PUDDING EN GISTEREN [AKA: PUDDING & YESTERDAY]

"Pudding En Gisteren" (Music For Ballet) was SUPERSISTER's third album and a clear continuation of their trademark mix of Canterbury and Symphonic genres. As with all SUPERSISTER albums, there is also that omnipresent sense of humour within their music. This well balanced album is composed of a pair of pop songs and pair of lengthy prog jams. One thing you can not criticize this band on is their innate creativity. Musically they move for a humorous attack a pop music to a parody of doo wop music. Of course surrounding all this musical creaitivity is a strong polarization towards a jazz-like-fusion progressive rock which takes at times a slight GENTLE GIANT flavour. Sonically the Polydor re-masters are excellent and the sound has been quite cleaned up.

I cannot get enough of Supersister lately. What's not to like? Unless you absolutely detest a little humor in your prog, Supersister has something for every prog fan. 'Pudding En Gisteren' is an excellent representation of the band, and along with 'Present From Nancy', 'To The Highest Bidder' and 'Iskander' is mandatory for fans of quirky, clever, ambitious prog.

"Radio" begins with a fairly light jazzrock bounce, the vocals sounding impossibly English (despite the fact the band is Dutch)...but things are disturbed in the song's final half, with some heavy-handed keyboard/bass interplay and sinister group-vocal onomatopoeia. An unexpected twist, something Supersister specialize in. S. Van Geest's narrative in this spot is humorous and draws attention to itself thanks to his sincere and believable dialogue (despite utterly silly lines like "...and filling her pants with the substance of a custard supplier..."). Masterful keyboard playing from R.J. Stips tops this off and you've just heard one of the band's best-ever songs. Things move swiftly from the very brief keyboard tweek of "Supersisterretsisrepus" to "Psychopath", which could've easily fit on the Syd Barrett-led Pink Floyd debut.

The album takes a turn to the even-weirder with "Judy Goes On Holiday". A perplexing 12 minutes, this seems to be several songs lumped together under one title, as the various pieces don't even pretend to be musically related. We're taken through keyboard-driven Canterbury, doo-wop, busy symphonic noodling, minimal atmospherics and ambient cosmic trips. Oddball, and totally enjoyable. Final track "Pudding En Gisteren Music For Ballet" is 21 minutes of "serious" Supersister, thick jazzrock of an experimental and unpredictable nature: fuzzy keyboards, fuzzier bass, folky flute, groovy vibraphone...

At the risk of sounding incestuous, I totally love my Supersister.

Supersister's third album is many fan's favourite and rightly so. If Present From nancy and Highest bidder were good (even better than good) , with this album, they reached excellence, even if the album remains a bit disjointed r patchy. But their music is still so inspired of Soft Machine's first two album, Zappa, Caravan and Matching Mole or forecasting Hatfield And The North (two years after this album), it is clear that Supersister were more than followers: they were setting new grounds.

Actually, Supersister might have been more Canterbury-styled than most of the local Canterbury bands, extended the goofiness of some of their tracks to levels most of their cross-channels counterparts did not dare go into. I mean in some case, Supersister comes very close to absolute (intended) silliness, but I find it rather awkward and it always stopped me from enjoying fully their music. Radio is a song that has all of the quirkiness you'd expects in mid-70's Caravan (the vocals closely resemble Hasting's delivery), but also its rather bizarre twists and bends. The well-named Psychopath starts out as a barroom song on piano and harpsichord. Clearly, serious business starts with the 12-min+ Judy On Holiday, where the full dimension off the fuzzed out bass and organs spell out their magic prints in your spaced out mind in its first part. If this were jazzier, you'd swear this was Wyatt, Ratledge and Co. However this will change rather quickly:a rather disjointed and patchy affair, the track is quite enthralling at times, but the quiet (almost dead) middle section is a real downer while the endless do-wop finale is idiotic. I mean humour in music has its limit and clearly even Zappa did not get that ridiculous.

The second side of the slice of wax is taken-up by another epic, the 21-min title track is a much more successful (and much less goofy) track which does make most fans say that this album is their finest hour. I would certainly say that the title track is definitely their best moment. The instrumental epic is taking you through dozens of climates, ambiances, feelings, thrills and shivers, never giving you a rest. Grandiose in certain way, I will agree, but I am not really that much a fan of Supersister. I never really understood why, because I usually love Canterbury music, but maybe Amsterbury music does not sit so well with me.

