West Coast Sounds of the Netherlands Volume 2 by Martijn Soetens



"Enjoy this new chapter of West Coast Sounds of The Netherlands," says Martijn Soetens, music director of NPO Soul and Jazz in Holland and the man behind our much-loved Jeff Porcaro series. "A collection of soulful pop, yacht rock and smooth fusion jazz grooves from Holland. Dutch artists as well as artists with a close connection to the Netherlands. This compilation features songs from The Leon Haines Band, Benny Sings, Joe Bourne, Future World Orchestra, Limousine and many more."

Tracklist:

Vitesse - Goin’ Down (1978)
Leon Haines Band - Another Clown (1980)
Benny Sings - My Favourite Game (2015) 
Joe Bourne - Bourne To Satisfy (1978)
Greenfield & Cook - Mr. Music Man (1974)
Amy Holland - How Do I Survive (1980)
Sweet d’Buster - Stir Up The Fire (1978)
Rob van de Wouw feat. Ivar - Let You Go (2007)
Partner - Throw It All Away (1979)
Future World Orchestra - Desire (1982)
Diesel - Sausolito Summernights (1980)
Tristan feat. Heston - Feet Back On The Ground (2016)
Spin - Grasshopper (1976)
Galaxy-Lin - I Know My Baby (1975)
Sandy Coast - Summertrain (1972)
Richard Neal - Take Me To The Water (1973)
Limousine - Hey Mama (1976)
Marten Fisher - Solstice (2015)


Liner notes:

Vitesse - Goin’ Down (1978)
Drummer and singer Herman van Boeyen was the driving force behind Vitesse, assisted by an assortment of other musicians including Herman Brood.

Leon Haines Band - Another Clown (1980)
Leon Haines, one of the personnel of Rainbow formed his own band: Leon Haines Band. They combined pop jazzy style with a little bit of rock like Rainbow did.

Benny Sings - My Favourite Game (2015)
Benny Sings’ 5th studio album Studio is a tribute to his working place in the center of Amsterdam. The place where Tim van Berkestijn creates his own sounds with the Korg Triton, a synthesizer developed in the 90s. The result is a blend of 80s softpop, funky soul and electronic vibes. 

Joe Bourne - Bourne To Satisfy (1978)
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, music became a part of Joe's life at an early age. He began his singing career in a church choir and with various street corner singing groups. After moving to Leiden in the Netherlands in 1975, Joe began performing for the American and Dutch Military and supported acts in concert for such artists as The Stylistics, Natalie Cole, The Manhattans, The Pointer Sisters, and Dionne Warwick.

Greenfield & Cook - Mr. Music Man (1974) 
Rink Groeneveld and Peter Kok, both ex-Hurricanes and since 1967 known as a duo by the name of Popshop. Two years later, they renamed themselves as Greenfield & Cook. In 1974, the duo split up, after a respectable number of chart hits. Following that, Rink and Peter both made solo records as Rink Greenfield and Peter Cook.

Amy Holland - How Do I Survive (1980)
80s one-hit wonder Amy Holland, American singer of Dutch descent. She changed her name from Boersma to Holland, because she thought it would make a better stage name. Holland’s self-titled album, produced by husband Michael McDonald, was released in 1980 and featured the hit ‘How Do I Survive’, which peaked at #22 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Sweet d’Buster - Stir Up The Fire (1978)
Sweet d’Buster came together in 1975, featuring ex-members of Golden Earring, Chain of Fools and Supersister. Their self-titled debut was issued in 1976 on Bubble Records and pushed the band to numerous high profile tours of the region that year. After the tour had concluded, the band spend the next six months recording their follow-up, ‘Friction’, which was released in 1978.

Rob van de Wouw feat. Ivar - Let You Go (2007)
Trumpeter Rob van de Wouw is one of the leading musicians of the dutch jazz scene. In 2007 he released his debutalbum ‘Reboot Your Soul’, a mixture of jazz, funk, soul and R&B. 

Partner - Throw It All Away (1979)
Holland's best kept secret... Partner, from Maastricht, was a potential superband. Well-performed, intelligent songs with hit potential and great singing. Their sound was influenced by bands like Steely Dan and The Eagles.

Future World Orchestra - Desire (1982) 
Founded in 1980 by Robert Pot and Gerto Heupink who both have had a great interest in synthesizer technology. ‘Desire’ became their first single release, nowadays a synth-pop hidden treasure. 




Diesel - Sausolito Summernights (1980)
Forgotten gem from the early 80’s, often described as the best song "The Steve Miller Band" never wrote. It became one of the few Dutch acts to chart in the U.S. After great success in the charts in the Netherlands in 1980, their album Watts in a Tank was released in the United States. The single ‘Sausalito Summernight’ rose to #25 on the U.S. Top 40. It reached #1 in Canada.

Tristan feat. Heston - Feet Back On The Ground (2016)
“The best of the seventies brought to 2016” is what what Toto guitarist and singer Steve Lukather came up with when he heard the music of Tristan. Feel good vintage soul, acid jazz and fusion, think of Tower of Power, Steely Dan and Incognito.

Spin - Grasshopper (1976)
Jazz-rock band Spin was formed in 1974. Differences of opinion regarding the musical style of Ekseption made Rein van den Broek and Dik Vennik to form the new band, focused on electric guitars, horns and funk elements. They had a minor hit in the USA with this song: ’Grasshopper’. 

Galaxy-Lin - I Know My Baby (1975)
By the mid-1970s, Shocking Blues' never ending recording and touring schedules had left multin-instrumentalist Robby van Leeuwen burned out. Technically he remained a member of the band, but largely in name only: instead deciding to turn his attention to the outside project Galaxy-Lin.

Sandy Coast - Summertrain (1972)
Formed in 1961 in Voorburg as the Sandy Coast Skiffle Group, they had the following names: the Sandy Coast Five, Sandy Coast Rockers and, finally, Sandy Coast. In 1974, Sandy Coast disbanded; leadsinger Hans Vermeulen formed Rainbow Train together with his brother Jan.

Richard Neal - Take Me To The Water (1973)
Singer-songwriter who started writing songs in the seventies. Record company Polydor released 4 singles in the Netherlands. A movie showing the performance of his first single ‘Take me to the water’ (1973) was re-discovered and presented in a Dutch televisionprogram made by Leo Blokhuis and Matthijs van Nieuwkerk. In 2009 the album "Song on the shelf" was released, containing 22 songs, remastered from their original recordings between 1970 and 1980. Richard Neal's real name is Frans Bronzwaer.

Limousine - Hey Mama (1976)
Not to be confused with the Las Vegas based outfit from the 80s. No, this Limousine parked up on the other side of the Atlantic, Rotterdam. They came together in 1975 with most of the band membership from the Dutch band Heart. This song is from their self-titled debut LP from 1976, with a blend of rock, funk and soul.

Marten Fisher - Solstice (2015)
Being a North Sea surfer himself, Marten Fisher could be described as a relaxed singer-surfwriter. ‘Solstice’ is a perfect example of Dutch electronic-yacht-pop.


Download Volume 2 / Volume 1


Comments

J Rowe said…
damnit! the link says "permission denied" i'm a huge fan of vol. 1 and i gotta get the DL of vol.2 now. HELP!
professor Eddy said…
So nice to see my partner of the Smooth Operators right here! :-)
AOR DISCO said…
Putting new link up...
Unknown said…
Also seeing/getting "permission denied" (May 27)
J Rowe said…
DAMN THE MAN !!!!!!
AOR DISCO said…
Download link working again....
J Rowe said…
THANK YOU !!!!!!

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