JACK LANCASTER / RICK VAN DER LINDEN
''WILD CONNECTIONS''
1979
2013
36:23
1 Early Morning Jones 5:48
2 Your Home 4:56
3 African Violet 5:07
4 Fortuna 4:20
5 Wild Connections 4:48
6 Claudia 3:51
7 Aural Exciter 2:29
8 Nyala 5:13
REVIEW
by JON DOWNES
Two and a half thousand years ago Lao Tzu said "The More we see, the less we know", and it is a truism of which I am reminded every day. Once upon a time I used to bluff my way through life, but as I get older I don't bother any more. If I don't know the answer to something I say so.
The other morning I got an email from the lovely Anne-Marie at Gonzo asking me to write the sales notes for an album called Wild Connections. There was one small problem: although I knew who Jack Lancaster was (the legendary producer who also played with Blodwyn Pig and Mick Farren, amongst others) I had no idea what the album was like. So there was only one thing that I could do - I telephoned the man himself and asked him...
"It’s actually a fairly peculiar experimental album really," he told me. "It’s just – do you know Barry Morgan? Barry Morgan is the drummer out of Blue Mink and he had his own studios in London so it was me, Barry and Rick van der Linden, the Dutch keyboard player. It was an experimental album because it was completely synthesised, except for the drums of course. Rick and I wrote the stuff in Holland. We went to his house near Hilversum and wrote it there."
He continued: "I was over there [in Holland] actually producing a band that Phonogram in Hilversum – Kayak - and Rick was doing a session for them, and he had a GX-1. A GX-1 was like a Yamaha keyboard that Keith Emerson was the only other guy I knew with one. It was like a Yamaha keyboard was like three manuals – three keyboard manuals - foot pedals and I guess it was FM synthesis, this whole thing; it was massive and he had speakers with it, and everything and it looked a bit like a Wurlitzer organ or something. But it was in fact a synthesiser, and so the whole album is done on that … on the GX-1."
The new technology inspired them: "Rick and I wrote a bunch of stuff for that, and the lyricon … I was on lyricon, I didn’t play any horns at all. And it a was wind control synthesiser thing, but an early one that was completely analogue. And I was triggering mini Moogs and playing parallel chords and stuff on a harp with it as well. Now Rick was a kind of rock player with a baroque background. I know that sounds peculiar."
I thought it sounded very interesting, and asked him to continue: "So I was configuring the synth with the wind control and he was doing that and we did all these arrangements based around that. Then we put like a twenty-piece choir on some of the stuff – not all of it – which was the English Chorale – you must have heard of them. They do the LSO stuff as well. With Barry Morgan on drums. We didn’t have a bass player because Rick was a really heavily schooled organist and when he was a little kid he played in cathedrals in Amsterdam and all over the place when he was a kid so he was very good at playing foot pedals. And he developed a style where he was able to play some really funky stuff on the foot pedals while he was playing these three keyboard manuals. So the whole thing was based on that really."
I told Jack that I was looking forward to hearing it. He replied: "You might find it a bit experimental and out of line.." But I reassured him. Experimental is always good as far as I am concerned.
MORE REVIEW
Jack Lancaster describes this album as "a fairly peculiar experimental album really. So it was me, Barry Morgan and Rick van der Linden, the Dutch keyboard player. It was an experimental album because it was completely synthesised, except for the drums of course." "Rick and I wrote the stuff in Holland. Rick had a GX-1, which was like a Yamaha keyboard with three keyboard manuals - foot pedals and I guess it was FM synthesis." Rick and I wrote a bunch of stuff for that, and the lyricon I was on lyricon, I didnt play any horns at all. And it a was wind control synthesiser thing, but an early one that was completely analogue. And I was triggering mini Moogs and playing parallel chords and stuff on a harp with it as well." "So I was configuring the synth with the wind control and he was doing that and we did all these arrangements based around that. Then we put like a 20 piece choir on some of the stuff not all of it which was the English Chorale."
BIOGRAPHY (Rick Van Der Linden)
by Bruce Eder
From the late 1960s through the mid-'70s, Rick van der Linden bid fair to be Holland's answer to Keith Emerson, as the leader and keyboard player in the classical rock band Ekseption. Born near Amsterdam, he was initially raised in Rotterdam, and took up the piano at age seven -- after a break of four years and a move to Haarlem, he resumed studying under Piet Vincent at the Haarlem School of Music. He enrolled in the Haarlem Conservatory of Music at age 17 -- his own musical taste was extremely eclectic, ranging from Baroque music to contemporary rock & roll, especially after the beginning of the British beat boom. Van der Linden entered the Hague's Royal High School of Music when he was 19 and became one of the school's top students, winning multiple awards.
