Onwards a couple of years now, with a somewhat dated-sounding album. Whilst recorded in the mid-90s, it sounds more “80s” than Kinderen voor Kinderen’s actual 80s output. There’s a fundamental lack of warmth to the production, and a reliance on a harsh drum gate. This has the effect of everything sounding “tinny”. I dunno, it’s either something you’re into or something you’re not. And I’m not. Do we have Phil Collins to blame for this? He was the guy who apparently pioneered the drum gate, which drains the longevity and organic vibe from an acoustic percussion section.
Again, you either like it or you don’t.
What always wins me over about 15, however, is its consistently-adorable vocals, heartfelt songwriting, and virtuoso guitar playing. Its reliance on wind instruments, from trumpets to saxophones, I’m not such a fan of. I just think wind instruments should stay out of rock music, and this album does rock quite hard when at its best. The Verve had sexy sax moments on their debut album “A Storm in Heaven” and, well, who on Earth ever listens to that thing?!
This is where I will explain how I experience KvK casually, as it will come up a few times. I basically created a bunch of playlists featuring one album from each decade, removing and shuffling around songs to improve my own personal listening experience. Sometimes I go through KvK’s albums one-at-a-time, just to remind myself of how they should play-out, but I generally just stick to these playlists, which also give me a narcissistic sense of authorship. For obvious reasons, this is one of the rare times I will be listening to these three albums, including 15, in full.
Anyway, that’s enough admin…
Opening like it knows it’s going to be one of the greatest-fucking-albums ever, “Overture” and “Wind Tegen Wind Mee” (urgh, I wish these titles were shorter!) serve to place the listener on the biggest stage at a music festival, with a sea of arms waving before them as they play air guitar and sing their lungs out. Certainly one of KvK’s most impressive beginnings. Then we’re yanked back, slightly, with “De Wijde Wereld”, which has an abrupt start, but a pleasantly plinky-plonk keyboard part. A solid mid-album track perhaps misplaced here. It does have a great chorus though, so I have to add points to it for that. A real charmer!
“Ik Hou Van Hard” really should have come after the opening two tracks, but hey-ho. Its original title translates to: “I Like It Hard”, which I hope is a Dutch expression lost in translation, as it potentially means something very different in English. Awkward. Still, this is one of the centrepieces (can you have multiple centrepieces?!) on 15, with its well thought out backing vocals being signature KvK stuff, and rival the lead vocals for dominance with aplomb.
“Straf” is the first song I left off my aforementioned album-centric playlist, probably due to its embarrassing chorus. It also includes an interfering adult male vocalist, which KvK has now done away with altogether. “Straf” is pretty dull and cringeworthy, with the trumpets whinging at the listener in a rather abrasive fashion. I do like this album. Honest. It’s just not beginning-to-end perfect. At least we then get the gorgeous “Hier Ben Ik Dan”, a country song for people who don’t like country music. Especially 90s country music, which was not a good decade for country music. I would praise this track as being the emotional core of 15, with me emitting a grateful sigh whenever it begins. Not in that way, you devils! At its heart, it’s a simple ditty about a sensitive young lad who just loves being a “cowboy”. Bless. I even tried to learn the lyrics so I could properly sing along, but my memory is so terrible that I can barely remember my own name half the time. I do believe I have an undiagnosed learning disability, but that’s a story for another day. If you can’t be arsed to listen to any of these songs, please just listen to “Hier Ben Ik Dan, or “Here I Am”. It’s honestly worth taking the time over, even if you’re in the middle of putting out a house fire.
Yikes, where did that come from?!
“Zusje Van Mijn Zus”, along with “Filmverdriet”, offer truly apocalyptic melodies that will send a shiver down your spine. The chorus on “Zusje Van Mijn Zus”, in particular, allows the diminutive vocalist to shine wonderfully. So emotional! The nylon guitar part manages to punch its way through the otherwise-bombastic production. A call to arms, for sure, but I am not inclined to look up the lyrics. I suppose I should, but who honestly has the time?!
Don’t. Say. Anything.
“Mijlenver” keeps things rolling along nicely. Its jogging rhythm sounds like the part that came first, then the rest of the musicians leaped aboard as the song rolled unstoppably forward. I do love the clean, chiming Stratocaster part in this one, with the whole thing just fading out as it loses energy. Nice. Next we get “Dozen”, with the most amiable vocalist yet. It sort of sounds like they’re yawning for 2 minutes 44 seconds, but that’s just how they sound. I don’t have much else to say about it, but that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with it. A solid entry!
Oh crap, here comes “Paniek”, which is simply embarrassingly dated from start-to-finish. I would call it the true dud on 15, so feel free to skip over it with extreme prejudice. Unless you fancy a good laugh, that is.
I’ve already spoken about “Filmverdriet”, which is melodramatic joy, so I’ll quickly move along to “Warrom Hebben Kippen Geen Gebitjes”. This is another rival for being 15’s centrepiece, or I guess it could just be a co-centrepiece. I’m not a competitive person, so I’m happy for songs to share that pride of place. The song starts off very subtly, with little ambition whatsoever, then… BOOM!… it rises to a riveting crescendo, which the backing vocalists completely take over. Also another contender for being one of the album’s openers, so it’s a shame it’s all the way back here.
I don’t know why I usually skip over “Voor De Spiegel”, perhaps due to the heavy saxophone intrusion, but it’s a fine song. I’ll certainly be adding it back to my personal playlist. I guess I was just more conservative when I started my KvK fandom, with an instance of only one third of a particular album passing my critical ear. I was just a different person three years ago!
And then we get the great, great, great “Gangsterdam”, which simply has to be heard to be believed. I’ll let you find out why. The inclusion of the word “sexy” in the looped lyrics certainly wouldn’t be acceptable in the UK, so bless mainland-Europeans for being so, erm, brave. Rap music is usually like fingernails down a blackboard to me, except for when kids do it. It’s just so cute to hear them trying to sound tough and worldly.
Awww, they think they’re people!
Well, that’s two albums down, folks. I’ll take a break for a few days before delving into my writeup of 20. I’m in a weird headspace this week, so struggling somewhat with my depression and alcoholism, but hopefully the final article shouldn’t take too long to appear.
We shall see…
Do stay in touch, darlings.
Doei!
⬅︎ INTRODUCTION⎜20 (1999) ➡︎
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