SUPERSISTER

4.5 stars for this unique band...

Among the most significant prog bands ever to come out of The Netherlands, SUPERSISTER's story begins in mid-60's at the Grotius College in Hague,when some young students begun a band named ''The Bulbs'',led by Robert Jan Stips.The band adopted constantly new styles and influences and this was the reason for the numerous changes of the band's name (from ''The bulbs'' to ''Q-Provocation'',shortened to ''Provocation'' and in 1968 to ''Sweet okay supersister'').Their lives were absolutely amazing with dancers and body painters on stage and ,as Pete Sjadin from ''Group 1850'' saw them one night,he helped them release their first single in 1970,followed by the recordings of their debut ''Present from Nancy'' the same year.

Already performing under the name SUPERSISTER,''Present from Nancy'' is an album way beyond its time with obvious references to SOFT MACHINE and CARAVAN,but more importantly with a personal approach to energetic complex rock music.The album is mostly instrumental,offering awesome interplays between the musicians and furious grooves,hard to get into with a single listen.You can easily been blown away by the battles of Sascha Van Geest's flutes with the tight performance of Ron Van Eck on bass and Marco Vrolijk on drums/percussion.Rob Stips' piano and organ are almost everywhere,performing delicate passages,later exchanged with dynamic interplays with the rhythm section.The most energetic passages will just leave you speechless with their professionalism and pure inspiration,the smoother ones contain psych leanings and jazzy arrangements with great flute work and dark guitar playing,not far from the Canterbury-based bands.This is certainly one of the best early progressive rock releases and a personal highlight for me,regarding the year 1970.A highly recommended album of maximum historical and musical importance!

Was the best Canterbury scene band from Holland ?

Well, Supersister is among the five best Canterbury scene bands, based on their first four albums and the live album. I reviewed that one year ago and simply forgot the rest of their album. I was therefore very pleased to finally dust this album of again and give it some spins.

The music here is pretty close to Caravan....... with a lot of xtra influences like Hatfield & The North, Soft Machine, Egg, Gong and Focus. The latter one is added due to the pretty similar use of flute and their similar approach to symphonic prog. But Supersister is most of all a Canterbury scene band through and through. Supersister may be the end product if Wilde Flowers had not split into Caravan and Soft Machine.

Intricate rhythm patterns litters this album. There are both very melodic stuff here and Soft Machine like avant-garde jazz. I have to say the best stuff here is the ones where they follow the Caravan way of doing things. Supersister's vocalist is pretty similar in style to Richard Sinclair too and a major part of their sound. The music is sometimes pretty funny with some wild drum patterns.

This is in short an album of highest quality. Only the last song Dona Nobis Pacem are pretty substandard. The rest of this album is brilliant and I rate it very highly.

4.25 stars

Supersister - Present from Nancy (1970)

A very early 'Canterburyscene' record this is. Supersister doesn't have relations with other Canterburygroups as their subgenre may suggest, but is has the classic jazz-rock influenced sound like Hatfield and the North and the like. Heavy drums played fast and repetitive, bass-line supporting the drums, keys with distortion and to complete the band a flute-player. The tempo is high, the songs focussed. The genius of this record lies in its perfect rocking jazz sound that keeps on pushing. Futhermore it is a great achievement for boys their age, R.J. stips was 19 during the recording of this album.

The opening of the album is quite pleasant and happy, but soon the dark jazz rock riffs appear and Supersister moves to abstract territory. When I first hear this I though: I've heard something like this before. I am still impressed by this heavy sound which can be compared best with early Soft Machine and Caravan. There are no stand-outs on this album, everything is highly impressive. The great Mexico deserves mentioning though. The fast played vocal parts, the psychedelic riffs in between with distorted key-solo's and the dark vibe of the main theme make this a true Supersister masterpiece. The ending of the record is bit more electronic with a repetitive organbassline.

This can be seen a Canterbury masterpiece, but I will not give it five stars, though 4.3 is appropriate. So.. Four stars! Highly Recommended!