This album is now usually available on a cheap 2 for 1 coupled with a strange release called Superstarshine, which was a compilation of singles, live tracks and odd bits. You guessed it; this sort of cheap release is at the expense of the original artwork and very minimal (and erroneous) information. Whatever my mixed feelings about this group, PeG is definitely worth checking out.

Some CD's I buy tend to get onto the plate very rarely, and this (or actually a CD containing this one and Superstarshine Vol 3) is among them. Yet I like it quite a lot. A bad thing is that some silly repetitive moments remain easily in one's mind after listening and sorta ruin the listening experience a little. In other words, Supersister from Holland were very talented and daring band who didn't mind throwing in some plain silly things in their music.

'Radio' starts the album sounding at first like a soft pop song, and reminds me of some NITS songs sung by Robert Jan Stips (I hope at least some of you know that art-pop band featuring Supersister's leading man Stips). Then it suddenly changes into a slightly nightmarish, amusing narrative. Following it is a 16-second (sic!) keyboard piece called 'Supersisterretsisrepus', a palindrom because the latter half of the track is the first one played backwards. I must say I'm not too fond of this kind of riffraff... 'Psychopath' is the other song of the album, sharing the montypythonesque crooked pastiche style with 'Radio', occupying nice harpsichord playing.

Then the rest of the album shows clearly where the influences came from: Canterbury! 12-minute 'Judy Goes on Holiday' sounds very much like a Caravan instrumental with fuzzy keyboards and flute. I referred mainly to one section of this track when I in the beginning talked about silly moments. All of a sudden it's a sort of Beach Boys mockery repeating falsetto "ouiiii, I love you bayaybeee..." and "pom-po-po-pom-po-pom-po- poom-poom". OK, if it lasted just for a minute it wouldn't harm at all, but it goes on and on a few minutes. But during the more artistic moments of the track and especially of the 20-minute title track (subtitled 'Music for Ballet') you can just sit back and enjoy the finest instrumental Canterbury-ish playing. At one part the influences seem to come from modern classical composers too. Schönberg, Stravinsky and such. Piano and flute are taking lead at those great moments. So, quite an uneven but deservedly a classic prog album. For Canterbury diggers.

This is the last album with the original line-up. Van Geest will unfortunately quit as well as Vrolijk. The former who was a great flute player and really a major role to play and "Supersister" will never be the same again after "Pudding".

Not every number is a great song here and even if the opener was a local (semi) hit, "Radio" is too weird to catch my attention (and the vocals hold an awful Dutch accent). Things are improving with "Psychopath" and its delicate mood which is dramatically contrasts with the gloomy lyrics.

The Canterbury style and its leader "Caravan" are very well challenged during the first long song from this offering. Jazzy but fresh, strong but delicate at the same time. So delicious. Their indefinite sense of humour is highly present during the closing part of "Judy Goes On Holiday". An hilarious doo-wop style which is close (in its spirit) to some "Grobschnitt" delirium.

THE highlight is of course the side-long epic "Pudding En Gisteren". Originally written as a support of a ballet, it is a very enjoyable journey in the land of sweetness, jazzy world and the Canterbury countryside. It is probably the best song that they have ever written.

As for their first two albums (and their next two ones), Polydor issued a budget price edition which comprises of the original "Pudding" and "Superstarshine" which is a collection of single tracks as well as one long live track. This repackaged version are worth watching it out.

Three stars.

