01	Never Marry A Railroad Man						03:03
	02	California Here I Come						03:14
	03	Long And Lonesome Road						02:47
	04	Send Me A Postcard						02:37
	05	Harley Davidson						02:37
	06	Mighty Joe						03:07
	07	Boll Weevil						02:38
	08	I'll Write Your Name Through The Fire						02:55
	09	Acka Raga						03:05
	10	Love Machine						03:18
	11	I'm A Woman						02:58
	12	Venus						03:00
	13	Scorpio's Dance (First Movement)						00:39
	14	Alaska Country						03:52
	15	Sally Was A Good Old Girl						03:26
	16	Daemon Lover						06:01
	17	Scorpio's Dance						03:42
	18	Little Cooling Planet						03:59
	19	I Love Voodoo Music						04:00
	20	Seven Is A Number In Magic						02:57
	21	Keep It If You Want It						02:52
	22	Water Boy						02:32
	23	Poor Boy (bonus track)						02:26
	24	Love Buzz (bonus track)						03:42
	25	The Butterfly And I (bonus track)						04:01

At Home (p) 1969 Pink Elephant / Metronome
Scorpio's Dance (p) 1969 Pink Elephant / Metronome

Produced by Shocking Blue


SHOCKING BLUE
Команда была основана в 1967 году гитаристом Робби Ван Ливеном, ветераном известной голландской рок-группы "Motion". Название "Shocking blue" было навеяно песней Эрика Клэптона "Electric Blue". Кроме Ван Ливена в группу входили барабанщик Корнелиус Ван Дер Бик, басист Клаассье Ван Дер Вал и вокалист Фред Де Вайлд. Первый сингл группы "Lucy Brown Is Back In Town", занявший 21-е место в голландском Топ 40, был выпущен на лейбле "Pink Elephant". Однажды менеджер коллектива присутствовал на одной вечеринке, где выступала группа "Bumble Bees" с поразительной вокалисткой Мариской Верес, и решил, что она будет совершенным дополнением к "Shocking blue". Робби был тут же увлечен ее вокальным стилем, весьма отличающимся от других исполнителей. Мариска, наполовину венгерка, наполовину немка, часто пела со своим отцом, игравшем на скрипке в цыганском оркестре.

До приглашения в "Shocking Blue" она записала сольный сингл под названием "Topkapi" и набиралась опыта в различных группах. Она сменила Вайлда и, без сомнения, именно её вокал стал магнитом, притягивающим зрителей и слушателей; её звенящий голос придал музыке отчётливое звучание ритм-энд-блюза. Как сказал Робби: "Когда пришла Мариска все сразу закрутилось, и один из первых синглов - "Venus" - стал великим хитом".

В Голландии "Venus" занял третье место, в то же время возглавив чарты в Бельгии, Франции, Италии, Испании и Германии. Запись привлекла внимание недавно основанной американской компании "Colossus". Глава лейбла Джерри Росс подписал контракт с "Shocking blue" и был вознагражден за предприимчивость, когда "Venus" в феврале 1970 года оказался на вершине штатовских чартов. Само собой разумеется, что группа была чрезвычайно популярна у себя дома и имела приблизительно пятьдесят попаданий в голландские хит-парады, в то время как их записи также имели хороший сбыт во Франции и Японии. Следующий сингл группы "Mighty Joe" стал номером один в Голландии и, как и его предшественник, присутствовал во всех чартах.

"Never Marry a Railroad Man" также возглавлял вершину голландских хит-парадов; за ним эту позицию занимали "Hello Darkness", "Shocking You", "Long Lonesome Road", "Blossom Lady" и "Inkpot". "Shocking Blue" успешно соединили бит и ритм-энд-блюз с восточным звучанием индийского ситара.

Робби не возражал против того, если группа включит в альбомы несколько кавер-версий старых песен, поскольку постоянно писать новый материал было для него слишком большой нагрузкой. "Мы всё делали сами, а ди-джеи радиостанций хотели бы услышать от нас каждый раз всё совершенно новое. Но большое количество альбомов привело к тому, что группа была вынуждена дополнять их кавер-версиями. Мне было крайне сложно писать всю музыку и слова одному". В течение нескольких месяцев в 1970-1971 годах с группой играл гитарист Лео Ван Де Кеттеридж. Мариска, Робби, Корнелиус и Клаассье были вместе три года: они гастролировали по миру, посещая и такие дальние уголки, как Япония, Индонезия, Гонконг и Южная Америка. Несмотря на то, что группа продолжала выпускать превосходные и зачастую новаторские синглы и занимать места в европейских чартах, Робби Ван Ливен впал в депрессию. Его угнетали ограниченность успеха группы, в результате чего внутри "Shocking Blue" начали происходить ссоры.

