Shocking Blue - The Star Dancing ‘83, Den Helder, Netherlands, 12-28-1984

These days, at least in the U.S. and Britain, the Dutch band Shocking Blue are mainly known as "one hit wonders" for their song "Venus." And that makes sense, because that song hit Number One in the U.S. and they never had any other Top Forty hits in either country. But they had many more good songs than that. For instance, they had 13 Top Twenty hits in the Netherlands, their native country, and many hits in other European countries.

I never thought I'd post a Shocking Blue album here, because I didn't know of any worthy rare or unreleased material. For instance, I never came across any bootleg concerts by them. But I recently found this. I think it's definitely worthy. Admittedly, it isn't from the band's prime time together, from 1967 to 1974. The band broke up for about ten years, but then all the original members of the band briefly reunited around 1984. I believe different versions of the band kept going until lead singer Mariska Veres died in 2006. But I consider this more legitimate since it was the entire original band.

In my opinion, Mariska Veres got most of the attention for her vocals and good looks, but the band's secret weapon was lead guitar player Robbie Van Leeuwen, due to his songwriting. Not only did he write all of Shocking Blue's hits, but he wrote hits for bands before (the Motions) and after (Mistral) as well. They really should have been bigger, but I'm pretty sure they were held back by the simple fact that they were a Dutch band. Back in the 1960s and 70s, it was extremely hard for any musical act to make it the English speaking world if they weren't from an English speaking country like the U.S., Canada, Ireland, or Britain. Shocking Blue made it with the song "Venus" because it was pretty much an unstoppable hit. But they could have had many more in better circumstances. They've gained a lot of credibility in retrospect, especially after Nirvana covered one of their songs ("Love Buzz").

This album has been sold in a limited basis with the name "Comeback." But I looked it up and I'm confident it's a grey market release, meaning the band's record company never approved it and the band hasn't profited from it. That's why it's only been on sale in a few countries with lax copyright enforcement, like Russia.

But regardless of that, the sound quality is excellent. Clearly, it's a soundboard recording. In fact, maybe the only downside is that the audience is rather quiet. I gather due to the smattering of clapping after some songs that they were played in a club to a small audience. But I tried to boost the volume of the applause after most songs. And I patched more clapping in after the last one, since that came to an abrupt end and left a bad feeling.

Most of the band's hits are here. But there's a surprising number of covers. There are two songs by Jefferson Airplane: "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit." Lead singer Mariska Veres sounds so much like Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick that it's almost uncanny. There's also a cover of "This Wheel's on Fire," originally by Bob Dylan and the Band, and "Crazy on You" by Heart.

This album is 59 minutes long.

01 talk (Shocking Blue)
02 Send Me a Postcard (Shocking Blue)
03 talk (Shocking Blue)
04 Long and Lonesome Road (Shocking Blue)
05 talk (Shocking Blue)
06 Somebody to Love (Shocking Blue)
07 Never Marry a Railroadman (Shocking Blue)
08 White Rabbit (Shocking Blue)
09 Venus (Shocking Blue)
10 talk (Shocking Blue)
11 Hot Sand (Shocking Blue)
12 talk (Shocking Blue)
13 Inkpot (Shocking Blue)
14 talk (Shocking Blue)
15 Never Release the One You Love (Shocking Blue)
16 talk (Shocking Blue)
17 This Wheel's on Fire (Shocking Blue)
18 Mighty Joe (Shocking Blue)
19 talk (Shocking Blue)
20 Crazy on You (Shocking Blue)
21 talk (Shocking Blue)
22 Out of Sight - Blossom Lady - Let Me Carry Your Bag (Shocking Blue)
23 Shocking You (Shocking Blue)
24 talk (Shocking Blue)
25 Venus [Reprise] (Shocking Blue)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16046581/ShckingBlu_1984_TheStrDancng83DnHeldrNtherlnds__12-28-1984_atse.zip.html

I couldn't find any good photos of the band from their 1984 reunion era. So instead I went with a promo photo from the late 1960s or early 1970s.