KAYAK
''CLEOPATRA: THE CROWN OF ISIS, DISC ONE''
2014
107:10
DISC ONE (50:57)
1 The Living Isis 04:06
2 A Family Divided 02:57
3 Alexandria 08:25
4 She Rules My World 03:03
5 Goodbye Pharos 04:01
6 Stranger In Rome 04:36
7 Hail 02:49
8 She Came She Saw She Conquered 05:08
9 The Ides Of March 05:59
10 Matters Of The Heart 03:47
11 The Curse Of Isis 06:01
DISC TWO (56:13)
1 Tarsus 04:43
2 Whatever It Takes 03:25
3 The Crown Of Isis 05:02
4 Philae 03:24
5 The Inimitable Livers 03:24
6 Queen Of Kings 07:37
7 Actium 07:45
8 Setting Things Straight 03:38
9 The Message 02:29
10 Larger Than Life 04:22
11 The Arms Of Isis 02:24
12 Alexandria Reprise 03:00
13 That Sacred Kiss 04:54
Ton Scherpenzeel - keyboards
Edward Reekers - vocals, percussion
Cindy Oudshoorn - vocals (as Cleopatra)
Rob Vunderink - guitar, vocals
Joost Vergoossen - guitar
Jan van Olffen - bass, double bass
Hans Eijkenaar - drums
With:
Martin van der Starre - vocals (as Mark Antony)
Alexander van Breemen - vocals (as Julius Caesar)
Tatiana Manolidou - vocals
Mari Joleneas - vocals
Maria-Paula Majoor - violin
Daniel Torrico Menacho - violin
Robert Baba - violin
BIOGRAPHY
by Paul Collins (AllMusic)
With their instrumental prowess and keyboardist Ton Scherpenzeel's facility at writing lyrics in English, you might be forgiven for mistaking Kayak for a bunch of clever proggers from London. But this Dutch band began in 1968 in the city of Hilversum, where Scherpenzeel and drummer Pim Koopman attended a music conservatory. After the addition of guitarist Johan Slager, bassist Cees van Leeuwen, and vocalist Max Werner, the group solidified by 1972 and commenced recording. Stylistically they featured the instrumentation and chops of progressive acts like Yes and Genesis, but the pop song structures of Supertramp and the Alan Parsons Project; as time passed they increasingly favored the pop side of the equation. Royal Bed Bouncer, the most even balance between these two styles, was to be a commercial and artistic high point for the band. They continued to meet with minor success throughout the '70s on a variety of record labels, and in 1974 toured in support of Queen -- a move that influenced the flavor of their later work.
Like most progressive bands, Kayak never had a terribly stable lineup; at one point they went through three bassists in as many years. With Scherpenzeel as the sole constant, Kayak's first lineup also proved to be their finest; but Koopman's asthma forced him to retire in 1976, and Werner was so tortured by stage fright and unfounded doubts over his singing ability that he demanded the vacated drum chair for himself, leaving the vocal duties to new member Edward Reekers. Scherpenzeel's central role in the band eventually wore on the others, and Kayak fell apart in 1980. Scherpenzeel continued on to work with the English band Camel and then compose primarily for the theater. Koopman and Reekers worked in music production and performance; Werner left the stage to become a postal worker; and van Leeuwen became -- of all things -- a prominent lawyer. The band reunited in 1997 for a Dutch TV special, though no new recordings have yet emerged.
OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
1967-1972 • Pre-Kayak
Kayak’s roots are in the Dutch town of Hilversum, where founding members and neighbourhood friends Ton Scherpenzeel (keyboards, bass guitar) and Pim Koopman (drums, guitars) played together in several bands like Balderdash (1967) and High Tide Formation (1970, pictured above). Guitarist Johan Slager played in HTF’s final line up until the group disbanded in 1971. That same year Ton, Pim and Johan began to record a number of demos (a project called ‘Ten Ride Ticket’) and occasionally played live (as Alta Quies). Around this time both Ton and Pim started studying at the Hilversum Music Academy, where fellow student Max Werner joined forces with Ton and Pim by lending his unique voice to their musical efforts. Ton’s main classical instrument was the double bass, Pim and Max both studied percussion. When bass player Cees van Leeuwen (replacing Frenchman Jean Michel Marion) completed the first line up, the group that was to become Kayak managed to get a recording contract with EMI- after being dismissed by Phonogram who had an initial interest in the band, even recorded some demos with them, but in the end let go when Ton and Pim refused to record other material than their own.