Сначала ушел Клаассье, смененный в 1971-м Хенком Смитскампом. В 1973 году сам Ван Ливен на время покидал группу, а его место занимал Мартин Ван Вийк. Без Робби "Shocking Blue" ещё держались, но в 1974 году из группы ушла и Мариска, решившая начать сольную карьеру, и команда окончательно распалась. В 1979 Робби хотел возродить группу, но по некоторым причинам этого тогда не произошло. Однако в конце 1984-го "Shocking Blue" воссоединились и дали два концерта на фестивале "Back-to-the-Sixties".




Shocking Blue Biography





The Shocking Blue was formed in 1967 by guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen, a veteran of a well known Dutch rock band, The Motions. The band's name was inspired by an Eric Clapton track called "Electric Blue".

Joining Van Leeuwen in the group were drummer Cor van Beek, bass player Klaassje van der Wal and lead singer Fred de Wilde. In the spring of 1968, Shocking Blue were signed to Dureco, an independent company in the Netherlands.The group's first single, "Lucy Brown Is Back In Town", was released on the company's Pink Elephant label and went to number 21 on the Dutch top 40.

Shortly after this, Shocking Blue's manager and music publisher attended a party celebrating the success of Golden Earring's first number one song in Holland. A band known as the Bumble Bees, fronted by the strong and striking female singer Mariska Veres, performed at the party, and the two men thought she would be a perfect addition to Shocking Blue. Robbie was immediately impressed by her vocal style, quite different from most local singers of the day. Mariska, half-Hungarian and half-German, had often sung with her father, who played violin in a gypsy orchestra. She recorded a solo single called "Topkapi" and had gained experience singing with different groups before she was asked to join Shocking Blue. She replaced de Wilde as a lead singer and, no doubt, became the eye- and ear-catching attraction of the band; her soul-tingled voice gave the music a distinct R&B sound. Says Robbie: "Once Mariska joined everything happened very quickly because one of the first singles we did was "Venus" which was a huge hit".

"Venus" made Number 3 in Holland, but significantly topped the charts in several countries, including Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, and Germany. The record came to the attention of a newly formed American record label, Colossus. The label's head, Jerry Ross, signed Shocking Blue to his label and was rewarded when "Venus" hit the top there in February of 1970. Needless to say the group was hugely successful at home and had some fifty hits in Holland while their records also sold well in France and Japan.

Shocking Blue's follow-up to "Venus", "Mighty Joe", made Number 1 in Holland and charted almost everywhere as its predecessor had. "Never Marry a Railroad Man" also hit top of the Holland rock chart. They continued to chart with songs like "Hello Darkness", "Shocking You", "Long Lonesome Road", "Blossom Lady", and "Inkpot", but neither of these songs reached higher than 43rd place in the American chart.

Shocking Blue successfully combined Beat and R&B with psychedelic elements of the time like Indian sitar and odd production techniques. Robbie didn't mind if the band included a few covers, as it took the pressure off him to constantly come up with new material. "We wrote a lot of our own stuff and the radio DJs preferred us to do original songs, but we had so many albums to do the band had to fill in with a few covers. It was quite exhausting writing all the lyrics and song myself".

For several months in 1970-1971 Leo van de Ketterij(guitar) played with the group.

Mariska, Robbie, Cor and Klaasje stayed together for three years while they toured the world, visiting such distant lands as Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and South America. Travelling facilities were primitive compared to the sort of luxury top groups expect today, and Shocking Blue had to cover vast distances cramped together in an uncomfortable station wagon. "We never expected to be so busy", recalls Robbie. "The whole touring business just became too tough for me."

Although the band was still releasing excellent and often innovative singles and still charting in Europe, van Leeuwen was dissatisfied and increasingly frustrated by the limits of Shocking Blue's success in the charts. His depression led to quarrels within the group.
First Klasssje quit and was replaced with Henk Smitskamp in 1971.
Robbie van Leeuwen partially withdrew in 1973, his role was filled in by Martin van Wijk.
Shocking Blue carried on for a while without Robbie until Mariska went off to launch a solo career in 1974.

