunately that dried also out because of pandemic. So no impact to the album project at the end. The band finally got into studio in October 2021 to start the recording process. Only few weeks later a new wave of the pandemic hit and causing new schedule problems. ”There´s been so many obstacles to taccle on this journey and I must admit that the frustration kept sneaking in every now and then. Sometimes it was really hard to stay motivated when you had to find that creative spark over and over again. But here we are now with the new album in our hands. It took 6 long years so it sure has been a very long and heavy process all and all. But we are happy and really proud of the work,” Bjorklof says.

Colors Of Jealousy MP3
Colors Of Jealousy FLAC

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Micke Bjorklof & Bluestrip - Whole 'Nutha Thang

Size: 94.7 MB
Time: 40:09
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2007/2021
Styles: Electric Blues, Blues Rock
Art: Full

01. Hard For A Woman, Hard For A Man (3:12)
02. Jungle Cat (3:37)
03. Extreme (4:59)
04. Whatever Your Name (3:48)
05. Back To My Room (2:59)
06. I Fell Down From The Tree (When I Saw Robert Johnson Pass Me By) (3:34)
07. Grapesugar Love (3:17)
08. It's Been So Long (3:20)
09. Walkin 'Round The House (2:23)
10. Girl Of My Favourite Song (3:03)
11. Silver Moon (5:50)

Micke Björklöf: Lead vocals, harmonica, acoustic guitar
Lefty Leppänen: Electric, acoustic and national steel guitar, mandolin, vocals
Teemu Vuorela: Drums
Seppo Nuolikoski: Bass, vocals
Timo Roiko-Jokela: Percussion, vibraphone

Bandleader and singer Micke Bjorklof founded Blue Strip with bass player Seppo Nuolikoski in 1991. After a few changes at the very start the line up has been the same for over fifteen years. They started as an acoustic blues/rock cover band but before long the roots & blues music and producing original material took over. Today the band is one of the most popular live acts in the roots & blues scene in Finland. They have stirred up audiences around Scandinavia and Europe with their energetic live shows wherever they play, from small clubs to big festival arenas. Opening shows for names like B.B King, FabulousThunderbirds, Little Feat, Bill Wyman Rhythm Kings, Solomon Burke, Robert Plant etc.” In 2007 Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip finished up work on their latest release titled “Whole Nutha Thang”. The album was recorded in London, England with producer Neil Brockbank (Nick Lowe, Tanita Tikaram, Bryan Ferry). The album featured guest appearances by horn players Matt Holland and Martin Winning (Van Morrison, Lisa Stansfield) and magnificent keyboard player Geraint Watkins, known for his work with Paul McCartney, Bill Wyman, Van Morrison and Mark Knopfler.

Whole 'Nutha Thang MP3
Whole 'Nutha Thang FLAC

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Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip - Ain't Bad Yet

Year: 2015
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:03
Size: 95,3 MB
Styles: Electric blues, blues-rock
Scans: Full

1. Last Train To Memphis (2:52)
2. Troublemaker (4:05)
3. Rain In Jerusalem (3:31)
4. Get Ya In Da Mood (4:51)
5. Hold Your Fire Baby (4:00)
6. It Ain't Bad Yet (3:38)
7. Rat Chase (2:56)
8. Sweet Dream's A Sweet Dream (4:36)
9. Today (3:20)
10. Blame It On The Bright Lights (3:15)
11. In Chains (3:56)

A rollickin' rowdy bit of quality blues with a rock edge from Scandinavia, a land with a deep, entrenched love of the music, currently producing some artists, bands and music of real interest. Micke Bjorklof & Blues Strip is a five piece outfit with wailing Harp, tasteful guitar licks and powerful, trenchant vocals from Bjorklof himself. All eleven tracks are penned by band members and work well, as might be expected from a band that has remained unchanged for the better part of twenty years and scooped the award for Best Band at this year's annual Blues Awards competition in their native Finland.

From the band's inception in 1991 as an acoustic blues-rock cover band, Bjorklof and co-founder bassist Seppo Nuolikoski have steadily moved increasingly towards the tempting sound and zing of electric guitar-led work and technology. The result is a band with a rolling, boiling electric sound and a tight, controlled cohesion, and with this release, recorded at Wales' legendary Rockfield Studios and produced by John Porter - a guy with ten Grammy winning albums below his belt who has worked with Buddy Guy, BB King, Santana, Keb Mo and Taj mahal, among others - they have certainly come of age. Pace and variety blend perfectly here to produce an album of solid quality musicianship and interest. Definitely well worth a listen. /Blues Matters

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

Ain't Bad Yet mc
Ain't Bad Yet zippy

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Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip - Twentyfive Live At Blues Baltica (2-Disc Set)

“Twentyfive Live at Blues Baltica” is the new album release from Finnish Blues Award winning blues-rock group Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip. This is the follow up to the critically acclaimed 2015 “Ain´t Bad Yet” album, which was produced by Grammy Award winning John Porter. With this live album Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip celebrate their 25 years career as a touring blues band. This performance was a part of the “Ain´t Bad Yet – 25-Live” anniversary tour. It represents 25-years of hard work and chronicles the band’s most popular material from this period. Through the years, the band has been frequently asked: “When are you going to do a live album”. Now, after delivering six studio albums, they thought it was the right time.

