Surprieze – Zeer Oude Klanken En Heel Nieuwe Geluiden

This curiously-titled record (Very Old Tones and Very New Sounds) is high on many want lists of psych collectors. For many years few collectors had actually heard the music, since only very few copies survived the mist of times and, as you will read, the hands of its creator. In the early 70's guitarist/harmonica player Eddie van der Meer left his blues-based band Slack Gang to create the music, which he so clearly heard in his head. Recorded live over a two year period in various bedrooms and youth clubs without any overdubs, the album was privately released in 1972. As soon as the needle is put to the grooves you know you're in for something truly special. Van der Meer plays an utterly unique combination of rambling spontaneous Delta-blues with avant-garde influences using a 3-string guitar. One moment this guitar wails à la Hendrix (albeit one with a Dutch accent) the next moment it almost whispers in a classical, violin and acoustic guitar duet. Van der Meer's often improvised vocals are high pitched and meandering and at times it's hard to make out the words. There's experimentation with echo, delays and raga-type droning. In short, and in lack of a better term, this could be qualified as "outsider music" and, as such, is highly valued today. In 1972 however, Van der Meer's proud album fell on stoney ground. Even though later reviews were not that bad, the first review to appear (in Aloha, the leading Dutch music magazines no less) was absolutely devastating. Referring to the album as "round and black with a hole in the middle, which is the only positive thing about it" and "an insult to the listener", the review made Van der Meer lose all enthusiasm and confidence about his record. As a result he cycled to the Scheveningen beach (a distance of no less than 70 miles!) with his saddle bags stuffed with unsold copies of the album and threw them into the North sea! Copies of the album have survived in private collections and after many years, when interest in private pressings rose, the album surfaced again. Some 10 years ago Dutch label Grey Past re-released the album, which, this time, gained raving reviews from all over the world (including Julian Cope). These days Van der Meer is still around and even though he is a very withdrawn person, he must feel some vindication about the prices (and praise) his album fetches. Created by a free spirited mind, this album is an emotional rollercoaster, strange but, most importantly, utterly beautiful.

I wasn't really convinced that this was a reissue of a lost old Dutch psych/underground LP when I got it a few years back. Sounded more like someone modern trying to sound 60's to me. Could have all been a hoax based on the insert. Yet I now see that it was originally released in 1973, so not as old as I thought it was supposed to be. It's an odd mix of experimental guitar work-outs and blues-rock diversions, overall patchy, but surprising for what's mostly a one-man show.