Herman Brood – Saturday Night

A while back CB sent me Herman Brood’s name and a few links but we had talked about other bands and Brood got lost in the shuffle. I started to listen and the guy has some seriously good songs. He was a musician, singer-songwriter, an artist, and an actor. He was in five movies with the last one released in 2000. His voice got me right away…it’s different and unique. This guy was a true artist.

 I hear rock, blues, and some pub rock in there also. Most of his songs are radio-friendly and they rock. Probably the biggest reason he didn’t hit more was his hedonistic lifestyle which grew worse as the years went by.

Herman Brood was born in Zwolie in the Netherlands. After finishing art school he started off as a keyboard player in a band called The Moans in the early sixties.  At the end of the sixties, Brood was part of the blues band Cuby + Blizzards. When he took a break from music… he got into trouble. Brood quickly slipped into crime. Burglary and drug trafficking and, as a consequence, a small stint in jail.

He released his first album in 1977 called Street and followed it up with 1978’s Shpritsz and Cha Cha. In 1979 he released Herman Brood & His Wild Romance. This album was released in America only. It contained tracks from Shpritsz also. The album peaked at #122 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1979. The song Saturday Night peaked at #35 on the Billboard 100.

The classic line-up of The Wild Romance was formed in November of 1977: Dany Lademacher (guitar), Freddie Cavalli (bass) Cees “Ani” Meerman (drums) supplemented with The Bombitas (background vocals). This album’s songs were recorded quickly and mostly cut live in the studio. That is why this album sounds so alive when you hear it. The album featured 15 short-driven songs.

He continued making music through the 80s releasing 8 albums in that decade and 4 in the 90s. He also started to paint and do pop art with screen prints.

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During the end of his life, he tried to refrain from taking drugs but just couldn’t quit. He died in 2000. Like with the Beat Farmers, it was hard to pick one song out but I will be doing more so I will get to him again soon.

Saturday Night

he neon light, of the Open all night
Was just in time replaced by the magic appearance of a new day-while
A melancholic Reno was crawling on his back just in
Front of the supermarket door-way child

Hey girl, on a cold summer night
As we stood on the corner
As a man passed by and asked us
What we were doing what we need
As he pointed his big fat finger
To the people hangin’ round at the corner of the – other side of street
Oh well

Doin’ nothing, just hanging around
What do you mean doin’ nothing Sir
So we had to hit him to the ground
Doin’ nothing just hanging around
His head all busted lookin’ just a little to wise child

I just can’t wait
I just can’t wait for Saturday night
For Saturday night
For Saturday night
Saturday night

Saturday night
Saturday night
Saturday night

I just can’t wait
I just can’t wait

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

28 thoughts on “Herman Brood – Saturday Night”

    1. You know…it seems like I heard this song. Since it got to #35 back in 79…I may have heard it back then. I liked it when I heard it and it sounded familiar.

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  2. Man, even though The Netherlands borders Germany to the west, I had never heard of Herman Brood before. “Saturday Night” has a soulful rock vibe. I love the backing vocals. The sound is pretty cool as well.

    Come to think of it, I never explored the Dutch music scene in greater detail. As you reminded me, there’s of course Golden Earring, and they had some great songs. I’m also aware of Shocking Blue, another cool group, and a folk rock band called Bots. I bet very few if any of your readers have heard about the latter. Their songs I’ve heard are all in Dutch language!

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      1. CB, you amaze me time and again with your insights, which evidently even include Dutch music artists! Focus is another Dutch act I wasn’t aware of. Perhaps some day I challenge myself to research and do a post featuring Dutch music artists only!

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      3. Well, between Golden Earring, Shocking Blue, Focus and Herman Brood, I already got four Dutch artists. And, as you said, there’s lots of (other) good material – sort of like a river with plenty of tasty fish to catch! 🙂

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  3. I had not heard of him before I ran across his name when researching my songs with Rock and Roll in the title post. I did not use the song and really did not give it a good listen. He has many of the elements of the music I like, thanks for this, I will have to explore a bit more.

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    1. He has some cool music. When I heard this one it sounded familiar…maybe I heard it on youtube or maybe back then since it made it to #35 here…yea I like what I’ve heard off of his albums…

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  4. I love this cut. Lademacher’s guitar work grabs me. What a cool piece of music that never got a lot of air time over here. Like we talked about, I dont think Brood helped his self promotion unless it was for everything people thought was nasty about rock n roll.

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    1. Like I’ve said on other comments. The song seems familiar from way back. There was some self sabotaging based on his past. I’ve listened to his albums and the guy was not only great but radio friendly…this one is a great example.
      Yea that guitar is perfect for the groove….absolutely perfect.
      Instresting man though altogether…a lot of talent there. I like his art work as well.

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      2. It was hard as hell picking just one….I’ll check that one out. I liked Rock and Roll Junkie also…so I’m going to hit him in the future. I appreciate it as always CB

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      3. No kidding. You have an eclectic taste which helps when I pass music buy you. Open right from the start. Thing about Brood and the like is they get lost in the mainstream and survive on word of mouth. It’s a hard gig. This music just appeals to my ear. Simple as that. Looking forward to more Herman.

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  6. I’d never heard of this guy, nor do I remember ‘Saturday Night’ even though it apparently hit the charts . A pretty good song though, I really liked the music, thought his voice was a bit mismatched perhaps but it wouldn’t stop me from listening to it. I think I like his visual arts even more though based on the picture you included.

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    1. It’s a pretty cool thing to be a musician, actor, and painter… his albums are really good. I was telling other people Dave…it seemed familiar when I heard it…I may have heard it back then.

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      2. of a hotel…you know why I didn’t say it? The other day I listed how someone died and that is all they commented about…nothing about the music…I probably should have though but I’ll get it in on the next Brood post…

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