Song of the Week: The Outsiders -- You Mistreat Me and Sun Going Down

You Mistreat Me

Sun Going Down

Radio Promo

[originally posted on 11/16/09]
Word just hit us that Ronnie Splinter passed away this past weekend. Here is a repost of an earlier article about his band, The Outsiders.

Greetings from a large wooden crate suspended over the shipping docks of Amsterdam. It's 1965 and we have a Date With The Dutch! Wether you're feeling groovy, hip, with it or whatever you like to call yourself; or even if others or you yourself regard you as a square, here is one minute and fifty nine seconds of music by the youngsters recorded in Holland especially for you!

Our date is happening because a local music magazine, Muziek Express, has the idea to publish songs from some of the local kids. Their virgin foray into the music publishing business is with a band called The Outsiders. They're led by a funny little singer and songwriter by the name of Wally Tax and an inventive guitarist by the name of Ronnie Splinter. Together they front a five piece band that is the biggest thing going in this soggy little country. Bigger than the ridiculously talented Cuby + The Blizzards and bigger still than Q65. They're even bigger than sticking your finger into a dyke on a Saturday night.

The Outsiders' first single for Muziek Express' Op-Art label is a double sided gem. The A-side, our SoTW, is called You Mistreat Me. (Yeah, I know, we usually go for the Flip-Side of singles, but not today kids). You Mistreat Me is one odd little song. Like so many Outsiders songs, You Mistreat Me seems to have been recorded live in the studio and without a break to tune up the instruments. (The fab-O flip side, Sun Going Down is waaaaay out of tune, but in a good way.)

You Mistreat Me starts with a heavily tremelo-effected guitar sputtering away as Splinter slides a barre chord up and down the neck, falling loosely into a two chord riff. Bassist Appie Ramers (most awesome name ever!) gets some prime time with his hollow body bass running up and down the neck. And the late Wally Tax sings in his trademark melancholy style sounding as if he was too stoned to actually make an effort to muster a well earned tear in his eye. "Things you say ain't true. All you do is lie. You leave me all alone for too many hours. You Mistreat me and you make me lose my mind. Don't you know that I love you, why do you treat me so unkind?" Even his scream that introduces the guitar lead sounds as if he can't work up enough energy to put the Pop-Tarts down and get off the couch. Wally Tax clearly abides.

Sadly we may never know why this unnamed girl treated Wally so bad. Wally Tax passed away not too long ago in 2005 and with him, he took his sad little secret to the grave.

Song of the Week: "Cry In The Night", Q65

Listen - Q65 perform Cry In The Night

What we have here is a prime example of why we call this blog, On The Flip-Side. This song is the flip-side of the Q65's second single. But unlike most singles, whose flip-side we praise, this one actually had a great A-Side too. The A-side is called The Life I Live. But today we celebrate, what else, the flip-side, which is the raver, Cry In The Night. Q65 hailed from Holland and gained a hard earned reputation as a rough and tumble band willing to fight it out on stage and off. We wrote about them before when we featured their quirky song, I Got Nightmares. If you want to know more about them, check out that article which can be found...here. Until then, enjoy day 2 of our look at mainland Europe garage bands from the 60s.

Song of the Week: Q65 - I Got Nightmares

Here at On The Flip-Side we've sung the praises of 60s Dutch Beat, also known as Nederbiet. We've hit on the most musically talented of the bunch, Cuby + The Blizards, and we've hit on the most popular of the scene, The Outsiders. But we haven't touched on the coolest of that scene. But today is the day.

Q65 was formed in the Hague in 1965 and started releasing odd and stunningly cool singles on Decca Records beginning in 1966. In that same year they released their first album, Revolution. It's a very intriguing album that mixes great original compositions (some of which demonstrate a real unique approach to composing) and very respectable covers of American blues and soul songs such as Spoonful and Get Out Of My Life Woman. But as is always the case with the European bands, the originals are where one gets value for the price of admission. It is there that the English as a second language lyrics get most amusing, and the deft guitar work of Joop Roelofs and Frank Nuyens are at their best.

