1. El Fish "Hangin' Over"
Very interesting and young band of blues musicians who have just released their second album "Rewinder". The band has evolved from pure blues to a more rock-oriented genre with a lot of success : this song currently features very high in "De Afrekening", the alternative chart of Studio Brussel. Steven De Bruyn, the harmonica player in the band, was a colleague of me at the University of Leuven.

2. Opium "Doe me goed"
Newly formed band consisting of three "babes" (tv-personality and Playboy model Joyce De Troch, fashion model Katia Alens en Inge Moerenhout). This sensuous release (translated the title is "Do me good") with it's sexy parlando is currently in the Belgian hitparades. The band will release a full album soon.

3. Janes Detd "Beaver fever"
Young and promising band of who I don't have a lot of information. The name of the band could be Jane's Determined, Janes Department or Janes dead (I've heard all three on the radio). The song Beaver fever is about beavers. Funny little creatures, really.

WEEK 2 : June 8-15 1998

1. Flowers For Breakfast "Shiny Future"
Flowers For Breakfast is an Antwerp based, dEUS-related group. They already have an full album out "Baron Samedi conducts the Onion Philharmonique" and debuted in 1995. Singers are Tom Pintens and the wonderful Tine Reymer. The song "Shiny future" is a brand new single, that has debuted this week also in "de Afrekening".

2. Kim'Kay "Li la li"
Debut single of this young female singer. She came in the public eye when she won a sound-mix contest impersonating the french singer France Gall. Li la li is already a big hit in Belgium and is now making it's way in France.

3. Axelle Red "Deja me ser mujer"
This could be the week for Axelle Red. She sings for billions of people at the opening ceremony for the worldcup in France. She also has a brand new album out, on which she aims for the spanish speaking part of the world. Deja me ser mujer is the first single of that album.

WEEK 3 : June 15-21 1998

1. Praga Kahn "Independence"
Praga Kahn is the alias of Maurice Engelen, a Belgian musical wizard who has gained a lot of notariety with projects such as Jade 4U, Major Problem, 101 en above all Lords Of Acid. These groups enjoy a lot of popularity in the United States, where his music has been used in a couple of big Hollywood movies. The song "Indepence" is on "Pragamatic", Praga Kahn's 2nd full cd.

2. Evil Superstars "Have been wrong before"
Second single of the new record of Evil Superstars (after the fantastic, but very short "B.A.B.Y."), featuring the immortal lines "I've been down before, I've been wrong before ... in the name of rock'n'roll".

3. Charles Schillings "I-pa-mu"
Charles Schillings is a Belgian Dee-Jay who moved to France after a carreer in then Belgian dance-scene (café d'Anvers, Mirano, la Rocca). Since 1995 he is the house-dj in "Le Queen" a famous gay-discotheque in Paris. After his breakthrough in France he is well on his way of conquering the rest of the continent with his powerful, cheerful and melodic dance-music.

WEEK 4 : June 22-29 1998

1. Starflam "Ce plat pays"
Starflam is a rap-collective, one of the first operating from Belgium. They started their career in 1993 under the name "Malfrats Linguistiques". In 1997, the groupname was turned around and recently their debut full-cd was released (Discipline records). The single of the album "Ce plat pays" (a reference to Brel), a poignant critique of all the things that go wrong in this little kingdom, is a small hit both North and South of the linguistic border.

2. Alana Dante "Life of the party"
Second single of the young female pop star Alana Dante. After the danceable success of "Take me for a ride", she tries to make a new attack on the charts, in search of accomplishing her dream : performing in "Top of the Pops".

3. Think of one "No frills, chill"
"Think of one" is another group that came to the attention of the general public a few years ago in the slipstream of dEUS. The group has some members in common with Flowers For Breakfast and Zita Swoon, and on their debut album "Juggernaut" the entire DAAU (die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung) also performed. "No frills, chill" is a new single, flirting with Zappa and Jazz.