Robbie surprised the Dutch music industry when he returned in the mid 70s with Galaxy Lyn, a group much more folk and jazz oriented than Shocking Blue. He also produced solo single "Too Young" for Mariska. Then Robbie had some hits with a studio outfit called Mistral. This broke up in the early Eighties, and in 1983 the guitarist moved from The Hague to Luxembourg where he lived quietly away from music business until returning to Holland in 1996.
One of my guests, Klaas, sent me the following comments about Robbie van Leeuwen: "Next to musically quite capable, Robbie was also a definite show monster, a jack in the box who could easily beat somebody like Pete Townshend on stage. Galaxy Lynn was unique for the world; they tried to bring modern music based on electric mandolins (complete with all the effects) instead of guitars. Also, their hairdos were very advance guard for that time. Mostly bald, only on top a round patch that was still about a meter long with a knot in it. Robbie was also very supportive to new talent. When I was singer in a band in Holland, our guitarist used to have guitar lessons from Robbie."

In 1979 Robbie was planning to reunite the group, they even recorded a song called "Louise" as part of Shocking Blue come back project. Unfortunately, for some reason, the song was not realesed, and project was cancelled.



At the end of 1984, Shocking Blue reunited for two concerts at a "Back-to-the-Sixties" festival. It proved to be the nights to remember: van Leeuwen still had style, and Mariska Veres still had one of the greatest female rock voices. The band's interpretations of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody To Love" and "White Rabbit" were just strong as their own songs.
According to the Dutch Shocking Blue page, in September of 1993 Mariska Veres breathed new life into Shocking Blue. But none of the former musicians returned. Robbie van Leeuwen gave Mariska the permission to use the name "Shocking Blue" for her group and produced their CD-single "Body & Soul", released in 1994. The group attends many sixties-and-seventies-festivals, especially in Germany.

Click here to learn more about Shocking Blue of the 90s.

Here is what Gerrit Jan from Holland, who witnessed Shocking Blue perform, emailed me:
"When I was young I never had the occasion to see Shocking Blue perform, but I did see them in 1993 during a complete concert in Utrecht, where they performed virtually all the single hits, plus work by Janis Joplin, in which Mariska sang very well! This last July (1998) I saw them perform 30 minutes during the Utrecht Gay Saturday. It was raining heavily that day, but the concert was great and the audience went mad. They are still alive!"

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Notes: On this page I used excerpts from "The Billboard Book of Number One Hits" by Fred Bronson and articles by Lynne Aldridge, Ulf Marquardt, Chris Welch found on the covers of the Shocking Blue's CDs.



SHOCKING BLUE


Many don't know it, but the Hague group Shocking Blue were already making records before Mariska Veres entered as their singer in 1968. During that initial period (1967-68), the lineup was: Robbie van Leeuwen (vocals, guitar, ex-Motions), Fred de Wilde (vocals, ex-Hu & Hilltops), Klaasje van der Wal (bass) and Cor van Beek (drums, ex-Sect). In 1968, Fred was replaced by Mariska, who had already made a solo single in 1965. She was discovered by manager Cees van Leeuwen at the jazz festival in Loosdrecht. She already had some group experience, with the Bumble Bees.

With "Venus", Shocking Blue scored an international hit (number one in the U.S.), but, unfortunately, the decay of the group began shortly thereafter. Constant changes in the lineup were to blame, for one thing: in 1970, Leo van de Ketterij came on board, to boost the group as the second guitarist, but he left less than a year later. Also in 1971 Klaasje, who departed to join Antilope, was succeeded by Henk Smitskamp, ex-Sandy Coast. In 1973 Robbie withdrew himself from the position as a lead guitarist, and on stage had to be replaced by Martin van Wijk, ex-Jupiter.

In 1974, the group broke up. Robbie formed Galaxy Lin, a short-lived jazz-rock outfit, and later - another studio outfit Mistral; Cor and Martin went to Lemming; Mariska continued making a number of solo records. Henk went on to join Livin' Blues.

