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Colt1861Navy

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Colt1861Navy

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Re: Colt1861Navy post# 826

Tuesday, 07/09/2002 6:36:41 PM

Tuesday, July 09, 2002 6:36:41 PM

Post# of 1767
Rock 'n' Roll Artists A-Z...Shocking Blue

http://earring.freeservers.com/shocking_blue.htm

http://members.aol.com/uheep2/shocking.htm

A Dutch band known mostly due to their song Venus, 'Shocking Blue' consisted of:

Mariska Veres (voc)

Robby Van Leeuwen (g,sitar)

Klaasje Van Der Wal (b)

Cornelius Van Der Beek (dr)

The band was formed in the Netherlands in 1967 & disbanded in 1974,having produced a number of worldwide hits,including the famous 'Venus' (1969),later covered by Bananarama.

Pop history has often seen invasions.The most powerful & reknown was the British invasion of American pop music in 1963,when the Merseybeat groups led by The Beatles swept across the new world followed by more R&B orientated British bands like the Rolling Stones.Each invasion creates new energy & offers fresh inspiration to a music scene lying in its sleep.

The spearhead of the brief "Dutch invasion" of the early Seventies was 'Shocking Blue'.They conquered the interantional charts with their selfpenned hit single "Venus".This song not only made the European To Ten but also reached # One position in the US on December 6.1969 & stayed eight weeks in the Top Ten.

The Shocking Blue had been formed in 1967 by guitarist Robby van Leeuwen,a veteran of a well known Dutch rock band called "The Motions".But the eye- and ear-catching attraction of the band was the black haired singer Mariska Veres.Her soul-tinged voice gave the music a distinct R&B sound that was often compared with "The Small Faces".Shocking Blue successfully combined Beat and R&B with psycodelic elements of the time like Indian sitar and odd production techniques.

After some inconsequential recording work,they signed with the Pink Elephant label and released "Venus" in 1969.They recorded successfully well into the mid-seventies and had more international hits a.o.with "Mighty Joe" and "Lone And Lonesome Road" both in 1970.The Shocking blue released their first LP also in 1969 titled "At Home" and it featured,of course,the million selled "Venus".1970 saw two albums releases with "Scorpio's Dance" and "Hello Darkness",the latter containing the above mentioned singles "Mighty Joe" and "Long And Lonesome Road".The German Metronome issued the next album in 1971 with the confusing title "The Third Album" which was followed by the studio production "Ink Pot" and a "Live" album a year later.

For the 1973 "Dream On Dreamer" and "Eve And The Apple" the line-up changed slightly.Bass player Klaasje Van Der Wal was replaced by Henk Smitskamp. Finally in the mid-seventies The Shocking Blue disbanded after a very successful carreer.

Their first hit "Venus" became an all-time evergreen and was recorded by the British pop tri Bananarama in 1986 (produced by Stock/Aitken/Waterman).It,again.made a huge impact on the international charts and showed the hit potential of this song.

Although glibly labelled by many as one-hit wonders - albeit international ones, due to the US chart-topping success of 'Venus' - Shocking Blue have recently had their music rediscovered and reassessed by critics and public alike.

Though the band reached the peak of their commercial success at the start of the Seventies, their origins lay further back in the diverse, exciting and woefully ignored Dutch scene of the mid-Sixties.

The Dutch beat boom started when Johnny Kendall and the Heralds' version of 'St James' Infirmary' charted in late 1964. Prior to that, most of the home- grown acts to find success had either been wholesome teen stars or guitar instrumental acts in the style of the Shadows.

Many of the leading lights of the beat boom got their start in these guitar groups. In several instances, the groups themselves evolved and changed styles: ZZ and the Maskers dropped the leader's name for several singles and backed Chubby Checker when he was based in the country (after marrying the Netherlands' representative in a Miss World contest!)

While major cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam all had bands of note, the Hague was undoubtedly the Netherlands' musical hotbed. Almost everything was covered, from cultural outlaws such as Q65, through beat groupssuch as The Hunters (Focus star Jan Akkerman's first major act) through many pop acts the Sandy Coast and Golden Earring (who at this time could be compared with the Hollies). But one band alone captured the style and energy of British Mod acts like the Small Faces and the Action: that was the Motions.

