"Venus" -- Shocking Blue 🆚 Bananarama

[NurseJackie]

"Venus" is a song by Dutch rock band Shocking Blue, initially released as a single in the Netherlands in the summer of 1969. Written by Robbie van Leeuwen, the song topped the charts in nine countries. In 1981, it was used to open the "Stars on 45" medley.[3] In 1986, English girl group Bananarama covered "Venus" for their third studio album, True Confessions, reaching number one in six countries. The composition has been featured in numerous films, television shows and commercials, and covered dozens of times by artists around the world.

In the Shocking Blue original version, the song's lead vocals are performed by Mariska Veres. The music is from "The Banjo Song" by Tim Rose and the Big 3 with new lyrics by Robbie van Leeuwen, the band's guitarist, sitarist and background vocalist, who also produced along with record producer Jerry Ross. Van Leeuwen originally miswrote the line "...the goddess on the mountain top..." as "...the godness on the mountain top...", so Veres sang it this way on the recording of the song. This was corrected in later versions.

"Venus" had been a part of Bananarama's repertoire for several years before they actually recorded it. The group's three members, Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward, had the idea of turning the song into a dance music tune, but they were met with resistance from their producers at the time, Steve Jolley and Tony Swain. Bananarama brought the idea to the production trio of Stock Aitken Waterman, and it became Bananarama's first collaboration with them.

Which version to you like the best?

7 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Shocking Blue
	4 (57%)
	Bananarama
	2 (29%)
	I can't decide, I like both versions.
	1 (14%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[RainCaster]

1. Here's something totally different

No click track, and the guitarist tweaks the pace just enough to make it interesting.

[NurseJackie]

2. That's great! Thank you!

[Claire Oh Nette]

5. Portobello

Can I change my vote to this one????

wow!

[Shermann]

3. Robbie van Leeuwen is the god on the mountain top

Anybody know what kind of guitar that is?

He's playing that song like a boss!

If you show up to a gig with a guitar like that, people will know you are simply not f'ing around.

EDIT: It appears to be a Danelectro Longhorn. Do want!

[NurseJackie]

4. I noticed that too...

... it's an unusual design that I hadn't seen before (or if I saw it, I never gave it much of a thought.)

[ProfessorGAC]

9. I See Your Edit

That is, indeed, a Danelectro Longhorn.
Don't want it too bad, Sherm.
They don't play well.
Pickups were very noisy and the neck is more like a 2x2 than a guitar neck. Very blocky.
The pickups were the "lipstick case" style.
The remakes probably have better ones, though.
It's also fairly neck heavy. Lots of missing mass with those massive body cuts. I found it very uncomfortable to play standing up.
The originals did not use great wood (some Danelectros were plywood) so, that low body density lends to the heck heavy.
I can see the attraction to the looks, but there's a big reason why they went belly-up. Most DE stuff was junky.

[Shermann]

11. Haha good to know

I'm not too into vintage guitars, but that one is so old-timey 60's that it appeals to me.

Randy Rhoads' Sandoval Flying V had a 60's Danelectro neck as the story goes. I think that guitar was mostly junk as well.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. Since Randy Scalloped The Fretboard...

...I'm guessing some shaving & shaping of the neck took place, as well. That would be way easier than scalloping the fingerboard.
I'd bet $100 that neck was nothing like an original Danelectro.

[Shermann]

14. You are probably thinking of Yngwie

Randy didn't play scalloped fingerboards.

I assume Sandoval did the bowtie inlay work on that neck, and may have shaved the neck profile as well. But mostly he just slapped it on there and refinished everything. Any luthier worth his salt makes their own necks, Sandoval was a hack who hit the jackpot. He's still making overpriced versions of that POS today.

[ProfessorGAC]

15. Randy Used One Too

Not extreme the way Malmsteen & Vai did, but he had the frets dished out on most of his guitars.
Speaking of luthiers:
I knew a guy in the 70s. An engineer at a local nuke plant, pretty good guitar player who built acoustics.
He actually patented a special bracing pattern to allow a doubleneck (12 & 6) acoustic.
We bought tickets to, and sent a letter to Leo Kottke about it for when he came to play Wise Fools' in Chicago.
We went with the guitar, and my buddy gave it to Leo.
Leo used it that night!
About 3 years later, he gets a letter from Sigma. They wanted to buy his patent. They gave him $75,000 for it. (In 1980, so a serious chunk of change.)
Sigma made some (for Leo, I don't recall if they ever fully commercialized it). Roughly 6 months later, he got his original guitar back from Leo.
We both had a pic of Leo playing the original version. And, he got his original back.
Thing was a work of art.
I'd bet, given the quality of the wood (rosewood back & sides, spruce top, rock maple neck), the inlay, & craftsmanship it would fetch $8,000-9,000 today. Maybe more.

[Shermann]

16. Well I can't prove Randy didn't use something at some point

...but the Sandoval didn't have a scalloped board, side profile here:



The Jackson Concorde is a well-documented guitar and definitely wasn't scalloped.

The '74 Les Paul wasn't scalloped either. Those were his three main guitars, so...

[ProfessorGAC]

17. I Remember Reading...

...an article in Guitar Player where he talked about it.
Maybe he was just experimenting with it.

[soothsayer]

6. Oh I remember when falls were a thing

When is that returning to hair fashion?

[NurseJackie]

7. Agreed!

[NurseJackie]

12. Mariska Veres

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariska_Veres

Maria Elisabeth Ender, better known as Mariska Veres (About this soundpronunciation (help·info)) (1 October 1947 – 2 December 2006), was a Dutch singer who was best known as the lead singer of the rock group Shocking Blue. Described as being similar to a young Cher, she was known for her sultry voice, eccentric performances, and her striking appearance which featured kohl-rimmed eyes, high cheekbones, and long jet black hair, which was actually a wig.[1][2]

Veres died of gallbladder cancer on 2 December 2006, aged 59, just three weeks after the disease had been detected.[4][5]

[ProfessorGAC]

8. Picked "Can't Decide"

The styles are so very different.
Straight rock vs. synth power pop.
So, I can't say which one I like better.
Which, I think, is testimony that it's a strong, strong tune.
Radically different versions, structurally, both good.

[NurseJackie]

10. Good analysis and description.

The "Stock-Aitken-Waterman" influence is strong in the Bananarama version. They really had a hit-machine going on back then.

[NurseJackie]

18. Kick for the Friday afternoon folks.