I'm not afraid for being that lonely.....The Serenes--Back to Wonder

I forget where I heard about The Serenes, but I know that what I heard about them gave me the impetus to seek out the music of this Dutch pop band from the 1990's. They were from Friesland and put out 2 albums which are pretty great sounding, though maybe not the most original sounding. There are some that consider them to be the best pop band ever from the Netherlands.

Think REM with better enunciation, more polished and pop oriented. A bit on the downbeat side, which I suppose you could guess by the band's name!
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Janglepop. With some 60's pop stylings thrown in. Probably as good as a lot of bands from this era who did this sort of thing.

The album I am enjoying right now is Back to Wonder, their second and final album, released by RCA, produced by famed American producer Lou Giordano, who has produced a diverse group of artists over the years, from Boston's Moving Targets, Husker Du, Mission of Burma, Goo Goo Dolls, Belly, and the Lemonheads. The sound quality is pretty excellent on this album, with a few intimate sounding acoustic numbers and even a string saturated ballad (Here).

At least in theory, if this album had been released in the States, it could have seen some success. As it stood I had some difficulty locating their Cd's, but struck gold via Discogs.

All in all the songs are impeccable on Back to Wonder. There is not a bad track on this album. The pop songs are understated, and this probably would not be to the taste of some. If this album was a movie, it would categorized as a "date movie". Which is not a bad thing necessarily.

Because there is a lot to love about this album. Starting with the first song---Spirit (Let me Walk), which is a pretty song with chiming guitar. Maybe a little understated to begin an album, but a fine
song, nonetheless.


 

The Serenes are: Theo De Jong; guitar and vocals, Pyter Kuipers; bass and backing vocals, and Joan Hooghiemstra on drums. Personally I prefer the energy of the 2nd song, Feel Me. This is a clip of the band performing the song acoustically on 2 Meter Sessies.





Another great song on Back to Wonder is Wider Green, which has an almost Byrdsy twang to it, which then converts into soaring guitar pop. The song segues into Love under Will, an intimate acoustic number. Here is another beautiful ballad but with strings--it sounds like it could found a spot on one of Colin Blunstone's (Zombies)solo albums of the early 70's. Another standout is Every Sunday---which is right here.




I think you get the idea of what this band's sound is. Their first album, Barefoot and Pregnant is also a very nice album that I would recommend. The band split up in 1994. I know that Theo De Jong later had a band called Simmer which was released Mothertongue on the Dutch label Excelsior, which was also home to Dutch pop stars Johan, who I did a post on a while back. As far as I know, I have no further information about these guys. I'm sure somebody knows something somewhere. Hope you enjoy this post.

Punk Pop Teen Idol Throwdown!!!--Travoltas vs Bonaduces

This is post is to a humungous degree an imaginary indulgent exercise, existing only within my own overactive imagination. But what the hell....

I recall a friend of mine who spent some time in Siena, Italy, who witnessed a yearly Medieval-themed tournament, where different sections of the City competed for glory, each district bearing their own distinct banner.

Well here we are in the semi-modern, post-fab punk-rock world (No Borgia's!, No Savonarola's), and the real purpose of this post is to extol two lesser known punk-pop groups who deserve more recognition. But the banners that these worthies fly are 70's American TV icons, the people we venerate today, the precursors of today's reality divas. One band is from the European Union, more precisely, the Netherlands, the other from the Heartland of our neighbor to the North, Canada, more precisely Winnipeg.

Travoltas vs Bonaduces.

Will  Proud Canada win a shootout in overtime? Or will they pass the Dutchie? Will resolute Dutch Courage triumph, or am I merely tilting at windmills? There is no clear cut favorite here. And no burning of flags or banners here either.

Travoltas:

 

 

 

 



 



 

 The Travoltas are a Punk-Pop band from Tilburg, Netherlands. As has been stated and cut and pasted many times over, they combine the 60's Pop stylings of the Beach Boys with the hard and fast Ramones sound. Other comparisons can be made to Weezer, and to Vancouver's Zumpano, at least as to the vocals and harmonies in spots. I must say that Teenbeat (which was released in 2000) sounds fantastic! They do what they do as good as any of the better known American acts who garnered serious cash. Radio ready punk-pop. If you heard this on someone's playlist, you'd probably ask "who the hell are these guys"? There is a timeless quality to their music.

 

 

 

 

Perry: Lead vocals

Vincent: Guitar, Synths

Eric: Bass and backing vocals

JD: Guitar and backing vocals

Wooter: Drums

 

Bonaduces:

 

 

The Bonaduces are a Punk-Pop band from Winnipeg, Canada. The Democracy of Sleep is a remarkable album also. Their music possesses some of the attributes found in the Travoltas, but either by osmosis or design there is a lot of heartland Minnesota punk influences, like the Replacements, Huskers, early era Soul Asylum or even Montreal's shoulda been contenders The Nils. Yeah, and maybe some Buzzcocks thrown in. They sound a tad scruffier than their Dutch counterparts, but in terms of lyrical poetry and musical inventiveness they really stand out. They are more of heart on sleeve, emoesque group--the songs seem really personal. The tunes by The Travoltas are great but I have to say that I'm not all that concerned with what they are singing about. The Bonaduces sound is itchier, intense, with a lot more originality.

