Dizzy Dutchmen

My long standing readers – you both know who you are – may recall my mentioning a visit to Amsterdam a couple of months ago. While there I went “crate digging” (as I believe the young people call it) at a local street market, and acquired a dozen or so Dutch 7” singles from the 1970s. Well I finally got round to listening to them over Easter, and sadly most of them are rubbish.

The one exception is “A Matter Of Facts” by Dizzy Man’s Band, which was apparently a top five hit in 1971 in the Netherlands. It reminds me very much of “Vehicle” by The Ides of March, and they were clearly influenced by early Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears. Here it is.

http://www.box.net/shared/g6gqeamdie

I bought another of their singles at the same time - “Turkey Turkey” from 1975. It is a tribute to the country not the bird. It starts off quite promisingly with a slightly psychedelic Turkish sound, but then rapidly deteriorates with lines about how “swimming in the Bosphorus is smashing” and the joys of eating shish kebabs. If you don’t behave yourselves I will post it up here some time.

Judging by this clip of "The Opera" from the same year, the Dizzies deterioration continued unabated. How very sad.