PsychepediA

From: Amsterdam, Netherlands

This Amsterdam area outfit was formed in 1965 by Dirk van der Ploeg (guitar, vocals) and Siegfried 'Siebe' de Jong (saxophone, vocals) who brought in other original members Cees Visser (vocals, guitar), Bart Bos (bass) and Valentijn Geverts (drums, organ, piano). In 1967, the group signed to the Philips label and issued their first single ('You Better Start Running Away From Me' b/w 'I've Been Drowned') during the summer of that year. A second 45 ('Don't Try Reincarnation' b/w 'Sad Song') was then released in late '67 and shortly after, a major personnel change occurred when Geverts and Visser were replaced by John Brands (vocals), Duco de Rijk (guitar, vocals) and Wim Taarling (drums).

In the spring of 1968, the band issued their their third 45 ('Please Accept My Invitation' b/w ''Dark Days Of December'), but it wasn't until their fourth single ('Hair' b/w 'Aquarius') released in late '68 that they scored a #1 smash on the Dutch charts. Both sides of this well-produced record are covers from the musical Hair and proudly featured here on TWOS. An LP titled Hair was then issued in early 1969 to capitalize on the hit single, but other than the two aforementioned tracks, is rather bland. In late '69, the group did score another Dutch hit with the single 'Get Me Down', which reached the #26 spot on their home country's charts. More lineup changes then occurred when Brands, Rijk and Taarling were replaced by former RO-D-YS members Harry Rijnbergen (guitar) and Bennie Groen (drums), but this roster only lasted for a final 45 ('Take Me Down To The Riverside' b/w 'Let Me Try To Cry') before breaking up in 1970.

In 1972, Jong formed a completely new Zen with members Dave Vreeland (vocals, saxophone, keyboards), Ruud Klokgieter (vocals, guitar), Ed Postema (bass, guitar), Johan van der Meer (vocals, bass) and Floris van Manen (drums). It was this incarnation that released a second LP titled Zen Again on the Ariola label in the summer of 1973, which unfortunately didn't sell that well. The band did forge on however, experiencing continued personnel changes until finally splitting for good in 1977.