WEEK 5 : June 29-July 5 1998

1. Soulwax "My cruel joke"
Newest single from one of Belgium's finest bands around : "My cruel joke" is an advanced single for their new album, produced by Dave Sardy of Barkmarket. On the song, the voice of guest-vocalist Traci Bonham is very prominent. Members of the band are David and Stephen Dewaele, sons of the famous Belgian DJ "Zaki". Soulwax made an impressive debut 3 years ago with the album "Leave the Story Untold", produced by Chris Goss.

2. Kretek vs. DJ Low"Fantastico"
World-cup single, part of an album with bands of the Downsall-label : Buscemi (Final de la copa), Dubtales (Boule d'Or) and this song by Kretek and DJ Low from Antwerp. The song features the voice of the prime soccer commentator Jan Wauters. With the pitiful performance of the "Red Devils" at the World Cup in mind, his "Is dit de nieuwe stijl ja" (If this is the new style)-sample on this record gets a new meaning.

3. Galina "Lachen met Liefde"
Curious debut single by a girl of whom I know very little. The single however, is already notewhorty because the song is written by Mauro Pawlowsky of the Evil Superstars. "Laughing with love" has a strange text (what else to expect), clashing with the sweet and kitschy melody.

WEEK 6 : July 6-12 1998

1. K's Choice"Everything for free"
Second single out of "Cocoon Crash" by K's Choice in our country. In a large part of the world however, this will be the first single to be released.
The band have just finished touring the States in the "Lilith Faith"-tour (a women-only line-up) and will be returning to Belgium shortly for a gig at Beach Rock.

2. Hof van Commerce "Zonder niet"
Second single out of the album "En in Izzegem" of West-Flanders' finest sons : het Hof van Commerce. In the meantime, the boys have become almost BV (Bekende Vlamingen - something like VIP's, but on a much smaller basis) with interviews, the museum of Studio Brussel.
This summer they will play Pukkelpop, where a close contest for the title of Belgium's best hiphop-band can be expected, since also Starflam and ABN are scheduled to play there.

3. DAAU "Broken"
Track of the new record of Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung, who have recently abbreviated their name to a less presumptious DAAU. The track is taken of "We need new animals", a CD that should be the breakthrough for DAAU under heavy promotion by Sony Classic, their label. Although the music on the album is still mostly instrumental, there are some vocals on it, as in "Broken" (with the voice of An Pierlé) and "Dip'n'Dodge" (with vocal support of members of Zap Mama).

WEEK 7 : July 14-20 1998

The "Fil rouge" of this week is dEUS :

1. Sex Machines "On the Stage"
Not that recent a song, but the radio keeps on playing it. Who knows, this might be this year's summer hit.
Sex Machines is the band, or rather one of the bands of Danny Mommens (aka Danny Cool Rocket) ... the bass-player of dEUS. (the other being "Tenerife" and "Vive la Fête" - with his girlfriend). The song "On the stage", is from a CDS with three other (and heavier) tracks, which comes packed with a condom.

2. Cinérex "Feminax"
Single taken of the debut-album of this Antwerp-based group. The album is called "Exit all areas part II", and was postponed for release over 2 years, due to "clearance"-troubles with the samples the band uses frequently in it's music.
The band was formed out of "General Electrique", a project by Tom Barman and Kevin, which hasn't released a record, due to problems with record company Island. Some of the "General Electrique"-demos have now been used on the album. Still, Tom (the singer of dEUS) appears on 2,5 tracks on the album, the 0,5 being this song "Feminax".

3. Gore Slut "Burn-out"
Song taken out of Gore Slut's second album called "Above The Lisa Drugstore", two years after their debut "These days are the quiet kind". The band consists of Dirk Belmans, Jacki Billet, Thomas Noppe and ... Rudy Trouvé (there's the dEUS-link for ya).
Gore Slut is one of the four (known) projects that Rudy Trouvé is recording with, the other being Dead Man Ray (who just have made a surprise appearance at Torhout-Werchter), Think of One (who featured in "Song of the Week" three weeks ago) and Lionel Horowitz and His Combo.

