Dec 14

Venus

VENUS
 
 
“Venus”  is a 1969 song by the Dutch band Shocking Blue which the group took to number one in nine countries in 1970.  In 1986, the British girl group Bananarama returned the song to number one in seven countries.  The composition has been featured in numerous films, television shows and commercials, and covered dozens of times by artists around the world.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
To begin with, there are other songs in the “Stars on 45 Medley” besides those by the Beatles.  I brought it up in the first place because the opening chords of the Shocking Blue hit “Venus” are given at or near the beginning of the song. 
 
(September 2012)
 
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The three Dutch albums in The Continent Lashes Back sub-series within the Pebbles albums put me onto several more, and I found some other real rarities via the Bomp! mailorder store.  I just cleaned up a second 10-inch album among several that I mail-ordered years ago out of an extended series, Beat Express Series.  I even picked up some “Nederpop” records on my trip to Europe (and not just in Amsterdam), including several by Shocking Blue of “Venus” fame, and a band that I have written about several times previously. 
 
(January 2013)
 
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Shocking Blue frontman Robbie van Leeuwen has been quoted as saying that he doesn’t know how to write songs in the Dutch language.  Originally, vocalist Mariska Veres could not speak English and was singing phonetically; this was the reason for her occasional stumble over the lyrics, such as the opening line of their 1970 hit song “Venus”:  “God-ness on a mountaintop . . .”. 

 

(April 2013)

 

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Unbeknownst to most of us, some bands stayed together for decades:  Status Quo is known in America only for their 1967 psychedelic hit “Pictures of Matchstick Men”; but over the course of their career, they have released 60 songs that charted in the U.K. (the most recent in 2010) – more than any other rock group – and 23 of these were Top 10 hits.  One of my long-time favorites, the Dutch band Shocking Blue released a huge hit in 1970, “Venus”.  Featuring striking lead singer Mariska Veres (though she was not an original member), the band released 25 singles and 11 albums, though I had to go to Europe to find their albums. 

 

(April 2014)

 

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After being dropped by Capitol Records, Crystal Mansion finally added a bass guitarist, Billy Crawford and released a single in 1970 for Colossus Records, the same label that released records in America by the Dutch band Shocking Blue, including their mega-hit “Venus”, also in 1970. The 45 was released under the name Crystal Mansion Featuring Johnny Caswell, with the “A” side being the James Taylor song “Carolina in My Mind” and an original song (by Johnny Caswell and Sal Rota) called “If I Live” on the flip. When Collectables Records reissued the 1971 album The Crystal Mansion on CD in 1994, “Carolina in My Mind” was included as a bonus track.
 
(August 2015)
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I have previously posted the opening track on the Thomas Anderson album Blues for the Flying Dutchman, “Bill Haley in Mexico”, which I just have to hear again (sorry, Phil Gammage!). As almost everyone knows, Bill Haley and His Comets had the first big rock and roll hit with “Rock Around the Clock” (1954, though it did not become a hit until 1955). I am not sure what the chorus is talking about when it goes: “I wanted to know / I wanted to know / What happened to Bill Haley down in Mexico”. But I cannot recall a more insistent chorus with a better instrumental follow-up than this one. I am reminded of the first time that I played the American album by the Dutch band Shocking Blue, The Shocking Blue, which naturally includes their big hit “Venus”. I simply could not believe how good the opening song, “Long and Lonesome Road” was, and I actually got up from my chair and restarted the album.
 
(Year 10 Review)
Last edited: March 22, 2021