Here's one for everybody who's into obscure prog, I doubt you guys ever heard this one.

This is the cover for Dutch singer-songwriter Boudewijn De Groot's 1968 album "Nacht en Ontij" (Which translates into "The ominous Night")

Now earlier in the decade, De Groot made a name for himself as the Dutch Dylan although he saw himself more a minstrel than a protest singer.

De Groot singing Dylan's "The times they are A-changing"

In the later part of the sixties and no doubt inspired by those KILLER albums which came out in those days (Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper", The Who's "Tommy", Pink Floyd, the Moody Blues, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane... Do I need to continue?) decided to record as he called it; "A movie to listen to."

The resulting LP only had four songs but all of them part of a story, the album starts off with a psych rocker called "Wie kan me nog vertellen?" ("Is there anybody who can still tell me about?") Which showcases the Jefferson airplane influence I mentioned with its Fuzzy guitar licks. Lyric-wise, the song is about an old man ranting about how much better life was in his day and age. De Groot himself was in his twenties, so the lyrics are very sarcastic.


Which was followed by "Aeneas nu" ("And now, Aeneas") which was a slow and delightful blues, signalling the setting of the sun in the story. Lyric-wise the song is about the Greek Mythological figure of Aeneas returning home after an endless journey and finding it strange when he realizes that that also means that he has to settle down.


As I said, "Aeneas nu" signals the setting of the sun in the story and yes, the story is getting darker too.

As we continue with the song "Babylon" in which De Groot details the behavior of the gods who are basically even worse than mankind is. The dark lyrics being offset by the clarion sounds and the uplifting melody.


And then we get to the song the previous songs were all leading up to.

"Heksensabbat" ("Sabbath of the witches") is a 25 minute prog Magnum opus, which details how all the creatures of the night are gathering, along with all people from higher class and nobility, to summon the evil one himself.

Even if you don't understand the lyrics, the music itself will make up for it.

Enjoy.