Third album features their best composition

"Pudding En Gisteren" (Music for Ballet) was the third album by the "Dutch Canterbury" outfit Supersister and another reasonably good effort expanding on the first two. Here you will find some of their most interesting work as they push the experimentation with a side long monster. The first three short tracks have a pop single feel with light catchy music and very English sounding vocals. They take their 'humor in music' experimentation to the next level in the 12 minute "Judy Goes on Holiday" which ends with a long doo-wop section of all things, sounding like Sha-Na-Na stepped into the studio for a guest spot. But it is the 21 minute epic title track which is this band's finest moment to date in my opinion. This long excursion gives the band plenty of time to breathe and expand their jazzy jams with tasteful sections of flute and keyboards. The intensity level fluctuates from those flute sections on the mellow side to some pretty hard edged craziness in a few spots. They also check the humor at the door for this track which is refreshing to me, I think this band pushes the silliness too far at the expense of their true potential. There is even a lovely piano closing written for this track giving it a touch of class. Probably my favorite of this first three and yet still only half of a great album. Obviously this is not my favorite band, I respect and give them points for their chops but am not inspired to say much else. Still a good bet for Canterbury fans due to the long title piece. 7/10

For me this is better than "Present To Nancy" but not as good as "To The Highest Bidder". A lot of silliness on this record, and I agree with Finnforest that the serious side long title track is the best part of the album.

"Radio" is a wimsical CARAVAN-like track that plays out liesurely until 2 1/2 minutes in when we get this monologue with a darker sound. "Supersisterretsisrepus" sounds like they play the keyboards frontwards then backwards for a total of 16 seconds. "Psychopath" features these light Richard Sinclair-like vocals with piano melodies. A fuller sound arrives 1 1/2 minutes in with what sounds like harsichord.

"Judy Goes On A Holiday" opens with some fuzz before the flute arrives. Love the chunky bass sound early on this tune. Solo flute 3 minutes in followed by vocals, samples and a light soundscape. A change before 8 1/2 minutes as bass, drums and a fuller sound returns. A "doo wop" section comes in a minute later.Yikes ! And so it ends on that unfortunate note. Haha. "Pudding En Gistern" has a good uptempo beginning. Vibes 2 minutes in. It settles somewhat 4 minutes in. Flute before 9 minutes. It calms right down 14 minutes in and becomes almost haunting before picking back up. Some nice fuzz bass comes and goes. A calm with piano 19 minutes in.

Another Canterbury classic.

Though Supersister is clearly a progressive rock group in the Canterbury (post-Zappa) vain, it did deviate from its peers quite a lot. With 'Pudding En Gisteren' (the title of a Dutch seventies joke) the band created perhaps its most charming and crazy little record. Both opening tracks 'Radio' (which became a minor hit) and 'Psychopath' have a comedic element and surprisingly catchy vocal performances by keyboardist Robert J Stips. Especially the piano-led 'Psychopath' with its silly lyrics, yet childlike happy-sad melancholy always hits me. A timeless song. The band uses (now-dated) synths to create this almost lolly pop type progressive sounds (the comic style sleeve fits wel with the music), yet somehow the record still sound freshly made today. On 'Judy Goes to Holiday' the band delivers ten minutes of that much loved Supersister grove with its overdriven organ, jazzy flutes, thumping bass-lines and fast-paced jazz-drums. The melancholy ending section and the very short reprise of the main theme have that gentle, exciting footprint fans of the band love so much. The second side offers the 'Pudding En Gisteren' suite which was made for a ballet at the time. This fully instrumental multi-part piece delivers everything the band has to offer, again using lots of those silly dry synth sounds which sets the music apart form all other Canterbury. The first time I heard this record, now fifteen years ago, I was repelled by its geeky sound. Listening to it now I'm amazed at how original, joyful and timeless this record actually is. It has some unique atmospheres and every single note is part of a musical story told by a band perfectly in sync. Enjoy!

I finally got a chance to listen to a Supersister album and I was very impressed. Although Dutch, these guys can out-Canterbury some of the original Canterbury bands! This is their third album and you could describe this as a mix of Soft Machine and Caravan. They definately have the instrumental prowess of the former and the humour of the latter. The lyrics are in English but delivered in a heavy Dutch accent, which I actually quite enjoy. The instrumentation includes bass, drums, flute, organ and Rhodes piano. Not much guitar here, but the fuzzed up bass and organ can sometimes equal a rockin' guitar.

