In addition to being the world’s best and most prolific custom song writer, I am also a rabid music connoisseur, and trivia buff. Sometimes I like to post about it!
I proudly consider myself an above average Shocking Blue fan, which is to say that I know their catalog beyond their electrifying 1970 acid-pop-rocker ‘Venus.’ Something I’m less likely to bring up in a bar conversation is my penchant for obscure genres of European disco from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.
The prologue to this particular danceable tale is ABBA. They were pretty big in the States, but as far as Europe was concerned, they ruled the planet. They had an impact on non-English speaking nations of the old world that was comparable to what the Beatles had here. Imitators sprung up everywhere, but no single place produced more hopeful statuesque singers of tight harmonies than the Netherlands.
I’m mainly a fan of these bands because of their overblown, glitzy videos, but occasionally some songs transcend the cheese and start to show up on my playlists and I realize that—despite the fact that they were performed by people wearing shiny gold jumpsuits—these are songs that I genuinely like.
An aural epiphany of this kind occurred recently when I fell in love with a song called Neon City by a Dutch band called Mistral. After much googling, I found out that this was a studio project led by Robbie van Leeuwen, formerly of Shocking Blue.
But wait, there’s more.
This particular track features none other than Mariska Veres, Shocking Blues’ iconic lead singer, on vocals.
As a card-carrying music nerd, this is a significant discovery. This project is not mentioned on the Shocking Blue Wikipedia page or that of Mariska Veres. In fact, I had to really dig to find anything about this band or this song that’s written in English.
If you’ve actually read this far, I hope the Gods of Geekdom will send you a miracle (or a post card), but more than that, I hope you like this song. View the videos on the sidebar if you dare!