Session 5 - Supersister
A reminder that we'll be featuring a delightful concert by
Supersister on the E14 video wall tonight. For those who want to delve deeper than my expos below, you
can find out more about their bandleader, RJ Stips here:
Supersister was
definitely his most interesting project.
---------------------------------------------------------------
This Wednesday
night, our video series will feature a concert by Supersister, the
legendary Dutch masters of zany psychedelic jazzy "prog". We
plan to begin at 7:30, as usual at the E14 third floor video wall.
The 1970's
yielded a rich harvest of wide-ranging progressive rock from the Netherlands. Some
of this music even got into mainstream US media - most of us who were around at
that time remember not being able to avoid that Focus song "Hocus
Pocus" that seemed to perpetually dribble from every transistor radio in
the country - what the heck were a bunch of Dutch guys yodeling about anyway? OK
- that one certainly got them their pensions. If you had the patience to
move the tonearm past this bit of weird Swixploitation or explore their
backcatalog, there were ample rewards from Jan Akkerman's great guitar playing
and Thijs van Leer's agility at keyboards and flute. Netherlands prog of
that era tended to be very instrumentally rich and "noodely". There
were other great Dutch symphonic prog bands that
some of us followed back then - e.g., Finch, Alquin, and Rick van der Linden's
keyboard-driven band "Trace". Other Dutch proggish bands verged
closer to fusion jazz of the time time, albeit with a quirky Euro-edge driven
more by Krautrock and British electric jazz (e.g., Soft Machine and Nucleus) -
bands like Scope, Bonfire, Association P.C., and Solution come quickly to mind.
But then there
was Dutch psychedelia. Indeed, there was much more than sweet-smelling
smoke drifting out of Amsterdam's coffee houses in those days. Group 1850
are probably the wildest example I know of, with their
LPs featuring amazing sidelong, barely-in-control bilingual freakouts (I highly
recommend "Agemo's Trip to Mother Earth" as a classic of this genre).
There were also some beautiful psychedelic/protest records cut by Earth
& Fire before they drifted into bland Europop success. And of course
Brainbox emerged from the Dutch psychedelic scene too, closer to mainstream
rock and blues.
Against this rich
backdrop, Supersister really shine in reflected acoustic dayglow from the most
wonderful afternoon you've every had strolling along
Amsterdam's canals. Their music has roots in Dutch psychedelia for sure,
but they're often grazing in jazzy pastures that grow a weird kind of
harpsichord baroque. The band is led by their
keyboardist - Robert Jan (RJ) Stipps who also handles vocals. Their
first album was released in 1970, and they disbanded by 1974, doing 5 LPs all
together. Their influences range from British Canterbury music (Soft
Machine and Caravan - yes, Stipps loved that fuzz-boxed organ) to Frank Zappa.
Their songs (sung
all in English) are steeped in crazy Dutch humor - we don't exactly get them,
but they're at the strange edge of funny and
certainly hip. Stipp's themes can have a childlike quality to them - but
it's the wonder of a child bemused by a world that's lurking just beyond
comprehension rather than stymied by saccherine-coated simplicity. His
music has the reassuring qualities of a prog nursery rhyme - yes, it's all
going to hell, but there's something beautiful about that psychedelic sunset if
you just look at it a little differently and add a little blast of distorted
organ. At times, the interplay between keyboard (often
harpsichordish timbres) and flute that's endemic to Supersister's music can
remind one of the soundtracks to late 60's pseudo-comedic spy movies - quite
campy but also very cool...
Stipps went on to
a broad musical career post Supersister. He played keyboards for Golden
Earring for a while (OK, we forgive him for that...), put out several solo
records that have their decent moments, and then formed another band called
"The Nits," which made some interesting music, but spent too much of
their time dishing out radio-friendly Europop. He also does a duet with a
comedic performer named "Freek De Jong" - although, Stips' keyboard
playing is always a joy to hear, I think you need to be Dutch to understand
these jokes, as there looks to be more than just a language barrier
happening...
Supersister
reformed in 2000 to play several concerts, including the one that we'll be
viewing, which was recorded at the famous Amsterdam club, The Paradiso. The
fans are ecstatic, the musicians play fantastically, and it's great to see
these songs done live. This is one show I regret not jumping on a plane
for...
Yes, let's all
raise our paisley metaphorical mugs to the triumphs of Dutch psychedelia
Wednesday night - Supersister's music is very accessible (although beautifully
warped) and I guarantee it will be a fun trip for all who venture...
===================================================
Joe Paradiso (Spring 2011)