WEEK 8 : July 21-28 1998

1. My Velma "Clear"
My Velma is the group of Jan Leyers (the black-haired singer from Leyers, Michiels and Soulsister), who has surrounded himself with Filip Cauwelier, bass-player for the successful hiphop-group 't Hof van Commerce, and Joost van den Broeck, who has played the drums for "De Mens" before.
They have just released their debut-album "Exposed" for Mercury Netherlands. Jane Wiedlin (The Go Go's) and Pat McDonald (Timbuk 3) have also coöperated. "Clear" is the second single of this CD.

2. Mister John "Potverdekke, it's great to be a Belgian"
Mister John is the artist name of John Makin, a British citizen who came to work in Belgium 20 years ago. Now he has taken the chance of devoting his time to an old love : making music.
"Podverdekke" (a Flemish curse, somthing like "Damned") is a rather chauvinist and funny song about just how great it is to be a citizen of this small country. He admits "It took an Englishman maybe to do that, to see objectively it IS great, and you should be proud of it and should not have feelings of inferiority."
What better way to celebrate the national holiday (21st of July) than with this wisdom.

3. The Hangovers "I'd do anything for a Gretsch"
Rockabilly group from Overpelt (Limburg) who are already more than 10 years in the business. Have recorded an album with Mark Thijs this year called "Last call for rock'n roll".
The song "I'd do anything for a Gretsch", is about a dream guitar they once had. When they finally got one, they quickly found out that it sounded like shit, so they have turned to Gibson instead.

WEEK 9 : July 29- August 5 1998

1. Das Pop "A Different Beat"
Winners of the 1998 edition of the Rock-Rally (a contest for live bands). As the organizing magazine said on their victory : "That's the way to do it. Make it clear with your groupname what your aim is : Beatles- and Britpop-kind'of songs that are finished up to the finest details, melodies that pave a way to the ultra-sensitive part of the brain called "Never forget this", the very place where also "the first sigaret", "the first lay" and "the first sigaret after a lay" are positioned. On top of this, they also have a live-sound which leaves a jury no choice."
This is their CD-debut, recorded with the money of the contest. The song is brought out on an independent basis and is more of a showcase to the press, since it isn't even on sale.

2. Mister Cheeks"Push"
Hmm, Mister Cheeks. Could be. Could also be "Mister Cheese" or "Missed X", or something. I don't really know, since I picked this song up from a radio-show, in a transmission of "ze french spiekink geezers" of Radio 21.
The song is supposed to be an independent release from a band that's based in Liège. If you recognize the song by the extract, I'd really appreciate to get some more information.

3. Will Tura "Alleen gaan"
As if the passing away of Frank "The Voice" Sinatra wasn't enough to make someone feel sad : here's the newest single (about the 150th, but that's a wild guess) of Belgium's crooner : Will Tura (Arthur Blanckaert).
The song is an adaptation of Sinatra's "My Way". The singer felt "so touched by his death, in conjunction with the death of his own brother", he felt he had to record this. Is it just me who sees some shimmering $$-signs between the tears ?

WEEK 10 : August 6 - 13 1998

1. Bruno "Ride ride ride"
Bruno, or in full Bruno Deneckere, is the singer of the now defunct guitar-rock-band "The Pink Flowers". He has just released an almost completely acoustic album "Beyond the Pink Flowers".
As De Morgen (Belgian Newspaper) wrote : "At least half of the songs on this CD is of an irresistable beauty. If you let them rest for a couple of weeks and then listen to them again, it seems as if these songs have acted as your compagnons for all your life. The records recalls the Byrds, the acoustic Neil Young and, above all, Dylan.

1. ABN "Politie Pollutie"
Newest single of the Nederhop-crew ABN, the second from their CD "ABN-ormaal". The song (translated, the title goes "Police Pollution", is a complaint against the racist nature of the police corps in Mechelen, their hometown. (Perhaps this controversial subject accounts for the fact that the song can be heard a lot less on the Flemish radio ?). As Quinte said in an interview with Humo "There are a lot of right-wing cops around here. The police is guilty of abuse of power. The intimidation is just unbelievable. I once got caught by the cops when they caught me tagging a wall. I swear, never in my life have I had a similar beating. They put in me in jail for an hour without any explanation. However, not all policemen are like this. The difference with cities like Leuven or Ghent is obvious. I'm living in Brussels since a couple of months now : I feel a lot safer here."

