Guitar-mania

I like guitars. I really do. In fact, I have a rather pleasing collection of guitars, which I won't bother you with, but which consists of a Washburn Falcon guitar (the same model as played by Barry Gray of the Legendary Pink Dots, but that just might be a coincidence), a Gretsch semi-acoustic guitar, a Washburn silver-stringed Jumbo acoustic and a Fender Butterscotch Precision bass. Recently I bought a new guitar to add to the collection. It's a nylon-stringed acoustic guitar, handmade in the late 60s/very early 70s in Germany by guitar-builder Armin Gropp (I kid you not). The Gropp Brothers are still in business and can be located at http://www.gropp-gitarren.de/ The one I bought has a lovely deep resonating sound and plays like a dream (the guitar, not one of the brothers). I bought the guitar off Enrico Beretta who, unlike his name suggests, is a Dutch singer-songwriter and a very friendly guy. Check him out at http://www.enricoberretta.nl/. I haven't got a picture of the new guitar yet, so I figured you might like the image now added, which is a very nice picture of Wang Yameng and Su Meng (perhaps slightly better known at Duo Meme & Yaya), who, like me, play Gropp guitars. I wish I could refer to a webpage for them, but unfortunately I cannot find it. Oh well, they certainly look great. Almost as great as that other duo The Peanuts. Now, they really rocked. You can see them at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peanuts The new guitar has already been used on a recording. I have recorded a track for Frank Antonie's upcoming poetry project on which you can hear me playing the guitar. To be entirely honest, you can hear me stroking the body of the new guitar on this particular track, which gives a really weird wooshing sound. As said, a great guitar!

Vive la Dutch!

Surprieze – Zeer Oude Klanken en Heel Nieuwe Geluiden
Private release LP 1973

This curiously-titled record (Very Old Tones and Very New Sounds) is high on many want lists of psych collectors. For many years few collectors had actually heard the music, since only very few copies survived the mist of times and, as you will read, the hands of its creator. In the early 70's guitarist/harmonica player Eddie van der Meer left his blues-based band Slack Gang to create the music, which he so clearly heard in his head. Recorded live over a two year period in various bedrooms and youth clubs without any overdubs, the album was privately released in 1973. As soon as the needle is put into the grooves you know you're in for something truly special. Van der Meer plays an utterly unique combination of rambling spontaneous Delta-blues with avant-garde influences using a 3-string guitar. One moment this guitar wails à la Hendrix (albeit one with a Dutch accent) the next moment it almost whispers in a classical, violin and guitar duet. Van der Meer's often improvised vocals are high pitched and meandering and at times it's hard to make out the words. There's experimentation with echo, delays and raga-type droning. In short, and in lack of a better term, this could be qualified as "outsider music" and, as such, is highly valued today. In 1973 however, Van der Meer's proud album fell on stony ground. Even though later reviews were not that bad, the first review to appear (in Aloha, the leading Dutch music magazines no less) was absolutely devastating. Referring to the album as "round and black with a hole in the middle, which is the only positive thing about it" and "an insult to the listener", the review made Van der Meer lose all enthusiasm and confidence about his record. As a result he cycled to the Scheveningen beach (a distance of no less than 70 miles!) with his saddle bags stuffed with copies of the album and threw them into the North sea! Copies of the album have survived in private collections and after many years, when interest in private pressings grew, the album resurfaced. Some 10 years ago Dutch reissue label Grey Past re-released the album, which, this time, gained raving reviews from all over the world. These days Van der Meer is still around and even though he is a very withdrawn and private person, he must feel some vindication about the prices (and praise) his album now fetches. Created by a free spirited mind, this album is an emotional rollercoaster, strange but, more importantly, utterly beautiful. Originals are almost impossible to find (even in The Netherlands), so you can imagine my joy when I found one at the recent record fair in Utrecht. In very small wording, in the corner of the back sleeve, it is signed by Eddie van der Meer himself to his "kind neighbors". A touching gesture on a beautiful record.

Vive les Americains!