1972-1974 • Launched
Kayak was launched by EMI and manager Frits Hirschland as a new supergroup, although the individual members were hardly 20 years old, had little experience as a live band and basically had not proven anything in the music business other than having an original and stubborn mind of their own. The first two albums, ‘See See the Sun" and ‘Kayak II’ delivered three modest hits (‘Lyrics’, ‘Mammoth’ and ‘Wintertime’), but more importantly made Kayak’s name as a talented young band with a growing progressive following.
1974-1976 • Changes
In 1974 bass player Cees van Leeuwen decided he couldn’t combine his university studies with the hectic tour and recording schedule of the band, and left. He was replaced by Bert Veldkamp. In this lineup the band recorded its third album, ‘Royal Bed Bouncer’, which generated another modest hit single, ‘Chance for a Lifetime’. If the first two albums showed an even balance between the two main writers of the band, Pim and Ton, RBB showed Scherpenzeel at a creative peak. The band kept on touring and by 1976 was an established top act on the Dutch/Belgian music scene. A row between manager Hirschland and EMI lead to the departure of the group from EMI. It turned to Phonogram, the same company that in 1971 had refused to sign the band. With LP number four, ‘The Last Encore’, Pim Koopman found himself solidly back in the writer’s chair with Ton. The first big setback came later that year, when Pim left the band. Bass player Bert Veldkamp also quit, so within two months the band lost its complete rhythm section and one of the group’s main songwriters.
1977-1978 • Starlight Dancer
At the end of 1976 Pim and Bert were replaced by Charles Schouten and Theo de Jong. This line up recorded ‘Starlight Dancer’. The title track, one of the band’s all-time classics, reached number 14 in the Dutch charts, and Kayak seemed to be back. The American release of the same name (a compilation of the Dutch LPs ‘The Last Encore’ and ‘Starlight Dancer’) was even a minor success in the USA, with ‘Want You to Be Mine’ peaking at 55 in the Billboard charts. Kayak was even voted Most Promising Band of the Year by the influentual American music paper Record World. But as time went by, musical differences between the original and new members appeared to be unreconcilable, and within 18 months the band (or what was left of it) again had to find a new bass player and drummer. And not only that...
1978-1981 • Ruthless Queen
What followed was a very chaotic year, in which the band’s break up often seemed near, because in spite of the possibility of an American tour and the long-awaited international breakthrough, lead vocalist Max Werner made it clear he wanted to withdraw as Kayak’s frontman. Werner had always felt like a drummer, and had more or less happened to find himself trapped in the lead singer role because of his unique voice. When the drum chair became vacant, he told the others of his wish to become the band’s new drummer, which meant that Kayak had to start looking for a new lead singer. All plans had to be discarded and the group basically had to start from scratch. Edward Reekers became the new vocalist. With him three ‘newcomers’ joined the band: Peter Scherpenzeel (Ton’s younger brother) signed on as the new bass player, while backing vocalists Irene Linders (Ton’s wife and lyricist for many of his songs from then on) and Katherine Lapthorn were added to give the band a whole new identity. All these changes, and the release of the new album ‘Phantom of the Night’, meant a significant break with the past in more than one way -- for many old fans this band had little to do with the original Kayak. But the ‘new’ group suddenly and unexpectedly reached a bigger audience than ever before. ‘Ruthless Queen’ was Kayak’s first and only really major hit single (number 4 in the Dutch charts). The album even made it to number one, being awarded platinum for over 100,000 copies sold in Holland.
1981-1982 • Periscope Life
The next album, ‘Periscope Life’ (1980), was recorded in Los Angeles. It was similar in style, but lacked the big hit and surprise factor that made its predecessor such a phenomenal success. However, it still outsold the first five albums. With its next album, ‘Merlin’ (1981), Kayak returned to its original progressive and symphonic rock roots, with a suite about the legendary medieval magician on side A. This album, together with ‘Royal Bed Bouncer’, was generally considered to be Kayak’s best work. With the decline of commercial success however, personal and musical struggles within the band surfaced. The desperate financial situation that manager Hirschland had led the band and its members into only made things worse.