3. Pat Krimson "Kinky"
Solo-venture of the brain behind the very succesful Eurobeat and trance-group "Two Fabiola" (known from hits like "Magic Flight", "Flashback" ... and the beautiful singer Zohra, who has also done a solo record with "I hate to love you".
Pat Krimson's extravagant manga look hides in real life Patrick Claesen, a man who's in showbizz more than 16 years now, among others with the well-known group "Leopold 3". He runs a dance label (Dance Division Atmoz), owns two discotheques (Atmoz), produces several groups, does remixes (e.g. Praga Khan), and runs Two Fabiola as a company.
His prediction for 1998 : "Belgian trance is going to be a major succes abroad. A long break of about 1.5 minutes in the middle of the song, and than rebuilding it, that's what gives the public kicks these days. And that's exactly what I'm doing. We're trendsetters in that respect."

WEEK 11 : August 15 - 22 1998

1. Front 242 "Headhunter live"
Not really a recent band, Front 242, but they are still alive and have just release a live album called "Re-Boot Live '98".
There is an earlier live-album ("Live Target" of 1992), which was originally a bootleg.
"Headhunter" is probably the best known song of the group.
For more info on the band, check out their biography in the regular Archive.

2. Fred & The Healers "Hide your sadness"
Fred & The Healers are a steamin' hot blues band, boasting a formidable live reputation.
They already have a maxi and a full album released. Actually the album "First" (Kroko Records - Distribution Polygram) dates back to october 1997, but hasn't got the appreciation it deserved in Flanders. In the South of the country, they are better known thanks to the support of Marc Ysaye (the drummer of Machiavel) who talks a lot about them on Radio 21.
Thanks to Caroline Delabie for the suggestion.

3. Touch of Joy "Let's go crazy"
Not a cover of Prince this, but it could be a cover of the Blues Brothers. Big summer hit in Flanders.
Touch of Joy are Sergio (big, rude, blond-headed monster) and Sandy (beatiful singer with a crystal-clear voice). They shot up on the music scene in 1996 with dance-oriented music and have had numerous hits since with songs as "Keep on moving", "Don't give it up", "Enjoy", "It's gonna be wild". "Let's go crazy" is somewhat a-typical for their regular music.

WEEK 12 : August 23 - 29 1998

1. Cinérex "Tumbleweed"
Cinerex (or Cinerex Sound System, as they sometimes announce themselves for gigs) did feature in "Song of the week" a few weeks ago already. This is their second chance because

2. Telex "Moscow Disco"
1998 : Telex, Disco ??
Yup, this belgian group that pioneered in electronic pop music in the late seventies is still somewhat alive and is releasing "new" material in september.
SSR and Detroit label Planet E have joined forces to generate an album of Telex remixes which features "the cream of today's house/techno/electro producers", including Deep Dish, Glenn Underground, Carl Craig, 16B, Shake, I:Cube, Dr Rockit, Ian O'Brien, Buckfunk 3000, Pulsinger/Tunakan, Jay Denham, 20/20 Vision, AutoRepeat, Yasuharu Konishi and more. This will be released in October.
In addition, there will a compilation CD and LP on the SSR-label in november. A 12'' with remixes of their classic "Moscow Disco" is scheduled any day now.
So, all together now : "Disco Dosco Moscow Disco Misco Dosco Moscow Disco".

3. The Wineguns "Hey Fonzie"
Another of these new and emerging groups that keep shooting up like mushrooms all through this little country. The song is from an EP called "shake".
Jacky Huys is not convinced in his review in Knack : "The Wineguns suck. At least this EP does. Here and there they try to imitate Evil Superstars, but they lack the weirdness. The singing (both in sound and in the words) also had us frowning more often than enjoying.". Reason enough to give it a good listen, ain't it.