Peter Peter Ivers Band – Terminal Love
Warner Brothers BS 2804, LP 1974

You could be excused for thinking I have a tendency towards albums by pretty maidens. And I do. However, to readdress the balance, here's a quirky record that I quite like by a man. When this album was recommended by a friend in Japan, I was a bit skeptical. Terminal Love, filled with songs titled My Grandmother's Funeral, Oo Girl, Holding the Cobra and Felladaddio might sound unusually corny to say the least, but then again Peter Ivers was never quite usual. Born in 1946 Ivers studied classical languages, but ended up in music business. In 1969 he released the remarkable album Knights of the Blue Communion (also featuring Yolande Bavan) on Epic records. The music on this album was used for the theatre play Jesus, A Passion Play For Americans, which was, in turn, the inspiration for Jesus Christ Superstar. Despite the massive success of JCS, the Knights LP album faded into obscurity. Ivers recorded a second album for Epic (Take It Out On Me), which was shelved. Being close friends to Douglas Kenney (founder of National Lampoon) and John Belushi, Ivers was introduced to David Lynch for whom he wrote In Heaven (The Lady In The Radiator), the theme song from the infamous, but utterly amazing Eraserhead movie. In 1981 Ivers became active in radio, where his manic presentation of the Night Flight programme became the stuff of legends. However, his career came to a tragic end in 1983 when Ivers was found bludgeoned to death in his LA apartment. His death still remains a mystery, which inspired the book In Heaven Everything Is Fine. His musical legacy is well worth a re-visitation and with the recent release of all his records on CD this is easily possible. Terminal Love is certainly one of the weirdest "normal" records ever. Upon first listen you may wonder about the weird, nasal singing or the strange quirky instrumentation that seems decisively normal. Repeated listening sessions however, will reveal a strangeness about this album, that is hard to define, but puts a smile on your face. Copies are not that hard to locate and very soon you will find yourself humming his tunes and wondering what the hell Warner Brothers were thinking when they released Terminal Love.

Annika! (the sequel)

Annika did not disappoint.

Annika!

A few days ago I bought a double DVD of the original 70's Pippi Longstocking series (Pippi's full name, fact fans, is Pippilotta Viktualia Rullgardina Krusmynta Efraimsdotter Långstrump). Last night we watched the first episode, in which Pippi discovers a new word "Spunk" and spends the entire episode trying to find out what a "spunk" is. When Pippi, Tommie and Annika determine that it is not a dangerous animal or some sort of candy, Pippi develops a serious case of "spunk" and has to be taken to a doctor. The doctor examines Pippi, but luckily finds no evidence for "spunk". Pippi offers to pay for the consultation, but the kind doctor (70's haircut and glasses) assures her "spunk-consultations" are free. After 25 minutes of wonderful television they discover a beetle that turns out to be a "spunk". The End. I wonder if this was ever broadcast in the UK where "spunk" has an altogether different and less innocent meaning! As an aside: when I was Pippi's age and the TV series was shown on Dutch television I had a serious crush on Annika. Curious about what happened to her I spent some time on the internet (source of all knowledge these days). Annika was played by Maria Persson. After the Pippi TV-series she studied at the School of Theatre, but found it hard to find work as people related to her as the Annika character. She married a Spaniard and opened a bar in Mallorca (this part is a bit of a let down I have to say). She got divorced and now works with the elderly. A fascinating and slightly tragic interview with her and Tommie, albeit in German, can be located at http://efraimstochter.de/tommi_und_annika/euch_kennen_wir_doch.shtml
The picture shows Maria at 51, and I have to admit, she still looks good. Incidentally, the DVD, for which I paid 1,25 Euros, also includes the classic movie Pippi at Taka Tuka Land, in which she saves her father from evil pirates - I can't wait to see Annika in action against pirates!

Wander box set ready for shipping!

Beam Ends records is proud to announce the release of the latest release by Wander (Frans de Waard and Freek Kinkelaar of Beequeen). Like all previous albums, and, indeed, all tracks by Wander this is entitled WANDER.

We have done our best to make this new Wander album a special one. WANDER consists of the following: a clear vinyl (so NOT a lathe cut) hand-pressed album, which plays from the label to the rim (instead of the other way around), presented in back paper insert with Wander "band" shirt in a hand-made blue boxset (made by the same company that produced the boxes for Raymond Dijkstra's De Gelofte and De Gedachte albums and the recent Flawed Existence box by Nurse With Wound). Of this set only 10 (ten) copies were produced, signed and numbered by the makers. The album features two tracks of beautiful drone ambience.

The price of this set is 100 Euros, excluding shipping to your location. Even though we realize this is a lot of money, we do feel this is worth the package. With 2 copies in our archives and 4 already sold, this leaves 4 copies for sale. This is surely the most luxurious and most limited release ever by Beam Ends.

You can order your copy via info@beequeen.nl

Vive la Japan!

