AD VANDERVEEN

DRIVEN BY A DREAM****

A craftsman at work

What beautiful songs this man writes and together with the support of some stellar musicians, he is not bad at putting them across either. Vanderveen is now in his mid-50s and although a relative newcomer to the music scene, he even called one of his record releases LATE BLOOMER, he now has a back catalogue of 20 albums and he seems to just get better and better.

These days Ad confines most of his gigs to Holland but fitted in this recording at the famous. and long established Rockfield Studios in Monmouth during some wider European dates early in 2012.

The rocking numbers are good tempo and clearly sung . The relatively mild, as rockers go, Uphill gets thing s going and the driving Wouldn’t That Be A Shame comes in at track five and in between, there is the inspirational title track and the first of two close harmonies with Kersten de Ligny. The blissful Rest In Peace is probably my highlight of the album but there is just so much good material here, as exampled by the other track featuring de Ligny; the poignant expression of love Will And Testament.

The country flavoured Time Has Told and Calm Before The Storm are well worth seeking out; the first the tale of the early struggle to bring up a family and then a graphic tale of living in constant fear for your safety and not being in control of your own liberty. The only one of the eleven songs here that Vanderveen did not write is the closing number; Bob Dylan’s When I Paint My Masterpiece. A quite old song first performed by The Band and then fairly regularly by The Grateful Dead and after the exposure of last year’s New York exhibition of Dylan’s paintings inspired by his recent travels, as very close to a set of quite famous photographs by Henry Cartier Bresson, such thoughts are perhaps now seen as wishful thinking by Dylan.

There is purity to Vanderveen’s songs and indeed his delivery of them. It is honest, emotional and personal music. Ad is half Canadian Dutch so I guess that Americana and roots are in his blood and he is apparently embarrassed by comparisons to his idol Neil Young, but whatever label you use for his music this is a delightful album.

By Paul Collins, Maverick Magazine UK, May-June 2013