Het Verhaal van HET en de Hit Ik Heb Geen Zin Om Op Te Staan. Henk van der Sluis

Om de single 'Ik Heb Geen Zin Om Op Te Staan' bewust meegemaakt te hebben, moet iemand ten minste omstreeks 1955 geboren zijn. Om HET in 1965-66 live gezien te hebben minimaal in 1950 of 51. Daar val ik niet onder. Het nummer bereikte in de winter van 1966 de negende plaats in de Top 40 van Radio Veronica. In 1974 bereikte het zelfs de Top 1000 ter ere van de 500e Top 40. Ik heb me een ochtend verslapen, dus het nummer niet gehoord. Volgens mij kende ik het ook niet en was juist benieuwd wat het was, een nummer met zo'n rare titel.

Dat is beslist goed gekomen in latere jaren en inmiddels is het een van mijn favoriete Nederlandstalige nummers. Het heeft een nihilistische, licht absurdistische tekst en deels nihilistische muzikale begeleiding. Er vallen nogal wat stiltes in de coupletten, om beschaafd te gaan rocken in de refreinen, maar totaal loos te gaan in de solo, waarna weer de stilte valt voor het derde couplet. Het nummer is uitzonderlijk aanstekelijk en zo makkelijk mee te zingen. Toch is het enigszins wonderlijk dat het zo'n grote hit is geworden. Daarvoor breekt het met teveel popwetten, lijkt het. Tegelijkertijd ramt het zichzelf o zo gemakkelijk in je brein. Wanneer ik het wel voor het eerst hoorde? Ik heb echt geen idee meer.

Daarna volgde in 1966 nog een klein hitje. 'Kejje Nagaan', zo mogelijk nog absurdistischer, reikte tot plaats 31 en daarna was het over voor HET. Qua hitnoteringen dan. Ook hier, ik heb echt geen idee wanneer ik het voor 'Kejje Nagaan' eerst hoorde. Inmiddels heb ik beide nummers op een van de cds van de Nederbiet box van rond 2000.

Journalist Henk van der Sluis was een fan van het eerste uur en besloot een boek over de band en de single te schrijven. Het is een boek geworden met een kleine 300 bladzijden. Prachtig vormgegeven als een mini-koffietafel boek met harde kaft, veel kleurige bladzijden en heel veel foto's, die een mooi tijdsbeeld laten zien.

Het nummer begint met zanger Bob Bouber (Boris Blom), nadat deze uit ZZ & de Maskers is gestapt. Hij wordt (stage) manager en zoekt een groep om het door hen geschreven nummer 'Ik Heb Geen Zin Om Op Te Staan' in te spelen. Nu heb ik altijd gedacht dat Bouber de zanger was, maar dat blijkt Jacques Zwart te zijn. Samen met Adri de Hont, Pim van der Linden en Dennis Witbaard vormde hij HET. Ze namen de single en b-kant 'Alleen Op Het Kerkhof' op. Via een promotiecampagne met een bed op de Dam werd de nodige aandacht gegenereerd en de rest is geschiedenis.

Als alles verteld is, is de beroemde single eigenlijk een voetnoot. De band wilde heel andere dingen spelen en was voornamelijk een coverband die "ruige" nummers van The Who, The Rolling Stones en The Small Faces coverde. In een latere incarnatie als Pocomania begeleidden ze de Canadese soulzanger Davy Jones, ook allemaal covers. Intrigerend is, dat deze Jones van de aardbodem verdwenen is rond 1970 in Frankrijk.

In het boek volgen we de band, de leden, de manager, hun vrouwen, een fan en de fanmail, alle bands na HET, de scene en wat niet meer. Soms is het wel wat veel, maar het tijdsbeeld is prachtig. Misschien dat een paar verhalen met een korreltje zout genomen/genoten moeten worden, maar vooruit, ze zijn zeker vermakelijk. (Beatlesleden die hotellades vol poepten in Hamburg?) Als het boek uit is, heb je echt niet het idee dat er meer over HET te weten is.

