After Tea "After Tea" a.k.a. "Jointhouse Blues" 1970***

I've always been meaning to get an album by Tee Set or its splinter group After Tea, as they are by far the most famous rock groups of my adopted homeland Delft. A medieval town with picturesque small houses, bridges and canals, it has been famous since the 16th century for its fine porcelaine and more recently for hosting the country's biggest Technical University. Famous Delftenaren include (besides myself)... let me think. Well, I guess I'll have to give first place to William the First Prince of Orange, even though he -like me- wasn't born here. He is considered  the father of the country, for having led the Low Countries' war of Independence and for being the progenitor of the Dutch Royal House. He was assasinated inside his residence The Prinsenhof, currently a museum. The bulletholes are still in display. Apparently he was the first famous person to be assasinated with a handgun, which makes him the founder of a popular club that includes Abraham Lincoln, Robert Kennedy, Franz Ferdinand (the Austrian Archiduke, not the band), Mahatma Gandhi, John Lennon and many politicians and kings. He's buried in the city's New Kerk together with most of his royal descendents. In the same crypt, close to William's son Prince Maurits, lies a man who had been imprisoned by him. The learned scholar Hugo Grotius may have laid the foundations for maritime and international law but he is more famous for escaping prison hidden in a bookchest. The other church -the one with the leaning tower- hosts less noble, yet equally famous, Delftenaars: the great painter Johannes Vermeer (you know, the one who painted Scarlet Johanson) and the scientist Antony van Leeuwenhoek, who is considered the father of microbiology. The man had the bright idea to look at canal water under a microscope lens. Needless to say he never drank a drop of it since: beer and only beer! I hope you like history lessons as much as I do, otherwise this whole paragraph must have been pretty boring for you. If you'd rather read about Delft's record stores, I have another relevant post.

Tee Set may not have been as famous as the abovementoned Delftenaars but they were pretty successful in their time. Unfortunately their soft pop style isn't too interesting for me, and neither is the music initially made by After Tea, which formed in 1967 by former Tee Set members including English expat Ray Fenwick. They also had some success with their sunny flower pop singles, but by 1969 Fenwick had returned to the UK to replace Stevie Winwood in The Spencer Davis Group, while group leader Hans van Eijck had returned to Tee Set. That left bassist/singer Polle Eduard to head the new line-up, consisting also of German organist Ulli Grün, guitarist Ferry Lever and drummer Ilja Gort. This band incarnation was a different beast altogether: more heavy and progressive, they made this experimental LP before disbanding. It sold badly and because of that eventually became a collector's item. It opens with a John Mayall/Savoy Brown- style blues rocker "Jointhouse Blues" featuring downhome blues harp and gritty vocals. "You've Got To Move Me" is harder, the interaction of organ and heavy wah-wah guitar similar to a bluesier Uriah Heep. "I'm Here" is a more wistful acoustic piece, setting the scene for "Someday" and "Let's Come All Together". Both remind me of Free, probably because of Polle's vocals. 

so that's what you do after tea!

The former sports a great organ solo, while the latter puts Ferry Lever's guitar upfront. He is also the star of side 2, a 25-minute long jam called "Trial/Punishment/The End". It has some powerful drumming and Zeppelin-ish guitar solos. Some people can never get enough of those. They're mostly male, over 50, have beards and long hair, and wear classic rock band T-shirts. Personally, I find it a bit too long. Maybe I'll like it better after a few years. My version of the album ends here, just like the original LP did. An official reissue by the Pseudonym label adds bonus tracks from contemporary singles which are supposedly quite nice. Get that one if you can. After the -softer sounding- singles also failed to get noticed the band went their separate ways. Ilja Gort, for example, became a wine maker in France. Apparently he produces the popular Franco-Dutch La Tulipe wines, which prompted me to dig them out of their cupboard and introduce them to their maker's older creation. Prost!

**** for Jointhouse Blues 

*** for You've Got To Move Me, I'm Here, Someday, Let's Come All Together

** for Trial, Punishment, The End

Record Store Day in Delft

Hooverphonic playing a tent outside Velvet Records in Delft

in Sounds Records, 16/04/16

What do you mean you don't know what day yesterday was? Did you forget one of the greatest holidays of the year? No, it wasn't Christmas or Easter, not Thanksgiving or the 4th of July my American friends, not Sinterklaas my Dutch friends, nor Bayram my Turkish friends... No, it was... Record Store Day!!! Did you get sufficiently worked up? I hope so... But I guess it's a new tradition, so maybe it's not familiar to all of you. It started from the U.S. in 2007 and is now celebrated in record stores internationally. But some of you probably haven't set foot in a record store in the last decade. After all, why should you? When you can watch any song on youtube on your laptop or mobile, or stream it in glorious MP3 quality ? Not to mention that if really need to get it on CD it's only a few clicks away from the Amazon website to your door... Then you see John Cusack in High Fidelity and get all nostalgic "remember neighbourhood record stores?". Well, despite predictions, the independent record stores have not withered and died. The rebirth of the vinyl album is one of the reasons the decline of the record stores has been reversed. Another one is the plain fact of interaction with record store clerks, preferably as knowledgeable but much less obnoxious than Jack Black in the abovementioned movie. Or the music playing from the speakers welcoming you into the shop -always interesting, never your typical muzak. I can browse records for hours and, despite the fact that Amazon sometimes offers better prices and variety, at the shop you'll invariably find something that's unavailable or much more expensive online. Every visit is a pleasant experience and yields something unexpected. Anyway, Record Store Day is a day to support your local record store. 