Ike Reiko – Kokotsu No Sekai
Teichiku records SL 1375, 1970 (with poster)

At times I like to indulge in all things saucy, and it's hard to get more saucy than with this wonderfully bizarre album by Japanese actress Ike Reiko. In the late 60's/early 70's Japanese cinema knew a blooming "pink violence" scene. Many actresses indulged themselves in these soft-sex action films, where women were typecast as fighting machines who could (and would) kill a 1000 men with a blink of their sword (whilst being in the nude of course). Reiko was one of the most beloved actresses in this genre and features in quite a few movies. She was popular, not only because of her acting talents, but also for her rather prominent bust, which would be on display in her movies whenever possible. Born in 1953, she made her debut in the world of fleshy films at the tender age of 16, which caused quite a stir in her traditionalist home country. In the early 70's many of the "pink" actresses also recorded music. Most of their albums and singles are beautifully packed and feature salivating covers. There is even a name for this interesting sub-genre; iroke koyokyoku. Top of a long list of these almost surrealistic albums created in this genre is Reiko's Kokotsu No Sekai. Sexier than any Gainsbough album, Reiko moans, whispers, shouts and coos over an orchestral backing, resulting in one of the most pleasingly bizarre records in mankind. The 500 copies that were pressed up now belong to the most valuable albums to have ever come out of Japan. Featuring a striking gatefold cover and a gorgeous fold out poster of Reiko, the price may sound a little steep, but copies are as rare as Reiko being fully clothed throughout a movie. In the 90's Japanese specialist label Tiliqua records released a beautiful replica of the album. The demand for this re-release has been so high that even copies of the CD release (3500 copies in total) are now fetching prices in excess of 100 Pound. Yummie!

Vive la France!

I have got a fetish for vinyl. This may come as a surprise to some (though, without doubt, not to many), but I admit - I'm guilty of this deviant pleasure. Not only have I got a large collection of vinyl at home, which I listen to every day, I also love vinyl as an object. I know, it's questionable, but mostly harmless. Over the past couple of years I have been writing about records as objects for UK music magazine Record Collector. In order to widen my audience (a bit), I've decided to add one or two of these short pieces on this blog in the sincere hope you will enjoy them and maybe you might even be enticed enough to run out and spend some of your well earned cash on......

The Girl In The Bikini
Poplar PLP 33-1002, LP 1952

Even though the bikini has been known since the ancient Greeks, Louis Reard and Jaques Heim claimed the invention of the famous two-piece of swimwear in Paris in 1946. The name bikini was chosen because they rightfully thought the effect of their scant piece of textile on both men as women would be as big as an atomic explosion (nuclear tests were executed on the Bikini atoll at the time). There was a lot of adversity towards the bikini in those conservative post-WWII days, even resulting in the banning of the bikini from the 1951 Miss World elections. However, one year later Brigitte Bardot (Europe's foremost sex kitten) played her first major role in Willy Rozier's black/white beach flick Manini, La Fille Sans Voile (Manini, The Woman Without A Veil). The movie hardly contained any storyline, but it did feature the 18-year-old Bardot running around in a bikini most of the time. The effect was indeed like an atomic explosion! The movie (and Bardot) made the bikini popular almost overnight and Bardot even gained the nickname The Bikini Girl. Appropriately retitled The Girl In The Bikini the movie was released in the USA. In the UK the movie was known as The Lighthouse-Keeper's Daughter. Strangely enough, the soundtrack album, containing a fine score by Jean Yatove, was only released in the USA. But more important than the music, the album featured a gorgeous-looking bikini-clad Bardot on the front cover, with even more stills from the movie on the back cover. The record is one of the rarest soundtracks ever and is in great demand, not only by Bardot- or soundtrack-affectionados, but also by those who appreciate that tiny piece of swimwear so rightfully named "bikini". Copies of the original pressing can easily fetch 300+ USD. For those with tighter pockets, but likewise interests, the album has recently been released (in its original cover but with marginal sound quality) on CD by El records. The music you ask? Gorgeous and lush orchestral music with washes of sea and strange sub-sea sounds added for effect, some vocal tracks and (the only drawback) one of those typical French can-can songs. Skip that one, and you'll have a wonderful evening with Brigitte.

And another thing...

