Motions, The (Holland)
Band members Related acts
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line up 1 (1964-67) - Rudy Bennett (aka Ruud van de Berg) -- vocals - Robbie van Leeuwen -- vocals, guitar - Henk Smithskamp -- bass, backing vocals - Sieb Warner (aka Siebolt Warntjes)-- drums, percussion
line up 2 (1967-68) NEW - Leo Bennink - lead guitar (replaced Robbie van Leeuwen) - Rudy Bennett (aka Ruud van de Berg) -- vocals - Gerard Romeyn -- bass, backing vocals (replaced Henk Smithskamp NEW - Jan Vennik -- sax, flute, keyboards NEW - Sieb Warner -- drums (1964-69)
line up 3 (1968-71) - Leo Bennink - lead guitar - Rudy Bennett (aka Ruud van de Berg) -- vocals NEW - Han Cooperville (aka Han Gordinou de Gouberville) -- drums, percussion (replaced Sieb Warner) NEW - Bobby Green (aka Bob van der Vaart) -- keyboards, bass, backing vocals (replaced Jan Vennik) NEW - Paul van Melzen -- bass (replaced Gerard Romeyn)
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- The Atmospheres (Robbie van Leeuwen) - Beehive (Leo Bennink) - Rudy Bennett (solo efforts) - Ritchie Clark and the Ricochets (Rudy Bennett, Robbie van Leeuwen and Sieb Warner ) - Crossroad (Rudy Bennett, Leo Bennink, Bobby Green, Hans Cooperville) - Ekseption (John Vennick) - Fisher & Friends (Leo Bennink, Bobby Green and Hans Cooperville) - Galaxy Lin (Robbie van Leevwen and Rudy Bennett) - Golden Earring (Sieb Warner) - Bobby Green Selection (Hans Cooperville and Bobby Green) - Bobby Green (solo efforts) - Greenhorn (Bobby Green and Leo Bennink) - The Haigs (Paul van Melzen) - Rob Hoeke (Jan Vennick) - Image (Gerard Romeyn) - The Jay Jays (Jan Vennick) - Jupiter (Rudy Bennett) - Livin' Blues (Henk Smithskamp) - Mack (Leo Bennink) - Mailer McKenzie Band (Paul van Melzen) - Gerard Romeyn & Riverhorse - The Shocking Blue (Robbie van Leeuwen) - The Tee Set (Gerard Romeyn) - Willy and the Giants (Henk Smithskamp)
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Genre: psych Rating: **** (4 stars) Title: Impressions of Wonderful Company: Negram Catalog: CS-1103 Year: 1967 Country/State: The Hague, Holland Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: Canadian pressing Available: SOLD Catalog ID: SOLD 4573 Price: SOLD $150.00 |
If Americans recognize this 1960s Dutch band, it's probably due to the fact singer/guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen was one of the original members prior to splitting to form The Shocking Blue.
That oversight is unfortunate since The Motions were a fairly talented group who managed to expand their repertoire beyond their original beat group roots. Unfortunately, by the time the band's third album "Wonderful Impressions" was released, van Leeuwen was gone; replaced by singer/guitarist Gerard Romeyn.
While
the groups first two albums went un-noticed and undistributed in the States
and Canada, the Canadian-based Negram Records decided to pick up the band's
third album. Inexplicably Negram opted to give the album a new
extremely psych-ish cover (the original dorky artwork relegated to the flip
side) and re-title the set as "Impressions
of Wonderful." Produced by Peter Stirling (who
also contributed several songs to the album), the collection offered up an
enjoyable mixture of pop, blue eyed soul and lite psych influences.