One of the many super cool, head scratching originals the boys put together is I Got Nightmares. The tom-tom, maraca heavy song features a simple, but compelling guitar riff with beautifully out-of-nowhere stops and the totally unexpected giggling and yawning. What is up with that?! Vocalist Willem Beiler sings in his trademark speaking style with some curious lyrics sung in English. Not all of which I can make out through the thick accent. Okay, most of it I can't understand.

Enjoy Q65 performing their original composition from '66, I Got Nightmares.

Song of the Week: "Your Body, Not Your Soul", Cuby + the Blizzards

On this final Monday of 2008, our Song of the Week journey takes us on our first trip outside of America and Britain. And what a trip it is. Our flight takes us to a lowland paradise known as the Netherlands.

The year is 1966 and the Dutch have been subjected to a healthy dose of British invasion for two years. Screw the silly soft stuff like Herman's Hermits. Maybe it's living below a flood plain, maybe they are tired of jokes about little Dutch boy's sticking their fingers into dykes, maybe they are just excited that the Dutch haircut was finally en vogue, but the Dutch take to the grittier bands such as the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, the Kinks, The Who,  the Pretty Things and the Creation more than any other mainland Europe country. But more than just appreciating the Mod and R&B based Brit bands, the Dutch answer back with their own take on American soul and blues, adding a very unique accent to their interpretations. It becomes known as Nederbiet and, truth be told, it makes not a single ripple in the UK or the US. Outside of Holland the music explosion would rest in obscurity until a modest interest is rekindled by a handful of music enthusiasts in the 80's.

A huge treasure of music was left behind. But forty-two years of historical perspective reveals three Dutch bands as standing above the multitude of very good music to come out of Holland: Q65, The Outsiders led by Wally Tax, and our heroes of the day, Cuby + the Blizzards. Cuby + the Blizzards, named after a neighbor's dog and a word chosen at random from an English dictionary, were led by singer Harry Muskee and guitarist Eelco Gelling who took to the American blues better than any of their contemporaries (with apologies to Rob Hoeke). C+B released a handful of stylized singles between '65 and '67 that would only hint at what would become their blues dominant sound that would carry them through today. Those first singles were a stunningly original collection of songs that showcased the power of Muskee's brooding voice and Gelling's truly stellar guitar work. Following regional success of their first contribution of wax, Stumble and Fall, The band's second single was a cover of Manfred Mann's excellent song, L.S.D. (ostensibly standing for Pound, Schilling, Dollar). It was a great cover, but the real gem was the Flip-Side of the single (and our Song of the Week), the self-penned Your Body, Not Your Soul.

Opening with a distinguishing floor-tom to snare intro , C+B's Your Body, Not Your Soul quickly falls into a beautifully syncopated rhythm that showcases the masterful guitar work by Gelling who surely would have been a guitar hero of epic proportions if he had been British or American. His lead at the :46 mark has all the ingredients of a great lead, but it's the distinctive solos that close out each verse/chorus (as well as the lead) that are his high point in the song. Just linger on the riff at 1:30 for a moment to really appreciate his phrasing, tone and attack. But vocalist, Muskee is never outdone. Writing in a non-native language, he shows an acerbic wit with his quixotic lyrics which, truth be told, don't always make sense but somehow translate to a youthful universality. Sung in a broken accent, the young Muskee growls out: "I tell everybody that you gave me a kick. I felt so tired I gave myself a tick, 'cause I love your body, but not your soul." The lyrics are definitely not Gloria Steinem approved but I think most people have been there at one point or another in their life.

C+B caught the attention of the British musicians who toured Europe and noted the stellar musicianship of the band. When Van Morrison broke from Them late in '66, he toured Europe with C+B as his backing band. John Mayall, too, approached Gelling about joining the Bluesbreakers. And it is rumored (probably falsely) that Jimmy Page approached members of C+B to fill the gap between his stint in the Yardbirds and  Led Zeppelin.

So, enjoy your trip to Holland this week. And please, please, please play this song loud enough to annoy someone you love. After all, isn't that the original intent of the song? Last, maybe Gelling would be kind enough to let us know what equipment he was using.