Q65
Q65 was a Dutch R&B-based garage rock and psychedelic group formed in 1965, that is often considered one of the more prominent bands associated with the Nederbeat rock wave that took place in the Netherlands in the 60s. (More from Wikipedia)
I have since read that the initial release of the Skywalkers album Year One sold out, and a re-release of the album in Spain was expected; as Jacco Gardner put it in an interview: “We will remaster the recordings with Jean Audier, the sound engineer who worked with groups like Q65, the Golden Earrings and the Motions” – heady company indeed in my book.
The charming liner notes are entitled “The Skywalkers ABC”, and it still took me a while to realize that they were in alphabetical order. It wasn’t just a list of “thank you’s” either; they included some commentary with their influences. They include a lot of familiar bands and artists (at least to me) – Brian Wilson (“for his amazing ballads”), the Electric Prunes (“they got us to the world on time”), Syd Barrett (“for leading us into the sixties”), the Zombies (“the greatest ever”), Q65 (“and other Dutch freakbeat groups”) – but others that I don’t know at all, like Ola & the Janglers and Jan Breimer. Their “X” item was “Careful with that X, Eugene!”, a take-off on an early Pink Floyd hit, “Careful with that Axe, Eugene”. But the list started with Aliens (“what’s taking them so long?”) and also includes the Monkey (“[Jacco Gardner]’s favorite dance move”), the Twist (“[Hugo van de Poel]’s favorite dance move”), their photographer Luuk Muller (“for making us look good”), their organ brand Philicorda (“the greatest instrument around”), the Universe (“the greatest place around”), and “You, for buying this record”.
(January 2013)
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As I have mentioned many times before, I am a major fan of Dutch rock music from both the 1960’s and 1970’s. Some of the bands have non-English names, like Ekseption (which is not the Dutch word for “exception” as I had always assumed), Groep 1850 (also known as Group 1850) and Bintangs (which means “stars” in Arabic, I’m told) – the latter band being a future UARB (as it turns out, I waited too long; Bintangs have a nice Wikipedia article now) – but most have English names (or just initials) and perform in English also, with some of the biggest being Golden Earring, Shocking Blue, Focus, Q65, and the Outsiders.
(April 2013)