While Max Werner celebrated a number one single as solo singer (!) in Germany with ‘Rain In May’, the band finally collapsed under its own weight. Kayak (now without the two female backing singers) still managed to produce one semi-live album, ‘Eyewitness’. This LP contained three new songs, but mostly consisted of recordings that were done ‘live’ in the studio, with only minor repairs and dubs added. The applause was overdubbed, something that became clear when later the CD version of the album was released: Ton Scherpenzeel explained in the liner notes that he had decided to have the album edited and re-released without the clapping and yelling audience, something that had always irritated him so much that he had never been able to listen to ‘Eyewitness’ himself in its original form.
After what was in fact a break up Ton Scherpenzeel tried to make a new start with Kayak, together with Johan Slager, bass player Bert Veldkamp, vocalist John (Hans) Philippo and drummer Roger Wollaert. This line up played a limited number of concerts, even went to Italy for a promotional tv appearance, but it became clear that the financiel problems between Kayak and manager Frits Hirschland were too much of a burden for the group to go on. The band and Hirschland broke up and for various reasons it was decided to drop the name Kayak and continue as Europe. They made one album (also called Europe), but within a year the group desintegrated. All members went their own separate ways.
1982-1998 • Silence
Seventeen years would go by with only one sign of life of the band: in 1997 Kayak reunited for a TV program called ‘Classic Albums’, that concentrated on the album ‘Royal Bed Bouncer’, featuring the lineup that made this record in 1975. Meanwhile, all the original LP albums were re-released on CD, most of them with extra tracks and lost B-sides, some as compilations. Besides EMI and Phonogram, a new and specialized record company called Pseudonym Records took care of the re-release of several LPs.
In the TV program it became clear that Ton, Pim and Max had been busy with demo recordings (of an unnamed ‘project’), but this unfortunately didn’t attract too much interest from the major record companies. It looked like Kayak would never return.
Official Website
''CLEOPATRA: THE CROWN OF ISIS, DISC ONE''
2014
107:10
DISC ONE (50:57)
1 The Living Isis 04:06
2 A Family Divided 02:57
3 Alexandria 08:25
4 She Rules My World 03:03
5 Goodbye Pharos 04:01
6 Stranger In Rome 04:36
7 Hail 02:49
8 She Came She Saw She Conquered 05:08
9 The Ides Of March 05:59
10 Matters Of The Heart 03:47
11 The Curse Of Isis 06:01
DISC TWO (56:13)
1 Tarsus 04:43
2 Whatever It Takes 03:25
3 The Crown Of Isis 05:02
4 Philae 03:24
5 The Inimitable Livers 03:24
6 Queen Of Kings 07:37
7 Actium 07:45
8 Setting Things Straight 03:38
9 The Message 02:29
10 Larger Than Life 04:22
11 The Arms Of Isis 02:24
12 Alexandria Reprise 03:00
13 That Sacred Kiss 04:54
Ton Scherpenzeel - keyboards
Edward Reekers - vocals, percussion
Cindy Oudshoorn - vocals (as Cleopatra)
Rob Vunderink - guitar, vocals
Joost Vergoossen - guitar
Jan van Olffen - bass, double bass
Hans Eijkenaar - drums
With:
Martin van der Starre - vocals (as Mark Antony)
Alexander van Breemen - vocals (as Julius Caesar)
Tatiana Manolidou - vocals
Mari Joleneas - vocals
Maria-Paula Majoor - violin
Daniel Torrico Menacho - violin
Robert Baba - violin
BIOGRAPHY
by Paul Collins (AllMusic)
With their instrumental prowess and keyboardist Ton Scherpenzeel's facility at writing lyrics in English, you might be forgiven for mistaking Kayak for a bunch of clever proggers from London. But this Dutch band began in 1968 in the city of Hilversum, where Scherpenzeel and drummer Pim Koopman attended a music conservatory. After the addition of guitarist Johan Slager, bassist Cees van Leeuwen, and vocalist Max Werner, the group solidified by 1972 and commenced recording. Stylistically they featured the instrumentation and chops of progressive acts like Yes and Genesis, but the pop song structures of Supertramp and the Alan Parsons Project; as time passed they increasingly favored the pop side of the equation. Royal Bed Bouncer, the most even balance between these two styles, was to be a commercial and artistic high point for the band. They continued to meet with minor success throughout the '70s on a variety of record labels, and in 1974 toured in support of Queen -- a move that influenced the flavor of their later work.