By the age of 20, Rick van der Linden was writing music for ballet companies and playing as a guest soloist with various orchestras, performing music by Bach, Beethoven, Rachmaninov, et. al, but was also playing rock & roll, and jazz piano and organ, with various ensembles, including his own trio. He finally settled into the lineup of a band called the Occasional Swing Combo, and it was while playing with this group that he crossed paths with a jazz-oriented band known as the Incrowd. He later established a friendship with their trumpet player, Rein van der Broek, and was invited to join the group in 1967, replacing organist Johan Timmers. That group later changed its name to Ekseption, and in 1968 suddenly reached an impasse -- having won a recording contract with the largest record label in Holland, Philips, they found their choice of a single rejected. Earlier that year, Van der Linden had seen the Nice, a British band featuring Keith Emerson on keyboards, perform in Rotterdam and was riveted by their mixing of rock and classical sounds in the same songs. When his group found itself without a prospective single, Van der Linden stepped forward and suggested that they cut a 45 based on the first movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and Aram Khachaturian's Sabre Dance.
The resulting record became a hit in Holland and other countries in Europe, and started the band in a whole new direction, with Van der Linden as leader. He became the most prominent keyboard player in Holland, and a real rival -- at least at home -- to the likes of Emerson and Rick Wakeman over the next four years. In late 1973, however, he left Ekseption to form the trio Ace (later changed to Trace, when they learned that a British band had the name already) with drummer Pierre Van Der Linden (formerly of Brainbox and Focus, and no relation), and bassist Jaap van Eick. A more jazz-oriented group than Ekseption had been, but still a progressive rock outfit, the trio cut a debut album that yielded a successful single and earned a gold record in Holland. Unfortunately, they didn't last long enough to take full advantage of that early success, only releasing one more album before calling it quits. Van der Linden had done one album on his own in 1974, entitled Plays Albinoni, Bach, Handel, and during the second half of the '70s, he was recording soundtrack albums (Night of Doom), and later began working with Rein van der Broek in a duo called Cum Laude. In 1981, he released a solo album, and in 1985, he issued the LP Old Friends, New Friends. 2006 saw the release of Wild Connections with Blodwyn Pig's Jack Lancaster, and an Ekseption best-of CD/DVD, Story of Ekseption.
''WILD CONNECTIONS''
1979
2013
36:23
1 Early Morning Jones 5:48
2 Your Home 4:56
3 African Violet 5:07
4 Fortuna 4:20
5 Wild Connections 4:48
6 Claudia 3:51
7 Aural Exciter 2:29
8 Nyala 5:13
REVIEW
by JON DOWNES
Two and a half thousand years ago Lao Tzu said "The More we see, the less we know", and it is a truism of which I am reminded every day. Once upon a time I used to bluff my way through life, but as I get older I don't bother any more. If I don't know the answer to something I say so.
The other morning I got an email from the lovely Anne-Marie at Gonzo asking me to write the sales notes for an album called Wild Connections. There was one small problem: although I knew who Jack Lancaster was (the legendary producer who also played with Blodwyn Pig and Mick Farren, amongst others) I had no idea what the album was like. So there was only one thing that I could do - I telephoned the man himself and asked him...
"It’s actually a fairly peculiar experimental album really," he told me. "It’s just – do you know Barry Morgan? Barry Morgan is the drummer out of Blue Mink and he had his own studios in London so it was me, Barry and Rick van der Linden, the Dutch keyboard player. It was an experimental album because it was completely synthesised, except for the drums of course. Rick and I wrote the stuff in Holland. We went to his house near Hilversum and wrote it there."
He continued: "I was over there [in Holland] actually producing a band that Phonogram in Hilversum – Kayak - and Rick was doing a session for them, and he had a GX-1. A GX-1 was like a Yamaha keyboard that Keith Emerson was the only other guy I knew with one. It was like a Yamaha keyboard was like three manuals – three keyboard manuals - foot pedals and I guess it was FM synthesis, this whole thing; it was massive and he had speakers with it, and everything and it looked a bit like a Wurlitzer organ or something. But it was in fact a synthesiser, and so the whole album is done on that … on the GX-1."
The new technology inspired them: "Rick and I wrote a bunch of stuff for that, and the lyricon … I was on lyricon, I didn’t play any horns at all. And it a was wind control synthesiser thing, but an early one that was completely analogue. And I was triggering mini Moogs and playing parallel chords and stuff on a harp with it as well. Now Rick was a kind of rock player with a baroque background. I know that sounds peculiar."