1967 Love is in the air/What you gonna do Polydor S 1248
1968 Lucy Brown is back in town/Fix your hair darling
Pink Elephant PE 22001
Send me a postcard darling/Harley Davidson 22004
LP Polydor 236173
LP Beat with us Karussell 635240
1969 Long and lonesome road/Fireball of love Pink Elephant PE 22007
Venus/Hot sand 22015
Mighty Joe/Wild wind 22029
LP At home 888001
LP Sensational (comp.) Discofoon 7077
1970 Never marry a railroad man/Roll engine roll Pink Elephant PE 22040
Hello darkness/Pickin' tomatoes 22045
Scorpio's dance/Sally was a good old girl promo
LP Scorpio's dance 877002
LP Hello darkness (comp.?) 888007
1971 Shocking you/Waterloo 22050
Blossom lady/Is this a dream 22053
Out of sight out of mind/I like you 22055
LP Shocking you (aka "3rd Album") 877010
1972 Inkpot/Give my love to the sunrise 22604
Rock in the sea/Broken heart 22059
Eve and the apple/When I was a girl 22066
LP Live in Japan 888014
LP Best 888015
LP Inkpot 877018
LP With love (comp.) Capri CA 38
LP Attila Pink Elephant PE 877025
1973 Venus/Mighty Joe/Never marry a railroad man 22063
Oh Lord/Everything that's mine 22741
Let me carry your bag/I saw you in June 22068
LP Ham (same as Dream On Dreamer) 877039
LP Eve and the apple (same as Dream On Dreamer) Polydor 2310260
1974 This America/I won't be lonely long Pink Elephant PE 22812
Good times/Come my way 22846
LP Een groot uur Capri 2CO 57/58
LP Good times Pink Elephant PE 877069
1975 Gonna sing my song/Get it on 22071
LP Golden stars Omega LPX 423
1977 Venus/Hot sand Pink Elephant HP 79733

[28-09-1968]^21*5 LUCY BROWN IS BACK IN TOWN shocking blue
[14-12-1968]^11*7 SEND ME A POSTCARD shocking blue
[08-03-1969]^17*7 LONG LONESOME ROAD shocking blue
[12-07-1969]^3*26 VENUS shocking blue
[29-11-1969]^1*18 MIGHTY JOE shocking blue
[06-06-1970]^1*12 NEVER MARRY A RAILROAD MAN shocking blue
[21-11-1970]^6*8 HELLO DARKNESS shocking blue
[06-03-1971]^12*5 SHOCKING YOU shocking blue
[21-08-1971]^2*10 BLOSSOM LADY shocking blue
[27-11-1971]^6*10 OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND shocking blue
[11-03-1972]^5*9 INKPOT shocking blue
[19-08-1972]^12*5 ROCK IN THE SEA shocking blue
[09-12-1972]^13*8 EVE AND THE APPLE shocking blue
[07-04-1973]^14*5 OH LORD shocking blue
VERES, MARISKA
Mariska started out in 1964 as a vocalist in Les Mysteres; after that she also sang in the Blue Fighters (1966), Danny & Favourites (1967) and the Motowns (1967). In 1968, she was asked to join Shocking Blue, the outfit in which she found fame all over the world. After the group disbanded in 1974, Mariska made a number of solo-records, sang in Mistral (1978) and also participated in the ill-fated Shocking Blue reunion in 1980.

1965 Topkapi/Is het waar Imperial IH 639
1967 Dag en nacht/Al wordt 't nu winter Philips JF 333893
1975 Take me high/I'm loving you Pink Elephant PE 22091
Tell it like it is/Wait till I get back to you Pink Elephant PE 22099
1976 Lovin' you/You showed me how Pink Elephant PE 22176
Little by little/Help the country Pink Elephant PE 22200
Mach mich frei/Ich liebe doch nur dich Omega 36351
1977 Too young/You don't have to know Scramble SRS 510013
1978 Bye bye to romance/It's a long hard road CNR 141480
1980 Looking out for number one/ ?
1982 Wake up city/In the name of love EMI 5C 006-26780
Dutch charts:
MARISKA VERES
30-8-75 SINGLE 27 3 TAKE ME HIGH
29-11-75 SINGLE tip TELL IT LIKE IT IS
31-7-76 SINGLE 16 6 LOVIN' YOU
20-11-76 SINGLE tip LITTLE BY LITTLE
16-7-77 SINGLE tip TOO YOUNG
SIX YOUNG RIDERS
Robbie van Leeuwen's part-time group, including also Henk Smitskamp and Rene Nodelijk.