Like most progressive bands, Kayak never had a terribly stable lineup; at one point they went through three bassists in as many years. With Scherpenzeel as the sole constant, Kayak's first lineup also proved to be their finest; but Koopman's asthma forced him to retire in 1976, and Werner was so tortured by stage fright and unfounded doubts over his singing ability that he demanded the vacated drum chair for himself, leaving the vocal duties to new member Edward Reekers. Scherpenzeel's central role in the band eventually wore on the others, and Kayak fell apart in 1980. Scherpenzeel continued on to work with the English band Camel and then compose primarily for the theater. Koopman and Reekers worked in music production and performance; Werner left the stage to become a postal worker; and van Leeuwen became -- of all things -- a prominent lawyer. The band reunited in 1997 for a Dutch TV special, though no new recordings have yet emerged.
OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
1967-1972 • Pre-Kayak
Kayak’s roots are in the Dutch town of Hilversum, where founding members and neighbourhood friends Ton Scherpenzeel (keyboards, bass guitar) and Pim Koopman (drums, guitars) played together in several bands like Balderdash (1967) and High Tide Formation (1970, pictured above). Guitarist Johan Slager played in HTF’s final line up until the group disbanded in 1971. That same year Ton, Pim and Johan began to record a number of demos (a project called ‘Ten Ride Ticket’) and occasionally played live (as Alta Quies). Around this time both Ton and Pim started studying at the Hilversum Music Academy, where fellow student Max Werner joined forces with Ton and Pim by lending his unique voice to their musical efforts. Ton’s main classical instrument was the double bass, Pim and Max both studied percussion. When bass player Cees van Leeuwen (replacing Frenchman Jean Michel Marion) completed the first line up, the group that was to become Kayak managed to get a recording contract with EMI- after being dismissed by Phonogram who had an initial interest in the band, even recorded some demos with them, but in the end let go when Ton and Pim refused to record other material than their own.
1972-1974 • Launched
Kayak was launched by EMI and manager Frits Hirschland as a new supergroup, although the individual members were hardly 20 years old, had little experience as a live band and basically had not proven anything in the music business other than having an original and stubborn mind of their own. The first two albums, ‘See See the Sun" and ‘Kayak II’ delivered three modest hits (‘Lyrics’, ‘Mammoth’ and ‘Wintertime’), but more importantly made Kayak’s name as a talented young band with a growing progressive following.
1974-1976 • Changes
In 1974 bass player Cees van Leeuwen decided he couldn’t combine his university studies with the hectic tour and recording schedule of the band, and left. He was replaced by Bert Veldkamp. In this lineup the band recorded its third album, ‘Royal Bed Bouncer’, which generated another modest hit single, ‘Chance for a Lifetime’. If the first two albums showed an even balance between the two main writers of the band, Pim and Ton, RBB showed Scherpenzeel at a creative peak. The band kept on touring and by 1976 was an established top act on the Dutch/Belgian music scene. A row between manager Hirschland and EMI lead to the departure of the group from EMI. It turned to Phonogram, the same company that in 1971 had refused to sign the band. With LP number four, ‘The Last Encore’, Pim Koopman found himself solidly back in the writer’s chair with Ton. The first big setback came later that year, when Pim left the band. Bass player Bert Veldkamp also quit, so within two months the band lost its complete rhythm section and one of the group’s main songwriters.