WEEK 13 : September 1-7 1998

1. Mama's Jasje "Gelukkig zijn"
Mama's jasje (translated that would be "mummy's coat"), is a flemish-singing group which has already quite a history behind it.
They enjoyed a lot of succes at the beginning of the '90 (biggest hits "Zo ver weg" of 1991, and the Presley-cover "Zonder verhaal" of 1992), than splitted in '94, after which singer Peter De Laet (with Gunther van Campenhout) came back under the old group name with the CD "Hommages" in 1997. This CD (filled with covers of well-known flemish and dutch songs) was such a hit, they now have released "Hommages II". The song "Gelukkig zijn" is best known in the interpretation of the late singer Ann Christy (you can listen to her "original" here.)

2. Venus "Pop Song"
Interesting new band that has so far somewhat eluded the attention of the Belgian rock-lovers.
The band was formed out of a theater project about a year ago, and consists of two actors and three musicians. The line-up is all-acoustic (violin, big bass, guitar and a small drumkit), yet doesn't lack power.
They have a mini-cd out (four tracks) that was produced by Mike Butcher (known for his work with Arno and Pieter-Jan Desmet), entitled "Royal Sucker".

3. Cobalt 60 "Rainbow Warrior"
Cobalt 60 is the band of Jean-Luc Demeyer, one of the leading men of the EBM-band Front 242. With Cobalt 60, which was formed about 4 years ago, he has taken a musical course somewhat different from the electronic beats of Front. However, this band can also be classified as "Industrial music".
The band has just released it's second "regular" album, called "Twelve". "Rainbow Warrior", about the bombing of the Greenpeace-ship, is a track on it.
Earlier, they have released "Elemental" in june 1996 and have made the music for the Origin game "Wing Commander - Part V - Prophecy" that came out in may 1997.

WEEK 14 : September 10-17 1998
Special "Les Nuits Botaniques"

To find out more about this festival in the heart of Brussels, see the website of "Le Botanique"

1. Perry Rose & the High Wires "Don't even begin"
A short while ago, the fifth CD of this Irish Belgian "The triumphant march of the lonesome Goldfish" was released. It is the first one on which he is accompanies by his four heads strong backing group The High Wires.
Perry started out as a folkie in the beginning of the nineties, but slowly but surely he has turned away from his Irish roots and has now grown into a talented singer-songwriter and rocker.
He can be admired on stage on September 16th in l'Orangerie.

2. Bé Plouvier "Daddy Cool"
Bé, or Bernard, Plouvier is a musical devil-does-all from Brussels.
Has just released "L'univers du sommeil", featuring this cover of Boney M's disco tune. It's his second solo-album after "A feeling of déjà-vu" of '96.
Originally a drummer and violinist, he has perfectioned his keyboard and guitar playing now. He already has a long history of groups behind him (Odieu, Woodentrucks, Mad Dog Loose - a very shortlived but impressive band, Ninove - with his brother Jean-Luc Plouvier, who has contributed to projects of X-Legged Sally and Pierre Verloesem) etc ...
His show on "Les Nuits Botaniques" can be seen on September 11th, in Le Chapiteau

3. Miam Monster Miam "T-Shirt"
Miam Monster Miam is the group of Benjamin Schoos, a young (19 years) boy from Liège who has released his first CD this year ("La belle soundstation" on Bang!-records).
Has plans to release some older casette-works as a record under the name of "Posh pop mastering society".
Sings in English (quite an exception for musicians from the South), but only because "my lyrics sound too moronic in French" (as he said on Radio 21's "Rock à gogo" of September 9th)
Can be seen on stage at "Les Nuits Botaniques" on September 12 at the Orangerie.

