Customer Reviews

At Home

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is certainly not an intellectual experience to listen to this terrific album of Shocking Blue, but these are songs from all times: when you hear it you know somehow that this music has always been around and it needed to be brought into this world by Robbie van Leeuwen and his excellent fellow artists. It are certainly not the words. If I rememember well, Robbie van Leeuwen once, a long time ago, probably in 1969, said in an interview that he didn't pay attention to the texts (he also told in that interview that he once had tried to write a 'serious' pop song, called 'Wasted Words' commenting on Martin Luther King's struggle for equal rights for the blacks in the USA, but that he would never try to be 'political' again and that he did not consider it to be important for a pop musician to comment on what was going on in politics, a very out of place remark in 'progressive' and leftist Netherlands of that time!), he just took a pair of scissors and a pot of glue and 'assembled' the song texts from top hits published in teenager magazines. But exactly this lack of originality of the words make these songs so timeless! The songs are all about longing for love, being lonely and blue, memories of a lost love, longing for paradise (California!) and they seem to be laments deriving from a not so happy, maybe even tormented, existence. What makes them so strong is the underlying passion, the longing for a, as it appears, very likely unattainable paradise (lover, shelter from loneliness, finding of a happier life); the songs seem to express a certain hopelessness with regard to the chance that a lasting redemption of longings will be possible in this world. We in all our strivings are submitted to Destiny. It is of course the voice of Mariska Veres which give these songs their meaning, her oriental, deep and Gypsy melodic style of singing fits wonderfully well in the simple rock melodies. Another very important aspect of these songs is the aspect of repetition: this is inherent to 'rock music' and also adopted by composers of so called minimal music: a single pattern is repeated, maybe with some slight alterations, from the beginning till the end of the song. 'California, here I come' (as also the world hit 'Venus')is thus the ultimate example of rock music and every time when I listen to it I feel like endlessly riding a camel in a desert of sand dunes, following the curves of a sinus line. Exactly: I get into a trance, a feeling older than the world, a knowing that everything always and everywhere is kept in a cycle.

.

I initially only knew 'Venus' in the 1960s.

I was travelling to Greece via Italy in 1971. By the time my plane landed, I quickly heard what I was missing. I lived in Greece during the early 1970s; their rock stations played Shocking Blue songs in heavy rotation. Likewise, music programming from BBC World Service and throughout Europe included their grand discography with steady airplay. I was satisfyingly thrilled with their styles.

I picked up a few records when I travelled to the Nederlands where they were absolutely - obviously - top-of-the-charts.

I returned 'home' saddened. How disappointing travelling cross-country during these years that U.S.A. markets still limit themselves to 'Venus'! Nothing changed during my absence - and since then. How disheartening hearing deejays and so-called musicologist experts deride them as a 'one hit wonder'. I knew better. I carried a secret that everyone is eventually learning on their own.

It is a pleasant sense of satisfaction whenever I hear their music from my collection - as well as hear their music covered by other artists or used in movies and television.

The Beatles are my number one band. Shocking Blue and Focus are two outstanding Dutch bands which clearly rival the Beatles for uniqueness, variety, and ingenuity. American radio stations neglected their audiences - they denied you the treat of both of them during their prime.

Deny yourself no longer. You will be pleased with any Shocking Blue music.

This Dutch group is probably one of the most overlooked of all time, with the exception of VENUS, which burst to Number One, then America never heard from them again. Their style and vocals are amazing, even Nirvana covered one of their songs, "Love Buzz", so if you are counting them off before you start, DON'T. YOU will be the one that's missing out. This incredible album comes with four bonus tracks, including one I've been looking for, the flip side of Venus, "Hot Sand".

The long version of 'poor boy' is on the '3rd album' according to Milestone Mailorder based in Hamburg. They made a mistake during the mastering process of 'at home' (you can hear their hasty fade-out!).

"At Home" from 1969 is often regarded as the debut album of Shocking Blue. A fact is that an album was released in 1968 called "Beat With Us", but at that time their outstanding female lead-singer Mariska Veres had not yet joined. Besides Veres, guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen was they key member of the band. He wrote the vast majority of their recordings and he has a great skill of coming up with catchy guitar riffs. The mere sound of his guitar is always a pleasure to listen to.

"At Home" contains their world-wide hit-single "Venus", which alone makes this album essential; fortunately there are other great moments to go for. "California Here I Come" and "Long and Lonesome Road" are two classic Shocking Blue tracks and favourites among fans.

"I`ll Write Your Name Through the Fire" is a quieter song with an unusual beat, and a personal favourite of mine.

Interesting that Nirvana chose to record the band`s relatively anonymous "Love Buzz".

4 early B-sides are added a bonus-tracks; all solid; with "Hot Sand" and "Wild Wind" as the most memorable.

This is a great record. It's a combination of 1960s pop and early psychedelia. This is the first Euro band to hit number one in the USA. The obvious hits like "Venus" and "Love Buzz" are on here. So are four new tracks. It's a cool record to have.

Their best album was the one that had Venus and all the good tunes you'll find on this CD. The version of Poor Boy really has me mad...it is the first half of the song. This is their best tune and it was stripped of it's wonderful ending (about 2 mins of a twisting end that really socks home their range). This is good in what it has from that album and it's a shame the album as a whole is not released.

This is a classic album by Shocking Blue. We are lucky to have it available. Don't miss it!

I got an American version of this on Colossus in 70 and my copy doesn't match anything in their catalogue. However, this one is the closest and has all the great songs on it. Boll Weevil, California Here I Come, Long And Lonesome Road, and of course, Venus are beautiful songs and I can't find a single fault with them, as for the rest of the cuts too. This is not heavy music, but it is in a way hard pop, best I can describe. Whatever it is, Shocking Blue Rocks!

I was sad to hear of the passing of Mariska Veres recently. It is a real tragedy as she had one hell of a voice. Highly recommended.

This is one of the truly great albums of the 1960s . . . and the century. It's a travesty that most people know only "Venus", which is a great song, but certainly not the best on the LP. From the trumpet solo on "Butterfly and I" to the intro of "Poor Boy" (but unfortunately not the OUTro) to the silence break in "Love Buzz" (later covered by Nirvana), this album has so many great and memorable moments. And no 2 songs on the album sound all that similar to one another. What a great creative set of songwriters! If you're a fan of Patti Smith, you'll love Shocking Blue; they were clearly a major influence on her.