Tragisch is wel dat bijna alle mensen die aan het woord komen, zijn overleden voor de verschijning van het boek in 2025. Ze hebben het resultaat dus nooit kunnen zien. Een enkeling was reeds overleden voor dat Van der Sluis aan zijn monnikenwerk begon. Dan komen de weduwe en/of familieleden aan het woord. Het resultaat mag er zijn en nogmaals, de vormgeving is echt groots. Een monument voor één parel uit de vaderlandse popmuziek, 'Ik Heb Geen Zin Om Op Te Staan'!

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

Je kunt Het Verhaal van HET hier bestellen:

https://concerto.nl/product/henk-van-der-sluis-het-verhaal-van-het-en-de-hit-ik-heb-geen-zin-om-op-te-staan/ 

Timebox live. Hoofdorp C., Thursday 16 October 2025

Photo: Wout de Natris

Dutch pop music 1964-1974? That contains a lot of music, very different music and a distinct growth from beat to symphonic rock. It contains songs that were hits across the world, though always incidental and not structural and it contains 'Venus' that was a number one hit in three different versions and may have made Robbie van Leeuwen the richest musician of his generation. Dutch pop music 1964-1974? This era may simply contain the best songs having come from this country. So, here we go.

When I learned at a solo performance Diederik Nomden played at the Phil in Haarlem in late summer that he had a new project called Timebox and played his favourite song from it, 'True Love That's A Wonder', My Love and I knew we had to get some tickets. And were we in for a treat.

After the show, I wondered: had I been a Timebox member, would I have made a much different choice of songs? Many were very obvious choices and a few real surprises. With some I might have preferred another song from that particular band. But overall? No, I don't think so.

First a fact. The Analogues stopped performing at the end of last year, with the 'Let It Be' and 'Abbey Road' show. Five members decided to continue in a new format, Timebox. So, Jac Bico, Felix Maginn, Jan van der Mey, Diederik Nomden and replacement drummer Kees Schaper were on stage with Ralph Mulder and guest singer Josephine van Schaijk. With news flashes from the era played in the old-fashioned tinny sound of the time, the band came on stage and started with one of the weirdest songs from the Nederbeat era, but one of my all time favourites, 'Ik Heb Geen Zin Om Op Te Staan'. For me there was no way this evening could go wrong after this song. The sound was superb, the whole evening long. Maginn, who played mostly bass, played these fantastic parts that I had never really noticed before. In 'She Likes Weeds' the guitar lines Jac Bico played gave the song a super rock and roll feel in an already very nice poppy tune. Of course I had heard these lines before, but just never like this. The details in all songs were so obviously present. It made me want to hear the originals immediately to get those details in there.

So many good songs came by. I am not going to mention them all. Should you be inspired to go, there's still the element of surprise for you. I will share a personal memory or two.

Photo: Wout de Natris

The oldest songs played were all from (a few years) before my time. When did I hear them for the first time? There's no telling any more in most cases. But not for Boudewijn de Groot's 'Testament'. Friends of my parents where I stayed regularly in the first half of the 1970s, had the 'Land Van Maas En Waal' single. The B-side is 'Testament'. I remember it so vividly and the impact the song had on me. Or 'Hair' by Zen. I had just discovered the Top 40 in the fall of 1968, got the leaflet every Thursday after school and listened to the radio show. A song entered on #40 and it sort of exploded in my mind. Not unlike 'Summertime Blues' by Blue Cheer did in spring 1968, without me at that point in time having knowledge of something called the Top 40. Later I learned that Veronica had put the single on that spot without it having any sales. For a positive or a commercial interest reason? Who cares? History was made. Three or four weeks later it was number 1. And it just stayed in the charts. With the nickels and dimes I received as pocket money I saved and saved and in the final week of the 22 week chart run of 'Hair' I could finally purchase it for 4,50 guilders, which was a huge amount for a school kid. I still love playing the song.

Two of the songs we have played/still play with my band, Sweetwood. I was the singer of the former, Cuby + Blizzards best known song, and received the compliment that my rendition was not behind what we heard in Hoofdorp. It was nice to hear, as I do not often receive compliments for my singing voice. The compliment came from our "Mariska Veres" and no, we do not do 'Venus', but my absolute favourite of Shocking Blue. It pleased me a lot to hear it live from such a good band. (I'm afraid that Timebox is better than all the bands from the era were live at the time. Except for Kayak, not on the show, in 1974 I have not seen a single one at the time, so do not truly know. It's just a gut feeling I have.)

