Daryll-Ann Again

The reformation of Dutch maestros Daryll-Ann has been a huge cause of celebration round these parts this winter. The band are back playing gigs together and with a comprehensive anthology box set, Daryll-Ann Again, on sale, covering their entire recorded output from 1988-2004 plus loads of previously unreleased demos and outtakes. They are still sounding absolutely magnificent as well. If there's a better live band out there I've yet to hear them. Cop a load of these recent performances!

And this was them twenty years ago in the promo video for Stay, which I'd never seen before until Excelsior Records stuck it up on YouTube a couple of months ago. Unearthed treasure.

Buy the Daryll-Ann Again Box Set here

Ride On Time

I had that Anne Soldaat in the back of my cab the other day. Insisted I play his latest single on the stereo so he could sing along so he did. Well, I don't normally go south of the river at that time of night as you know, what with all the crime and the puking punters and what have you, but I made an exception for Mr Soldaat as he's a lovely bloke. He left me a great tip as well: "Buy my new album a bit sharpish, like". Or words to that effect. So I did, and it's bloomin' great. Gawd bless yer, guv'nor.



Anne Soldaat - Going South mp3

'Going South' is taken from Anne Soldaat's album In Another Life

What can Do-The-Undo do for you?

I recently wrote of my love for erstwhile Dutch maestros Daryll-Ann, and the recent solo album of the band's co-songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Jelle Paulusma. What I failed to mention - basically because I hadn't even heard about it at the time - was the new solo project of the band's other co-songwriting, singing guitarist Anne Soldaat: Do-The-Undo.

Well, I say solo project, but this would be doing the other members of Do-The-Undo a disservice, as they are, clearly, a band. As well as Mr Soldaat, the line-up also features a couple of other Daryll-Ann alumni: bassist Dick Brouwers and one-time producer Henk Jonkers, who now finds himself on drumming duties. The quartet are completed by Thijs van Duijvenbode on organ and piano. But the project is very much Anne's brainchild.

The band's self-titled debut album is out now, and having heard it for the first time last night, I can happily confirm that Daryll-Ann fans will be more than happy with this one, as it sees Anne back on top form; I got exactly the same buzz listening to this as I used to get whenever hearing a Daryll-Ann album for the first time, which is really quite something.

It's also uncanny how similar Anne and Jelle's singing and songwriting styles are - I still have trouble telling them apart despite the fact that I've been listening to their songs for the best part of a decade and a half now (and also despite the fact that both are now recording completely independently of each other!).

Here's my favourite track so far from the album - Mary - which will be available for download for the next seven days:

Do-The-Undo - Mary mp3

There are also four other Do-The Undo tracks available to stream on the band's MySpace page.

If you like what you hear, you might care to do as I did: nip over and buy the album in its entirety from Legaldownload.net. Be rude not to really!

Daryll-Ann / Paulusma

Of all the great bands to emerge in the nineties, my favourite two would probably be, in no particular order, Sweden's Popsicle and, from the Netherlands, Daryll-Ann. The latter were actually the first band I ever blogged about on here. That's how much I heart them. Besides, what's not to love about a band who took their name from - and named their first album after - characters from Hill Street Blues?

Despite briefly enjoying (limited) success in the UK in the mid-90s when signed to Virgin offshoot Hut, most of Daryll-Ann's seven albums (they moved to Dutch label Excelsior Recordings after being dropped by Hut in 1996) never even received a release in the UK. This was a great shame as they actually hit their creative peak shortly after parting company with Hut, so they could and should have received far more acclaim in the UK than they ever did. I really can't recommend this band highly enough (or should that be 'too highly'? I can never remember how that's supposed to go).

The band split in 2004, after twelve years, but lead singer Jelle Paulusma resurfaced in '06 with the splendid Here We Are, ten tracks that essentially picked up where Daryll-Ann left off. From it, here's the sublime Serpentine Tomorrow.

Paulusma - Serpentine Tomorrow mp3

And, from Daryll-Ann's penultimate album, Trailer Tales, here's the more-fun-than-you-can-shake-a-stick-at Serenades For The Lonely.

Daryll-Ann - Serenades For The Lonely mp3

If you enjoyed those tracks, you'll love Daryll-Ann and Paulusma's albums - seriously! Buy them here and here.

It's super Tuesday on a Friday night

Hello, and thanks for dropping by. You're reading the first ever entry in the all-new MP3 blog that literally two people are calling Too Much Apple Pie. Aren't you lucky? My name's John, and I'll be doing some of the posting around here. I'll also be joined by my great showbiz chum, Spike, who'll be contributing (much better posts than this one) on a regular basis.

We thought we'd kick things off with one of our favourite songs by one of our favourite bands, the now-defunct Dutch maestros Daryll-Ann, as a sort of mission statement (slightly pompous pronouncement ahoy!) for what we hope to achieve with this blog: to get some of our favourite, often largely forgotten, musical acts "back out there" as it were, even if only on one obscure blog.

Anyway, the track we've chosen here is three and a half minutes of pop perfection, Surely Justice, from Daryll-Ann's 1999 album Happy Traum. Hope you like it. If you do, I'd definitely recommend seeking the album out as there are 13 more equally great songs to enjoy on there.

01 Surely Justice.mp3

Buy Daryll-Ann stuff here