Richard writes: Four One & Only's were a band from Breda, The Netherlands. Founded in 1984 by Marthy with Marcel, Rob, Bart and Felix. From those only Rob had previously been in bands, namely The Mirandas and La Valse. The music of Four One & Only's originated from their love for Television Personalities, Jonathan Richman, Punk in General, D.I.Y. Optimism and Absurdism with a hint of Cynicism, and always lots of beer.
In DIY tradition, the first single and lp were released on their own label, Noet Lachten. The name came from an incident during the Grand Prix of Dutch Pop/Rock, mid-eighties organised to stimulate new bands. The Four One & Only's appeared once and the jury's report was so badly written that one could only laugh at the rejection. (The Jury could Noet Lachten (not laugh) with this band).
A second album was released on the national label Megadisc, and did not catch on. After We Love You, Bart and later Felix left, and Hans and Richie came. At the same time the five Four One & Only's became six with the arrival of Stephan, an accomplished musician who could make the accordion sound like the great keyboard it is. Transcending musical styles, the band made a third album (Fairy Tale) and a CD (Sticker). It wasn't called Sticker, but it had ten stickers with it so you could choose your own title. Halfway through the nineties Hans and Stephan left and were replaced by Andy and Peter, and not long after the 1996 release Holy the band split up.
Four One & Only's CD1: https://pixeldrain.com/u/yY3dMBXL
ReplyDeleteFour One & Only's CD2: https://pixeldrain.com/u/1t22K3cD
Thank you, Richard -- this is great stuff!
Thank you, Jonder. And to everybody: tell me your favorite 3 Four One & Only's tracks to make 1 shortlist.
ReplyDeletePixeldrain tells me these two comps have been downloaded 20 times in the past 15 hours, and I'm curious too:
DeleteHave you heard of Four One & Only's? And if so, do you have any memories to share?
Were you intrigued by the comparisons to the TVP's and Jonathan Richman?
Do you download music like this because you HAVEN'T heard of it and might never find it again? And do you have folders full of zips that you haven't even listened to yet (like I do)?
Oops, I'm Dutch, but obviously have been out of the loop too long, never heard of these guys before. Another opportunity to broaden my musical education!
ReplyDeleteEven our European correspondent hasn't heard of Four One & Only's!! Nice one, Jon (& Richard). I've been to Breda & loved it there.
ReplyDeleteLATE ADDENDUM: When Richard sent me these comps, he mentioned that The 4OaO's added lyrics to "Miserlou" years before Pulp Fiction popularized it. In his words, "They could have been bigger than the Television Personalities!"
ReplyDeleteHe also sent me songs from several compilations on Noet Lachten and on Marthy's label Roman Cabbage, minus the songs by Four One & Only's and the ones that have appeared elsewhere. In other words, these are the songs exclusive to these compilation LP's, which are as follows.
16 songs from NOET 2 (First Noet Lachten Compilation Of Lokal Bands, 1986), NOET 6 (13 Great Bands From The Low Lands, 1987), and NOET 8 (Who Wants To Be A Popmusician Nowadays?, 1988): https://pixeldrain.com/u/Wb7NjVXS
19 songs from the double album NOET 10 ("Let's Have A Picnic And Barbecue Some Corrupt Not Self-Programming Dee-Jays: 32 Great Bands from Holland, Belgium, Germany and England"): https://pixeldrain.com/u/YirR3uZn
15 songs from the Roman Cabbage Vinyl label compilations El Dorado (1990) and Sorry... Sold Out (1991): https://pixeldrain.com/u/CKB9msyt
Little correction. It is 4 cds worth of material and a bit mind exploding to take it all in at once. First, Marty did not have Roman Cabbage (he was, however, connected with the German friends). And second, I just had two main reasons for adding the songs, Not F0&0's but Quite Interesting. If they were available elsewhere or not was not my concern. I just wanted to present the best of these (almost forgotten) compilations.
DeleteAnd not to get "scheve gezichten" from Koen for presenting complete albums, I made a compilation of compilations.
Most of these songs are unique. Not only that, A lot of bands only have one (this one) song as their output.
ENJOY
Thanks for the correction. I see now on Discogs that "Roman Cabbage Vinyl (was) run by Achim & Markus Buss". I think I got confused because all the Roman Cabbage releases are numbered with the prefix GREY, and Marthy has run Grey Past and Grey Productions labels.
DeleteThank you for choosing the best from these comps, and for not posting full albums so that Koen doesn't have to track you down in NL, burn your records and harvest your vital organs. Seeing this violent side of his personality has been quite disturbing. Fortunately I live in a country far away and full of guns. Walk down any American street and you will trip over pistols, rifles, and bullet casings. Even the children are armed, which makes all of us feel safer.
Glad to see that you finally are beginning to understand who you invited into the JOKONKY conglomerate!
DeleteAgreed, with so many guns around the US must be the safest country on the planet...
STICKER and a FOaO's rarities comp called GOODBYE HELLO are on Bandcamp: https://thefouroneandonlys.bandcamp.com
ReplyDeleteTHE VAN COOTHS (Marthy and his daughters) are also on Bandcamp: https://thevancooths.bandcamp.com
If I formed a trio with my kids, I have no idea what our music would sound like -- but I'm sure it would send my wife running out of the room!
I tried to get the brood here onboard with starting a family band when the kids were young but only my daughter bought into it. We rehearsed "Sympathy for the Devil" a few times with me on guitar and her on vocals but didn't win over the rest of the gang. We could have been the next Partridge Family!
DeleteNever heard of 4O&O before but they sound fun -- thanks Richard!