Review: Roland Van Campenhout – Roland & The Deep Blue Sea
Roland Van Campenhout – Roland & The Deep Blue Sea
Format: CD / Label: Meyer Records
Release: 2024
Text: Tom Wouters
Roland van Campenhout (1944) is the Belgian Godfather of the Blues. He discovered the blues when he saw John Lee Hooker perform in Antwerp in the 60s. In the 70s he became friends with Rory Gallagher and played the blues all over the world with the likes of Tim Hardin, Leo Kottke and Ian Anderson.
But after listening to the live album ‘Roland & The Blue Sea,’ recorded in the Belgian coastal town of Ostend, we can’t help but change Van Campenhout’s nickname to The Godfather of Psychedelica.
Five of the six tracks on the album are extended songs (9+ minutes) with a similar structure. After a mysterious/experimental intro follows an elaboration that in most cases is reminiscent of the psychedelic rock sound of Westcoast bands like Love, The Doors or Captain Beefheart or of British bands like the early Pink Floyd (with Syd Barrett), Soft Machine or Kevin Ayers. Only the closing track, Under The Sea (only 4.30 minutes long), is an exception.
Out On The Rolling Sea, the opening track, still has the most blues influences. After a mysterious slide guitar intro, the song thunders on like a kind of boogie. Turn Around & Take Me Home has an experimental folk intro and then develops into a psychedelic orgy of sound, reminiscent of the early, experimental Pink Floyd.
Fish In The Deep Blue Sea, on the other hand, is Westcoast psychedelica à la The Doors. Midnight Star, the longest track on the album (10:45), is what people used to call a freak-out à la Kevin Ayers or Soft Machine. While Wake Up All The Dead, with a psychedelic Captain Beefheart intro, is mainly carried by the guitar solo of guitarist Bruno Fevery, who sounds like Neal Casal in his days with the Cris Robinson Brotherhood. In fact, Fevery copies large parts of Casal’s phenomenal guitar solo from Star Or Stone from CRB’s first album ‘Big Moon Ritual.’
Roland & The Deep Blue Sea is an intriguing album, which takes you back to the psychedelic era of the late 60s.
Website: https://www.facebook.com/VanCampenhoutRoland/?locale=nl_NL