If you ask me about albums and what was my first? I remember getting a compilation album of Dutch bands in 1969, 'Their Greatest Hits'. The best song on that album was played, a song by Brainbox. I had sort of forgotten about the album and always mention 'Coz I Luv You' an album by Slade. Funnily enough that album does not seem to exist. Try and find it on Wikipedia. One that followed very soon was 'Tee-Five Tee-Set', a compilation of five years of hits. It contains one of the weirdest songs in Dutch pop history, when the band went psychedelic. I loved it as a child because of all the weird sounds and all. Today I have to concede that it is not a very good song, unlike 'Ma Belle Amie' and the already mentioned 'She Likes Weeds' are. But, this song was released months before Small Faces' 'Lazy Sunday', a far better song. Both are highly original.

No matter how good some of the music made today is, for some reason it doesn't compare for me to the pop, beat and everything after music from roughly this era. Despite not having been consciously present for all of the years, based on the love for what came after let's say from late 1966, when I started to notice new music people slightly older than I was listened to and from 1968 starting to have something like my own favourites, the few years before fell easily into its place. There was not a song I did not know. Only one by Rob Hoeke I knew marginally. (You almost have the title this way.)

Timebox are musicians with a lot of experience but if anything shone through, it was their love for this music and the fun they have playing this music together. Most people were even older than I am and they come out to hear the favourites from their youth, in droves. And which song would I have added? I think 'Maybe Tomorrow Maybe Tonight' by Earth & Fire. Hearing that other big hit was already more than satisfying though. It may be there best.

I have one question left. Were there any songs from 1964 and from 1974? I don't think so. Herman Kuiphof's most famous quote from 1974 was there sure enough. Luckily enough the audience in Hoofdorp did not "tuin" in it. We got the best on offer in 2025.

Timebox still tours extensively with this programme and returns later next year with a tour of Britpop from the same era. This is going to be so good as well.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

Here is the touring schedule:

https://gvproductions.nl/artiesten/timebox/ 

 

De Toegift live. Paradiso Amsterdam, zaterdag 22 Februari 2025

Foto: Wout de Natris

Een magische avond in een compleet stille bovenzaal van Paradiso. Zeeuwse band De Toegift begeesterde zijn publiek en durfde het kleinste muzikale stuk mogelijk aan: volledige stilte. Dit was geen verrassing, want in december 2023 zag ik de band voor het eerst in het Patronaat café in Haarlem. Als ik mijn verslag teruglees, dan durfde de band daar nog veel meer met stilte te spelen dan in Paradiso.

Nu was, zeker in het verleden, Paradiso een notoir lulcafé, vol met mensen waarvan ik dacht, bespaar je dat geld voor het kaartje en ga gewoon naar de kroeg. Dat is aan het veranderen, is me opgevallen en bij De Toegift helemaal.

Ik vraag me af of de leden oude zielen zijn in een jong lichaam. Die indruk wekken ze wel bij mij en dit is helemaal prima. Muziek maken is een serieuze bezigheid en dat zien en horen we. Gelukkig kunnen er regelmatig lachjes af. Ook de band geniet, na de eerste nummers, als de kop er af is.

Nu was de band misschien ook een beetje onder de indruk van hun eerste show als solo act in Paradiso. Voor bijna iedere band is dat toch een droom die uitkomt. Op basis van de eerste twee albums, 'De Toegift (2023) en 'Kleine Auto, Grote Hot Wheel' (2025) is die plek ook verdient. (Zie elders op dit blog de recensies.) Uitgebreid met een violiste en een fluitiste/zangeres is het geluid diverser en voller dan voorheen.

Foto: Wout de Natris

Verstilling was zeker het hoofdthema van de avond. Des te verrassender zijn de paar nummers die volkomen uit de band springen, waarvan 'A' het beste voorbeeld is. Het was me op de plaat al opgevallen, maar De Toegift doet hier echt De Kift. In mijn hoofd hoor ik de toeters erbij en zie Ferry Heijne met wijd open gespreide armen staan. De zaal doet net zo hard mee nu men even uit de band mag springen door "A" mee te brullen. Des te knapper dat daarna ook iedereen terug het gareel inging, maar laten we wel wezen, er zou ook niets van de nummers en band overgebleven zijn als men was gaan kletsen. Dat dat niet gebeurde, zegt net zoveel over band als publiek. Men kwam om te luisteren en deed dat met overgave. En die kregen wij weer terug van de band.