I had two of the most curious dreams last night; during the first dream I dreamt I was singing Lou Reed's Lady Day (from the outrageously brilliant album Berlin) out loud in my sleep! I still have to check with Miranda to find out if I actually did. The other dream was even better; in this dream I was abducted by friends in a car and driven to a surprise party. This party was held in what appeared to be an abandoned subway vegetable market. Here three stages were set; one with four cello's, one with a grand piano and one with a stereo set. The idea was that I could use each stage and perform with friends during the evening. Everyone was invited beforehand to bring cassettes to play. Frans was present as well. He brought a copy of the Sex and Bestiality tape to liven up the proceedings. Hahaha! What a great dream! As a result of all this turmoil I just had to play April Stevens' Tame Me Tiger CD this morning. Her soothing voice calmed me back into normality.

And another thing: the first random image of Wander does not work (see previous blog). Damn! So I have taken the second random image. If you think this one is bad, you should google the first one.

Oh dear!

Oh dear indeed!

I'm flogging myself with a wet noodle. I admit, I'm guilty. Guilty of not blogging enough and thus depriving you of essential information such as the new Wander LP box set and other possibly interesting tidbits of information.

So, in a pathetic attempt to make up for me neglecting my fans I'm flogging the night away. Meanwhile, with my free hand, I'm typing up this information. Here goes….

1. Wander – Wander LP box set in an edition of 10 numbered and signed copies
Highly luxurious release on Beam Ends records. This handmade box (made by the same company that manufactured the Raymond Dijkstra velvet boxes for his albums De Gelofte and De Gedachte) contains a hand pressed clear vinyl album, that plays the music from the inside out. Two long tracks of beautiful ambience. The box also contains a Wander band T-shirt to proudly wear on your nights out. Needless to say, we are very proud of this release. A grand total of 10 copies were made, 2 of which are for our personal archives. This leaves 8 copies on the open market. If you're interested in reserving your copy, please send an e-mail to info@beequeen.nl. We're expecting to be able to ship in 2 weeks.

2. Wander – Wander CD in card sleeve
The fruits of our very interesting session are finally available on Divine Frequency. Copies are 10 Euros each, which is a snip considering the great music and sleeve. Send your mails to the usual address, marked "I know good music when I see it".

3. Beequeen – Ownliness CD re-release
Finally available are the new copies of Ownliness. Those in the know will probably already be proud owner of a copy. Those who don't own a copy, can purchase one directly from us at 10 Euros. The enigmatic cover is still in place of course. Send your mails to the usual address , marked "I know a good cover when I hear one".

4. Raymond Dijkstra – De Nacht LP release
Beam Ends records will release a vinyl album by Raymond Dijkstra in the not-too-distant future. The vinyl LP will be hand painted and comes in a hand painted heavy carton gatefold cover. The edition is limited to only 10 numbered copies. Even though most copies have been reserved, there might still be a copy waiting for you. The price of a copy of this unique release is 100 Euros. You know where to send your mails……

That might be it for now. Frans, Olga and I are working very hard on the new Beequeen album. It looks like the recording part will be finished pretty soon now. The mixing part will then commence. Exiting times! Since this is a bit of a Wander-mail and we don't have any Wander images, I took the liberty to Google "Wander" and reproduce the first image that I found.

Oh, and a final bit of news: Frans de Waard has a lovely new blog out here in cyberspace about 25 years of Korm Plastics. Since I hold KP and all the work that Frans spends on this in high esteem, I would urge you all to have a peek at this blog, where, no doubt, I will make the occasional interlectual insert as well. The blog can be found here: http://kapottemuziek.blogspot.com/

To the upperdestdate of the update

You would be excused for thinking not much has happened last couple of weeks. But just because it's not on a blog, doesn't mean it didn't happen (the same goes for that other strange phenomenon: Twitter). So here's an update on what actually did happen:

1. The Nurse With Wound CDs arrived. Hooray! Turns out the release actually features three CD's in a nice plastic package. I've got one for the archive and one for sale. So the first one to send me a nice e-mail at info@beequeen.nl and confirm they want it for the measely 20 Euros I'm asking, has got him/herself a deal. Pretty fair I'd say.

2. We're still waiting for the shipment of Ownliness CD's that should have arrived by now to be honest.

3. Divine Frequency will soon be mailing us our copies of the new Wander CD entitled... you guessed it, Wander. This one is actually quite good; I'm really proud of the recordings. A good and inspired session. The cover has also turned out great.

