Finch and Other Dutch Progressive Bands

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

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.

cool info... did not know that
I loved the later 70s Ekseption albums. The first ones were too Nice-like with all the Classical music cover tunes

[emperorken]

Ayreon
Cliffhanger
Flamborough Head
Ixion
Knight Area
Plackband & PBII
Ricocher
Silhouette
Sky Architect
Triangle
Trion

Probably many more I can't think of at the moment

[Rarebird]

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?')

Because Rick van der Linden claimed the name Ekseption. Later he gave the name back, even without him being a member.

[interbellum]

Ayreon
Cliffhanger
Flamborough Head
Ixion
Knight Area
Plackband & PBII
Ricocher
Silhouette
Sky Architect
Triangle
Trion

Probably many more I can't think of at the moment

Good call, although it seems most of the posts thus far are 70s and early 80s bands.
Today there are indeed a lot more Dutch progressive bands active and through the internet they are a lot more easy to discover.

[interbellum]

A somewhat obscure project was Western Justice by Machiel Botman and Jack Rieley, featuring Eddie Jobson.

[strawberrybrick]

Group 1850 made some albums in the 60s, but for my taste, the 1974 release Polyandri is a fave.

[rcarlberg]

I loved the later 70s Ekseption albums. The first ones were too Nice-like with all the Classical music cover tunes

Rick was inspired to "rock up the classics" by seeing Nice live when they toured Holland.

[Trane]

cool info... did not know that
I loved the later 70s Ekseption albums. The first ones were too Nice-like with all the Classical music cover tunes

I'm surprised about this

Ekseption and Trace are typical symph-weenie bands.

[interbellum]

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.

Just phoned (you know, dialing a number and speaking to someone) the shop that sells Private Dutch.
The book is a paperback and it's still the same edition. It's just a fine picture that suggest a hardcover.
There will be no updates, especially because the book covers the time in which it was quite unusual to release an LP privately, while today it's almost common.
There will be no reprints either, so when the stock is gone, the book won't be available anymore.

[Jos]

Golden Earring - Moontan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCUNFvkLF9k

[interbellum]

Golden Earring - Moontan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCUNFvkLF9k

Which one?

This?
41X7SXFA0AL.jpg
Radar Love (6.25)
Candy's Going Bad (6.13)
Vanilla Queen (9.21)
Big Tree, Blue Sea (8.15)
Are You Receiving Me (9.31)

Or this?
Golden_Earring_-_Moontan.jpg

Candy's Going Bad (6.12)
Are You Receiving Me (9.31)
Suzy Lunacy (Mental Rock) (4.24)
Radar Love (6.23)
Just Like Vince Taylor (4.33)
The Vanilla Queen (9.16)

[spacefreak]

[interbellum]

Any fans of Mecano?

They made a kind of art-rock/New Wave.

This clip from the song The Suggestive Sleep features the new line-up called Mecano UN LTD.




The offshoot Flue also made two (?) albums, from which I like Vista a lot. Their sound was a bit more symphonic/elektronic, combined with acoustic instruments.

[moecurlythanu]

Thanks for the update on the book, interbellum.

[spacefreak]

Any fans of ?

They made a kind of art-rock/New Wave.

The offshoot Flue also made two (?) albums, from which I like Vista a lot. Their sound was a bit more symphonic/elektronic, combined with acoustic instruments.

Yes. We've been rediscussing them in the post-punk thread. They were a great band, very famous in the new wave circles locally and also Flue's Vista got an official local release licensed by Virgin's greek subsidiary. Dick Polak also lived for a couple of years in Athens around the mid 00s (oftenly performing, exhibiting and DJing in central arts bars and galleries).

[interbellum]

Yes. We've been rediscussing them in the post-punk thread. They were a great band, very famous in the new wave circles locally and also Flue's Vista got an official local release licensed by Virgin's greek subsidiary. Dick Polak also lived for a couple of years in Athens around the mid 00s (oftenly performing, exhibiting and DJing in central arts bars and galleries).

Great. I guess I stepped out the post-punk thread halfway, so missed the Mecano-posts.

I've read Polak's entertaining auto-biography "Mecano : Een Muzikaal Egodocument" (although I doubt it was translated) in which he tells a lot about his staying in Greece.