1967 Let the circle be unbroken/Count down Havoc SH 128
MISTRAL
Studio group led by Robbie van Leeuwen (ex-Galaxy Lin).

Musicians involved included Rick van der Linden (guesting on keyboards) and Kid van Ettinger (bass).

Vocalists: Sylvia van Asten (1977, member of Funny Face), Marjan Schattelijn (1978), Mariska Veres (1978) and Sheen Milholland (1980). From 1981, Funny Face were occasionally billed as Mistral.

1977 Jamie/Nectar CNR 141421
1978 Starship 109/Love destruction CNR 141455
Neon city/Asphalt CNR 141496
1980 You're my hero/New born butterfly CNR 141619
I feel it/Too late to be sorry CNR 141692
Dutch charts:
MISTRAL
3-12-77 SINGLE 15 8 JAMIE
8-4-78 SINGLE 9 8 STARSHIP 109 [Alarmschijf op 1-4-78]
21-10-78 SINGLE 37 3 NEON CITY
MYSTИRES
Beat group from The Hague; in 1964, they won the first prize at the talent hunt in Meerrust-Warmond. Also toured Germany. The lead singer was Mariska Veres.

1964 Summertime
BLUE FIGHTERS
The Blue Fighters from The Hague released one flexi-EP. The line-up featured: John Merano (v), Henk Scheepstra (dr), Ed Koetsier (b, to Nicols), Ton van Oudheusden (g) and Rob Poerbo (g). In 1966, they accompanied Mariska Veres (ex-Mystиres) for a short while. A year before that, they took part in
the Cabaret der Onbekenden.

1965 EP

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THE SHOCKING BLUE STORY
Although glibly labelled by many as one-hit wonders - albeit international ones, due to the US chart-topping success of 'Venus' - Shocking Blue have recently had their music rediscovered and reassessed by critics and public alike.

Though the band reached the peak of their commercial success at the start of the Seventies, their origins lay further back in the diverse, exciting and woefully ignored Dutch scene of the mid-Sixties.

The Dutch beat boom started when Johnny Kendall and the Heralds' version of 'St James' Infirmary' charted in late 1964. Prior to that, most of the home- grown acts to find success had either been wholesome teen stars or guitar instrumental acts in the style of the Shadows.

Many of the leading lights of the beat boom got their start in these guitar groups. In several instances, the groups themselves evolved and changed styles: ZZ and the Maskers dropped the leader's name for several singles and backed Chubby Checker when he was based in the country (after marrying the Netherlands' representative in a Miss World contest!)

While major cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam all had bands of note, the Hague was undoubtedly the Netherlands' musical hotbed. Almost everything was covered, from cultural outlaws such as Q65, through beat groupssuch as The Hunters (Focus star Jan Akkerman's first major act) through many pop acts the Sandy Coast and Golden Earring (who at this time could be compared with the Hollies). But one band alone captured the style and energy of British Mod acts like the Small Faces and the Action: that was the Motions.

Robbie van Leeuwen, guitarist, songwriter and effectively leader of Shocking Blue, had previously held a similar position in the Motions in their early hit making phase. Those hits included 'It's Gone', 'Wasted Words' (a paean to Dr. Martin Luther King), 'Every Step I Take' and 'Everything That's Mine' the latter one of the finest slices of Mod/Art Pop produced anywhere in the world.

The Shocking Blue story effectively started when Van Leeuwen left the Motions in 1967 due to conflicts with lead singer Rudy Bennett. He recruited members from other Hague bands for his new group: the line-up for the first Shocking Blue singles, up to and including the first hit, 'Lucy Brown Is Back In Town', was Van Leeuwen (guitar), Fred de Wilde (vocals), Klaasje van de Waal (bass) and Cor van Beek (drums). The single charted well, things were about to change.

About the same time as Lucy Brown's release, fellow Hague band Golden Earring had hit the jackpot with the pure bubblegum of 'Dong Dong Di Ki Di Gi Dong'. A band was hired to play at the party they held to celebrate their first Number 1; named the Bumble Bees, they were fronted by a strong and striking female vocalist. Shocking Blue's manager and publisher both attended the party, and both felt certain this singer would be ideal for their band. The woman in question was Mariska Veres.