Of De Toegift een grote zaal ook stil kan krijgen, dat zal de toekomst ons hopelijk leren. De kwaliteit is er om door te groeien. De progressie van album 1 naar 2 is aanzienlijk. Ik kan nu al niet wachten op nummer 3, maar zal geduld moeten betrachten. Mooie muziek als van De Toegift verdient een breder publiek, punt.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

2024. Week 26, 10 singles

Week 26, we are halfway through the year, the longest day is behind us already for a week. At 23.30 there's still light in the sky in the north west. But after a few days of summer, the relative cold and rain will be upon us again. The wettest year ever? It may well become so. In the mean time I have listened to some recent singles once again. It's New Zealand what the clock strikes this week and all so different. The water remains good and strong there, whatever it is what is in it.

Everyone. Voom

Voom could be found on this blog in the first week of this year, with its first release in quite some time. Where 'We Don't Care' was described as a grungy song, Everyone is an alternative singer-songwriter song with a Beatlesque undertone swimming in a form of acoustic grunge. The beginning is long, circa a minute long. After an instrumental intro, Voom bursts into the chorus straight away, and elaborating on it as well. When the verse starts, also the intricate background vocals are introduced. Everyone has the kind of chorus that anyone can sing along to near instantly. The delicate playing and great singing endeared me to the song immediately. Add the little extras that shine through the music every once in a while and Voom has me alright. The only criticism here is the ending. Sorry, but couldn't you have used a little imagination here? It's a real shame for such a nice song. But then, it's the end I'm complaining about -:).

Medicine. Lauren Mann and Johnny Aitkin

It is well over three years since Lauren Mann's last album 'Memory & Desire' was on this blog. Today she returns with a soft folk ballad together with Johnny Aitkin with whom she wrote the song. As always, Lauren Mann's voice steals the show. It has a quality that makes me want to listen to her more. Medicine though is not about Lauren's voice but about the story it tells about the situation of indigenous people on the island she lives on ("Lauren of the Island"). It's about them and their call for medicine. This is only the easy message. I also hear a call for medicine against are modern world and what it destroys on the indigenous lands, land that needs healing. Mann and Aitkin have caught this message in a beautiful song, that is adorned by the playing of Adam Iredale-Gray, fiddle, percussion and what not, besides the keyboards most likely played by Lauren Mann and the acoustic guitar by Aitkin. With Medicine Lauren Mann once again shows that far more people ought to know her name by now.

Alles Begint Bij Vandaag. Hiigo

Inmiddels is de debuut EP van Hiigo al een maand uit. De single komt vandaag pas aan de beurt hier. Ik zal zeggen dat het niet veel had gescheeld of er had niets gestaan, over Hiigo dan. Het eerste couplet klonk mij teveel als een mix van Bløf en Racoon in de oren (niet mijn bands). Het refrein is nog steeds pop, maar van een steviger soort, waar een nog oudere band als Toontje Lager om de hoek komt kijken. De mix van de twee werkt dus wel, merk ik. Daardoor ben ik beter gaan luisteren en hoor hoe lekker de muziek onder de coupletten klinkt. De eerste indruk betrof toch vooral de zang. Als geheel klinkt Alles Begint Bij Vandaag wel iets glad, zoals jaren 80 bands dat deden (nog steeds doen natuurlijk). En dan komt die gitaarsolo. Net als Sander van Herk Het Goede Doel echt tot leven kon brengen, zo doet Dion van der Geest dat bij Hiigo. Ja, dat is heel veel jaren 80 in deze recensie, maar zo klinkt de band gewoon.

