THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,220) Les Baroques — “Such a Cad
If you are from the Netherlands, read no further — this song reached #8 on the Dutch charts in ‘66! It is “a brilliant pop song … extra special thanks to the prominent role played by … a bassoon and a harpsichord” (Ben van Althuis, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBTduigvFKM), and “bizarre . . . a strange punky original with bassoon fills and a great . . . vocal performance”. (Jason, https://therisingstorm.net/les-baroques-les-baroques/) Oh, and it is also a “[p]erfect fusion of baroque pop and garage… like if you crossed Left Banke with The Seeds [see #116, 446]” (1234gab4, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gyGCw8Hj1Y) That vision just blew my mind! The band should have called itself the Seeds Banke!
Of Les Baroques, Peter Marston writes:
The story of Les Baroques goes all the way back to 1959, shortly after American rock ’n’ roll hit the continent. Five or six similarly inspired Dutch boys . . . started up a beat group called The Modern Teenage Quartet. A name change to The Hurricane Combo, and a few more years working the local dance circuit, brought the band up to the British Invasion, when another name change—to Les Baroques—and forays into original material led to a contract with Europhon for two singles.
Richie Unterberger tells us:
[The band was a] standout in the annals of Continental 1960s rock, with its twisted, somber variations of the organ-R&B-pop sound of Them and the Animals. . . .
One of the strangest and best Dutch bands of the mid-’60s, Les Baroques always seemed out of sync with the real world. They had a French name, a lead singer with an obviously anglicized pseudonym (Gary O’Shannon, real name Gerard Schoenaker), and played R&B-tinged pop/rock with odd streaks of European folk tunes and corny orchestral arrangements. Their reputation hinges chiefly upon their first four singles and self-titled 1966 LP, all recorded . . . before the singer left the group at the end of 1966. At his best, O’Shannon could sound like a less polished, neurotic version of Van Morrison, delivering songs that, like much Dutch beat of the mid-’60s, were sullen and minor-keyed. . . . At other times, they espoused an earthier, R&B-based sound more in line with some British groups of the time . . . . But … O’Shannon had to leave the band for military service. Les Baroques did continue for five more singles and a second LP with Michael Van Dijk as lead singer, but it wasn’t the same . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/album/such-a-cad-the-complete-story-of-les-baroques-mw0000962642, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/les-baroques-mn0000253480#biography
Jason adds that O’Shannon’s “tortured vocals and unique personality that set the group apart from the competition. . . . remind[ing] me of an early Van Morrison on speed whose vocals are carelessly sloppy but somehow compelling and original”. (https://therisingstorm.net/les-baroques-les-baroques/)
Interestingly, "unlike all other Dutch bands of that time - they sang in good English, which was partly due to . . . (O'Shannon's) English mother . . . She was also the band's manager."(https://muizenest.nl/2017/11/04/les-baroques/, courtesy of Google Translate)
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