Songs (click on the -icons for audio)
1. Ritme van de spits
2. Altijd alleen
3. Het gevoel
4. Wim
5. Loop nooit door het bos
6. Es
7. Herberg van verdriet
8. Het land dat geluk belooft
9. De Kleenex blues
10. Clochard à Cannes
11. Meisje met de cello (live)

Produced by Kris De Bruyne, Ralph Broos & Walter Ertvelt for Mazzel Music bvba.

Musicians :
- Jo Vervaet (vocals, guitar)
- Pol Depoorter (guitar)
- Mario Vermandel (contrabas)
- Tony Gyselinck (drums)
- Bart De Nolf (bass)
- Hans Francken (hammond, wurlitzer)
- Wigbert Van Lierde (guitar, slide guitaraar, slide guitar)
- Jan Verheyen (guitar, Indisch harmonium)
- Ralph Samantha (percussion)
- Johan Verminnen (backing vocals)
- Kathleen Vandenhout (backing vocals)
- Piet van den Heuvel (backing vocals)
- Dirk Joris (piano)
- Walter Mets (drums)
- Evert Verhees (bass)
- Chris Peeters (mandolin, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals)
- Mieke Aerts (backing vocals)
- Kris de Bruyne (guitaar)
- Carl Bulteel (piano)
- Curt Bulteel (Fender rhodes)
- Steven de Bruyn (mondharmonica)
- Roland van Campenhout (slidegitaar, electrische gitaar, mondharmonica)

Recorded "At The Crossroads" - Vrasene - "Impuls" - Herent - and at the Ancienne Belgique - Brussels - between February & October 1998.

Photo's : Guy Kokken. design : Power & Glory

My opinion

In August 1998, out of the blue came a new and young Flemish singer, called Jo Vervaet, with the radio(1)-hit "Ritme van de spits" ("the rhythm of the rush hour" - if you understand the traffic situation in Belgium you'll understand why this is a sluggish rocking song). And since about a month or two, the title-less debut album can be bought.
A remarkable company of musicians have gathered for this debut (on instigation of producer Walter Ertvelt) : the credits of this cd are sort of like a who's who of flemish session-musicians, with in there also a few well-known names such as Johan Verminnen zelf (who does an impression of a frog on "Altijd Alleen"), Roland van Campenhout & compadre Steven de Bruyn and Kris de Bruyne (who also partly produced it). Good people, that seem to want to say : Jo is Ok.
And Jo is indeed Ok on tracks such as "Ritme van de spits", "Het gevoel", the simple "Loop nooit door het bos" (alone with a piano) and the delightful "Meisje met de cello" (recorded live at the club of the AB).
The rest of the cd is filled with "luisterliedjes" with some blues backgrounds or jazz-influences. The biggest minus is that the cd sounds rather flat : sometimes the warm voice of Jo Vervaet lacks a bit of expressiveness and variation, something that makes songs such as "Clochard à Cannes" and "Het land dat geluk belooft" fail.
At times there are glimpses though of what could be a career and place of his own as a "flemish artist". But it's not ready to be a "changing of the guard for the generation Verminnen / Van Het Groenewoud / De Bruyne" (as producer Walter Ertvelt said). But what isn't now, can be someday.

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, February 1999 in Metro (de Morgen) : "Vervaet has a good voice, writes emotional songs in the Mark Knopfler- and Chris Rea-tradition and has a love for jazz and blues. Flemish singer-songwriters who operate outside of the commercial sector, it seemed like a dying breed. Until this 23-year old natural talent came along".
- Teek, April 1999 : "On his title-less debut he spreads aroudn his singing talent generously. These authentic dutch-sung songs never succumb to the danger of banality that's lurking around the corner. To be continued ..."

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

More about this group :

- Sony has devoted a page to Jo Vervaet on it's Sony Belgium-Site .
- Management : Walter Ertvelt for Mazzel Music bvb. Tel : 09/259.01.01. Fax : 09/259.00.39
- Booking : Backline. Tel 03/755.25.30 - Fax : 03/775.84.20

Where to buy this CD ?

You can order this CD from a number of locations (prices researched on April 25th, 1999, but nothing guarantees they still are the same when you read this).

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.

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