I wanted to see what I would get if I typed "rare dutch progressive rock" into youtube.
A band called Finch came up. It's pretty good so far, the beginning of the first track:
Beyond The Bizarre (1/2)
I wanted to see what I would get if I typed "rare dutch progressive rock" into youtube.
A band called Finch came up. It's pretty good so far, the beginning of the first track:
Beyond The Bizarre (1/2)
FINCH Galleons of Passion 01 Unspoken Is The Word
Finch were awesome! I love all 3 albums for different moods. Each has a unique quality
lots of great Prog Rock from the Dutch:
Anomaly Anomaly
Finch Glory of the Inner Force
Focus Hamburger Concerto
Trace Trace
Finch Beyond Expression
Focus Moving Waves (aka Focus II)
Hinze Combination, Chris Sister Slick
Trace Birds
Van't Hof, Jasper Eye-Ball
Akkerman, Jan / Claus Ogerman Aranjuez (aka Collage)
Ekseption 5
Ekseption Trinity
Ekseption Bingo
Ekseption Mindmirror
Focus Focus 3
Hinze Combination, Chris Mission Suite
Lady Lake No Pictures
Scope Scope
Scope II
Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?
From MT's list, I'll only retain the following albums....
... But I'll add the first three Supersister, Solution's first two and Cargo's only albumOriginally Posted by MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER
(never heard Scope, though)
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Coda-Sounds Of Passion is great.
I love Finch's Glory of the Inner Force. This is fusion done right IMO. Their subsequent releases never clicked, though.
My favorite Dutch prog albums are the first two Supersister LPs. Both are desert island discs for me! As a footnote, I have recently got the original US pressing of Present from Nancy, never knew it existed. It's on the Dwarf label, called just Supersister and spots a totally different cover artwork that I haven't seen before.
From the more obscure, but worthwhile Dutch albums may I mention Kracq's Circumvision, Het Pandorra Ensemble's III (very Crimson-esque, in a good way) and Lethe. There are others (in fact there is even a book about them, Private Dutch by record collector Jean Jobses), but while some others may veer more into the jazz or folk direction, these three I think could appeal to many folks here.
Anomaly I have and I have interviewed them. Seen them several times live. Alas they never made a second album. Their keyboardplayer plays in a cover-band nowadays.
Chris Hinze is a bit of a weird one. He has been all over the map. Recently there was a biography of his published, which was a nice read. It came with a compilation CD.
My favorite Dutch Prog band/album is probably Bonfire from 1975. Killer album. I also really like the Finch stuff, Beyond Impression is probably my favorite, but I like Glory of the Inner Force a lot as well.
After those, I like Supersister and a couple of lesser known bands, The Keyboard Circle and Het Pandorra Ensemble. I also have the Anomaly album that has been mentioned a few times as well, and it is pretty good.
Focus never really did it for me, nor Ekseption or Trace, so what I have above is it for Dutch Drog.
Bill
Alquin releases some fine albums too.
Thanks for mentioning that book Private Dutch.
By the way, Het Pandorra Ensemble was released on CD by The Lasers Edge: http://www.lasersedgegroup.com/label...dorra-ensemble
Thomas Flinter made two albums, from which I rate the first eponymous one higher than the second:
Gentle Giant-lovers should try the last song Tappster (Fill Another Ale).
Wow, sounds good. Too bad it's not on CD.
Bill
Excellent album!
Kayak had some great stuff too.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
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I bought the book years ago and it's a paperback. This picture looks like a hard cover edition. Does anyone know if an expanded edition of Private Dutch has been done? (Possibly this?)
Don't know. I just tried to order the book, so I'll have to wait and see what edition this is.
Although more in the jazz-rock fusion vein Spin's eponymous album (featuring Ekseption-members) is great:
A bit obscure was Henk Werkhoven's "Orphical Positions (only on LP):
Werkhoven", who started making music in the late 60s, would later write the New Age Encyclopedia "The International Guide To New Age Music", while he also made music in bands like Dream Quest and Caerleon Fair.
And let's not forget Earth And Fire. (http://earthandfire.ning.com/)
For me their best one is To The World Of The Future, although I can imagine the funk-influences might not be loved by the old fans.
The first Spin album is very good indeed, the second not so much. The Dutch Prog scene in the 70s (like the U.S. scene) leaned more more toward the Jazz Rock side of the spectrum than the Symph Rock side but I like both styles so the Dutch are fine with me
I could have listed *every* *single* Dutch album I own but I only listed my absolute favorites. The Bonfire album mentioned is great as well.
Last edited by MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER; 02-28-2016 at 02:07 PM.
Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?
I like the Dutch stuff we have on the label Supersister, Earth and Fire, Kayak and Jan Akkerman, I also like Finch (never been able to licence this ) and Focus (same situation there) and Golden Earing-- great band although more classic rock than Prog
Keep us posted please. My copy is paperback, but indeed, like Mark said, the picture makes it look as if it's a hardcover edition. If so, I wonder if it's revised/expanded, or just a reprint.
I like all three Finch albums, but I don’t think that Glory of the Inner Force has been bettered.
Allow me to echo the thumbs-up for the Lethe LP. It starts off slow, but really grows into something special; instrumental prog with more oboe than I’ve heard on anything in a while, and with a distinctive Nino Rota-ish soundtrack-y feel. Their earlier iteration as Mirror (with a female singer/keyboardist, Daybreak was the album) might also be of interest.
I don’t know if I’d say it’s their best, but I do like TTWOTF a lot. I bought it and Song of the Marching Children (German issue with different cover art and great single track “Memories” tacked onto the start) on the same day and was immediately hooked. I really like the Side 1 suite from Gate to Infinity as well, the rest, not so much. Funnily enough, they kept on releasing one epic prog track per album up until 1981’s Andromeda Girl (I really like the 11-minute title track of that one, too).
There’s more than one? I’ve never heard this band (despite seeing plenty of still-sealed copies of that album in record stores for years), but I understand that they were folded into Ekseption for their Mindmirror album.
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
Spin *are* Ekseption (minus Rick VdL ... who isn't on *all* Ekseption albums anyway so it makes ya wonder 'why change their name to Spin?')
Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?
Mr Albert Show - Warm Motor from 1972 is a great hard rockin prog effort from the Netherlands.
Never warmed up to those Finch's , but Focus , Supersister and that lone Bonfire are all excellent.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
Legal reasons presumably. Rick was 'fired' from Ekseption by Rein van den Broek, the titular head of Ekseption, because of his drinking problem (so far as I know). Rick went off to form Trace, Ekseption continued on with Hans Jensen in Rick's place, and when the new Ekseption met with skepticism (and low album sales) Rein reconfigured the band and renamed them 'Spin.' They were even less classical than the RvdL-less Ekseption, so maybe he was trying to make a distinction, who knows. At any rate, Trace and Spin merged to become Ekseption again, Rick and Rein having mended their bridges.
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