The majority of "Radio" is in a poppy, Latin jazzy kind of vibe. Some a capella vocals then it switches to a more intense Canterbury sound with some operatic "la la la" harmony vocals. Some exotic string instrument can be heard. "Psychopath" is some kind of baroque-pop. Funny lyrics. Some nice harpsichord here. You can listen to "Judy Goes On Holiday" here on PA. This begins with a modified organ imitating a racing car. Then it goes into some great jazz-rock with an awesome flute melody, sometimes doubled on organ. The bassline in this part is good too. Changes to different sections with great drumming throughout. Eventually the opening jazz-rock section gets reprised. All of a sudden goes into a drumless section with Rhodes and flute before some bass notes from the organ. Some crunching sounds and a little bit of vocals.

Later some great Rhodes start to play, being joined by flute. Then some guitar comes in after awhile, followed by some vibraphone. The music stops and then some jazzy drumming before the first jazz-rock part gets reprised yet again. Music stops again and then it goes into a Zappaesque doo-wop parody. I like this but I can understand how some would think it's just stupid. If that song wasn't amazing enough, we get the 21-minute title track. A great Canterbury epic. First few minutes sounds like a cross between Canterbury and Zappa. Later some start/stop playing before it gets more jazzy.

Around 3 1/2 minutes is a great drumbeat and some hummed vocals that mimic the Rhodes. Then the flute plays the Rhodes melody before an organ solo. Goes through some more changing sections. In the middle gets polka sounding while the tempo keeps increasing until it changes to a jazzier section. Goes back to the polka part briefly before changing to a new section yet again. Later on some lovely flute gets joined by spacey and avant sounding piano and organ. The music stops briefly then a great part with cool bass and wah-organ. Later it switches to fuzz-organ and some start/stop playing. Around 17 minutes what sounds like a synthesizer starts to solo. Some crazy drumming at one point.

The last few minutes is just piano and flute. I was in for a suprise the first time I listened to this part of the epic. I had a total "WTF?" moment. I heard some piano chords that I instantly recognized. After a minute of thinking about it, it hit me: "Ohhh, the Rabbit In The Headlights song!" In 1998 Radiohead singer Thom Yorke made a song with electronic duo UNKLE. The song was called "Rabbit In Your Headlights" are was entirely based on a sample of the ending piano chords of "Pudding En Gisteren". How cool. It never ceases to amaze me how some seemingly obscure prog groups get sampled by modern artists. I really enjoyed this album, especially the last two tracks. I want to hear their other albums now. This is highly recommended to fans of Canterbury. 4 stars.

Supersister were one of those bands who liked to keep the sense of humour in Canterbury-inspired progressive rock, and Pudding en Gisteren is an excellent example of that. The first side consists of a range of shorter, more whimsical tracks (well, "Shorter" is a relative term - Judy Goes on Holiday is 12 minutes long), whilst the title track is a side-long experimental number that gives the more serious side of the group's music a workout. Even the most commercial-sounding of the shorter songs, opening track Radio, has some unexpected twists and turns, and on the whole it's a solid followup to their classic first two albums.

That said, whilst it doesn't embarrass itself next to its predecessors, it doesn't really develop Supersister's music very much compared to them - the greatest departures, if anything, are the shorter pieces (Radio and Psychopath), which whilst whimsical aren't actually as compelling as the group's more complex material. Of the albums released by the original Supersister lineup, I find this one the least compelling.

The original lineup of this band put together three albums in rapid fire succession, 1971-72, before losing a few of its founding members Sacha van Geest and Marco Vrolijk (leader, keyboard player, and producer Robert Jan Stips would leave in 1974 after the recording of the band's fifth album, Spiral Staircase, where he would go on to join Golden Earring through their monster hit album, Moontan). This is the third of that trilogy. (The band would dis-band later with the departure of leader and founder, Stips.) The band has grown. Their experimental nature has been nurtured further but they are also putting here on display a greater maturity in their lyrical content and a greater command and confidence in the polishing department and recording/engineering departments. As I listen to Pudding en Gisteren I find myself wishing that their first two albums were rehearsed, recorded and produced as well as this one. The opening song, "Radio" (4:00) is full of silliness--not the least of which is the end segment with "radio narrator" speaking over the band's appropriate "soundtrack" music. It's an okay song, despite its entertainment value. (7/10)

The second song, "Supersisteretsisrepus" (0:16) is one of those silly throw-away songs so common to early (pre- paralysis) Robert Wyatt project albums--this one a keyboard solo.