4. Between recordings bits and pieces for the upcoming Beequeen CD (entitled Port Out Starboard Home), we worked on a Wander track. It turned out we both liked the track so much than, rather to give it away for a compilation CDR, we want to put it out ourselves. So what we did was record a second track for the B-side (equally good) and decided to make an LP out of it. The LP will be limited to 10 copies on clear vinyl in a nice packaging. Expect a release in a few weeks. No prizes for guessing the title though.

That's it for now.
And remember, you've heard it here first!

Ownliness brought back to life

In 2002 Frans and I recorded Ownliness. It was the first album where we broadened our musical horizon. The idea was to create music that was less based upon drones or ambient pieces, but allowed us to use our "pop-sensibility". The result was Ownliness. The title was an idea of Raymond Steeg who suggested Only Ness, which I misheard. I though he'd said Ownliness, which I thought was a perfect title. The album has a very nice special atmosphere even though some songs were not as developed as they could have been. Still, My Wicked Wicked Ways, Beam Ends and the title track remain firm Beequeen favorites. The 500 original copies on Infraction records are long sold out, so we're pleased to announce that Infraction has pressed up another 1000. Lovers of beautiful women amongst us will be pleased to note that the cover has remained the same. I am very pleased that this album is available once again and would advise anyone who hasn't got it yet, to go out and buy a copy.

A wonderful evening!

On Friday 27 March 2009 the Extrapool club in Nijmegen staged another one of their "Audiotoop" evenings. The idea of Audiotoop is that artists from various disciplines create a radio play especially composed for the evening of the performance. This Audiotoop saw a performance of Edward Ka-spel and Silverman (of the Legendary Pink Dots) who staged 4 spoken word pieces with added soundscapes created by Silverman (with some additional scaping by Edward). Their performance was very exiting and much anticipated by me as this is something they normally don't do. The anticipation was justified; their performance was wonderful in every respect, the storylines, the music, even the small "performance" acts by Silverman. In all, very refreshing and great. After their performance ASRA was next; a collaboration between Timo van Luyk and Raymond Dijkstra. I was really looking forward to this set as I have a soft spot for both musicians' music. All albums by Raymond Dijkstra are highly recommended. Their stage set was scattered with loose small acoustic instruments, a piano and a tuba. Together they created the best live set I have heard in a long long time. Beautiful, spacious music with respect for all individual sounds and both performers. The audience was rightfully captured by the music; their respectful silence was impressive. After ASRA's set, there was a "jamsession" featuring all musicians, which was like most jamsessions; more of the same (so a very fine performance), only not as good as their individual performances. Audiotoop proved to be a very special evening. That night I met many friends, made a new one and shook hands with the brilliant Idea Fire Company-main man, Mr. Scott Faust who, as a true diva, made his grand entrance after Edward and Silverman had already started playing, and almost fell over Silverman's keyboard!

One little question...

Recently I received an invitation for "One little question", an internet initiative from Csoma Emoke where several artists are asked the same questions. It wasn't one little question though, it is more like 34 little questions. For those who never visit the internet, but stick to my blog only, here are my replies. Yet another truth from Wisdom City…

1. Is life an inspiration to make music or is music inspiration to live?
I'm very passionate about life. Music is part of life, so I'm quite passionate about both.

2. What would you do if there wouldn't be music, starting with tomorrow?
Write a good book.

3. What if you had to produce in a different music genre? What would that be?
Perhaps form a folk duo with Olga Wallis and sing acoustic songs about bearded dwarfs.

4. The beauty of silence or the chaos of noises?
The beauty of silence. I shredded my noise coat a long time ago.

5. What's your favourite album ever?
Impossible to say. I have many musical favorites.

6. And your favorite album cover?
Again, very difficult to pick one, but I have a weak spot for Dirk Wears White Sox by Adam and the Ants. Classy image, great font. The music is pretty good too.

7. Is there some music you like - but ashamed to admit it?
There is no music to be ashamed of.

8. If you could be a rock star, who would you be?
Paris Hilton.

9. Do you have a role model?
Not a person. Human values are a "role model" by which I try to live my life.

10. Who would you like to meet the most?
Paris Hilton? That would make for superior conversation on my side for a change...

11. What are your favorite movies?
Ghost World, West Side Story, Midnight Cowboy, Mulholland Drive, The Adventures of Robin Hood and TV series like Twin Peaks, Inspector Morse/Lewis, The Avengers TV series, The Prisoner.

12. If you had to direct your own movie, how would it look like?
Either some surrealistic film noir in reverse or a spectacular Technicolor extravaganza.

