Songs (Click the -icons for some small realaudio-samples)

1. De eerste woorden
2. Illusies
3. Geen illusies meer
3. De ouwe zanger
4. Dweil
5. Gedachten
6. Het ritme van het paard
7. Parkeren
8. Houten man
9. Donker
10. Bandboy
11. De duivelse dans
12. De Heilige Miss België

Songs : De Nieuwe Snaar, Hugo Matthysen (5)

Musicians :
- Geert Vermeulen (vocals, violin, guitar, mandolin)
- Walter Poppeliers (vocals, upright bass, guitar, marimba)
- Kris de Smet (vocals, hobo, horn, saxophone, tubular bells, drums)
- Jan de Smet (vocals, accordion, indian harmonium, baritonukulele, banjolele, mouth harp)

Guest musicians:
- Cesar Janssens : drums and percussion
- Serge Plüm : trumpet
- Tom Van Stiphout : guitars, lapsteel
- Jo Depoorter : guitars, mandolin, banjo
- Wim de Wilde : keyboards, mellotron
- Mario Goossens : drums

Produced by Wim de Wilde
Recorded at Motormusic Studio (Koningshooikt, Belgium)

Artwork : www.mastic.net
Illustration : Ever Meulen
 

My opinion

"De Vierde Maat" is, if I have been counting right, the 6th theater programme of the band de Nieuwe Snaar which got a offspring on a CD. De vierde maat (translated that would be "the 4th beat", but also "the 4th pal") is also the first of a new nieuwe snaar, mr. Walter Poppeliers, who has joined the witty threesome on the bass.
As usual, this gang of fervent melomaniacs have gone nosing around in all kinds of music genres from the past to find the inspiration for the songs in the programme (which then get put together into a show for the theater). If I hadn't seen the play however, on the basis of this CD (not a live-registration btw, but a studio-recording of ths song in it) wouldn't exactly made it clear what the theme of the show was, as the themes of the songs vary wildly: from light-pollution (donker) to boysbands (bandboy), and from beauty contests (de Heilige Miss België - Saint Miss Belgium) to trouble finding parking space (parkeren), of course not without the usual amount of witty wordplay and a little bit of nonsens. Hugo Matthysen has only written one contribution this time, but it's a nice one (dweil (ragmop), about a girl with high ambitions that ends up as the cleaning woman). Or as the intro was already warning "Heeft u al fijn bekeken wat hier op dit plaatje staat, een uitgelezen gamma en het heet de vierde maat. En dat is ook de titel, maar dat had u al gemerkt. Want het aanbod is geweldig en de keuze onbeperkt".
Also on a musical level, variety rules: the material ranges from popular & merry (eg. mambo on "de duivelse dans", the style of the deCap-organ on "de oude zanger", calypso on "geen illusies meer") to Flemish country (het ritme van het paard) or futurofolk (the wonderful "gedachten").
All this is done in a very nice way, true, but it ain't exactly making a lasting impression either. And because this cocktail of subtle lyrics and inventive arrangements has already been served to us extensively in the past, there also a certain routine that seems to have crept into the recording.
You'll have to wait another three years for a new CD, but in the meantime there are still about two years in which you can catch the show in a hall somewhere near you. If you'd have to choose between the theatre and this disc, I'd advise the first (as the caprioles and funny faces of Geert Vermeulen are not on the album), but, as the economy is booming and blooming like never before, why not have the two ...

And your opinion?
Did I get it all wrong, or was I spot-on ? Do you want to share your opinion about this cd ? Send it in, and I'll put it up here !

This Album in the Press

- Dirk Steenhaut in Metro (de Morgen) : "De heren beheersen zowat alle muziekjes, van rumba tot cha cha cha en van country tot gamelan, komen gevat én ontroerend uit de hoek, goochelen met woordspelingen en dubbele bodems en zijn ouderwets sarcastisch in "Dweil". Leuk."
- Harry de Bock voor KKunst : "Op gebied van komisch muziektheater staat De Nieuwe Snaar al jaren op eenzame hoogte in Nederland en Vlaanderen. De drie leden van de groep weten grote muzikaliteit, clowneske humor en virtuoos taalgebruik als geen ander tot een fantastische theatercocktail te mengen. Hun nieuwe CD “De Vierde Maat” is weer om van te smullen.".

Did you see a good (or bad) review of this album ? Tell me about it !

Where to buy this CD ?

You can order this CD from a number of locations (prices researched on November 28, 2000, but nothing guarantees they still are the same when you read this).

Shop	Price of the CD	Shipping + other expenses	Total	Direct Link
Frontstage	819	0	819 Bef.	Frontstage
Azur	789	0	789 Bef.
Proxis	766	0	766 Bef.	Proxis
Atrecordings	---	3$	---
Netbeat	---	2,77 euro	---

The lowest price is in yellow, the highest in red. This price comparison doesn't take things into account like deduction of shipping expenses when ordering more than 1 cd, bonus points, differences in guarantees ... Shipping prices are those for customers in Belgium.

Have you seen this record elsewhere on the net, do you own an online-CD-shop with Belgian products in it, or if there's something wrong with my calculations : let me know.

More about this group :

- Mijn poging tot De Nieuwe Snaar bio
- Overzicht resterende speeldata van de Vierde Maat.
- contact en boekingen : Leon Lamal Management, E. Vandervaerenstraat 49, 1560 Hoeilaart. Tel (0)2.657.24.30. Fax (0)2.657.90.96. Mail leonlamal@skynet.be

 

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