Song 3, "Psychopath" (3:58) is a tongue-in-cheek cabaret-like song in the Monty Python Life of Brian vein. Humorous, intelligent lyrics sung/spoken over piano and then piano and harpsichord duet in the middle section and then joined by Mellotron strings for the final third. (8/10)

4. "Judy Goes on Holiday" (12:38) is the epic that completes Side 1 of the album. It opens with a very catchy synthesizer/flute riff, which is then periodically repeated throughout the song in order to bring the band back to center before venturing off into some of the more EGG-heavy or CAMEL-light passages that make up the body of the song. I find the mix of this song interesting for the consistent "compartmentalization" of each of the individual performers--keys in left, bass center up front, drums center in back, flute center-right and guitars full right. An odd slow, spacious section begins in the fifth minute that allows the band some percussive playfulness. Then a slow keyboard and flute duet begins mid-song that is absolutely gorgeous--very much in a CAMEL/Latimer- Bardens or Hackett-Hackett way. Like Satie "Gymnopedia," I could listen to this forever. The song eventually returns to the opening riff and pacing. (9/10)

5. Side 2 is filled with one song, one epic--one of the finest epics Canterbury music has to offer, the title song "... (Music for Ballet)" (21:00). From the opening riff and its variations which fill the first two minutes, to the organ and flute interplay and rolling bass lines in the more varied tempos of the second movement, to the smooth, cool grooves and key sounds in the CAMEL-esque third movement, this is an absolute masterpiece of instrumental music. I do love the way Supersister can cough up so many catchy and memorable and fun melodic riffs. Each section/movement of this piece is grounded in at least one of them. There must be about 20 of them through the course of this song! I can often hear sections appropriate for ballet, as the title indicates, but not the majority--though there are a few themes that feel like variations on already-existing classic ballet themes. I mean, I know dancers can dance to just about anything, but as for your typical musical score intended specifically for ballet, I don't see this one as one of those. I'd like to see it staged as such. (10/10)

Definitely a weird and diverse album with questionable lows but with more solid, mature, and memorable highs-- namely the two epics; they are not to be missed. Accordingly, I think this album must claim its place among the pantheon of prog masterpieces.

This is the third album from Supersister and they continued to be on a roll, although the album is a bit uneven. "Radio" starts off really deceptively in early '70s easy listening territory, but then there's a totally unexpected twist where they go all wild on us, sounding nothing like the first have. The lyrics seem to be an attack on mainstream radio (in America mainstream radio was AM, FM was still underground, but won't be by 1975 when it went commercial, and going the AOR route since then). "Psychopath" has a bit of a Caravan feel going on, complete with Richard Sinclair-like vocals, with Robert Jan Stips providing harpsichord, as well as Mellotron (an M300 that happened to belong to Phonogram Studios in Hilversum, Holland, which the album was recorded in, and was the same Mellotron heard on Earth & Fire and Ekseption albums until 1973). "Psychopath" isn't a favorite, but not bad. "Judy Goes On Holiday" is a great instrumental jazzy piece, which ends with the silly doo-wop of "Love Me in the Morning" (I own the original Dutch pressing on Polydor, there's a one minute silent gap between "Judy Goes on Holiday" and "Love Me in the Morning", which leads me to believe the latter was an afterthought and the band didn't intend that to be there, or perhaps the gap was there so people can switch to side two if they felt it was lame). The title track is also instrumental, and takes up all of side two, proves that Supersister can pull it off. It's just another album I can highly recommend.

The career of SUPERSISTER was brief but moved fairly quickly. It all began in 1967 while the band members were still in high school and founded by singer / songwriter Rob Douw who would soon leave the newly formed the Nederlands beat group Sweet OK Supersister however the band continued with Robert Jan Stips taking the role as bandleader with his keyboard playing become the focal point. Only three years later the band honed their chops and copped an English Canterbury attitude and stunned the fledgling prog rock universe with their amazingly performed antics on "Present From Nancy." Only a year later, the band developed their ideas even further and presented a more mature vision with their highly popular "To The Highest Bidder." It was at this point that they became extremely popular in their native Netherlands and also turned some heads all across Europe.

