Author: Sander

678 Records presents official reissue of Jan Huydts and Wim Essed’s masterpiece ‘tranquility’ on vinyl and cd format

1977: In the middle of the era of punk groups, up-tempo music, high-energy rock and a mini rock-‘n-roll revival, a record with the cheeky title Tranquility by the group Dutch Treat has come onto the market. A record – as the title suggests – that exudes tranquility. The record is a serious product by five of Holland’s best-known and most-talented studio musicians: Jan Huydts, Wim Essed, Hans Hollestelle, Louis de Lussanet and Steve Boston.
Jan Huydts: ‘We want to make music that brings people peace and tranquility. We are a recording group. We like each other. We are just close friends. The idea was to make non-aggressive music with aggressive instruments like synthesizers and electric guitars. You may even call it background music, maybe with a double meaning.’

Wim Essed in 2024: ‘After decades it is still amazing that in all their diversity the pieces on this album fit together so well, taking the listener on an instrumental road trip through rainy as well as sunny landscapes.’

‘When we had finished the original recording, the first and only issue was marketed by Polydor records, in quite a modest edition, instigating an equally modest success. Nowadays many more can get access through the web and Tranquility has since found a certain following and cult status, as the original record got harder to come by and more expensive on the second-hand market. So people started to ask for a reissue, which we can at last and proudly offer, bonus material included!’

‘tranquility’ by dutch treat was recorded, mixed and mastered between October 1976 and January 1977 at Procom Studio in Kirchhellen, West Germany

Remastered in August and September 2023 by Fritz Fey (original assistent engineer) at Double-D Mastering, Oberhausen, Germany
For the remastering a direct transfer from the original master tape in 192 kHz and 24 bit was used. The master was cut in a lacquer and the actual reissue is a 180 gram hi quality pressing

01 – Sans Parapluie
02 – La Escala
03 – Transitoriness
04 – First Bird To Awake – First Bird To Sing
05 – En Vitesse
06 – Stereoscope
07 – San Sebastian
08 – Unexpected Tidings
09 – Dew Is Falling
10 – Sister Slim (bonus track, outtake from 1977)

WIM ESSED
“Van Zalinge” Double Bass; Bass guitar improved by Henk van Zalinge & Fender Precision Bass

JAN HUYDTS
Grand piano; Fender Rhodes Electric Piano; Hohner String Melody; Korg Polyphonic Synthesizer; Arp Odyssey Synthesizer; Mellotron

HANS HOLLESTELLE
Electric and Acoustic Guitars

LOUIS DE LUSSANET
Drums

STEVE BOSTON
Congas and Percussion

Recording Engineers
Bernd Steinwedel & Fritz Fey

Mixed by
Jan Huydts; Wim Essed & Bernd Steinwedel

Produced by
Jan Huydts & Wim Essed

Reissue produced by
Wim Essed; Jan Huydts & Frank Jochemsen

678 Records proudly presents: Pieter Verlinden – The PV Tapes

Pieter Verlinden may well be Belgium’s best kept musical secret.

Pieter Verlinden (1934-2002) was an exceptional composer responsible for hundreds of scores and soundtracks for television, ballet, theatre, movies and documentaries mainly for Belgian and Dutch productions. Real treasures of film music.

Only a handful of these productions were released on vinyl and some of them are sought after, for example, his 1974 soundtrack for De 5 van de 4-daagse (The Five Are Marching In).

Born in 1934 in Mechelen, Pieter Verlinden trained as a classical musician and played violin in the Belgian National Orchestra at a very young age. From the Sixties, he was responsible for the sonorisation of countless television programmes for the Flemish national television service BRT. From 1970, he started to work as a composer for television series, dramas and films. In Belgium, he collaborated with directors like Juul Claes, Jan Matterne, Harry Kümel, Benoit Lamy and Paul Cammermans. In The Netherlands, he composed music for films and series directed by René van Nie, Paul Collet and John van de Rest.

After being contracted to make a film score, Pieter Verlinden watched the rushes of the film on videotape and decided exactly which particular scenes and moments would need his music. He used a stopwatch to accurately time all the scenes he wanted to score. At home, he wrote down all the music as scores and made his own arrangements. This process took place in complete silence: all his music was written without using any instrument. This is quite remarkable, for instance, when you listen to the score of Jambon d’Ardenne. The Verlinden music was sublimely recorded, mostly in the famous Decca Fonior studios in Brussels, where they hired the best Belgium session musicians. Verlinden worked for BRT, so he often used the Francis Bay Big Band. From the Eighties on, he also recorded his own music at his home studio using early synthesizers.

Pieter Verlinden’s work is inspired by contemporary film composers from the seventies, especially Ennio Morricone. But he managed to create his own sound: a very rare, surrealistic universe of dark melodies, melancholic tension, pounding drums, tight rocking basslines, cello chops and wah-wah guitars. Heavy drums, breaks and open samples are the ingredients of the Verlinden sound.

The majority of Verlinden’s music has never been heard and is unknown. Most of his work was only preserved on the original master tapes in his personal archive, systematically stored in the basement of the house where he composed all this music.

Frank Jochemsen & Sander Huibers from 678 Records are proud to be the first for many years to be allowed to listen to the hundreds of tapes. They have selected the best music for releases, starting in 2022. With the album series The PV Tapes, 678 Records pays tribute to the maestro of Belgian film music. If these soundtracks had been released at the time, we are convinced that they would now be serious collectors’ items!