The new line-ups' first single, 'Send Me A Postcard', was a runaway success in the Netherlands, while the follow-up 'Long Lonesome Road', also made the domestic Top 20. But it was the third single with Veres that would seal the band's fate. 'Venus' made Number 3 in Holland, but significantly topped the charts in several countries, including Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and Germany.

The record came to the attention of a newly formed American record label, Colossus. The label's head Jerry Ross signed Shocking Blue for the States and was rewarded when 'Venus' hit the top there in February 1970. Ross also signed two other Dutch acts, the Tee Set (formed by former After Tea singer Peter Tetteroo) and the George Baker Selection: the Tee Set's 'Ma Belle Amie' also rose high in the US charts to Number 5, while Baker's biggest hit for Colossus, 'Little Green Bag', was later used on the soundtrack of the 90s film "Reservoir Dogs".

Shocking Blue's follow-up to 'Venus', 'Mighty Joe', made Number 1 in Holland and charted almost everywhere its predecessor had. But the international success 'Venus' had appeared to herald failed to materialise. Although the band was still releasing excellent and often innovative singles and still charting in Europe, Van Leeuwen was dissatisfied and increasingly frustrated by the limits of Shocking Blue's chart success. When mainland European bands once again returned in vogue on the back of ABBA's Eurovision victory, the band failed to capitalise and eventually split.

Mariska Veres continued as a solo singer, Van Leeuwen producing her on songs like 'Too Young' and 'Loving You' (both included as bonus tracks on this compilation), he also enjoyed local success in the mid-Seventies with a group, Galaxy Lin.

But Shocking Blue returned to the fray, albeit for one night only, in 1984 at a Back to the Sixties festival in Den Bosch along with the surviving members of Q65, the Shoes and members of other Hague groups. It proved to be a night to remember: Van Leeuwen still had style, and Veres still had one of the greatest female rock voices: the band's interpretations of Jefferson Airplane's 'Somebody To Love' and 'White Rabbit' were just as strong as their own songs.

The continuing interest in Sixties music, along with the realisation that bands whose mother tongue is not English are as musically valid as British, American and Antipodean acts, has led to an increasing appreciation of Shocking Blue's music. Their songs receive radio and club play, while bands have also covered the songs: the most significant re-recording came from grunge supergroup Nirvana, whose debut release on the Sub Pop label was a version of 'Love Buzz' that's rather different to the one you hear here. 'Venus', meanwhile, has proved to have a life of its own. It's been used in television advertisements, while Bananarama's version equalled the original chart position in the US in 1986.

Photos of the band indicate that Shocking Blue seems to trade on Veres' striking, essentially female appearance. Yet it fails to smack of exploitation simply because of the sheer power of the woman. Much has been made of her ancestry - part-German, part-Hungarian Gypsy, and the resulting dark, sultry features. Here was a woman in control. Her voice had and still has a strength and quality that puts her on a par with other powerful female contemporaries like Julie Driscoll and Grace Slick. Maybe the time has come to acknowledge this fact as we enjoy a collection of Shocking Blue classics.

Lynne Aldridge
Taken from the liner notes of the 1994 CD, "Best of Shocking Blue", Connoisseur label.








Shocking Blue


Mariska Veres (voc)
Robby Van Leeuwen (g, sitar)
Klaasje Van Der Wal (b)
Cornelius Van Der Beek (dr)

Pop history has often seen invasions. The most powerful and renown was the British invasion of American pop music in 1963, when the Merseybeat groups led by The Beatles swept across the new world followed by more R&B orientated British bands like The Stones. Each invasion creates new energy and offers fresh inspiration to a music scene lying in idle sleep.

The spearhead of the brief 'Dutch invasion' of the early Seventies was Shocking Blue. They conquered the international charts with their self-penned hit single 'Venus'. This song not only made the European Top Ten but also reached the Number One position in the US on December 6, 1969 and stayed eight weeks in the Top Ten.

The Shocking Blue had been formed in 1967 by guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen, a veteran of a well-known Dutch rock band The Motions. But the eye-and-ear-catching attraction of the band was the dark-haired singer Mariska Veres. Her soul-tinged voice gave the music a distinct R&B sound that was often compared with The Small Faces. Shocking Blue successfully combined Beat and R&B with psychedelic elements of the time like Indian sitar and odd production techniques.

