If you asked me before I came to live in The Netherlands, which is the most famous Dutch rock band/singer, I might have said Golden Earring or Shocking Blue. Among the more recent ones, I'd say The Nits or Anouk. I mean, some of their songs are radio staples in Greece and intranationally. And, of course, there's a number of atmospheric prog metal bands (The Gathering, After Forever, Within Temptation etc) that are among the best in the world in their genre. But ask any Dutch person, and the most common answer you'd get would be Herman Brood (in Dutch that's pronounced Bro-od, with 2 O's). Maybe he was not the most qualified singer or musician, and only had one international hit, but he certainly was the person who best embodied the Sex & Drugs & Rock And Roll stereotype. By the time he had his first success with this album he had already spent more than a decade in the music business, most notably as a keyboardist for Cuby & The Blizzards, which was sort of the Dutch version of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. His drug use got him fired from that band, spending the next years in and out of jail for theft and for selling drugs, while he committed to various musical projects for short periods of time - his junky lifestyle always took hold eventually, and his bandmates would evict them from the band. Until, that is, he formed his own group, Herman Brood & His Wild Romance. Their first album Street (1977) got them noticed, but it was on the follow up Shpritsz that the band really came into their own - thanks in no small part to the addition of Belgian guitarist Danny Lademacher. I was about to tell you that the album title was nonsensical, but I just read that it probably comes from the German verb "spritzen" which apparently can be construed both as "to inject" or "to ejaculate". How's that for sex & drugs & rock'n'roll? The music style is very much in sync with the punk and new wave phenomenon sweeping UK and America: short, fast tunes with some funky elements including the use of horns and female backup singers. The guitarist puts in a few hard rockin solos, but it's Brood's wild piano playing that's the most striking instrumental element. He isn't a conventionally accomplished vocalist, he just delivers his lines in tune to the music with a relaxed sing-talking style reminiscent of other street poet/singers like Lou Reed and Ian Dury. Opener "Saturday Night" is easily the standout track; as the album's lead single it even charted in the US. Controversial titles didn't help songs like "Dope Sucks" and "R & Roll Junkie" get radio play, yet these are also quite good. The lyrics are in general irreverent and often funny despite describing difficult and decadent situations; in combination with the upbeat music they somehow make the gutter sound like a fun place to wallow in. Most of the songs are Brood (co)writes - with the exception of a mid-tempo cover of Otis Redding's "Champagne and Wine". "One", "Hit" and "Pain" also display more of a New Orleans R&B influence and "Hot-Talk" is a playful jazz ditty. If there's a downside to the album is that all 15 tracks follow more or less the same template, yet there are no duds, and there are enough hooks to keep you from getting bored. Shpritsz turned out to be Brood's apogee as a singer. He never witnessed that kind of success again, and gradually lost interest in music, investing himself in painting. Somehow his biggest claim to fame wasn't the music he left behind but the unabashedly hedonistic and self-destructive lifestyle which culminated in his suicide by jumping to his death from the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton at the age of 54. It's a shame really, for creative people to be celebrated for their wild behavior and their problems with addiction and/or mental health issues rather than for their talent. I'm not just thinking of Brood here, but also of his Greek counterpart Pavlos Sidiropoulos with whose music I grew up with, as well as of more famous idols like Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain. There's a romantic attraction to suicidal or plainly self-destructive artists, but despite prophetic lyrics like "When I do my suicide for you/ I hope you miss me too" there's nothing depressing about this LP; just great upbeat rock and roll that's ripe for rediscovery (internationally I mean, since it's considered an all-time classic in his native Holland). MOJO magazine dedicated one of its Buried Treasure columns to it, and I totally agree with them.
***** for Saturday Night, R & Roll Junkie
**** for Dope Sucks, One, Doin' It, Champagne (& Wine), Back (In Y’r Love), Hit, Never Enough, Pain, Doreen
*** for Get Lost, Hot-Talk, Prisoners, Skid Row
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