“This vibrant concert in front of 1200 enthusiastic listeners demonstrates clearly this band’s special qualities: the finest songwriting, outstanding instrumentals and first class singing satisfy any desire. Unbelievable were the force and the intensity that went into every single song of this concert. On top of that, the guys showed an enthusiasm on stage that can even be heard on this album”, says Helge Nickel (Baltic Blues Society)

“That night the response of the enthusiastic audience somehow drove the band to a new energy level which I think you also can feel when you listen to this album. When we went through these recordings later, this show stood out for its good energy level throughout the show”, Björklöf continues. “We came to the conclusion that a live album recorded from one show might be the way to go and makes for a better showcase of what this band is about…which is: entertaining the crowds! So here we are and we are proud and excited to present the first ever concert album by Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip”.

No doubt, this great live experience will further fuel the international career that the band is now focusing on after it has already taken them all over the place from Tokyo to the world’s most Northern blues festival in Svalbard.

Album: Twentyfive Live At Blues Baltica (Disc 1)
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:01
Size: 109.9 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Year: 2018
Art: Front

[3:53] 1. Jack The Black Hat
[3:32] 2. Jungle Cat
[3:25] 3. Last Train To Memphis
[3:55] 4. After The Flood
[4:17] 5. Ray Needs A Mojo Hand
[4:18] 6. Hold Your Fire Baby
[4:15] 7. Tell Me
[4:27] 8. 5-10-15 Hours
[3:02] 9. 36 Cuts
[6:17] 10. Red Lightning Mama
[6:35] 11. Honey Hush

Twentyfive Live At Blues Baltica (Disc 1) mc
Twentyfive Live At Blues Baltica (Disc 1) zippy

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Album: Twentyfive Live At Blues Baltica (Disc 2)
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:16
Size: 99.1 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Year: 2018
Art: Front

[3:59] 1. In Chains
[3:30] 2. Blame It On The Bright Lights
[4:04] 3. Troublemaker
[3:08] 4. Woogie Or Die
[3:30] 5. Gumbo Mama
[6:50] 6. Stone Inside
[3:35] 7. Killer Woman
[4:14] 8. Ramblified
[5:19] 9. Let Me Love You Baby
[5:04] 10. Sweet Dream's A Sweet Dream

Twentyfive Live At Blues Baltica (Disc 2) mc
Twentyfive Live At Blues Baltica (Disc 2) zippy

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Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip - After The Flood

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:36
Size: 104.4 MB
Styles: Rockin blues
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[3:36] 1. House For The Blues
[3:49] 2. Jack The Black Hat
[3:55] 3. Water From Your Shoe
[3:12] 4. Woogie Or Die
[4:30] 5. Understanding
[4:31] 6. King Alcohol
[4:05] 7. Sometimes
[3:27] 8. Gumbo Mama
[3:12] 9. Jezebel
[3:14] 10. Ramblified
[3:59] 11. After The Flood
[4:01] 12. Open Up Open

Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip won the National Blues Challenge and will represent Finland at European Blues Challenge 2015 in Brussels, Belgium. “After The Flood” won the category of the best Finnish blues album 2013 at the annual voting on Bluesminister show at YLE Radio Suomi. In the annual critics poll of Blues News Magazine ”After the flood” took the third place.

After several years of planning and talking about making an album in New Orleans, it finally came true. Already inspired and influenced by the sounds originating from New Orleans, Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip journeyed to the Crescent City to record their fifth, and most ambitious album yet: “After The Flood.” A milestone in the band’s career, ”After The Flood” features 12 original songs is a contagious mix of groovy rockin’ guitar-oriented Blues with some “fonky” New Orleans rhythm and soul thrown in to add spice to the recipe. Recorded at the celebrated Piety Street Studio, by engineer Wesley Fontenot and produced by Mark Bingham, known for his work with Dr. John, John Mooney, various members of the illustrious Neville family, Tab Benoit, John Scofield, Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint etc.This new album is important landmark for this band having over 20 years touring and recording career in the business. After having a break from touring, the exciting process of writing songs and putting the material together for this album was really inspiring for the band. The goal has always been throughout their entire recording career to come out with something fresh and new, rather looking forward than back, this record is no exception. It was pretty clear from the start that compared to the earlier records, the direction would this time be towards more percussive/rhythmic and guitar orientated material, with more edgy and dark soundcolor.

After The Flood mc
After The Flood zippy

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