Here's a long interview with Polak:
http://luifabriek.com/2014/02/diggin...-polak-mecano/

My CD-version of Flue's Vista is from France on the Infrastition-label.
First I had my doubts about its status, mainly because one of the band-members told me that the compilation-album "Titled" that I own wasn't a legal one.
But he assured me the Vista-CD was legit.

[Trane]

Which one?

This?
41X7SXFA0AL.jpg
Radar Love (6.25)
Candy's Going Bad (6.13)
Vanilla Queen (9.21)
Big Tree, Blue Sea (8.15)
Are You Receiving Me (9.31)

Or this?
Golden_Earring_-_Moontan.jpg

Candy's Going Bad (6.12)
Are You Receiving Me (9.31)
Suzy Lunacy (Mental Rock) (4.24)
Radar Love (6.23)
Just Like Vince Taylor (4.33)
The Vanilla Queen (9.16)

I was never a fan of Vince Taylor or Suzy Lunacy, however big tree is one of my faves (especially the extended version, as opposed to the shorter on walls Of Dolls)

[miamiscot]

Kayak
Focus
Finch
Supersister
Ayreon

[regenerativemusic]

Which band from the classic time period would you say is the most progressive as far as playing some innovative things?

[Levgan]

Any fans of Mecano?

They were AMAZING. I have to thank Spyros (spacefreak) for introducing the Autoportrait album to me many years ago – I haven't looked back since. For me, the particular highlight is the song "Беспризорные" ("Besprizornye" which roughly translates as "Homeless"), which is based on a curious Russian text, partly unintelligible with strange choice of words etc., but quite stark and atmospheric at the same time. I even went as far as write an e-mail using the contact form on the Mecano website asking about the origins of this track and after a couple of months got a reply from Tejo. Unfortunately, he could not really shed a lot of light on this except that Dirk was friends with some girls who translated Russian poetry into Dutch and they sought to evoke a cold, outlandish atmosphere of wintery Russia in this song so they opted to go with these weird lyrics. The actual origins of the text still remain a mystery, though. Perhaps it was their own creation, but maybe a translation of some obscure Russian modernist poet.

I've read Polak's entertaining auto-biography "Mecano : Een Muzikaal Egodocument" (although I doubt it was translated) in which he tells a lot about his staying in Greece.

Just out of curiosity, aren't there any details on the "Besprizornye" song?

[interbellum]

They were AMAZING. I have to thank Spyros (spacefreak) for introducing the Autoportrait album to me many years ago – I haven't looked back since. For me, the particular highlight is the song "Беспризорные" ("Besprizornye" which roughly translates as "Homeless"), which is based on a curious Russian text, partly unintelligible with strange choice of words etc., but quite stark and atmospheric at the same time. I even went as far as write an e-mail using the contact form on the Mecano website asking about the origins of this track and after a couple of months got a reply from Tejo. Unfortunately, he could not really shed a lot of light on this except that Dirk was friends with some girls who translated Russian poetry into Dutch and they sought to evoke a cold, outlandish atmosphere of wintery Russia in this song so they opted to go with these weird lyrics. The actual origins of the text still remain a mystery, though. Perhaps it was their own creation, but maybe a translation of some obscure Russian modernist poet.

Just out of curiosity, aren't there any details on the "Besprizornye" song?

Despite the title of the book Polak doesn't write a whole lot about Mecano, but he has some memories about Autoportrait (a long time the only album I knew and admired from them). About that specific tune he writes that it's about drifted young persons from Russia during the October-revolution, who would form the backbone of the Red Army recruited by Trotski. (See page 84-85).

[Hyfi]

I have the first Finch disc posted in the thread and do like it.

Somewhere I have several Comps from trading days that feature all obscure Dutch Prog bands. Gonna have to see if I can find them and see if any listed here are on it or if there are more to suggest.

[rockcup]

Earth and Fire live and instrumental

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCU5bejPF8c

[Levgan]

About that specific tune he writes that it's about drifted young persons from Russia during the October-revolution, who would form the backbone of the Red Army recruited by Trotski.

This is very interesting - thank you! Wish I could read the book.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

I'm surprised about this

Ekseption and Trace are typical symph-weenie bands.

you're confusing Symph Rock appreciation with being a Symph Weenie. Any Prog fan can appreciate Symph Rock just as much as Jazz Rock or any other Prog style and naturally therefore not be a Symph Weenie