I thought it sounded very interesting, and asked him to continue: "So I was configuring the synth with the wind control and he was doing that and we did all these arrangements based around that. Then we put like a twenty-piece choir on some of the stuff – not all of it – which was the English Chorale – you must have heard of them. They do the LSO stuff as well. With Barry Morgan on drums. We didn’t have a bass player because Rick was a really heavily schooled organist and when he was a little kid he played in cathedrals in Amsterdam and all over the place when he was a kid so he was very good at playing foot pedals. And he developed a style where he was able to play some really funky stuff on the foot pedals while he was playing these three keyboard manuals. So the whole thing was based on that really."
I told Jack that I was looking forward to hearing it. He replied: "You might find it a bit experimental and out of line.." But I reassured him. Experimental is always good as far as I am concerned.
MORE REVIEW
Jack Lancaster describes this album as "a fairly peculiar experimental album really. So it was me, Barry Morgan and Rick van der Linden, the Dutch keyboard player. It was an experimental album because it was completely synthesised, except for the drums of course." "Rick and I wrote the stuff in Holland. Rick had a GX-1, which was like a Yamaha keyboard with three keyboard manuals - foot pedals and I guess it was FM synthesis." Rick and I wrote a bunch of stuff for that, and the lyricon I was on lyricon, I didnt play any horns at all. And it a was wind control synthesiser thing, but an early one that was completely analogue. And I was triggering mini Moogs and playing parallel chords and stuff on a harp with it as well." "So I was configuring the synth with the wind control and he was doing that and we did all these arrangements based around that. Then we put like a 20 piece choir on some of the stuff not all of it which was the English Chorale."
BIOGRAPHY (Rick Van Der Linden)
by Bruce Eder
From the late 1960s through the mid-'70s, Rick van der Linden bid fair to be Holland's answer to Keith Emerson, as the leader and keyboard player in the classical rock band Ekseption. Born near Amsterdam, he was initially raised in Rotterdam, and took up the piano at age seven -- after a break of four years and a move to Haarlem, he resumed studying under Piet Vincent at the Haarlem School of Music. He enrolled in the Haarlem Conservatory of Music at age 17 -- his own musical taste was extremely eclectic, ranging from Baroque music to contemporary rock & roll, especially after the beginning of the British beat boom. Van der Linden entered the Hague's Royal High School of Music when he was 19 and became one of the school's top students, winning multiple awards.
By the age of 20, Rick van der Linden was writing music for ballet companies and playing as a guest soloist with various orchestras, performing music by Bach, Beethoven, Rachmaninov, et. al, but was also playing rock & roll, and jazz piano and organ, with various ensembles, including his own trio. He finally settled into the lineup of a band called the Occasional Swing Combo, and it was while playing with this group that he crossed paths with a jazz-oriented band known as the Incrowd. He later established a friendship with their trumpet player, Rein van der Broek, and was invited to join the group in 1967, replacing organist Johan Timmers. That group later changed its name to Ekseption, and in 1968 suddenly reached an impasse -- having won a recording contract with the largest record label in Holland, Philips, they found their choice of a single rejected. Earlier that year, Van der Linden had seen the Nice, a British band featuring Keith Emerson on keyboards, perform in Rotterdam and was riveted by their mixing of rock and classical sounds in the same songs. When his group found itself without a prospective single, Van der Linden stepped forward and suggested that they cut a 45 based on the first movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and Aram Khachaturian's Sabre Dance.
The resulting record became a hit in Holland and other countries in Europe, and started the band in a whole new direction, with Van der Linden as leader. He became the most prominent keyboard player in Holland, and a real rival -- at least at home -- to the likes of Emerson and Rick Wakeman over the next four years. In late 1973, however, he left Ekseption to form the trio Ace (later changed to Trace, when they learned that a British band had the name already) with drummer Pierre Van Der Linden (formerly of Brainbox and Focus, and no relation), and bassist Jaap van Eick. A more jazz-oriented group than Ekseption had been, but still a progressive rock outfit, the trio cut a debut album that yielded a successful single and earned a gold record in Holland. Unfortunately, they didn't last long enough to take full advantage of that early success, only releasing one more album before calling it quits. Van der Linden had done one album on his own in 1974, entitled Plays Albinoni, Bach, Handel, and during the second half of the '70s, he was recording soundtrack albums (Night of Doom), and later began working with Rein van der Broek in a duo called Cum Laude. In 1981, he released a solo album, and in 1985, he issued the LP Old Friends, New Friends. 2006 saw the release of Wild Connections with Blodwyn Pig's Jack Lancaster, and an Ekseption best-of CD/DVD, Story of Ekseption.