Robbie van Leeuwen, guitarist, songwriter and effectively leader of Shocking Blue, had previously held a similar position in the Motions in their early hit making phase. Those hits included 'It's Gone', 'Wasted Words' (a paean to Dr. Martin Luther King), 'Every Step I Take' and 'Everything That's Mine' the latter one of the finest slices of Mod/Art Pop produced anywhere in the world.

The Shocking Blue story effectively started when Van Leeuwen left the Motions in 1967 due to conflicts with lead singer Rudy Bennett. He recruited members from other Hague bands for his new group: the line-up for the first Shocking Blue singles, up to and including the first hit, 'Lucy Brown Is Back In Town', was Van Leeuwen (guitar), Fred de Wilde (vocals), Klaasje van de Waal (bass) and Cor van Beek (drums). The single charted well, things were about to change.

About the same time as Lucy Brown's release, fellow Hague band Golden Earring had hit the jackpot with the pure bubblegum of 'Dong Dong Di Ki Di Gi Dong'. A band was hired to play at the party they held to celebrate their first Number 1; named the Bumble Bees, they were fronted by a strong and striking female vocalist. Shocking Blue's manager and publisher both attended the party, and both felt certain this singer would be ideal for their band. The woman in question was Mariska Veres.

The new line-ups' first single, 'Send Me A Postcard', was a runaway success in the Netherlands, while the follow-up 'Long Lonesome Road', also made the domestic Top 20. But it was the third single with Veres that would seal the band's fate. 'Venus' made Number 3 in Holland, but significantly topped the charts in several countries, including Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and Germany.

The record came to the attention of a newly formed American record label, Colossus. The label's head Jerry Ross signed Shocking Blue for the States and was rewarded when 'Venus' hit the top there in February 1970. Ross also signed two other Dutch acts, the Tee Set (formed by former After Tea singer Peter Tetteroo) and the George Baker Selection: the Tee Set's 'Ma Belle Amie' also rose high in the US charts to Number 5, while Baker's biggest hit for Colossus, 'Little Green Bag', was later used on the soundtrack of the 90s film "Reservoir Dogs".

Shocking Blue's follow-up to 'Venus', 'Mighty Joe', made Number 1 in Holland and charted almost everywhere its predecessor had. But the international success 'Venus' had appeared to herald failed to materialise. Although the band was still releasing excellent and often innovative singles and still charting in Europe, Van Leeuwen was dissatisfied and increasingly frustrated by the limits of Shocking Blue's chart success. When mainland European bands once again returned in vogue on the back of ABBA's Eurovision victory, the band failed to capitalise and eventually split.

Mariska Veres continued as a solo singer, Van Leeuwen producing her on songs like 'Too Young' and 'Loving You' (both included as bonus tracks on this compilation), he also enjoyed local success in the mid-Seventies with a group, Galaxy Lin.

But Shocking Blue returned to the fray, albeit for one night only, in 1984 at a Back to the Sixties festival in Den Bosch along with the surviving members of Q65, the Shoes and members of other Hague groups. It proved to be a night to remember: Van Leeuwen still had style, and Veres still had one of the greatest female rock voices: the band's interpretations of Jefferson Airplane's 'Somebody To Love' and 'White Rabbit' were just as strong as their own songs.

The continuing interest in Sixties music, along with the realisation that bands whose mother tongue is not English are as musically valid as British, American and Antipodean acts, has led to an increasing appreciation of Shocking Blue's music. Their songs receive radio and club play, while bands have also covered the songs: the most significant re-recording came from grunge supergroup Nirvana, whose debut release on the Sub Pop label was a version of 'Love Buzz' that's rather different to the one you hear here. 'Venus', meanwhile, has proved to have a life of its own. It's been used in television advertisements, while Bananarama's version equalled the original chart position in the US in 1986.

Photos of the band indicate that Shocking Blue seems to trade on Veres' striking, essentially female appearance. Yet it fails to smack of exploitation simply because of the sheer power of the woman. Much has been made of her ancestry - part-German, part-Hungarian Gypsy, and the resulting dark, sultry features. Here was a woman in control. Her voice had and still has a strength and quality that puts her on a par with other powerful female contemporaries like Julie Driscoll and Grace Slick. Maybe the time has come to acknowledge this fact as we enjoy a collection of Shocking Blue classics.

Discography

http://www.angelfire.com/nv/Badfinger/BANDshockingblue.html

http://members.aol.com/uheep2/shocking.htm



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