Sandancing - what the liner didn't tell

Never believe a musician when he writes 'this is the best thing I've done'. So don't take my word for it, but 'Sandancing' is the best work that has come out of my - well, our, hands as Beequeen. It's now released by Important Records, along with a lovely, utter lovely 10" of 'demos'. Here are some personal details on the tracks... 'A While A Way' (CD/10") started as the piece that is on the 10", with audience recordings from America, Bucla sounds from the EMS studios in Stockholm and airport sounds from Narita airport - if you are a while a way you have not much time to work on the music so you have to wait for the new Beequeen CD. The opening voice is indeed Howard Stelzer. Freek suggested to strip the piece and make it more jingle like, as an unobvious opener of the CD. 'Breathe' (CD/10") is mainly Freek's song, although I supplied a lot of the crackling sounds, 'taken from air' as it were. Olga sings lovely here, and Erik Drost - put him next to George Martin Hannett please - did some great mixing on the track, along with some great slide guitar by Kees Rietveld. 'Melt' (CD/10") is even more Freek's song and the very first Pink Dots guitarist Barry Gray supplied the solo guitar. Great double tracking of Olga's voice here. Our beloved Edie Sedgwick speaks on 'The Edie Three Step' (CD) and no doubt - Freek may disagree - this is the one true 50% Freek/50% Frans song on the CD. A complex piece, and certainly a bit grim, enlighted by 'The Honeythief' (CD/10"), of which I had no involvement. 'Tomorrow' originally had lyrics: 'tomorrow, tomorrow and oh, tomorrow', but we skipped them. It's longest instrumental piece on the CD. 'The Maypole Song' (CD/10") started as a pure Freek song, but through our concert last year in Arnhem, I added some more bits to it. Very dense piece, with up to 32 tracks. It's about dancing around may poles, I guess. The title cut (CD/10") has the voice of a well-known Japanese musician, and its more an inbetween song - appropiate to make the title track, since nothing is that simple in life. On the 10" demo version there is a bit of me playing guitar. 'There, It Has Been Said' (CD) is a standout piece of vocal charm, great organ playing and the screams are by Elise, whom we forgot to put on the cover. A great way to end the CD, had it not been for 'The Illogical Song' (CD), which is entirely a Frans piece and a radical Erik mix. Come to think of it, the long original could have been on the 10" too. As a bit of perversion, on the 10" there is also 'White Bike', as sung by Eva and as not on this CD, but on the business card My Own Little Label put out. If life would be easy, it would not be this long. So thanks to Olga, Barry, Kees, Erik, John, Elise and whom we forgot, for their input in the best release of 2008.