- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- Dutch Pop Giants collects a number of excellent songs by rock bands from the Netherlands during the 1960’s, though mostly unknown in this country.
Dutch Pop Giants (Various Artists) (1969): One of many albums that I acquired during our trip to Europe in April 1995, Dutch Pop Giants collects a number of excellent songs by rock bands that were prominent in the Netherlands during the 1960’s, though mostly unknown on this side of the Atlantic. The Cuby and the Blizzards song “Window of My Eyes” – which I mentioned in the write-up on Cuby and the Blizzards – is included on this album, as are two songs by Ekseption: The best pop treatment of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony that I have ever heard, simply called “The 5th”, and a rock arrangement of Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance”. Other artists represented are the Motions – whose bandleader Robbie van Leeuwen later founded Shocking Blue and had a worldwide hit song in 1970 with “Venus” – Bintangs, the Oscar Benton Blues Band, and the Rob Hoeke R&B Group. Although the lyrics are in English, don’t bother trying to read the liner notes on the back cover, unless you can understand Dutch! 😊