Ekseption – Beggar Julia’s Time Trip (1970)

For this, their second album, the band had some changes in the line-up: both Rob Kruisman (saxophones, flute, guitar, vocals) and Huib van Kampen (guitar, Tenor saxophone) left the band, being replaced by Dick Remelink ( saxes, flute). Drummer Peter de Leeuwe also left the band (but returned for their next album), being replaced by Dennis Whitbread. Also the band had a lead singer called Michel van Dijk, plus some guest appearances from Tony Vos (saxes, tonytone, electronic effects, and also the main producer of some of their albums), Linda van Dyck ( voice on “Prologue” & “Epilogue”), and Eric van Lier (trombone, tuba), who also was going to participate in their ‘00.04’ album from 1971.

This album is really a concept album about a beggar named Julia who does a time trip through several centuries (more or less as I understood the concept). The main composer in the original musical pieces in this album is keyboard player Rick van der Linden, with some collaborations with lyrics from singer Michel van Dijk, who really only sings in two songs (‘Juila’ and ‘Pop Giant’), and from Linda van Dyck who does some narration. There are some sections in the album which really are done with electronic sound effects and their function is more to work as links to other musical pieces. These electronic sound effects make this album sound a bit influenced by psychedelia, and they really sound like ‘experiments’ maybe done with Moogs or with other electronic devices.

As in every album by the band, there are several arrangements done to Classical Music pieces (Albinoni`s ‘Adagio’, J.S. Bach`s ‘Italian Concerto’, and Tchaikovsky`s ‘Concerto’). The appearance of an electric guitar solo in ‘Concerto’ and its previous appearance as the B-side of the ‘Air’ single in 1969 makes me think that ‘Concerto’ was really recorded for their first album, but was finally released in their second album. Of these Classical Music pieces I prefer more ‘Adagio’ and ‘Concerto’. There are also some brief appearances from other uncredited Classical Music pieces in some parts of the album, like some bars from Rachmaninoff`s First Piano Concerto and a bit from J.S Bach`s ‘Sicilano in G’, a musical piece which the band was going to record in a full arrangement for their ‘Ekseption 5’ album from 1972.

This is maybe their first attempt for a full Prog album, having a conceptual story, and with each musical piece being linked one after the other without interruptions (other to the natural end of the Side One in the old LP version). The Jazz, Rock, Classical and Pop influences are very present, and maybe in this second album the band sounds more ‘mature’, more ‘serious’, and with maybe having less inclinations to appear in the radio, even if they still released some singles. (by Guillermo)

Personnel:
Rein van den Broek (trumpet, fluegelhorn)
Cor Dekker (bass)
Michel Van Dijk (vocals, percussion)
Rick van der Linden (keyboards, spinet, percussion)
Dick Remelink (saxophone, flute)
Dennis Whitbread (drums, percussion)
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Gerard Beckers (electronics, effects)
Linda van Dyck (vocals on 02 + 09.)
Eric van Lier (trombone, tuba)
Jan Schuurman (electronics, effects)
Tony Vos (saxophone, percussion, electronics, effects)

Tracklist:
01. Ouverture (v.d. Linden) 3.23
02. Prologue (L. v. Dyck/v.d. Linden) 2.21
03. Julia (M. v. Dijk/v.d. Linden) 2.22
04. Flying Power (v.d. Linden) 0.32
05. Adagio (Albinoni) 3.45
06. Space I (Bach) 0.44
07. Italian Concerto (Bach) 5.03
08. Concerto (Tchaikovsky) 3.53
09. Space II (R. v.d. Linden) 0.25
10. Pop Giant (M. v. Dijk/v.d. Linden) 3.55
11. Space III (v.d. Linden) 0.21
12. Feelings (v.d. Linden) 3.08
13. Epilogue (L. v. Dyck/v.d. Linden) 0.57
14. Finale: Music For Mind/Theme Julia (v.d. Linden) 4.00

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Ekseption – Same (Classic In Pop) (1969)

Ekseption was a Dutch rock band active from 1967 to 1989, playing mostly-instrumental progressive rock and classical rock. The central character in the changing roster, and the only band member present on every album, was conservatory-trained trumpeter Rein van den Broek (10 September 1945 – 11 May 2015). The band knew some commercial success in the 1970s, having Dutch top ten hit singles with their adaptations of Beethoven’s “Fifth” and Bach’s (Celebrated) “Air.” The second album, “Beggar Julia’s time trip” (1969), won the Dutch Edison Award for album of the year, and the first five albums all went gold.

