Log 22

Bettie Serveert | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 11, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hidden Agenda
• ASIN: B00008DKDF
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #263,944 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another ace from Bettie Serveert!, April 19, 2003

By 

B.A.S. (watford, herts United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Log 22 (Audio CD)

Before Log 22 Bettie Serveert had made two great albums, Palomine and Dust Bunnies, one good album, Lamprey, and their last album, Private Suit, a rather dull and middle-aged affair. Something's inspired them though, cause this is definitely up there with the best. Log 22 is probably most like Dust Bunnies, with its great songwriting, ragged production, rhythmic jammy songs, and nods to the Velvet Underground aplenty. It clocks in at about 60 minutes, 20 or so longer than 'Bunnies, but still retains the lean, hungry feel of that album, with very little fat.

Although Carol Van Dyk's lyrics have always been very personal - a "Diva in Denial" as she describes herself in one top tune - you just don't think of her as some self-obsessed singer-songwriter. Perhaps that's cause she's more of a rock chick fronting an otherwise male band, or maybe it's the no-nonsense honesty in her vocals and the edge that being Dutch, bizarrely, but indisputedly, lends them.

And they still adorn the multitude of styles Bettie Serveert cover, from the insistently catchy indie rock of the title track to the punk pop of Smack, the folk ballad Captain of Maybe and even the discofied rock of The Love-In. And with a guy on guitar and production duties who thinks he's an indie Neil Young, how could you possibly go wrong?

A great album by a great band, well worth a few Euros.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars sweets, October 21, 2004

By 

Jeffrey Cantwell (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Log 22 (Audio CD)

Foremost among the many powers of Bettie Serveert is the voice of Carol Van Dyk. A thing of drifting leisure, she nonetheless projects, if not in power then in pluck. It's the tiny details of love that concern Van Dyk; anything more might seem inappropriate, and probably beyond her range. But underrated guitar-picker Peter Visser will rock you immensely; witness the rumpus on this here title track. Crazy Horse. Dinosaur Jr. Byrds. Choose your reference point and run with it. Now, for such a spry little bunch, the melodies rarely overwhelm...nothing flashy. Oh indeed they might take your hand like Margot Kidder and glide around the city for a while, but they won't be advertising any soap on the radio.
There is an old wives' tale which says each Bettie Serveert song conspicuously resembles the others. This is completely true. But a good Bettie Serveert tune will spiral like DNA right into your ears, and of course they're all good. Colossal and petite, like a sparrow on the hood of a Dodge Challenger; such is the magic of Log 22. I imagine that an audience weaned on those puppy-dog charmers that Matador put out in the early nineties will hear this and think to themselves, perhaps, that they miss this sort of thing. The cover is weird though, isn't it?

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Bag, July 15, 2008

By 

Josh L. Patrick-Riley (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Log 22 (Audio CD)

While there are definite moments on this cd including White Dogs, Smack, and The Ocean, My Floor, there are also songs like "Love In" which is one of the most left field album closers I've heard. When this band turns up their guitars and jams like on "White Dogs" and "The Ocean, My Floor" they are amazing, yet maybe I haven't listened to them enough to appreciate the more withdrawn side.

Regardless those two songs are fantastic and the punkish pop of Smack is great, yet I can't see why "Love In" wasn't towards the beginning as it makes no sense as an album closer. Still, this won't be leaving my collection very soon.