Supersister - Pudding and Gisteren (1972)

This is a real collectersitem from the Dutch progscene. I still find it a bit bizarre to give an international intended record (they reached some fame with the previous two records) a Dutch name meaning 'Pudding and Yesterday', after a stupid '50s joke. For information of the album you had to cut a part of the sleeve to reveal the handwritten/drawled inner sleeve. The comic strip completed this strange output. The P&G suite was intended for a ballet-show.

Supersister sounds a bit lighter on this record. The first songs can be considered poppy happy prog, which doesn't mean is should be avoided! The opener Radio has some very nice pianoplaying and the middle section about the schoolgirl is kind of legendary. The second is more of favourite of mine however, Psychopath is humorous, intelligent and catchy. Getting into the lyrics is very important here. Judy goes on Holiday is a thirteen minute classic Supersister composition. With strange timesignatures, roaring keyboards and great heavy jazz drums. After the storm comes an easy listening part and they close with the tipical Supersister way: repeating the main theme a halve time.

Side two is completely filled with the P&G suite. It has much element. It has light happy pling-ploing keyboard parts, it has dark distorted keyboard parts, a noisy psychedelic part, nice fluite solo's by Sacha and emotional touchy piano parts. The basslines of van Eck are important and the great drums by Vrolijk complete the fast jazzydrum sound.

Though a bit less serious then their previous efforts, this is still a great record. It is one of the few records I can cope with although it has happy songs and parts. The sometimes childish fantasy of the compositions of the expert key player mister RJ Stips is great as always. Four stars! A true collectersitem!

Brilliant record and even an improvent from their debut!

This album provides a brilliant mix between Supersister's agressive side and Supersister's calmer sound. All the compositions are well-thought.

'A girl named you' is a very surprising song with brilliant melodylines nice and drum and basslines. The vocals sound far more British than Dutch, so no one has to be afraid of a Dutch accent. The piece reaches a brilliant climax.

No tree will grow (on to high a mountain) is a slightly more accessible piece, which starts of with a very dark note which will be almost played the entire piece. At the ending the music gets more and more agressive. After this you will hear some people laughing very hard.

Then, the brilliant Energy '(out of the future)' will provide us from very much brilliancy. This piece really shows everything the band has got.

The last piece is a very short but pleasant piece, with beautiful flute-playing.

My personal favourite record from a Dutch band so far.

Brilliant record by these Dutchmen. Although some changes might be a bit sudden. The whole record is very fun and never provided me for an annoying listen. The organ sounds really agressive, which also reminds me of Egg. At other times the organs are less agressive and more melancholic, like on 'Dona Nobis Pacem'. The flute really add much to the music sometimes, like on the 'Present From Nancy' part. I also like the humor on the record, like in the 'Corporation combo boys' track which goes from lift music to a harder piece in which funny vocals are singing about one of their influences at the end and like the silly organ playing at the end of 'Dona Nobis Pacem'. In my opinion, the highlights were present during the two 'Present From Nancy' pieces and during the three 'Metamorphosis' pieces.

Still, I prefer their next record 'To the Highest Bidder'. Still this is an excellent Canterburyish Dutch record.

Since Spiral Staircase is receiving little love among Supersister reviews here at PA, let me chime in here to champion what is easily my favorite album by the band, even though it sounds like no other Supersister album. Actually it doesn't sound like anyone else's album!

A musical fairy tale for disturbed but imaginative children is one description I find most apt for this LP. Chock full of musical mischief, played by musicians with great chops, Spiral Staircase is one of those rare albums that consistently puts a smile on my face after hearing it. Many beautiful, serene moments buttress the wacky stuff, and there are a handful of hot little jams by the band in between that really cook! Keyboard man Robert Jan Stips particularly shines.

The varispeed chipmunk vocals that dot the landscape here and there do tend to rub some folks the wrong way - most of the male and female vocal is normal speed, I might add. But taken in context, this just adds to the fun and daring musical stew these guys have cooked up.