Ekseption grew out of the high-school band The Jokers, which van den Broek formed in 1958. They changed their name to The Incrowd (after the Ramsey Lewis song) before discovering that name was already taken. Finally they settled on the name Ekseption in 1967. The group played jazz, pop and R&B covers, but in 1969, shortly after keyboardist Rick van der Linden joined, they were impressed by a gig of The Nice, and van der Linden decided to concentrate on producing classical rock, modern re-interpretations of classical works for rock band. Most of their subsequent albums contain both original songs and re-interpreted classical pieces.

It quickly became evident that van der Linden had assumed leadership of the group, and in a 1972 press release interview accompanying advance copies of the album Ekseption 5 he openly said so. After 1973’s Trinity album he was asked to leave the group by his bandmates, and in the fall of that year he formed a new group Trace, during which time he was replaced by Dutch keyboardist Hans Jansen. Jansen took Ekseption in a jazzier direction, with two LPs of original compositions, but lackluster sales caused the band to break up in 1976. An offshoot band, named Spin, formed later that year and released two more albums, but success also eluded them.[2] In 1978 Trace and Spin merged to become Ekseption once again. Periodic reunions (with new members) appeared until van der Linden’s death in 2006. (by wikipedia)

And here´s their debut album from 1969:

“Ekseption’s idea to record well-known classical themes started in 1968, when the group visited a concert of a British group called The Nice. The six boys were impressed by the way The Nice mixed pop and classical music.
A few weeks after the concert Ekseption was invited to play with one of the finest symphony orchestras in Holland – the North Holland Philharmonic – at a big festival in Haarlem.
The obvious man with Ekseption to handle this project was 22 year old pianist Rick van der Linden, who is also one the promising young classical pianists in Holland. Rick, who finished Conservatory and has played piano recitals with well-known orchestras, started to arrange several classical themes for the festival.
Some weeks before the event, however, Ekseption was told that the orchestra refused to perform with a pop group. That part of the festival was cancelled, but Ekseption stuck to the idea and decided to use the arrangement of Beethoven’s “The 5th” for their new record.
“The 5th” was an instant smash hit and stayed for seven weeks in the national Top Ten. This LP was the result of requests for more ‘classical pop’ from Ekseption’s many fans.” (taken from the original liner notes)

This was their first album, which consisted of covers of classical (which they were best known for), one original, and more. They do a cover of Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony”, entitled “The 5th”, which actually became a hit. This is basically a rock version of the famous Beethoven composition, with organ, guitar, bass, drums, and horns. The song starts off with the famous symphony version (sounds like a recording sampled from a real symphony orchestra), but then quickly changes to a rock version. They do a cover of JETHRO TULL’s “Dharma For One”, which is quite a bit tamer than the original, not so aggressive. They even include the proper, Ian Anderson-like flute where needed (just like the original). “Little X-Plus” is a band original, and a nice piece with some jazz influence and nice use of flute. “Ritual Fire Dance” is a nice number complete with horns, some ’60s sounding guitar. They also cover George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”, which is truly the album’s high point. There’s also Bach’s “Air on G String”, which is the song that PROCOL HARUM borrowed for their hit “A Whiter Shade of Pale”. This of course, is the Bach composition done EKSEPTION style, with harspichord from Rick van der Linden, and horns, and you won’t mistake this for Procol Harum.

EKSEPTION is one of those bands that don’t have much middle ground, you either dig the band or you don’t. It all depends how much you like the idea of a band “rocking the classics”. I still think this is much better than what Apollo 100 done (Apollo 100 was a British group who gave us the hit “Joy”, which was a pop take on Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”, and most of the rest of the stuff they did was rock versions of classical songs, and in my opinion, not as good as what EKSEPTION did). (by proghead)

I include a very rare single from 1967 … Ekseption before Rick van der Linden joined the band …

Personnel:
Rein van den Broek (trumpet)
Cor Dekker (bass, guitar)
Huib van Kampen (guitar, saxophone)
Rob Kruisman (saxophone, flute, guitar, vocals)
Peter de Leeuwe (drums)
Rick van der Linden (keyboards)

Tracklist:
01. The 5th (van Beethoven) 3.28
02. Dharma For One (Anderson/Bunker) 3.30
03. Little X Plus (v.d.Brock/Dekker/v.Kampen/Kruisman/d.Leeuwe/v.d.Linden) 3.34
04. Sabre Dance (Khachaturian) 3.50
05. Air (Bach) 2.55
06. Ritual Firedance (de Falla) 2.18
07. Rhapsody In Blue (Gershwin) 4.04
08. This Here (Timmons/Hendricks) 4.15
09. Dance Macabre, opus 40 (Saint-Saëns) 2.26
10. Canvas (Bennett) 2.31
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11. Talk About Tomorrow (van Kampen/Kruisman)
12. Mojo Ann (van Kampen/Kruisman)

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Rick van der Linden
(5 August 1946, Badhoevedorp, North Holland – 22 January 2006, Groningen)