One Hell Of A Time EP. The Lost Weekend Band

The best singer in the world? Undoubtedly not. The best musicians is the world? Certainly not. Combined The Lost Weekend Band is the best bar and bluesrock festival band anyone could wish for. You will have heard it all before and yet you will find yourself singing along, dancing, jumping up and down and drink a few beers like you once used to. Where bands like The Black Crowes and Stevie Vaughan and Double Trouble, a few great songs apart, always sounded too forced to me to truly like, The Lost Weekend Band simply does what bands like The Rolling Stones and The Faces were so good at over 50 years ago: rock with R&B old style worked in. The surprise is that some of the band members have their legacy in punk and hardcore bands like Agnostic Front and Slipknot. This music, honky tonk country and rock, could not be much further apart. The songs on this EP are powerful. Perhaps that is a result of the past experiences. With a ballad in the middle and an acoustic outing at the end, One Hell Of A Time is even diverse. The way the EP opens is something no one takes away from us rockers. What counts overall, is the warmth in the sound of the whole EP. It simply shines with the love for this kind of roots music.

Tuck Belly Up. Clown Sounds

Todd Congelliere played in bands and then had a bunch of songs on his hands that didn't fit these bands and were stuck on a demo called Clown Sounds. We are speaking of 2010. Come 2024 there is a band called Clown Sounds, since 2017, and it has released a nice punky rocking single called Tuck Belly Up. It is a powerful affair without overdoing it. Two guitars set the sound, panned left and right in the mix playing a riff that is as strong as it is effective. In between the bass echoes the guitars and the drums keep everything going with force and enthusiasm. The nasal, punky voice makes the exact right sound for this bouncy, sprightly song. The album is called 'Par For The Curse' and will be released on 12 July.

All My Life (I Love You). Motorpsycho

Opening You Tube to start working on this week's singles again, the first song presented to me is a new release, on 28 June, by Motorpsycho. I clicked anyway, which I usually do not as I'm diligently sticking to the order of this list. And here Motorpsycho is, skipping the line, because it is Motorpsycho but also because the song is so tremendously different from what the Norwegians present in general. Long spun-out experimental tracks. All My Life (I Love You) is not even 3.30 minutes! It has a clear beginning, middle and ending. The only information shown by the video is Motorpsycho - Alexander Lee Spence. Skip Spence, the first Jefferson Airplane drummer, Moby Grape member, solo album 'Oar' and mental patient homeless man who died in ...? Wiki answers yes and Spence died in 1999. Motorpsycho's rendition has a huge sound, just listen to the big bass sound and drumming. The singing is totally different than usual, as it has that folky-pop upbeat style that was popular in the 1960s. All My Life (I Love You) is not the best song around but it does have a great feel about it and Motorpsycho makes that jump out. Great single.

Nightbug. Mystery Waitress

Back to New Zealand. Flying Nun Records is about to release Mystery Waitress' second album, 'Bright Black Night'. Nightbug is the first single and again I can't help but musing how it's possible that so many strong and especially female artists come from this relatively small country and so isolated in the world? The band is a new name on the blog, so let me introduce the band first. It consists of songwriter and guitarist Tessa Dillon, Olivia Campion on drums, Xanthe Rook on bass guitar, and James Morgan on synths and guitar. Dillon has got a story to tell in Nightbug. She is hellbound to make the same mistake twice and lets us know in a forceful way. Nightbug is an alternative rocksong with some pop in the middle. Somewhere between Melanie Brooks' 'Bitch' and a couple of Hole songs Nightbug has found the middle ground where it is nice to be in. I will not mind hearing the album, I'm sure.

No Strangers. FEDERALE

In the bio accompanying No Strangers the name of the late Lee Hazelwood is mentioned and listening to the single, it is immediately clear why. It's in the way of singing, not the depth of voice as Collin Hegna has no chance of matching that. Secondly, it is the mix of pop and country the music presents. Just listen to how the strings are allowed to swirl thorough the song. Thirdly, it is the lyrics that tell the kind of story Hazelwood could have presented. There are differences as well. Nancy is missing for one but more importantly the sound is bigger, the drums louder. Now, I do not know most of Hazelwood's work, I have one solo album, but what I do know does not resemble the full sound of FEDERALE. No Strangers in that sense is huge. Following the previous single 'Heaven Forgive Me', it makes two out of two. 'Reverb & Seduction' (12 July) ought to be very much worthwhile.