WEEK 15 : September 19-26 1998

1. Raymond van het Groenewoud "Een beetje Tederheid" / "Help de rijken"
Although Raymond normally needs only 10 seconds to impress as much as others do with a full cd, I've added both the A and B-side of his newest single.
The reason : "Een beetje tederheid" is an adaptation (of "Try a little Tenderness" from the immortal - in a manner of speaking - Otis Redding). And although you need to have a lot of guts to lay your hands on such a masterpiece, and even though Raymond succeeds in this task with flying colours, I do think that it is a bit "below" this genius songwriter to try and regain attention with a coversong.
That's why I prefer "Help de rijken" (Help the rich). Go figure.

2. Elisa Waut "Brother & Sister"
Back from a few years in her "Body Shop", the ravishing lady from Bruges returns to the musical stage with her band 3 years after the last cd "Angelus".
As is pointed out at the end of her biography, Els has "seen the light". This evolution is very prominent on her new cd "Mystica" : mantra's and a busload of exotic instruments (charango, glockenspiel, djembé, kalimba en "matrass pump") were dragged in to perform songs with titles such as "Dharma" and "Jay Jay".
"Brother & Sister" (her broter is still in the band) is the first single of the album, which was released last week.

2. Soulwax "Much against everyone's advice"
After some terrific shows at the some of the main Belgian summer festivals (Pukkelpop, Les Nuits Botaniques ...) these young Turks are preparing themselves for a crushing autumn offensive.
"Much against everyone's advice" is storming up the Alternative chart and is the first single of the soon-to-be-released second CD of the band. I'll bet ya that this will the "Belgian CD of the year", although I haven't even heard it (and if the new Zita Swoon - probably october - or dEUS - possibly this year - don't come spoiling their fun).

number of votes : 11
percentage : 30.6 %

WEEK 16 : September 27 - October 4, 1998

1. Gorki "Mijn dierbare vijand"
Altough the latest album of Gorki "Ik ben aanwezig", was released more than 6 months ago, there's still not a word or sound of it in my Belgian pop & rock archive.
Just to reassure the fans that I'm not boycotting it, here's the third single that was released off the album (after "Wie zal er voor de kinderen zorgen" and "Punk is dood").

number of votes : 17
percentage : 43.6 %

2. Ozark Henry "Radio"
Strange noises, complicated song structures, intelligent lyrics, multi-layered soundscapes ... such are the trademarks of the duo "Ozark Henry".
They surprised a lot of people in 1996 with the album "I'm seeking something that has already found me" (Method/Double T). They didn't surprise me then, but that's because I've discovered only just now.
Anyhow, they have got a second album coming up in october, and the song "Radio" has been pre-released as a single. It seems more poppy than the previous work, but that's all for the better, since they deserve a much broader audience.

3. Speaking T. "Soul deep"
This group sadly still is a bit of a mystery to me, yet they seem to be poised for a good career : they made their debut about 4 months ago with a maxi-cd, and now they already have a full CD ready, released on Play it Again Sam.
The group is half belgian / half french. Anyone who has more info, contact me.

WEEK 17 : October 6-12, 1998

1. The Romans "Love in D Minor"
After a year of radio-silence, the three gentlemen of The Romans return in full style with their new single (Love in D Minor) and a new album (El Diablo - out in a couple of weeks).
Contrary to a lot of their earlier work, this song is not hard-hitting hammering song, but ... a ballad. Albeit one with balls.
Or as Laurens Leurs tells himself on their excellent website : " The term "ballad" is something that stretches from the mellow disasters of The Scorpions to the atonal nicety of say Sonic Youth. We can safely say our song is closer to that second version. But judge for yourself."
The Romans have also signed with a new record company : the brand new Brussels-based label Oyster Records.