Propelled by Rudy Bennett's likeable voice (interestingly he was the only
band member the liner notes mentioned by name), the results sounded a little
bit like mid-career Hollies (doubt the comparison, then check out 'Hey
Conductor Man'). Tracks such as 'Love Is Good Love Is Real', 'You're
My Adee' and 'Did I Tell You, Babe' were all tuneful and radio friendly,
though lacked much n the way of originality. In fact that's my one
minor complaint with the set; namely I constantly find myself playing 'spot
the influence'. 'Green Chewing Gum Machine' sounded like it was
borrowed from The Strawberry Alarm Clock. 'Did I Tell You, Babe'
showed a blatant Hendrix influences. Complete with sterling vocal
harmonies, 'It's Too Late To Turn Around' was another Hollies clone,
etc. Mind you, that complaint in no way detracts from the
set's quality and enjoyability factors. 1.) Love Is Good Love Is Real (Gerard Romeyn - Sieb Warner) - 2:48 2.) Green Chewing Gum Machine (Gerard Romeyn - Sieb Warner) - 3:16 3.) You're My Adee (Gerard Romeyn - Peter Stirling) - 2:27 4.) Hey Conductor Man (Gerard Romeyn - Peter Stirling) - 2:43 5.) Did I Tell You, Babe (Gerard Romeyn - Sieb Warner) - 2:20 6.) It's Too Late To Turn Around (Peter Stirling) - 2:39
(side
2) 2.) Slow Down Cool Woman (Peter Stirling) -2:46 3.) Memories O'Fair Haired Mary (Gerard Romeyn - Sieb Warner) - 2:45 4.) If You and Me (Gerard Romeyn - Sieb Warner) - 2:00 5.) Red Balloons (Gerard Romeyn - Sieb Warner) - 2:48 6.) Night Mare (Gerard Romeyn - Sieb Warner) - 2:35
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Genre: rock Rating: **** (4 stars) Title: Electric Baby Company: Philips Catalog: PHS 600-317 Year: 1969 Country/State: The Hague, Holland Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: gatefold sleeve; white promo label Available: 1 Catalog ID: 5126 Price: $90.00
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By 1969 The Motions ever changing line up consisted of lead guitarist Leo Bennink, singer Rudy Bennett, drummer Han Cooperville (replacing Sieb Warner who had co-written about half of the material on the band's forthcoming album before moving on to Golden Earring), keyboardist Bobby Green, and bassist Paul van Metzen.
full album sleeve - happy lookin' crew !!!
Having signed an American distribution agreement with Philips, the band finally got a major league shot at cracking the domestic market with the release of 1969's "Electric Baby". Produced by Hans van Hemert, the album was extremely diverse, including stabs at pop, harder rock, and several weird musical snippets ('What's Your Name', the freak-out title track, 'Little Boys Life' and 'Chicks' which closed the set out on 20 seconds of chicken sounds). Coupled with some poorly conceived over orchestration (check out the ballads 'It's Alright' and 'Eliza' which all but drown Bennett and the band out) one quickly got the impression these guys didn't know what audience they wanted to pursue. That was unfortunate since the group's writing and performances strengths clearly came to the fore when they focused on tougher material. While tracks like the single 'Freedom', 'Illusions' and The Moody Blues-ish 'Looking In My Eyes' were all enjoyable slices of top-40 pop, the real standouts were the band's isolated forays into harder rock. Those highlights included the killer 'Wedding of the Hundred Brides' (where was the Unification Church when you needed it), which propelled by Green's keyboards and some tasty phased guitar from Bennink managed to beat Spooky Tooth at their own game.