1977-1978 • Starlight Dancer
At the end of 1976 Pim and Bert were replaced by Charles Schouten and Theo de Jong. This line up recorded ‘Starlight Dancer’. The title track, one of the band’s all-time classics, reached number 14 in the Dutch charts, and Kayak seemed to be back. The American release of the same name (a compilation of the Dutch LPs ‘The Last Encore’ and ‘Starlight Dancer’) was even a minor success in the USA, with ‘Want You to Be Mine’ peaking at 55 in the Billboard charts. Kayak was even voted Most Promising Band of the Year by the influentual American music paper Record World. But as time went by, musical differences between the original and new members appeared to be unreconcilable, and within 18 months the band (or what was left of it) again had to find a new bass player and drummer. And not only that...
1978-1981 • Ruthless Queen
What followed was a very chaotic year, in which the band’s break up often seemed near, because in spite of the possibility of an American tour and the long-awaited international breakthrough, lead vocalist Max Werner made it clear he wanted to withdraw as Kayak’s frontman. Werner had always felt like a drummer, and had more or less happened to find himself trapped in the lead singer role because of his unique voice. When the drum chair became vacant, he told the others of his wish to become the band’s new drummer, which meant that Kayak had to start looking for a new lead singer. All plans had to be discarded and the group basically had to start from scratch. Edward Reekers became the new vocalist. With him three ‘newcomers’ joined the band: Peter Scherpenzeel (Ton’s younger brother) signed on as the new bass player, while backing vocalists Irene Linders (Ton’s wife and lyricist for many of his songs from then on) and Katherine Lapthorn were added to give the band a whole new identity. All these changes, and the release of the new album ‘Phantom of the Night’, meant a significant break with the past in more than one way -- for many old fans this band had little to do with the original Kayak. But the ‘new’ group suddenly and unexpectedly reached a bigger audience than ever before. ‘Ruthless Queen’ was Kayak’s first and only really major hit single (number 4 in the Dutch charts). The album even made it to number one, being awarded platinum for over 100,000 copies sold in Holland.
1981-1982 • Periscope Life
The next album, ‘Periscope Life’ (1980), was recorded in Los Angeles. It was similar in style, but lacked the big hit and surprise factor that made its predecessor such a phenomenal success. However, it still outsold the first five albums. With its next album, ‘Merlin’ (1981), Kayak returned to its original progressive and symphonic rock roots, with a suite about the legendary medieval magician on side A. This album, together with ‘Royal Bed Bouncer’, was generally considered to be Kayak’s best work. With the decline of commercial success however, personal and musical struggles within the band surfaced. The desperate financial situation that manager Hirschland had led the band and its members into only made things worse.
While Max Werner celebrated a number one single as solo singer (!) in Germany with ‘Rain In May’, the band finally collapsed under its own weight. Kayak (now without the two female backing singers) still managed to produce one semi-live album, ‘Eyewitness’. This LP contained three new songs, but mostly consisted of recordings that were done ‘live’ in the studio, with only minor repairs and dubs added. The applause was overdubbed, something that became clear when later the CD version of the album was released: Ton Scherpenzeel explained in the liner notes that he had decided to have the album edited and re-released without the clapping and yelling audience, something that had always irritated him so much that he had never been able to listen to ‘Eyewitness’ himself in its original form.
After what was in fact a break up Ton Scherpenzeel tried to make a new start with Kayak, together with Johan Slager, bass player Bert Veldkamp, vocalist John (Hans) Philippo and drummer Roger Wollaert. This line up played a limited number of concerts, even went to Italy for a promotional tv appearance, but it became clear that the financiel problems between Kayak and manager Frits Hirschland were too much of a burden for the group to go on. The band and Hirschland broke up and for various reasons it was decided to drop the name Kayak and continue as Europe. They made one album (also called Europe), but within a year the group desintegrated. All members went their own separate ways.
1982-1998 • Silence
Seventeen years would go by with only one sign of life of the band: in 1997 Kayak reunited for a TV program called ‘Classic Albums’, that concentrated on the album ‘Royal Bed Bouncer’, featuring the lineup that made this record in 1975. Meanwhile, all the original LP albums were re-released on CD, most of them with extra tracks and lost B-sides, some as compilations. Besides EMI and Phonogram, a new and specialized record company called Pseudonym Records took care of the re-release of several LPs.
In the TV program it became clear that Ton, Pim and Max had been busy with demo recordings (of an unnamed ‘project’), but this unfortunately didn’t attract too much interest from the major record companies. It looked like Kayak would never return.
Official Website
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