Shocking Blue - Scorpio's Dance 1970

Shocking Blue's second album was partly recorded in New York and continues the band's exploration of Americana and country music, although its style is firmly rooted in rock. "Alaska Country" is one of the most obvious references to America, but "Sally Was a Good Old Girl" is a cover of an early-'60s country hit by songwriter Hank Cochran; Shocking Blue's rendition chugs along in a rock groove that reveals the source of its material with a touch of banjo. As always, the focal point is the inimitable voice of Mariska Veres, but songwriter/guitarist Robby VanLeeuwen shows no sign of a sophomore slump. There isn't an obvious hit single candidate like the previous album's "Venus," but Scorpio's Dance makes up for it with solid consistency. "Daemon Lover" is moody and mesmerizing, and the title track is a spaghetti western soundtrack in search of a film (the cover photo, appropriately enough, was shot in a cactus field). "I Love Voodoo Music" is colored with bongos and jungle sound effects, while "Water Boy" sees the return of VanLeeuwen's sitar. It's a diverse collection of songs that reveals the group's artistic growth but, in America at least, saw no chart action. AMG.

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Shocking Blue - Beat With Us 1968

Here the first record from Shocking Blue, formed in 1967 by former Motions guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen, the Dutch quartet Shocking Blue originally had a lineup of VanLeeuwen on guitar, lead vocalist Fred DeWilde, bass player Klaasje Van der Wal, and drummer Cornelius Van der Beek, and the initial configuration of the band had a minor homeland hit with “Lucy Brown Is Back in Town” a year later in 1968. Things really got moving, though, when DeWilde was replaced by sultry singer Mariska Veres, whose sexy presence and solid singing brought the band a second Netherlands hit, “Send Me a Postcard,” and then a huge international smash with “Venus” in 1970 after the group had signed to Jerry Ross' Colossus Records imprint. Although Shocking Blue's albums (1968’s Shocking Blue, 1969’s At Home, 1970’s Scorpio’s Dance, 1971’s 3rd Album, 1972’s Inkpot, 1972’s Attila, 1973’s Dream on Dreamer, and 1974’s Good Times) featured progressive rock elements and inventive arrangements thanks to VanLeeuwen's writing and production skills, the band was essentially marketed as a pop singles unit, and while they scored several subsequent hits in their homeland, none of the group’s releases approached the massive saturation success of “Venus.”Veres left Shocking Blue in 1974 to pursue a solo career, and while there have been various reunions and different touring incarnations of the band over the years (including a version fronted by Veres in the '90s), its creative history ended then. VanLeeuwen later re-surfaced in the folk/jazz group Galaxy-Lin, while his most famous composition, “Venus,” continued to see play on oldies stations. Veres died of cancer in 2006 at the age of 59. AMG.

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Shocking Blue - At Home 1969

American listeners tend to remember Shocking Blue as the one-hit wonder behind the chart-topper "Venus," a melting pot of rock rhythms, country guitar licks, organ riffs, and Mariska Veres' heavily accented vocals. Sounding something like a cross between "96 Tears" and "Sugar, Sugar," "Venus" was not entirely representative of the group's first album,At Home. Like their fellow countrymen Golden Earring, Shocking Blue purveyed a mild strain of psychedelic rock, but leaned more toward country and folk music than bubblegum. Guitarist and principal songwriter Robby Van Leeuwenwas already preoccupied with Americana at this early stage, from "Harley Davidson" and "California Here I Come" to a surprising rendition of the folk song "Boll Weevil" that sets the traditional lyrics to music reminiscent of the Easybeats' "Good Times." (The group's country music fixation would manifest itself more overtly on later albums). Van Leeuwen's sitar is pictured on the album cover and dominates the instrumental "Acka Raga," but, thankfully, is not overused. "Mighty Joe" and "Never Marry a Railroad Man" were minor U.S. chart hits that few people remember, but "Love Buzz" gained a measure of fame decades later when Nirvana covered it. Veres has great presence -- like a gypsy incarnation of Grace Slick -- but Van Leeuwen's English-language lyrics can be awkward at times. On "Venus," all the components clicked perfectly into place, but there is much more to Shocking Blue than their biggest hit. AMG.

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