Shocking Blue

The Blue Box (13CDs) - Red Bullet 2017

Tracks: All studioalbums, 1 live album, 1 Marijska Veres soloalbum + 2 CDs of singles and rarities. Tracks on the Singles CDs: 1. Love is in the Air / 2. What You Gonna Do / 3. Lucy Brown Is Back In Town / 4. Fix Your Hair Darling / 5. Send Me A Postcard Darling/ 6. Harley Davidson / 7. Long And Lonesome Road / 8. Fireball Of Love / 9. Venus / 10. Hot Sand / 11. Mighty Joe / 12. Wild Wind / 13. Never Marry A Railroad Man / 14. Roll Engine Roll / 15. Hello Darkness / 16. Pickin' Tomatoes / 17. Shocking You / 18. Waterloo / 19. Blossom Lady/ 20. Is This A Dream / 21. Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind/ 22. I Like You / 23. Inkpot / 24. Give My Love To The Sunrise / 25. Rock In The Sea / 26. Broken Heart / 27. Eve and the Apple/ 28. When I Was A Girl// 1. Oh Lord / 2. Everything That's Mine / 3. Let Me Carry Your Bag / 4. I Saw You In June/ 5. This America / 6. I Won't Be Lonely Long / 7. Dream On Dreamer / 8. Where The Picknick Was / 9. Good Times / 10. Come My Way / 11. Gonna Sing Me A Song / 12. Get It On / 13. Louise / 14. The Jury and the Judge / 15. I Am Hanging On To Love / 16. Body And Soul / 17. Angel / 18. Love Buzz / 19. Boll Weevil / 20. I'm A Woman / 21.Love Machine / 22. Sally Was A Good Old Girl / 23. Alaska Country / 24. Deamon Lover

Comments:

The Blue Box is a complete 13 CDs collection of what Dutch Shocking Blue recorded in the period 1967-1974 - plus a little more. The group is definitely worth a closer look, not least because of the group's musical main power, Robbie van Leeuwen, who, as a songwriter and musical director, shines on most albums. Of course, we must not forget front figure Marijska Veres, whose vocals often may remind you of Grace Slick’s. For collectors of the group, like myself, there may not be as much ”new” tracks to get as you might have wanted. For example, there are virtually no outtakes, and no "new" titles. Perhaps the group really did finish everything they started recording; It is not evident from the otherwise very nice and informative booklet of 56 pages that comes with the set.

All singles released by the group are found on two separate CDs and a jazz solo release released by Marijska Veres after the group's break-up is included – In my opinion this could have been saved it, as it fell completely next to the rest and in my judgement, though fairly limited knowledge of jazz, it is really not very good.

Several singles are quite rare; Especially those released as a reunion, and a song like "Louise" has not been released on CD earlier. For me, the CD "Ham" is probably the most interesting. For a different reason, this album was pulled back shortly after the release in 1973 and has therefore become a major rarity. Most songs, however, are found in remixed versions onthe group's next album "Dream on Dreamer", the last one with Robbie van Leeuwen onboard.

Also the group's live album from 1972 was new to me. This album shows the group as an extremely competent live band. All CDs are in small cardboard sleeves and are reproduced with the original covers. And, I almost forgot, the music sounds great

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