Mosaic with Frank Robson (1967 – 1968)
Mosaic - 'Big Boy Now' (1968)
Mosaic - 'Crazy Train' (1968)
Mosaic had been founded in 1967 after the breakup of The Creatures. From the former members of Creatures, Könönen, Nikamo, and vocalist Kirill "Kirka" Babitzin joined Mosaic. The drummer Rautarinne had previously played in bands such as Pems (with Jim Pembroke as vocalist), Roosters, and Blues Section's very early line-up. Kirka soon moved to Ilkka "Danny" Lipsanen's D-Tuotanto roster, and organist Robson became the lead singer.
Frank Robson had arrived to Finland at the urging of some Finns in London, having played in the south of England with such relatively unknown bands as The Sons of Mad, The Swinging Machine and The Lower Third, also working occasionally as a session musician for bands such as The Artwoods and The Ivy League. The high point of Robson's early career had been a brief spell as organist in The Small Faces between the terms of Jimmy Winston and Ian McLagan.
Mosaic's music consisted of soul, blues, heavier rock, and the then-fashionable psychedelic music, which was emphasized in performances with hippie-style images projected behind the musicians. The band's live performances featured a psychedelic light show (with flowing patterns created when some oil is poured between the glass plates and then heated up). "The light show helps the audience understand and engage with the music", Robson said. Such light artists as Timo Aarniala (better known for his graphics and underground comics) and Timo-Erkki Heino (later a journalist for YLE) were involved with Mosaic's projections.
The band played only a few covers of the day's hit songs, typical for the era, and even those were heavily rearranged. Mosaic worked in a building on Lönnrotinkatu in Helsinki, which had a studio and where the Finnish DIMI synthesizer was developed. The band's only release, the single 'Happier Man' b/w 'Crazy Train', was recorded in December 1967 and released the following year.
Stylistically, 'Happier Man' can be considered a link between psychedelia and the nascent progressive rock of such Finnish bands as Tasavallan Presidentti (which Robson would join soon afterwards) and Wigwam (where Nikamo was featured in the band's first line-up). After Mosaic, Frank Robson lent his vocal duties to Blues Section when Jim Pembroke had left the band. Robson's vocals and lyrics were heard on Blues Section's last single 'Faye' b/w 'Sun of Love', the latter song also his own composition.
After Robson had left Mosaic in 1968, Sinikka Sokka (later of Agit Prop) became the lead singer, and Mosaic's line-up now consisted of guitarist Nikamo, bassist Lasse Kvist, drummer Zape Leppänen, and saxophonists Hannu Sinnemäki and Tapio Tuominen. At the beginning of 1968, 14-year-old bassist Heikki Virtanen also joined Mosaic. With Sinikka Sokka as the singer, Mosaic performed soul and, for example, songs by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Electric Flag. (Sokka would also lend her backing vocals to Blues Section's 'Cherry Cup-Cake Twist', released on Love Records in September 1968.)
Mosaic interview (1968) @ YLE.
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