13. Who's your favorite writer or poet?
At the moment it's Murakami. His book The Windup Bird Chronicle is extraordinarily beautiful. Perhaps I'd love to make a film (including the soundtrack) of that one.

14. What's your favorite food?
Indian.

15. Do you prefer cooking or eating?
Both.

16. Name three things you love the most about women.
The fact that they think/act different to men and the fact they look better than men.

17. And three things you hate about them.
There is nothing I hate about women.

18. Which language would you like to speak most and why?
French. Classic and historical language that sounds beautiful. I hate Italian; all those whining sounds.

19. How would you describe yourself in 5 words?
Friendly, only slightly neurotic.

20. What are your vices?
Buying too many records for too much money.

21. What is the most unusual comment anyone has ever made about you?
Cue American drawl: "so your name is REALLY Freak? Hahahahaha!". So sad.

22. What was the nicest thing somebody ever did to you?
Book me a surprise holiday in Antwerp.

23. The best moment in your life?
Is yet to come. I'm a born optimist.

24. What does beauty mean to you?
Beauty is the most important thing in life.

25. What would you do today if the world would end tomorrow?
I wouldn't mind that at all. I am happy with the life I have lived.

26. Which places you love the most?
Brighton, United Kingdom and my bed.

27. Who's your favorite superhero and why?
Mrs. Peel. No need to explain.

28. What's your favorite flavour?
The smell of a summer's day.

29. Three things you could never get rid of?
My guitar and my wife. In reverse order of course.

30. Your three favorite websites?
I like visiting Ebay for buying records.

32. What's your most favorite picture you made?
Please see my website at www.freekkinkelaar.nl One of the funniest pictures is on there, but it's not me, it's the Beatle-image.

33. What is the question you always would have liked to be asked but nobody ever did?
Would you like to have some heavy rumpty-pumpty with me in the back alley? Which, being married, I would have to decline.

34. (ask it yourself and answer!)
Yes.

Freek With Wound

Well, well – surprise, surprise! In the category "things I know nothing about, but happen all the same" is the release of the new Nurse With Wound album entitled The Surveillance Lounge, which will be out in a couple of weeks. This album, no doubt another highlight in the Nurse-canon, will feature the sampled voices of Miranda and me. We recorded a lot of silly children's verse and songs a few months ago for Andrew Liles, which were consequently used on one of his albums in his Black Series CD's. More bits of that session are now apparently used on the new Nurse album, which is a great thing as I always fancied being one of the Nurses with Wounds. As usual, I was informed after the act, which in this case is fine with me. However, if you read this and you are a member of Coldplay or Radiohead and you intend to use our vocals on upcoming albums (which in a sense would improve the quality of said albums), you have no permission.

Small anthem

One of my favorite labels (in fact, my ONLY favorite CDR-label) is MOLL run by Frans de Waard. Favorite because it has an impressive list of artists and some great music, the packaging is professionally printed and they are true value for money. New in the series is this one "Atem". We did this track a long time ago for a compilation entitled Guru Means Slayer Of Darkness (a title I never quite figured out) on Manifold records in 1996. Since the compilation itself is long-deleted and we really liked Atem, we have decided to re-release it as a stand-alone thing. And, listening to it last night, it really works as such. Twenty-one gorgeous minutes of low grumbling sound - I really love this one! Copies are available via MOLL, but why not buy yours directly from me? Sounds fair to me. If you wonder who made the wonderful cover photograph, well, I won't spoil the fun but his name starts with an F.

Surprise, surprise!

It came as a surprise to receive 6 copies of the recently released DVD Colorfield Variations. At first I thought it was a BBC documentary about those swinging sixties, but much to my amazement this is in fact a brandnew thingie featuring Beequeen (hence the 6 free copies). Nobody tells me anything these days! The DVD features a lot of great music by the likes of Steve Roden, Stephan Mathieu and Chris and Cosey all accompanied by video images. Beequeen has the track Six Inside with a nice, grainy video by Sue Costabile. If this sounds familiar, you're right; the same thing was in fact previously released as Trybid - Installation Soundtracks on BLRR in 2003. Oh well. It does look nice. In fact, a lot nicer than the original. So, I've got 6 copies; 2 will be entered into the ever-expanding Beequeen archive and 4 are up for sale. At 10 Euros each a snip I'd say. Contact me if you're interested. Meanwhile, watch this space. Before you can say "What?!", there might be releases of Beequeen - Live at Woodstock and Beequeen - The Funhouse Sessions we know nothing about.