All the critical acclaim cemented a series of concerts in their homeland and extensive touring throughout Germany, England, France and Italy. In no time at all the band was working with full-fledged orchestras with the help of the German TV channel NDR which commissioned a performance with the Tanz und Unterhaltungsorchester des NDR conducted by Alfred Hause. The newly constructed compositions by bassist / guitarist Ron van Eck and Stips found a whole new audience for SUPERSISTER and soon thereafter they announced a collaboration between SUPERSISTER and the Nederlands Danstheater (the Dutch Dance Theater Company). The project took SUPERSISTER into yet another new arena where the idea was that the band would provide the soundtrack to a modern ballet accompanied by rock music.

This was also the time that the band was hoping to expand the lineup by adding a new guitarist in the form of ex-Brainbox member John Schuursma, but despite all the efforts did not happen and although the whole project of ballet meets prog did occur with the Nederlands Danstheater, it did so without SUPERSISTER. Slightly dismayed, the band entered the studio to record their third album PUDDING EN GISTEREN, a title that was supposed to grace the ballet project but rather become the emphasis of a third album. One of the major effects of hearing this third release by SUPERSISTER without this knowledge means the album will be experienced completely out of context and results in a lackluster understanding of the high velocity evolutionary dynamics that were taking place at the time.

PUDDING EN GISTEREN (Pudding and Yesterday) was the end of the road for the original lineup after all the turbulence of the music business but despite not quite reaching the glory of their first two albums, this third one delivers the goods on many fronts. During the period of the two predecessors, there were many pop hooks incorporated amongst the technical workouts that were truncated for a more commercial friendly environment such as the single "A Girl Named You" and "No Tree Will Grow." On PUDDING EN GISTEREN, the hook-laden melodies were prime time and dominate the two major leading tracks "Radio" and "Psychopath," which shows the clever shapeshifters of the Canterbury sound moving away from the early Soft Machine playbook to a more Caravan based one, however these guys were brilliant in their execution.

"Radio" begins as an almost saccharin display of pop earworm charm with that indefinable Canterbury Scene edge laced with Zappa- esque humor but after a few measures of "too sweet for its own good" erupts into an energetic jaunty ostinato bass driven rock bravado with clever spoken word narrative. The second track is a mere fifteen second electronically infused melody that merges into the third track, the equally addictive keyboard driven and almost Vaudville friendly tune "Psychopath' with intelligent lyrics as if Paul McCartney had cranked out a Beatles approved tune under the influence of heroin. Keeping in line with their Canterbury tinged humor, both lyric driven tracks are quite sardonic with an equal display of dark subject matter quilted in the expected whimsical dressing.

The fifteen second track aside, the album only has four bona fide tracks and by track number four "Judy Goes On Holiday," the SUPERSISTER of the past, namely the progressive rock masters who display their technically induced prowess in a parade of never- ending prog displays comes to fruition. On this track the band display not only their instantly addictive pop hooks, but tease them out into full pomp and awe which by the end even went in the the part of the Frank Zappa playbook that few others would dare, that being the doowop laden vaults of "Cruising With Reuben & The Jets." Ironically, PUDDING EN GISTEREN not only contains the shortest SUPERSISTER track with the fifteen second "Supersisterretsisrepus" but also the longest track of their career in the creatively complex 21 minute track "Pudding En Gisteren Music For Ballet," which displays the full technical prog compositional flare and musical gymnastics as their previous works.

PUDDING EN GISTEREN goes down in history as the weakest of the three albums with the original lineup for a reason. This one is less consistent and more awkwardly laid out than the first two. Add to that i find that "Judy Goes On Holiday" has an obnoxiously long middle section that meanders into mellow mode for far too long and then only emerges for a wear-out-its-welcome doowop loop of the same melody only sped up slightly after every measure for some sort of effect. The two pop oriented tracks coming first followed by the more complex ones seems out of balance but i have found the album somewhat addictive. While not as perfectly engaging as the first two, album number three is chock full of SUPERSISTER-isms to the max and despite the few complaints i carry, still remains a brilliant slice of early 70s progressive rock. Some have even deemed this their finest hour. While i can't say i share that consensus, i have to admit that this one, despite a step down in continuity and quality, is still an excellent delivery of the Canterbury Scene in progressive rock.