Bettie Serveert - Log 22

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 25 / 3 / 2003

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The Dutch group Bettie Serveert are something of a well kept secret in the U.K. Releasing albums every three years or since their brilliant debut ‘Palomine’ on Guernica, one of 4AD’s spin offs, back in ‘92, they are fronted by guitarist and Chuck Prophet lookalike, Peter Visser, and the lovely Carol Van Dyk on vocals. They have always produced quality albums that stand out, and their music slots somewhere between that of the Walkabouts, Kristin Hersch and the Velvet Underground. Carol Van Dyk sings in an Americana style The thirteen tracks of their latest offering, “Log 22’, shows the Betties at the height of their strengths. Much of the album is quite often downbeat, and finds the band looking back and reflecting with just the rights amounts of trumpets, violins and brass. These downbeat tracks have a Woody Allen ‘Manhattan’ era jazz feel to them. Mostly, however, ‘Log 22’ employs a very clever and intelligent guitar based rock sound, which is very, very cool. On ‘The Ocean, My Floor’ and ‘White Dogs’ the Betties show us that they know how to rock with the best of them, and they come over as the long lost children of Crazy Horse . Both these tracks are also very Velvet Underground in approach. On the former they even have the cheek to play a chunk of ‘Lady Godiva’s Operation’, while the latter has a Sweet Jane groove to it. If this is your introduction to Bettie Serveert, then it is a bloody good place to start

Track Listing:-

1 Wide Eyed Fool
2 Smack
3 Have A Heart
4 Captain Of Maybe
5 De Diva
6 Given
7 Not Coming Down
8 Cut N Dried
9 Log
10 White Dogs
11 Certainlie
12 The Ocean, My Floor
13 The Love In

Label Links:-

https://twitter.com/piasrecordings
https://www.facebook.com/playitweb
http://www.playitagainsam.net/
https://www.youtube.com/user/playitweb

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