New Life. Ringlets

Has Dogs Die In Hot Cars singer Craig Macintosh or perhaps the whole band, moved to New Zealand? That question crept into my mind listening to New Life, the new 7" released single of Ringlets. It has that selfsame rhythm in the songs that makes it sound different and yet somehow be a pop song at the same time. And then that voice?! New Life immediately stuck with me, for the same reason the first six, seven songs of 'Please Describe Yourself' did exactly 20 years ago. Both came as a bit of a surprise. Looking at the names, Arabella Poulsen, Arlo Grey, László Reynolds, Leith Towers, the immigration is not the case. In the meantime New Life is a song to enjoy. It is alive alright and like many animals capable of running immediately. I had never heard of Ringlets but the introduction does beg for more.

How Bizarre. Reb Fountain

How Bizarre is a cover of OMC, a song totally unknown to me. In 1995 I was not on the internet yet, so how could I ever have heard of the Flying Nun store, label and newsletter alerting me to great music from down under? This is the fourth song from New Zealand this week and that tells you all how things have changed in the past decades. Reb Fountain is almost a veteran of this blog in 2024. Ever since her self-titled album she finds her way to these pages with ease. Her music is always somewhere between earth and something else. This is no different on How Bizarre. Her voice is up front with behind her a piano playing the same three chords over and over. The rest is more vague and completely at the back that typical Reb Fountain atmospherics that somehow always is in the background of her music and brings that mystery to her music. It always gets to me and How Bizarre is no different, no matter how deep down this is a very simple song. It's how it is presented that makes it stand out. Can Reb Fountain ever go wrong? I doubt it.

Wout de Natris

2024. Week 1, ten singles

And here we are in the new year, with a bunch of singles from 2023. Due to Covid I did not feel like listening and writing, so you found a lot of Erwin Zijleman reviews on the blog instead of a final single section and some albums that were lingering on the shelf for a while. I may get to a few in the coming days anyway. There's not a big name among the ten, so there's a lot to explore and hopefully enjoy. Most are new to the blog. I would only dare to call one artist a WoNoBlog veteran by now. It's 2024, I hope you will keep on discoving some nice artists and bands this way.

Here Comes Your Ghost. Vinyl Station

Here Comes Your Ghost starts with the drums and the bass guitar that is playing the central melody of the Phoenix band's latest single. All else in the song plays around the rhythm and the bass melody. It would be easy to write that I've heard it all before, which in a certain way is true. There are dozens of bands playing this music, starting with Coldplay and work down from there. Leaving it at that insight, would also mean that you miss out on a nice and sympathetic song. Vinyl Station does play the mood it creates right. Over that surprisingly present bass guitar, the embellishments adorn the song. In the form of a guitar melody or a church organ. Singer Matthew Thornton has that melancholy sound in his voice that makes Here Comes Your Ghost a convincing song. Vinyl Stations puts itself in a long line of existing bands but that is no reason to ignore it. In music it's not that hard to skip spots in that line, fast. EP 'Enter Slow', to be released this winter, will tell us more.

Tonight's The Night. Jittery Jack with Amy Griffin on Guitar

Step back well over 60 years in time and pretend you're listening to the support act of Buddy Holly or Gene Vincent. That is the kind of music Jittery Jack present, with one line straight out of 'I'm-a Gonna Love You To', to cap it off. Amy Griffin knows all the licks from the day and plays them with panache. This is big nostalgic fun. Don't expect anything more but certainly nothing less.

 

 

Forged By Fire. Leaves' Eyes

Metal is not music to be found every day on WoNoBlog. For Leaves' Eyes we make an exception. With a video filled of the forging of a sword and Viking battles the mood is set by the Viking, yet German metallers. The sound is amazingly huge, with a big shout out for the double bass drums of Joris Nijenhuis. At the end of this song his legs must be severed from his body. With two singers, Elina Siirala and grunter Alexander Krull (who also directed the video), the band has a different than usual line up, with also two guitarists and no bass player. At least as a member of the band. I'm not a metal fan but can certainly enjoy this mix of symphonic rock, metal and wintertime fairytales. The deep end is certainly taken care of but also the melodic side. The combination is certainly alluring.

