Dutch Rare Groove

Finishing our travels this morning in Holland:

Forget all your visions of windmills and wooden shoes, and get set for the sound of Funky Funky Holland! This package is a long-overdue look at the budding Dutch groove scene of the 60s and 70s -- a place where jazz players were letting their hair down, rockers were jamming on the drums, and surprising appearances by American and African artists were having a strong impact on the overall sounds coming out of the Netherlands. The tunes here are surprisingly funky -- not fake funk or kitsch funk, but really great little tunes with a heavy heavy bottom and lots of strong instrumentation served up in a variety of different ways throughout the set. CD 1 features a whopping 23 tracks from vintage years -- most of which were totally fresh to our ears -- with titles that include "Funky But Clean" by Vitesse, "Houseparty" by Houseband, "Relax (Before Doin Sex)" by Oscar Harris & The Twinkle Stars, "Soul Party" by The Free, "Dynamite" by Fred Van Zegveld, "Snoopy" by The Playboys, "Let's Go Randstand" by Rogier Van Otterloo, "Passage To Prerov" by Jack Van Poll Tree-oh, "Hunky Dory" by Rob Franken Organization, "Funky Limbo" by Dutch Rhythm Steel & Show Band, "High Winds" by Reality, "De Glazen Stand" by Hans Van Hemert, and "It's An Ill Wind That Blows Nobody Any Good" by Swingin Soul Machine. CD 2 is totally cool too -- with remixes of older tunes from the first disc, but often done in a fairly straight way that retains all the classic funky touches, and even adds in a few more bits of instrumentation! Booklet is nice also -- with notes on every track, and even images of old records used on the set! Dusty Groove