.jpg) |
| l-r.: Cor van der Beek, Mariska Veres Klaasje van der Wal, Robbie van Leeuwen |
release date: Dec. 14, 1968
format: vinyl (IMA 1002) (1970 issue)
[single rate: 4 / 5] [3,78]
producer: Shocking Blue
label: I. M. A. Records - nationality: The Netherlands
Tracklist: A) "Send Me a Postcard" (4,5 / 5) - - B) "Harley Davidson"
Single release by Dutch rock band Shocking Blue originally released on Pink Elephant in '68 and released for the Scandinavian market with this issue in 1970. The single appears to be the band's only third single and it's one of three consecutive non-album single releases following the band's album debut Shocking Blue (Nov. 1967). The band was formed in '67 and went through changing line-ups with a different output starting with music influenced by The Beatles and a folk pop style as expressed by American quartet Brothers Four, but from '68 when Mariska Veres became the band's lead vocalist after founding member Fred de Wilde left, the band changed style to a bolder psychedelic rock founded in American West Coast blues rock. For this single, the band consists of new member vocalist Marika Veres, and the three founding members: lead guitarist and main songwriter Robbie van Leeuwen, bassist Klaasje van der Wal, and drummer Cor (Cornelis) van der Beek. Both tracks are credited van Leeuwen, and the single became an international hit, which was perceived as a fine attempt with a mix of styles exemplified by Jefferson Airplane and The Doors.
The band continued up until 1974 when songwriter and composer van Leeuwen left to concentrate on his newly formed band Galaxy-Lin, and Shocking Blue then released its final album Good Times (1974) after which Mariska Veres left to pursue a solo career and the band split. Shocking Blue reformed in 1980 in their classic line-up and stayed together until '97 when van Leeuwen now left for good, and from hereon and up until 2006 the band was continued around Veres and new lead guitarist André van Geldorp with a changing line-up. The band was put to an abrupt end Dec. 2006 as Mariska Veres died from newly detected cancer.
Shocking Blue was much more than just a few single hits, and among them definitely Send Me a Postcard - they showed an alternative to American and British psychedelic rock, which isn't just covers and copy, and together with Danish band Savage Rose, they stand as a strong European contribution to the vast pool of rock and to the formation and the development of psychedelic rock of the 1970s.
This Swedish issue of the single, released three months after the band's third album Scorpio's Dance (Sep. 1970), was part of my older brother's record collection, and it's a single I vividly recall from age 10-14 years of age - and at that time, it was one of my absolute favourite rock songs.
~ ~ ~
This post is part of MyMusicJourney, which enlists key releases that have shaped my musical taste when growing up and until age 14. Most of these releases come from my parents' and / or my older brother's collection.
.jpg) |
| l-r.: Robbie, Cornelis, Mariska, Klaasje |
