Blackoustic

Blackoustic
Studio album by Kotipelto & Liimatainen
Released	October 10, 2012[1]
Recorded	2012
Genre	Acoustic rock
Label	Earmusic
Producer	Jani Liimatainen and Timo Kotipelto

Blackoustic is a collaborative acoustic album by Stratovarius and Cain's Offering vocalist Timo Kotipelto and ex-Sonata Arctica and Cain's Offering guitarist Jani Liimatainen (credited as Kotipelto & Liimatainen). The album was released on October 19, 2012, and entered the Finnish charts at #13 the first week.^[1] The album is self-financed. While initially only sold during performances, the album was eventually released through the Earmusic label, which had released the prior Stratovarius albums since Polaris.^[1]

All songs from the album are covers, except for "Where My Rainbow Ends" written by Liimatainen. Regarding the song, Liimatainen commented, "I remembered a song I wrote last winter. Originally it was an instrumental track, but after listening back to it I thought that the melody would work very well with vocals. We rearranged the song into our acoustic format and as a slave of habit I wrote the lyrics for it the night before our last day of recording. It turned out surprisingly beautiful and delicate.^[1]

After the release of the album the duo began touring, performing in shows taking place through November 23, 2012.^[2]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Sleep Well" (from Kotipelto's solo album)	Timo Kotipelto/Tuomas Wäinölä	3:35
2.	"Out In The Fields" (Gary Moore cover)	Gary Moore	3:58
3.	"Black Diamond" (Stratovarius cover)	Kotipelto/Timo Tolkki	4:05
4.	"My Selene" (Sonata Arctica cover)	Jani Liimatainen	4:54
5.	"Behind Blue Eyes" (The Who cover)	Pete Townshend	3:31
6.	"Hunting High And Low" (Stratovarius cover)	Kotipelto/Tolkki	4:43
7.	"Where My Rainbow Ends" (Original song)	Liimatainen	3:30
8.	"Speed of Light" (Stratovarius cover)	Kotipelto/Tolkki	4:04
9.	"Perfect Strangers" (Deep Purple cover)	Ritchie Blackmore/Ian Gillan/Roger Glover	4:28
10.	"Coming Home" (Stratovarius cover)	Tolkki	4:02
11.	"Serenity" (from Kotipelto's solo album)	Kotipelto	5:24
12.	"Rainbow Eyes" (Rainbow cover)	Ritchie Blackmore/Ronnie James Dio	6:00
13.	"Karjalan Kunnailla (On the Hills of Karjala)" (Finnish traditional)	Liimatainen (arrangements)	2:37

Personnel

• Timo Kotipelto – vocals, backing guitar
• Jani Liimatainen – guitars, backing vocals
• Matias Kupiainen – mixing, mastering

References

1. "STRATOVARIUS Singer, Ex-SONATA ARCTICA Guitarist: 'Blackoustic' Lands On Finnish Chart". Blabbermouth.Net. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
2. "KOTIPELTO & LIIMATAINEN 'BLACKOUSTIC' - OUT OCTOBER 19TH 2012". earMUSIC. 2012-09-23. Retrieved 2012-10-30.