After some inconsequential recording work, they signed with the Pink Elephant label and released 'Venus' in 1969. They recorded successfully well into the mid-seventies and had more international hits with 'Mighty Joe' and 'Long And Lonesome Road' (both in 1970). The Shocking Blue released their first LP also in 1969 titled, 'At Home', and it featured, of course, the million-seller 'Venus'. 1970 saw two album releases with 'Scorpio's Dance' and 'Hello Darkness', the latter containing the above mentioned singles 'Mighty Joe' and 'Long And Lonesome Road'. The German Metronome issued the next album in 1971 with the confusing title 'Third Album' which was followed by the studio production of 'Inkpot' and a live album a year later.



For the 1973 'Dream On Dreamer' and 'Eve And The Apple' the line-up changed slightly. Bass player Klaasje van der Wal was replaced by Henk Smitskamp. Finally in the mid-seventies The Shocking Blue disbanded after a very successful career.

Their first hit 'Venus' became an all-time evergreen and was re-recorded by the British pop trio Bananarama in 1986 (produced by Stock/Aitken/Waterman). It, again, made a huge impact on the international charts and showed the hit potential of this song.

Ulf Marquardt


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Pop and rock music echoed around the world in a great cultural explosion that shook up the Sixties. One of the great merits of the boom was that pop music became a universal medium, open to contenders from all nations. Although America was the source of many different strands of pop, other countries also developed their own star performers. Germany and England were foremost among the great pop nations, but, despite its small size, Holland also exported a vast amount of talent.

Euro pop stars who sprang to fame during this period included Sacha Distel from France, Nana Mouskouri from Greece and The Rattles from Germany. Shocking Blue was among the most successful pop/rock bands from the Netherlands. They outgunned all their European compatriots when they achieved the coveted miracle - a Number One smash single in the American charts.

'Venus' was the melodic, catchy song that rocketed the band to stardom and transformed their fortunes. It also boosted the hopes of many other artists from their home country and proved there were no national barriers in pop music. 'Venus' topped the U.S. Billboard charts in December 1969 and also reached Number Two in Germany. It became a Top Ten hit in the U.K. when it reached Number 8 in January 1970. Shocking Blue's star attraction was lead singer Mariska Veres, who backed composer and lead guitar player Robbie van Leeuwen. The band's line up was completed by Klaasje van der Wal (bass) and Cor van Beek (drums). Many critics favourably compared Mariska's vocal style to Grace Slick and some regarded the band as the Dutch Jefferson Airplane, although the group never managed to attain the status of the legendary San Franciscans. After 'Venus' they had further chart success with follow up single 'Mighty Joe' (1970) and 'Inkpot' was a hit in 1972.

While Shocking Blue remains active as a touring band, founder member Robbie van Leeuwen has long since retired from the business and is now more interested in art than pop music. However he remains proud of his pop past and has fond memories of those early exciting days. Like many teenagers who came of age in the Sixties, he started out listening to such bands as The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Searchers and Hollies. The Hague became rather like Liverpool, giving birth to many young groups and among them were The Motions. Robbie joined this band on guitar and explains: 'This was the beginning of my professional guitar playing career. But after a few years I wanted to do something a bit different and started a group with a girl singer, which became Shocking Blue.' At the beginning Robbie and the band found it 'quite tough' to find their own musical direction. Then they discovered the music coming out of America's West Coast and formed an affinity with its melodic rock style. The band's striking name was inspired by an Eric Clapton song called 'Electric Blue' which they turned into 'Shocking Blue.'

Mariska was introduced to Robbie through his manager who had heard her singing in a small band out in the country. 'He told me she was the right person for the group and she had a very impressive voice that was quite different from all the other girl singers. She had a vocal style that was almost like Fats Domino and rather like Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane. Once she joined everything happened very quickly because the first single we did was 'Venus' which was a huge hit. In one year everything we dreamed about had happened. The song was Number One in America and after that we had about fifty hits in Holland.' They also had five or six records that did very well internationally. In France and Japan they enjoyed great success and in Germany their follow up single 'Mighty Joe' was a major hit.

