Cornelis Vreeswijk "Cornelis' Bästa" (1985)

Cornelis' Bästa, compilation

release date: 1985

format: 2 cd (2010 reissue)

[album rate: 4 / 5]

producer: various

label: DB Records - nationality: Sweden

Best of compilation by Dutch-Swedish troubadour Cornelis Vreeswijk is the only compilation released during his lifetime. The album was originally released as a triple vinyl album on the Norwegian DB label. The album is a mighty fine collection, although, it still feels insufficient. A 2003 2 cd-only compilation with the same title but a different release issued by Metronome appears as a better choice in representing his best material; however, in the case of Vreeswijk with his vast repertoire of songs, any compilation would come out as insufficient but if you only want one album this isn't bad at all.

Vreejswijk deserves this type of recognition, although, his studio albums are preferred over the many compilations. His status as singer / songwriter and a genuine Nordic troubadour puts him on the shelf among the best.

Shocking Blue "Send Me a Postcard" (1968) (single)

l-r.: Cor van der Beek, Mariska Veres
Klaasje van der Wal, Robbie van Leeuwen

Send Me a Postcard, 7'' single

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.

l-r.: Robbie, Cornelis, Mariska, Klaasje

Anneke van Giersbergen "Drive" (2013)

Drive
release date: Sep. 20, 2013
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]
producer: Arno Krabman
label: Inside Out Music - nationality: The Netherlands

Track highlights: 1. "We Live On" (4 / 5) - 2. "Treat Me Like a Lady" - 3. "She" - 6. "Forgive Me" - 7. "You Will Never Change" - 8. "Mental Jungle" - 9. "Shooting for the Stars"

2nd solo studio album from Dutch artist Anneke van Giersbergen, former vocalist of the gothic metal band The Gathering. Producer Arno Krabman also plays guitar and is co-composer of the majority of the songs. The album follows 1½ years after her solo debut Everything Is Changing (Jan. 2012).
Drive is the first album I have come across by van Giersbergen and it's mostly a really nice encounter. It's not extremely original but rather energetic with loans from Madder Rose (tracks #2 and #4), Echobelly (tracks #2 and #3), Skunk Anansie (tracks #4 and #6), Alanis Morrissette (tracks #3, #5, #9 and #10) and with bits and pieces from The Cranberries / Dolores O'Riordan, which is mostly to say: it's alt. rock but also with a certain amount of hard rock, and (thankfully) not the type of gothic metal, which she apparently played with her former band, The Gathering. Quite often van Giersbergen tend to sound like a clone of Dolores O'Riordan and Alanis Morrisette, which frankly isn't all that bad, and the comparison only serves to give an idea of her vocal qualities without implying that she doesn't stand on her own two feet.
The track "Mental Jungle" features Turkish hardcore, industrial metal vocalist Hayko Cepkin (who also co-wrote the song).
The first two rocking tracks and track #7 are easily the best with the remaining songs sounding a wee bit like some of the aforementioned artists or like cloned on other pop / rock hits - however, it's rather well-crafted as the music is catchy and pretty good background noise when hoovering the house. That is: it's music meant to be played loud, and van Giersbergen demonstrates a strong, clean and full-bodied vocal that makes it all worthwhile.
Anneke van Giersbergen has played with various other artists, often lending her voice on a few songs and performed with artists representing very different scenes. After Drive, she contributed with vocals on heavy metal artist Devin Townsend on his four consecutive albums The Retinal Circus (2013), Z2 (2014), Sky Blue (2015), and Ziltoid (2015). In 2015 she also stood behind The Diary, a double album released in collaboration with Dutch multi-instrumentalist Arjen Anthony Lucassen under the name of The Gentle Storm, and in 2016 she collaborated with Icelandic indie-folk band Árstíðir on the classical / folk album Verloren Verleden (Feb. 2016). Not many albums have been released under her own name as solo artist.
Drive is an energetic, warm and recommended listen.

Peace, Love & Pitbulls "3" (1997)

3
release date: 1997
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,82]
producer: Sankan (aka Ulf Karl Sanken Sandqvist)
label: MVG Records - nationality: The Netherlands / Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Black Dog Bliss" - 3. "Caveman" - 7. "Youth"

3rd and final studio album by the Thåström-project band Peace, Love & Pitbulls - here in a minimised version as Peter Puders left Joakim Thåström, Niklas Hellberg and Sanken Sandqvist to continue and eventually also end the project as a trio.
Musically, there's considerable change towards both more melodic and slower songs within an industrial rock universe.
The album is imho, clearly the bands best without really impressing. It's still not really good, although, it remains the band's best attempt. After listening to this, you might suggest that bands like Rammstein and Marilyn Manson should pay tribute to Peace, Love & Pitbulls as inspirational source, and Brian Hugh Warner (Manson) has allegedly pointed out that he for one listened to PL&P.
Peace, Love & Pitbulls disbanded after this release and Thåström restarted his solo career.
Not really recommended.

Peace, Love & Pitbulls "Red Sonic Underwear" (1994)

Red Sonic Underwear
release date: 1994
format: digital
[album rate: 2 / 5] [2,18]
producer: Peace, Love & Pitbulls
label: MVG Records - nationality: The Netherlands / Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Itch"
[ full album ]

2nd studio album by the Thåström-led Swedish/Dutch band Peace, Love & Pitbulls. Founding member Peter Lööf left the band in '93 and was subsequently replaced by Peter Puders.
Stylistically, the band continues on the same path of industrial metal and musically, there's even less interesting bits on this compared to the likewise mediocre debut.
In 1995 Peter Puders left the band again, and PL&P would continue for another two years as a trio.
Not recommended.

Peace, Love & Pitbulls "Peace, Love and Pitbulls" (1992)

Peace, Love and Pitbulls [debut]
release date: 1992
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,38]
producer: Thåström and Cybersank (aka Sanken Sandqvist)
label: MVG Records - nationality: The Netherlands / Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "(I'm The) Radio King-Kong" - 2. "Do the Monkey (Hitch-Hike to Mars)"

Studio album debut by Swedish/Dutch band Peace, Love & Pitbulls - a project-band formed by Joakim Thåström on lead vocals and sampling, Peter Lööf on rap and backing vocals, Rikard Sporrong on guitar and with Niklas Hellberg on sampling and programming. The album is released by the MNW sublabel MVG Records, and the main album producers are Thåstróm and Cybersank, but also band member Niklas Hellberg and The Pittbulls are credited for producing on three of the album's twelve tracks. Both band and album was received as a Thåström project-band, although, it officially was a band formed in Amsterdam in '92.
Musically, the band primarily engages in industrial metal, and the music is allegedly inspired by Einstürzende Neubauten and Swedish metal band Entombed.
I recall, coming across the album in the early 90s and thinking of it as a long shot from what I associated with Thåström. He had taken on a much more aggressive alt. rock and industrial rock style on his first two solo albums, but this is a quite remarkable turn in a new direction.
I never liked this much, but the band is said to have inspired Marilyn Manson in shaping their initial style. To me, this only serves to document the stylistic changes Thåström went through after having left Imperiet behind and for the first time in two decades was free to go in whatever musical direction he wanted, and with the move to Amsterdam, he obviously wanted to make a clean start.
Not recommended.