Windmills, Cheese and amazing music!

It's been some time since the last signs of life on this blog but what can i say...an old man sometimes needs his rest. As you can see i'm back, ready and highly motivated to deliver all of my two or three loyal readers an amazing glimpse on the rocking and grooving music-scene of a country famous for it's beautiful tulips, baffled dopeheads, tasty gouda-cheese and those wonderful, wonderful grachts! ...yes, you are absolutely right: i'm talking about Holland, to the more sophisticated ones among you also known as The Netherlands!

The dutch rock and pop- landscape which developed during the 1960's was, as in almost every other country too, strongly influenced by the british beat-music. Despite all the admiration for the Beatles and their likes it did not take long and loads of more or less talented dutch musicians started playing and recording their own interpretation of beat. Various radio-startions started airing the new pop-music from holland which was soon tagged as Nederbeat. Clubs and rock-venues like the infamous Paradiso in Amsterdam gained their cult-status during this era.

Logo of the Decca "Nederbeat"-series

Similar to the German "Krautrock" there were many different musical-styles and approaches outlined under the term "Nederbeat". Many of my personal favourites and propably the most relevant Dutch releases from that period are characterized by strong blues-influences.

The reason for my recent enthusiasm for dutch contemporary music from the 60's and 70's was the find of a quite exotic 2Lp-box called "Blues from Holland" i picked up on a record-fair a couple of months ago.
Although i already knew and liked some of the bands featured on this sampler (specially Cuby & The Blizzards which have remained among my favourites for years now) listening to these two records was really a pleasure and introduced me to other great acts like Blues Dimension, Livin'Blues, Q 65 as well as some other noteworthy artists.
The funny thing about this sampler is that Philips obviously did not have enough real blues acts in their portfolio, so they included several blues-influenced tracks from artists who had blues references in their name or their music but were actually miles away from being real blues-outfits...the best example is probably an awful Dixieland track from the Endatteme Jugband or Blues Dimensions self titled track which is the only real blues song you can find on their first record while the rest is an amazing blend of garage, pop and beat (with the Nederbeat-typical blues inclusions here and there).

The Philips "Blues From Holland"-Sampler that started it all for me

To give you a clue of what i'm writing about and to give you some recommendations as well i will take you on a short trip through the music of holland's rocking 60's and 70's ....be prepared to meet Livin' Blues , Cuby & The Blizzards, Blues Dimension, Shocking Blue, Golden Earring , The Bintangs and The Outsiders as well as many other fabulous musicians.