Ekseption - Another History (1974)

Ekseption were a Dutch progressive rock band, who grew out of the high-school band The Jokers, which Rein van den Broek formed in 1958, first changing their name to The Incrowd (after the Ramsey Lewis song) before discovering that this name was already taken, and so finally settling on 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 by The Nice, and van der Linden decided to concentrate on producing classical rock, modern re-interpretations of classical works for rock band. This was a very lucrative decision, resulting in Dutch top ten hit singles with their adaptations of Beethoven's 'Fifth' and Bach's 'Air', and their second album, 1969's 'Beggar Julia's Time Trip', won the Dutch Edison Award for album of the year. Most of their subsequent albums contained re-interpreted classical pieces, alongside a few original compositions, and their first five records all attained gold status. By 1972, it was becoming evident that van der Linden had assumed leadership of the group, and in a press release interview that year, accompanying advance copies of the album 'Ekseption 5', he openly said so. This obviously rankled with the rest of the band, and after 1973's 'Trinity' album he was asked to leave by his bandmates, forming a new group Trace, and he was replaced by Dutch keyboardist Hans Jansen. Jansen took Ekseption in a jazzier direction, with two albums 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, and in 1978 Trace and Spin merged to become Ekseption once again, releasing four more albums before van der Linden's death in 2006. While Ekseption were mainly known for their classical re-interpretations, they did often put an original composition on the b-sides of their singles, and sometimes on the A-side as well, and so as a compilation of their self-penned material has never been issued I thought it would be good to hear their original music all in one place. I've used their numerous singles as the basis for the album, so many of these songs did appear on their albums, and alternately there are other original songs on the albums which aren't here, but if I included all of them then the post would be too unwieldy. I'm using the criteria that they'd choose their best material for their singles, and so enjoy this unusual collection of music, in fact 'Another History' of the renowned Dutch classical rockers. 

Track listing

   
01 Talk About Tomorrow (single 1967)
02 Mojo Ann (b-side of 'Talk About Tomorrow')
03 Laura (single 1968)
04 From Africa With Love (b-side of 'Laura')
05 Feelings (b-side of 'Italian Concerto' 1970)
06 Julia (b-side of 'Adagio' 1970)
07 Another History (single 1970)
08 Body Party (b-side of 'Ave Maria' 1971)
09 My Son (single 1971)
10 Virginal (b-side of 'A La Turka' 1972)
11 Bingo-Bingo (b-side of 'Persian Market' 1973)
12 De Fietser (single 1974)
13 Sunny Revival (b-side of 'De Fiester')