"Electric Baby" track listing:
1.) It's Alright (Bobby Green - Sieb Warner) - 3:34 Geez, with Green handling lead vocals you'd never have guessed these guys were Dutch ... a sweet, if very '60s flavored pop ballad, this could easily have been a Mark Lindsay and the Raiders track. The verse with Bennett handling vocals wasn't quite as impressive. A bit heavy on the orchestration, but not bad. rating: *** stars 2.) Wedding of the Hundred Brides (Bobby Green - Sieb Warner) - 2:25 'Wedding of the Hundred Brides' found the band going into Steppenwolf-styled heavy rock ... Driving beat with a nice organ and electric guitar mixture. Interestingly Green's vocals reminded me a bit of mid-'70s Stevie Winwood. One of the album highlights. YouTube has a fascinating black and white clip of the band playing the song at Steve Paul's The Scene club in New York City. I have no idea what the song was about, but they were pretty darned impressive on this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fwAq0Qdpw8 rating: **** stars 3.) What's Your Name (John Vennick - Sieb Warner) - 1:05 I can only speculate that vaudeville was popular in Holland, 'cause this will have zilch appeal to American ears. rating: * star 4.) Illusions (Sieb Warner) - 3:39 Another track written by former drummer Warner, 'Illusion' was a decent slice of power-pop with a pretty, lilting melody and some slide raw harmony vocals. rating: *** stars 5.) Looking In My Eyes (Leo Bennink - Sieb Warner) - 5:34 The seagull sound effects and mellotron flourishes gave the opening of 'Looking In My Eyes' a Moody Blues-styled vibe. Unfortunately the rest of the song turned into a sappy and forgettable flute propelled ballad territory. Okay, the harmony vocals were nice enough, but couldn't rescue the song. rating: ** stars 6.) Freedom (Leo Bennink - Sieb Warner) - 2:57 Imagine Badfinger had they been Dutch ... 'Freedom' was the album's catchiest and most commercial offerings. With a sweet melody, throwaway lyrics and nice Four Seasons-styled backing harmonies, it's pretty easy to see why Philips released it as a US single. rating: **** stars 7.) Electric Baby (The Motions) - 1:44 Mellotron, screeching fuzz guitar, frenetic drums, bad acid trip sound effects ... Wow The Motions get experimental and funky at the same time ... Only complaint is that the track was so short it came off as a sound fragment. rating: **** stars
(side
2) So their version won't make you forget the Garnett Mimms version, but it wasn't half bad with kind of a sleazy Golden Earring feel. rating: *** stars 2.) Eliza (John Vennick - Sieb Warner) - 3:38 One of the album's most commercial tunes, the ballad 'Eliza' found them again treading into Dennis Yost & the Classics IV/Tom Jones/Mark Lindsay MOR ballader territory. Way too MOR-ish for their own good. rating: ** stars 3.) Slow Motion (instrumental) (The Motions) - 6:30 'Slow Motion' was basically an extended blues-tinged psych jam which spotlighted Bobby Green's keyboard moves. Funky in a Young-Holt Trio fashion. rating: *** stars 4.) Little Boys Life (John Vennick - Sieb Warner) - 1:46 Geez, 'Little Boys Life' sounded like something off a Broadway stage show soundtrack ... very disconcerting and the marching boots fade out sound effect was even spookier. rating: ** stars 5.) Shilly, Shally (Leo Bennink - Sieb Warner) - 4:21 Opening up with some Herbie Mann-styled jazz flute, 'Shilly Shally' sounded like something off of an Austin Powers soundtrack. Showcasing Bennett on lead vocals didn't do the song any favors, giving it a shrill and irritating edge. Yech. rating: *** stars 6.) Hey Everybody (Bobby Green - Sieb Warner) - 2:40 Irritating toyt-own-styled cuteness made even more irritating by the fact the master tape sounded like it had been speeded up to give the singers an odd Alvin and the Chipmunks sound. rating: * star 7.) Chicks (The Motions) - 0:23 Perhaps it meant more to Dutch fans, but 20 seconds of chicken noises seemed like an odd way to end an album. Other than Colonel Sanders, I'm not sure who would have appreciated the gesture. rating: * star
The album featured a number of Dutch singles and an American 45 (that actually hit the US charts, but wasn't enough to spur domestic sales of the parent LP):
- 1969's 'It's Alright' b/w 'Hey Everybody' (Decca catalog number AT 10 374) - 1969's 'Freedom' b/w 'What's Your Name' and 'Little Boy Life' (Decca catalog AT 10 382) - 1969's 'Eliza' b/w 'Wedding of the Hundred Brides' (Decca catalog number AT 10 396)
US release - 1969's 'Freedom' b/w 'What's Your Name Little Boy' (Philips catalog number 40624).
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