Oude Delft canal in October

To go out there and buy some records, listen to in-store performances by live bands and DJ's and check out the limited edition record-store day releases made available only on that day and only via the participating record shops. For my taste they're a bit overpriced, but many stores have other promotions as well. For example, Sounds Records in Delft yesterday offered, especially for the day, a 10% discount on all new LP's and certain CD's in a reduced price. I took advantage of that and left with a dozen LP's, although I'm more of a CD buyer for reasons of space and practicality. Somehow vinyl seemed the right choice for the day. Another big bonus of the day are the in-store performances. I saw a few local bands, plus Belgian trip-hoppers Hooverphonic - or at least some musicians that claimed to be Hooverphonic and played their biggest hits though they looked too young for a band with 20 years on its back - not that I'm complaining: they sang well and, above all, the concert was free. So what I kept thinking was that, for a city of barely 100,000 inhabitants, Delft has some great record stores. Well stocked, with well-informed employees and good prices. Maybe then it's time for a special post to present the record stores of my (current) hometown.

Delft City Hall

Velvet Music

But before I do, let me start by saying that the old town of Delft is probably the most beautiful in all of The Netherlands.A booming city since the 14th century thanks to overseas trade by the Dutch East India company and the famous Delft Blue porcelain industry, it peaked (before Amsterdam did) in the 16th century and served as the seat of William the Silent, so-called father of the (Dutch) nation, leader of the Lowlands' insurrection against its Catholic rulers and founder of the Royal House of Oranje. The old city center is one of the best preserved in the country, with its typical narrow Dutch houses and network of canals. Imagine a smaller version of Amsterdam minus the drugs, prostitutes and drunken tourists. Traffic is almost non existent in the center, so you can easily discover it on foot. In the spacious main square you'll see the impressive City Hall and Nieuwe Kerk cathedral (called The New Church despite being founded 600 years ago) which houses the tombs of William the Silent as well as other royals and notables. On the Voldersgracht behind the square, you'll find two of the city's record stores: Velvet and Plexus.

Plexus/t'Platenmanneke Record Store

Velvet Music is part of a record store chain that offers primarily new CD's and DVD's, with a steadily increasing vinyl department (new and second hand). Newly circulated CD's cost €15-18. Most of the older ones cost €10 or less, many special offers 2-for-€15. For used LP's expect to pay €4-15 and new ones €15-25 - always taking into account that these prices are current as of April 2016. In any case one might call them indicative at best. Behind the counter you can see (but not touch) a variety of box sets and other collectors' items for sale. UPDATE 2019: used 7' singles and CD's are now also available. A few meters down the road you'll find Plexus aka t'Platenmanneke. It has the biggest vinyl collection in the area as well as (despite the owner's professed dislike towards the medium) all kinds of CD's, including hard to find older circulations, jazz and a wide selection of world music.  Most (2nd hand) LP's cost between €10-15. CD's (new) €8-18. Further still on the Voldersgracht, you'll find the Vermeer center, a museum dedicated to the local painter famous for, among other works, the girl with a pearl earring.

The frozen canal and leaning Old Church in the winter

Sounds Records

The third big record store is Sounds on the Brabantse Turfmarkt. It's extremely well stocked, both in CD's and vinyl (new and used). The prices are very competitive (new LP's €12-25, used mostly €5-25, some offers €2,5). New CD's starting from €4,99 some 3-for-€25). UPDATE 2019: There's a long-standing sale on specific CD's (around €5, not just the usual "nice price" items) and LP's (€10-15) to make room for new merchandise. On Record Store Day during the last years, discounts on vinyl (10% new, buy-2-get-1-free used, old RSD items on discount)

Every Saturday there's a market right in front of Sounds. You won't find any records there but you will find an astounding variety of cheeses and a stall selling stroopwafels, the typical Dutch thin caramel waffles. Don't miss the opportunity to pack a fresh one, they're delicious. Also, every Saturday from April to October there's an antique street market by the canals in the center. Vinyls and CD's can be found in the various stalls. Lastly, a small vinyl shop recently cropped up close to my home. It lies on a beautiful canal called Buitenwatersloot, close to the train station and just outside the city center. It's called Meneer Van Ulden, probably the name of the owner - it just kills me when Dutch people introduce themselves as mister so-and-so! In my last visit I didn't find much of interest but who's to say that mister Van Ulden has not stumbled into a vinyl gold mine since then? I say better to be thorough and check him out, too...UPDATE 2018: Meneer Van Ulden has moved to Rotterdamseweg. Still not essential, but his collection keeps growing so it's worth a visit despite being out of the city center. UPDATE 2021: Near the train station (Binnenwatersloot 23), you can find a 2nd hand record store that Google identifies as Aan 't Grachtje van Delft. They have a nice (used vinyl only) selection and normal prices. I've visited it a few times and bought some records, but didn't take any photos or notes.