Customer Reviews

Onderweg

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Let's start with the facts:
1. I do not speak Dutch. Because of that, one can rightfully argue that I should not write comments on a CD that I don't understand what is being sung. Even so, I might be a better judge on pure music.
2. I love almost all types of music, except gangster Rap & Punk.
3. The last "pop idol" to me was Michael Jackson, when I was 10 years old. Ever since, I can't say I managed to get truly excited of any singer except Frank Sinatra (late discovery)
4. A general comment: Dutch language comes from the same origins of the German & English languages, so if you speak those languages you should do the effort!
5. Last but not least - To the Dutch who hate Marco - Please see my comment below...

While almost everyone who speaks Dutch knows Marco Borsato, here is almost unknown to anyone who does not speak Dutch. Try to do a search in Google and you will find almost nothing in English - even his official site ... does not have an English section. It looks as if he is a local phenomenon in The Netherlands and in the Flemish part of Belgium. What a shame!
My wife & I had actually started to hear Dutch music in Israel via a radio station called "Sky Radio" that the local cable company provided. That was about 8 years ago.
The first time I heard Marco's song I was shocked as it sounded so perfect, even though I didn't understood a word! I remember saying to my wife "Wow, what an amazing song! - Who's the singer? What's the song name?". To my sorrow, due to the fact that there is no DJ who talks between songs in "Sky Radio" it took me 4 years to find that out the song was called "Dromen Zijn Bedrog" (which means something like "dreams are illusive").
After a while both my wife & I were able to identify Marco Borsato when we heard his songs, but still I didn't know who is singing. Only arriving to Belgium I managed to identify the name of the singer.
So, who is Marco Borsato? - The following information is VERY inaccurate, but hey - no one even tried to write one in English
Marco started his singing career by singing Italian songs (his father is Italian and his mother is Dutch, he was raised in The Netherlands). He had very low to moderate success and his albums and singles failed to chart. Then he was advised by his record company to record a song in Dutch (nice idea for a singer who sings in the Netherlands!). This was a good decision: In 1994 (or 1993, I am not sure...), the song "Dromen Zijn Bedrog" became his first major (huge) hit! After that, he became the most popular singer in the Netherlands. He just celebrated selling 3 Million albums. That is really a lot, if you consider that The Netherlands is a very small country with a small population!

Onderweg - The CD's:
It's a double CD, so consider it a special edition of all of best of Marco's career, plus it includes 5 new songs and 7 songs that had been previously unreleased on records. First complaint - all in Dutch, does include only lyrics for new songs, no documentation on the songs release year etc. I can understand the majority of the Dutch probably have all its previous records, but what about the others?

Marco is an amazing singer, with a very large vocal range. He manages to sing perfect pop songs and luckily he didn't destroy it with too much rock shouting (like other singers managed to ruin their voice).

Music style - it's a combination of pop, rock, blues with Jazz & classic music - at least to my ears. When hearing the CD's (and I heard them for the last two months every day!), I do agree he sound very much like Kenny Loggins (who is not very known in Europe). It also has some heavy blues in some songs (e.g. Geen toeval - song#8 on CD2)

The music - The melody & production of the songs is what caught me from the beginning. Almost every song on this album is perfect from the melodic side. Since I can't understand what Marco is singing about, I can just say that any of his songs, being given to an average singer in the US, would be making the top 10 in a few weeks. Since Marco is a very good singer, I just can't understand his record company who doesn't push him to the international market.

Live performance: If you ever heard the average pop stars singing live, (Madonna for example), you understand why it takes them so long to produce a record - they have to "mix" the singer's voice. In the case of Marco Borsato he is as good live as he is in a recording studio, which is amazing to me.
Also, he has a permanent band that provides beautiful sound coverage and colors the songs the way they should be!
Also, His regular band, Kayak, is very, very good (Rob Winter - you got a great band out there!)

That's all for me; I will be finishing this review with one recommendation: BUY THIS RECORD TODAY. It will be like buying ABBA, Earth, Wind & Fire or Frank Sinatra's collections - you will always go back and listen to it!

So, here comes the part for the Dutch who hate Marco:
It seems that Marco Borsato and his music are being ridicule by a lot of guys (and girls) who find his songs plastic, too melodic and too mass music. You remind me what so many said about ABBA when the band was still working. Today, Even my soft-cell & Cure fanatic friends admit ABBA made [darn] good music!
So...lighten up! Enjoy the music!

I remember when I was ten years old, Marco had a hit with "dromen zijn bedrog" with us in Flamisch Belgium and I used to sing it all the time. I loved it, but after a month I forgot about him. Untill some time ago, when Marco showed up again in Belgium with a couple of BIG concerts in Antwerpen. I could convince my aunt and my mother to come with me and we went... My God... I fell in love with him, I mean, with his voice, his music, his style... The hours I spend their in het Sportpaleis, listening, looking, "singing" with the thousand of other people who were there, were the shortest and most memorable hours of my life. I'm collecting all his cd's and it started with this one, the best of...
The best songs are "waarom nou jij", about his lover who left him, "dromen zijn bedrog" he's so in love with a girl that for one time, dreams aren't illusive anymore, "je hoeft niet naar huis vannacht" you don't have to go home tonight, it speaks for itself, "vreemde handen" about his girlfriend cheating on him, "de waarheid", where he tries to tell his girlfriend that it's over, and manymore. You see, it's all about love, but he's member of "warchild" (people who trie to get the war out of children, child soldiers you know?) and he wrote a song about that "speeltuin" about a little kid who sees the ruin that the war had made of his street en he wonders if the world will ever be a playgarden again.
He wrote "oud & afgedankt" about old people who are abandonned by their children and live alone in boring apartments with nothing to do but watching outside and waiting for visit that won't come.
One of his last songs, "zij" = "she" is really beautifull. It was his last big hit here in Belgium.
It's true that it's a shame that Marco is only a phenomenon in Dutch-speaking parts of the world: just in Nederland and Vlaanderen. Maybe he has to start with an English career, but I think that won't be the same anymore for his fans from this moment.
...
Lene

Marco is as good as any artist working today and this set proves it with every track. It's worth learning Dutch just to enjoy the emotions poured into these songs. These cds are always on even though I've had them over six months and I still get chills up my spine from some of them when I pay attention to the lyrics. This is the cream of the crop of a premier Dutch artist. I also like Abel, Blof, K3, and Twarres, too.

This album of Marco Borsato was a great success and proves to be very pleasant to the ear despite the fact its in Dutch. He's one of the top pop artists in Holland and is worth listening to. The Music varies from traditional to more pop with soft pleasing sounds to the ear. If you like pop and soft music with a great beat you must buy this. If you liked this album be sure to get the Twarres album Stream!

Marco Borsato is a great singer. Wonderful to hear music in my native language.