2. Jo Lemaire "Ik kom je zeggen ..."
Jo Lemaire has recently released a cd with Dutch versions of her best known song. "Ik kom je zeggen" is a translation of "Je suis venu te dire ...", which in its turn was a cover version of the song by the memorable Serge Gainsbourg at the time she was still playing with her group Flouze.
In an interview with Humo in 1997 she told Marc Didden "I've been mad with this song for a very long time. Mad with the song and with all the people who tought I had done nothing before and after it. Until I realised one day that people want to hear this song because they like it, and that they want to hear it from me because they like my version. I now realize that I'll have to keep on singing it 'till the bitter end. But I don't mind it anymore."
The translation of the song was don by Wigbert Van Lierde.

number of votes : 10
percentage : 31.2 %

3. Grasscutters "Today"
Grasscutters is a new band from the extream East of Belgium. They describe their own music as "melodious grunge".
Earlier this year, they released their debut album (also on a new label : Big Sky of Verviers) named "Keep Hands Away". In june they managed to get to the finals of the European talent contest Emergenza after winning the Belgian preliminaries at the AB.
Now they have a maxi out, with on it two versions of "Why", a song that was also on the debut album, and "Today", quite a quiet song.

number of votes : 7
percentage : 21.9 %

WEEK 18 : October 13-20, 1998

1. Zita Swoon "Song for a dead singer"
Excellent new single of Stef Kamil Carlens and his gang, the first release of a soon-to-be-released cd calld "Pictures of a wedding dress" (Warner).
The song is (at least partly) about the drowned singer Jeff Buckley and reconfirmed the awesome singing abilities of the leader of this band.

number of votes : 21
percentage : 55.3 %

2. K's Choice "If you're not scared"
Third (and very quiet) single of Belgium's best musical export product from the bestselling album Cocoon Crash.
In the meantime, I guess that everybody knows by now that the European tour of K's Choice has been cancelled due to a serious illness of Gert, but that the group will resume their busy life in a few months. If not, take a look at the official K's Choice site.

3. Niko "Flip The Coin"
Nicolaas Westerlinck (who ??) has come up with a debut album ("ASAP", out on Bang!-records, distributed by Sony) filled with subdued songs and a few electronic experiments.
I'll pass on these last ones, but the songs of this drummer are worth being heard !

Number of votes : 4
percentage : 10.5 %

WEEK 19 : October 21-28, 1998

1. dirk Blanchart "Hoe denk je dat het voelt"
Cover time part 1 : dirk Blanchart, well-known musician in Belgium due to his eighties adventure with Luna Twist and his own solo-expeditions in the nineties, has produced a new CD (Schietstoel, out on Via Records) filled with covers of his own and other people's songs. The original bit about it is that the record is completely in Dutch, whereas he has always sung in English before.
"Hoe denk je dat het voelt" is a cover of "How do you think if feels" by Lou Reed. The lyrics for the song are from the (in)famous writer Herman Brusselmans. Other covers on the album include "Ik krijg je maar niet uit mijn hoofd" (original Can't get it out of my head, by ELO) and "De Zotte Morgen" (original by Zjef Vanuytsel).

number of votes : 16
percentage : 51.6 %

2. Helmut Lotti "Benjamin"
Cover Time part 3 : Helmut Lotti, King of the Mellow, started out as an Elvis-imitator, gained fame as a flemish showbizz figure, and hit the jackpot when he started going Classic.
With "Lotti Goes Classic The Final Edition" and "A Classical Christmas With Helmut Lotti" (both released this week on Polygram), he has promised to end this series.
Moreover, his former record company BMG Ariola, has recently released "Romantic", an album of earlier songs. This means that by next week, there will be three Helmut Lotti Albums in the top three of the best selling albums !! Get outtahere while you can.
"Benjamin" is a song that most people think is a cover of Louis Neefs (at least nitwit Hans Otten did), but is in fact originally by Bobby Gentry.

3. Kretek "High Tide"
Cover time, part 2 : Kretek, or in real life Olivier Abbeloos, is a producer/DJ who had many a hit at the end of eighties during the "New Beat" dance craze. Since then, he has been getting wilder and crazier by the minute.
This summer, he had a surprise radio hit with his song "Fantastico", featuring the voice of retired soccer commentator Jan Wauters. This track (featured on his most recent EP "Boogaloo Inferno" out on Downsall Records, is a cut-up song made up of dozens of sound bits from other songs. Reminds me a bit of Nurse With Wound "The Sylvie and Babs High-Tigh Companion - with titillating orchestrations by Murray Fontana". How's that for a reference ??

number of votes : 7
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