TheCellarTapes

Q65 - Revolution
(1966)



Tracks



Formed in The Hague in 1965, Q65 were a five piece blues act like no other. For those of you not aware of the best band ever to come out of Holland, Q65 were basically the providers of the filthiest blues this side of the Atlantic in the sixties, England included. They could be described as the Dutch Yardbirds, but I think that description is such an injustice that I now refer to The Yardbirds as the English Q65 instead.

Q65 were Wim Bieler on grouchy vocals and brash harmonica, Frank Nuyens on guitar, Peter Vink on bass, Joop Roelofs on the other guitar and Jay Baar on drums, you must promise me that you will remember their names because in 1966 they released their debut on Decca; Revolution was nothing short of the best downtrodden and grimy Blues outing of the decade and quite possibly of all time.



This journey of proper music begins with The Life I Live, a number with a hint of vocals from the heart but still with the riffs coming out of the guitar that fit the bill for the rest of the album. Bieler really does tug on the heart strings with this song, you can hear the torment in his voice, yet strangely despite all these feelings brought on from the music, the whole song remains low key, a point I will come back to later.

The superbly titled I Got Nightmares follows the opener; this number differs slightly from the grimy blues more akin to the rest of the album as it actually borders on US Garage-Psyche more than anything else, and track four, Mr Pitiful, actually involves a Saxophone of all things, so this band is far from a one trick pony. But back to the blues, track five is a cover of I’m a Man; I don’t recall ever hearing a bad version of this classic number, and Q65 don’t let us down here either.

Also far from letting us down is track eight; Down in the Bottom is a brilliant song, like The Sonics, Q65 attack their songs with a good old fashioned shelling, however there is an air of subtlety about the Q65 sound, a bit like Skip James backed by a cannon, if that’s a good analogy. That said, there is nothing subtle about Spoonful, what a song and what a vocal, proper grit!



The album is rounded off nicely with a tremendous 13 minute cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's Bring It on Home, a stunning rampage of music. As with all these forgotten gems, it has been subject to a reissue over the years, with the latest offering providing 18 songs, not bad really.

Sadly this would prove to be the bands only album release in the 1960’s, the band was sent into a spiral after their lead singer was drafted into the Dutch army. But enough of the history lesson, what we have here is a proper hidden gem from the continent, pure unadulterated filth from a band who must surely deserve your attention sooner rather than later.