Track-by-track rundowns as well as the story of the album (i.e. it's not really a Supersister album per se, though the personnel varies little from other 'Sister elpees) are told by other reviewers so I won't mine that same territory. And I should point out that Supersister's first three albums (Nancy, Bidder & Pudding) are all exquisite and far more representative of the Supersister sound than Spiral Staircase is. But the Staircase album goes to places that very few have ever dared, especially with such fascinating results.

Not only one of a kind but a complete and utter classic. 5 stars from me!

OK the musicianship is very high, but the humour?, the humour? Ok so frank Zappas early stuff is iconic, the stuff before he thought crude was the be all and end all. Supersister obviously cant get enough of Ruben and the Jets and Burnt weeny sandwich, so far so good. OK now the downside, you cannot do Do Wap with a Dutch accent, period. You cant do clever humour when you insert lines that (a) are copied direct from Frank...yellow custard in her undies...oh please. It wasnt funny on Man from Utopia, it certainly isnt funny when spouted in a Dutch accent. (b) spoken intros with a heavy accent are not cool. sorry if this sounds racist. The music is fine but the stupid live bonus track with the spoken intro ( in Dutch ) is pointless and the ridiculous humour? just daft. I hate this cd it is so straight and a waste of electricity, hey guys forget singing, talking, intros, just play for gods sake.

It is a shame that this double live album is out of print. I got their pretty hard to find first two albums and I moved heaven and hell to get this album. Which was a wise move from my part.

Most of the stuff is taken from their first two albums. Both of them are pretty much regarded as classics. That alone makes this a good live album. But Supersister also adds plenty of whimsy eccentricity and life into the live versions of these songs. The music is very much in the Canterbury scene vein, not millions of miles away from Caravan (add Focus into the mix too). Supersister is certainly more structured melody orientated than the more jazzy bands from this scene (Gong, National Health). It is ironic that one of the best, if not the best Canterbury scene bands are Dutch. I am even not sure if the guys in Supersister has ever visited Canterbury. Who cares ? They are great ! Not all the music on this two hours long album is fantastic. There are some talking and funny German bierkeller pieces of music. The band obviously enjoys and indulge themselves on the scene and that is very evident. But most of the music is jaw-dropping superb. This being a live album, I would also recommend the studio albums. But I agree with another reviewer here: This is indeed a fantastic live album. It is an essential Canterbury scene album. I just hope it could be more available because everyone into the Canterbury scene should own a copy of it.

4.5 stars from me.

Tom Ozric is going to kill me for only giving this 3 stars.Thankfully he lives on the other side of the world.Haha. For me this is better than "Present To Nancy" but not even close to being as good as "To The Highest Bidder".A lot of silliness on this record,and i agree with Finnforest that the serious,side long title track is the best part of the album. "Radio" is a wimsical track that plays out liesurely until 2 1/2 minutes in when we get this monologue with a darker sound. "Supersisterretsisrepus" sounds like they play the keyboards frontwards then backwards for a total of 16 seconds. "Psychopath" features these light Richard Sinclair-like vocals with piano melodies.A fuller sound arrives 1 1/2 minutes in with what sounds like harsichord. "Judy Goes On A Holiday" opens with some fuzz before the flute arrives.Love the chunky bass sound early on this tune.Solo flute 3 minutes in followed by vocals,samples and a light soundscape.A change before 8 1/2 minutes as bass,drums and a fuller sound returns.A "doo wop" section comes in a minute later.Yikes! And so it ends on that unfortunate note.Haha. "Pudding En Gistern" has a good uptempo beginning.Vibes 2 minutes in.It settles somewhat 4 minutes in.Flute before 9 minutes.It calms right down 14 minutes in and becomes almost haunting before picking back up.Some nice fuzz bass comes and goes.A calm with piano 19 minutes in. I like this album quite a bit,i just can't give it 4 stars.