Leave (Leave Leave). And They Spoke In Anthems

From metal, to a soft ballad is but one step in this blog's weekly singles overview. And They Spoke In Anthems will release its third album, 'Still', on 24 February. Music is not silent, it can't be, yet if Leave (Leave Leave) is anything to go by, 'Still' is the right title for the album. Leave (Leave Leave) is the musical equivalent of a 17th century still life picture. The fruit, fish, cheese, wild life, is all present, unmoving yet so determinately present. Singer and songwriter Arne Leurentop wrote the album in New Zealand but returned to Belgium to record and release it. Fans of singer-songwriters like Novastar will certainly find their way into this beautiful song.

Happy Xmas (War Is Over). Reb Fountain

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) is, in my opinion, one of the most iconic Christmas songs ever. So not a song to tamper with at will. Reb Fountain is one of my favourite singers of this decade. This gives her the benefit of the doubt. She doesn't disappoint. In fact, the restrained way in which she approaches the song, gives it a fresh sound. Only violins and backing vocals is enough to bring the song across in a successful and extremely tasty way. Reb Fountain brought the song down to its bare essence and shows the world how good John and Yoko's composition is. Not that I doubted that, it does show the sheer quality of the melody. This version is simply very, very well done.

Een Reden. Guusje Walstra

Nederland komt om in jonge zangeressen, maar met Guusje Walstra is er een nieuw talent aan toegevoegd, die het verdient om meer aandacht te krijgen. Een Reden combineert synthpop met een prachtige dromerige sfeer en een randje duisternis die het nummer ook nog een spannende ondertoon geeft. Iedere keer dat ik het nummer luister, blijft er een gevoel over bij mij van naar het licht reiken. Guusje Walstra slaagt daar heel goed in om dat gevoel over te brengen. Haar stem zweeft over de synthklanken die breed uitwaaieren over de zachte elektronische beats. Zoeken en vinden. Waar het een publiek betreft, lijkt mij een eerste, succesvolle stap gezet.

Christmas Star. Abbie Barrett

With thanks to another bout of Covid, the last singles collection of 2023 is only written and published early this year. Hence the two Christmas songs in this edition. I do not know who Abbie Barrett is but she has released a beautiful Christmas song. I would almost say in the style of The Carpenters. Now I would never write this out aloud but of course this duo has released a few beautiful songs, that just come by all through life and will be sung along to. Abbie Barrett presents a song that is as sweet and sugarcoated as 'Close To You' is. A piano tinkles slow notes away until an electric guitar comes in. Not as tough as Morgan McCaskey once uprooted an 18th century carol but a hardrock worthy one still. Christmas Star is a beautiful song presenting the best of the festive season. I could listen to it all day long.

Where I End And You Begin. Bloomsday

Bloomsday debuted on this blog during the pandemic. Now we are in the endemic phase a first new single is released and it shows the growth Iris James Garrison has gone though as an artist. Where I End And You Begin as it were shows this change. It starts tranquil, a bit dark and hesitant. Slowly it grows and turns into a modest, alternative rock ballad. Garrison certainly has listened to Big Thief and took the best elements to deliver their own song in the best way possible. The dark guitar solo shows the change into the you, to return to the I in the final measures. In between Bloomsday is trying to find its way and succeeding. Where I End And You Begin is better than all the songs on the debut mini album.

I Ain't The Only One. Tylor & the Train Robbers

"Like a river to my liver", it said on a can of beer Tylor Ketchum was enjoying before a show in Jackson, Wyoming. This line started him going towards the song I'm listening to now. It's a nice country, rocking song. The kind with a nice twang on the lead guitar, a pedal steel for the country flavour and enough power to be rocking too. There's nothing dangerous in sight and pleasure to be had by all. I Ain't The Only One is that kind of song. In its defence, it is all a song like this need to work and be successful. Anyone who likes songs like these, and I certainly do, will have a good time listening to it. Nothing more is needed.

 

We Don't Care. Voom

The second review from Down Under this year is from a band that is in existence for a few decades and has promised to release a new album soon. Its first since 2006. Voom to me is a totally new name. The New Zealand band has released an alternatively rocking single containing some shoegazing sounds. All in moderation. Singer and songwriter Buzz Muller says she had the songs in her head for a few decades, patiently waiting for them to come out. For We Don't Care that moment is here. Don't expect an exiting song, expect one that is pleasant to follow, to step on the wave in time to glide with its flow. All these melodies that pop up enriching the song are so nice to follow. Voom is a name to be on the lookout for in 2024.

Wout de Natris