"Beat from Holland" Vol. 1

Along with most of the free world, the mid- to late '60s were a fertile time for garage rock, beat music, and pyschedelia in Holland. Beat From Holland, Vol. 1 collects 18 prime cuts from this era…...The disc kicks off with tracks by the two foremost practitioners of Dutch garage rock, the Outsiders and Q 65. The Outsiders track, "Daddy Died on a Saturday," is taken from their excellent 1968 album C.Q. and features the band at their most Kinks-like. The Q 65 track, "You're the Victor," is a pounding slice of punk blues featuring some truly unhinged vocals. The rest of the disc can't help but be a bit of a letdown, like finding the prize in your first handful of Cracker Jack. There are still some great songs though: Wally Tax's "You Don't Have to Tell Me" is a dramatic folk-rocker that shows a different side of the Outsiders' singer; the In-Crowd's "Have Dollar Man" is a spooky ballad with some creepy reverbed electric piano; the Golden Earrings' "Chunk of Steel" is an energetic British Invasion-styled rocker; and the Motions' "Take the Fast Train" is a weird mod/country-rock hybrid that is going to make you want to track down more material by them. Only a couple tracks are lousy. After Tea's "Peruquine Thomas" is an extremely twee psychedelic trifle that has some dire fiddle breaks; HET's "Spat Niet Met Pap" and Armand's "Blommenkinders" are the only songs here not in English and serve as notice that Dutch is not particularly the most musical language; Bojoura's awful and hilarious "Frank Mills" is a silly folk-rock song that is either a brilliant parody or the dumbest song ever; and the Bintang's "Ridin' on the L&N" is a boogie rocker with an atrocious flute solo that sounds totally out of place here. It is a bit of a disappointment that the compilers of the disc didn't include some flat-out rockers that the Dutch scene is famous among '60s punk collectors for. The Outsiders in particular recorded some of the most insane rockers this side of Little Richard. Still, Beat from Holland, Vol. 1 is a solid and entertaining sampler that international garage fans will like. (Tim Sendra, Allmusic)

trax:
1. Daddy Died On Saturday - The Outsiders 2. You're The Victor - Q'65 3. Don't You Cry For A Girl - The Shoes 4. Wheels, Wheels, Wheels - The Ro-D-Y's 5. Perequine Thomas - After Tea 6. You Don't Have To Tell Me - Wally Tax 7. Half Dollar Man - The In-Crowd 8. Just For Fun - Cuby & The Blizzards 9. Something You Got - Hu & The Hilltops 10. Chunk Of Steel - Golden Earring 11. Roly Poly Martha - The Haigs 12. Take The Fast Train - The Motions 13. I Can Wait - Rene & His Alligators 14. Drinking On My Bed - Rob Hoeke Rhythm & Blues Group 15. Spat Niet Met Pap - HET 16. Blommenkinders - Armand 17. Ridin' On The L&N - The Bintangs 18. Frank Mills - Bojoura
…served by Gyro1966...