 

Doug McLean: vocals, guitar

Michael Koop: Guitar, background vocals

Bob Somers: bass and background vocals

Chris Hiebert: drums

 

 

Yeah, I know this post is silly, but its just another way to talk about two albums I like very much.
If you've seen this blogpost before, you know that I like to write about what I think is the good stuff. And it's a win-win situation with these two groups. I say that if there has to be a winner, its the Bonaduces, because the album is more of a unique animal, idiosyncratic. Teenbeat by the Travoltas on the other hand may actually be a perfect Pop-Punk album. The sound, the songs, are superb, almost flawless. But they don't have the rough edges, the personal touch that would single themselves out. A great pop album that doesn't sound that dissimilar from a lot of other groups.

But you know what, that's merely my personal taste, and I would not be surprised if a lot of people disagreed with me. If you are a power pop fanatic, the sort of person who thinks that the Posies sold out after their early albums, you would definitely prefer Travoltas. As for me, I'm probably going to be getting more music by both bands. It's a long shot, but I'm going to try to get a physical copy of The Bonaduces K is for Catherine which won't require me to take out a mortgage. And find out what these guys have been doing for the last 10 years. They are a pretty amazing group. I have to believe this is one of the great 90's alternative albums that most people haven't heard.

I probably would have never found out about them except for a terrific blog spot, Music Ruined My Life. I've found out about some great Canadian bands from that site--one of the best music blogs out there. I do think that America is still snobbish about Canada and its culture. I think a lot of American don't believe it exists, you know Canadian culture. I recently read a book of essays (actually more like speeches) by the great Canadian writer, Robertson Davies, where he refers to some writer who referred to Canada as "America's attic". Wow! How subconsciously offensive is that!

These days music fans all know about Arcade Fire, Metric, New Pornographers, perhaps Sloan. When I was a kid, I think we were all strangely shocked when we discovered that Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, The Band, Guess Who, BTO, were Canadian. But I think for years a lot of Americans have missed out on some excellent music being made due North. These days we seem to finally be breaching a cultural wall, one that has resisted globalization. I listen to the Bonaduces and I feel deprived, in a similar way as when I heard the Nils and Pointed Sticks for the first time, long after the bands broke up. I feel I still have a lot of catching up to do. I've just read two commendable books about Canadian music history, recently published, that I'll hopefully chat about soon.

And there is a similar feeling toward European bands--unless its American or English, how good could it be? The real answer is very, very good!

But you discover if you dig enough, great bands in Scandanavia and Germany. And of course, the Dutch have Travoltas, Johan, The Nits, The Ex, Bettie Serveert, The Serenes, to name a few. Even France has great bands, despite the stupid caricatures. Bands like the Dogs, and Les Thugs, and even Plastic Bertrand made some fun music. And if you can overcome people singing in other than your own language, well the whole world is your musical oyster. Zimababwe, Brazil, Russia, Phillipines, Japan. Just when I think I've heard it all, I get blown away once more, unexpectedly.

Johan--Dutch Classic Pop Perfection---Pergola

It's too bad but the Dutch pop group Johan has called it quits. It seems the band has had hits in Europe but that success has not translated to the U.S., despite favorable reviews and release of their first album on the SpinArt label. I noticed the Pergola album on the website of Parasol Records, who have a bit of a jones about music from Europe, particularly Scandinavia. They claimed that this was one of the best pop albums of the past 5 years (originally released in 2001) and was not at import prices. So I took the cheese--and was pleasantly surprised.

Catch The Morning Rain, Upon Your Face Again

Well the first surprise was the gnome on the cover as shown on the website was a limited edition album cover--the one I received was fairly generic, more like a soup can label. But the music within was pretty terrific. Don't misunderstand me, there isn't a lot original going on here. However the songs are so well done that many of them sound as if they were exhumed from a time capsule from the 60's and could go toe toe with many of the mellower romantic classics of the era. Think early Bee Gees, The Byrds, CSN, The Monkees, Zombies, or Beatles, slightly modernized. If you did not know their origin, you would think these guys were from Rhode Island or San Francisco instead of Netherlands. Great vocals, soaring harmonies, classic arrangements--its hard to be believe their second album was never released in the US.

I don't think there is a bad track here really. Starting with the poignant Tumble and Fall, the strong confident vocals of Jacob de Greeuw dominate the proceedings. The title track Pergola has a bit of an alternative feel with the verses reminiscent of "its the end of the world as we know it". I Feel Fine is also a corker which is more of a 90's rock arrangement. I Mean I Guess sends a lot like a classic Bee Gees song, but with a burbling synth in the background. They reach the very heights of Bee Gee emulation with the lovely Day is Done which has the soaring choruses you might expect. Some of the backing vocals actually sound like they were cribbed from their disco years.

Some of what I am saying does not seem complimentary, but you only have to hear the songs to know how outstanding this album is. The optimistic and nostalgic Paper Planes is just a perfect sweet love ballad. Time and Time Again makes great use of dynamics, starting softly, crescendoing with pizzicato strings to a huge chorus. Tomorrow is a driving pop song which resembles a revved up CSN a bit. Other highlights here are the mournful How Does It Feel?, the tortured Why CP, and the grandiose symphonically arranged finale, Here.

Start to finish an enjoyable album with original songs that could pass for 60's classics. If you love great harmonies and gigantic hooks in your music, you should check this one out. I see that Parasol still sells this at a very reasonable price, and the first album (also very good) can be easily found for pennies. Their biggest hit came from their 3rd album (they made four) Thx Jhn, namely the very romantic Oceans. The video for the song was about a young woman from Argentina who traveled thousands of miles and endured hardships to see her favorite band perform in the Netherlands.