Strangely enough, two countries where 'Venus' was not Number One were England and the Netherlands. Says Robbie wryly: 'I think this was because in England they are very chauvinistic and in Holland they are not chauvinistic at all! However it sold many millions around the world. I don't know how many exactly but I was very happy with the sales figures. It also gave many Dutch groups more belief in their own potential and they could see they too stood a chance of being successful.' The original line up of Mariska, Robbie, Cor and Klaasje stayed together for three exciting years. Then Klaasje left due to personal problems and after a while Robbie departed, worn out by the strain of keeping the band on track.

'The whole touring business became too tough for me, so I quit after five tears, in 1975.' The band had been touring not just throughout Europe and the States but the entire world. They visited such far-flung lands as Japan, Indonesia and Hong Kong and even toured South America. We never expected it to be so busy!' says Robbie. 'Traveling facilities weren't as good for groups in those days as they are now. We traveled in a simple station wagon which wasn't very comfortable.' At least they got to meet and perform with some of the greatest names of the rock era. 'In the States we toured with Ike & Tina Turner, Sly & The Family Stone and Three Dog Night. We were always top of the bill in Europe but in America of course we were part of the package tour. When we were with Sly Stone he had the Number one hit 'Dance With The Music.'

However, Shocking Blue was not usually slotted into the hippie festival circuit, where the rock bands played. Explains Robbie, 'In the early Seventies, most of the groups who played the big festivals had some kind of drugs image. Marijuana influenced their songs and we were quite straight. We weren't a Woodstock generation band. We didn't tour England but we appeared there on BBC TV's Top Of The Pops.' As well as unleashing a succession of hit singles, the band recorded many well-received albums, the first being 'Shocking Blue At Home' (1970) which sold fifty thousand copies and went gold in Holland. It created an impact around the world that would have surprising results many years later. The famed Seattle grunge band Nirvana took 'Love buzz' from the Shocking Blue album and covered it in 1988.

As the band seemed to be on the crest of a wave, their record label Pink Elephant expected them to release three albums a year. Naturally this was too much for Robbie who had the burden of being both lead guitarist and songwriter. 'Later on every group that had a hit released one album a year and that was enough. We made too many!' Robbie wrote all his songs at home, when he got the chance, and that's where he first wrote 'Venus' working in a small room at his parents' house. Shocking Blue went on to make such albums as 'Inkpot' and 'Attila' (combined on this 2-On-1 CD) and 'Dream On Dreamer' and 'Good Times' that make up another Repertoire package. As well as the original album material there are the added bonus tracks, mostly the A and B sides of singles. Two of the tracks 'Dream On Dreamer' and 'Gonna Sing My Song' were singles released after Robbie left the group.

'They decided to carry on after I quit but it didn't workout and in short time Mariska went solo. I had some studio groups because I'd had enough of traveling and I had a few hits with a band I put together called Mistral. We had two hits in France and three at home in Holland. But a studio group is very difficult to do because the other members were interested in different things. So it was hard to keep everybody in line.'

Robbie gradually gave up the hard grind of the music business but was able to retire on the royalties from past hits. He now lives in the Hague after some years in Luxembourg. For many years he was a bachelor but in 1996 found himself a girlfriend. 'It's like a new part of my life,' says Robbie, 'Maybe one day I will settle down and become a father. I never was a family man. I was like some kind of hermit when I was living in Luxembourg on my own for 12 years.' He found himself tending his garden rather than playing his guitar which he never touches these days. 'I'm now more interested in art, paintings and sculpture, I am into collecting and selling modern works of art and visiting sales and exhibitions. My last band Mistral broke up in the early Eighties and then in 1983 I moved over to Luxembourg and only returned to Holland in 1996.

'Sometimes when I go shopping I hear some of my old songs being played on muzak in the supermarket. I think yeah, that's me!'

But it is difficult to feel I am the same person I was then. I cannot relate to that situation because I don't like the music of today. There is too much house music and that's probably why I have a different life now. Shocking Blue played melodic music. It was a Dutch imitation of the West Coast music from America, but we played our own original compositions. We did a few covers but only because I had to write too much. The DJs preferred us to do original songs, but we had to do so many albums, the band had to fill in with a few covers. It was quite exhausting writing all the lyrics and songs myself! They were all in English because I cannot write in Dutch. It's very difficult for me to write in my own language.'

Robbie van Leeuwen certainly achieved artistic fulfillment in the language of pop.

Venus - yeah baby, she's got it!

CHRIS WELCH, London, 1997