Sunday, April 4, 2010

The Shocking Blue - Colossus - `70

here we go ! - the debut LP on colossus , sister LP to the post below , Tee Set. this is a great lp as well. these guys could really play , lots of change ups groovin goin on here. um , fuzz acid & flowers here , need i say more ? - don`t make em like this anymore , oh i hear nirvana covered love buzz , dunno.


Pop history has often seen invasions. The most powerful and renown 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 Stones. Each invasion creates new energy and offers fresh inspiration to a music scene lying in idle sleep.
The spearhead of the brief 'Dutch invasion' of the early Seventies was Shocking Blue. They conquered the international charts with their self-penned hit single ‘Venus'. This song not only made the European Top Ten but also reached the Number One position in the US on December 6, 1969 and stayed eight weeks in the Top Ten.
The Shocking Blue had been formed in 1967 by guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen, a veteran of a well-known Dutch rock band The Motions. But the eye-and-ear-catching attraction of the band was the dark-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 psychedelic 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 with 'Mighty Joe' and 'Long 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-seller ‘Venus'. 1970 saw two album 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 'Third Album' which was followed by the studio production of 'Inkpot' 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 career.
Their first hit 'Venus' became an all-time evergreen and was re-recorded by the British pop trio 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.  [ Ulf Marquardt ]


Lineup :
Mariska Veres (voc)
Robby Van Leeuwen (g, sitar)
Klaasje Van Der Wal (b)
Cornelius Van Der Beek (dr)


The Shocking Blue - Colossus - `70
all trax from wax - akashaman - 2010
MP3 @ 320 kbps - includes high rez scans


A.
Long and Lonsesome Road
Love Machine
The Butterfly And I
Venus
California Here I Come
Poor Boy
B.
Mighty Joe
Boll Weevil
Acka Raga
Love Buzz
I'm A Woman
Send me a Postcard


DOWNLOAD -- HERE --



10 comments:

Unknown said...

I still remember them on Top of The Pops, ah... a very important part of my growing up... I always have Venus on my mp3 player, but don't know their other stuff, so thanks very much for this!

Anonymous said...

It's nice to see this blog coming into its own. Good job putting up these pop LPs. They could be considered guilty pleasures for diehard 60s guys like me, kinda like Herman's Hermits were. Keep up the great work. We appreciate it, even if we don't say it often enough.

Troglodyte said...

Great album. Mariska was finer than frog hair too. Thanks!

akashaman said...

thanks guys ! - very welcome & ya she has to be one of the hottest female leads ever ! ha

Anonymous said...

Yes, good stuff! ..and that musical 'Dutch invasion' you mention was most ably (and most gratefully!) fueled by the offshore radio stations then anchored off Holland (Radio Veronica, Radio Nordsee, Atlantis , Caroline etc). Great days!

Anonymous said...

aw man, thank you so much for uploading this album!!! i just have trouble using that mirrorcreator site though... it always redirects

Anonymous said...

WOW - I had this album for a long, long time. Into the late 80s people were asking me "Who is that?" and they were shocked to learn that it was not a "current" group.

Len said...

Thx, great band, great music and thanks to this album robbie van leeuwen never worked a day in his life again. Too bad pretty Mariska died a few years ago

Eduardo Guerrero said...

Thank you very much!

Eduardo (rom Mexico)

s$s said...

thanks for this.