The very best of Penny Wise/Amsterdam and Peter Bewley. In the history of the Nederbeat genre the band Penny Wise is simply legendary. Their story begins in 1967.
Former members Donald and Martin van Os grow up in the western part of Amsterdam. Their first group, So What, plays a lot in the Amsterdam beat clubs, sometimes opening up for Dutch major Beat groups such as The Motions and The Golden Earrings. So What’s manager André Heilbron works as a roadie for Amsterdam’s #1 group The Outsiders and then the group comes under the wings of the famous impresario John B. van Setten. “Silver Girl” and “Jackie’s S.S.S.” appear on their first single. Penny Wise presents itself – both in sound and fashion - as a very exuberant British mod group. “Silver Girl” is nowadays rated among connoisseurs as one of the best and most exciting examples of Dutch 60’s Freakbeat. “Lily Come Near Me” is in a much more poppier vein - a very strong composition with great melodies and splendid vocals, one of the band’s hallmarks. Penny Wise’ s final 45, “Leave Me Alone”, another lite-psych pop masterpiece, and its flipside “In The Fields With Me”, a quirky Kinks/Ray Davies style pop follows. By the end of 1969 they change their name in Amsterdam. The idea to name themselves after their hometown was “inspired” by the American group Chicago. Amsterdam’s debut 45, the Freakbeat “Blue Steel 45” and the atmospheric laid-back “Indian Pipe” is out in 1970 and gets a lot of airplay. Another song from their catalogue compiled hereby is the melodic West-Coast styled “Lucy Lucy”. Former member Peter van Asten leaves the band early 1971. Under the pseudonym of Peter Bewley he releases three 45’s of which his first “It’s Allright Bill” b/w “Smile Again”, a beautiful strongly Beatles-inspired pop 2-sider, is his best and most successful one. Peter plays guitar, bass, piano, organ and is doin’ the lead vocals. It’s 1975 when Amsterdam’s first album is released and the band actually no longer exists. It’s a collection of their Pink Elephant single sides complemented with four songs recorded earlier. As a tribute to our beloved Amsterdam city we chose Alessandra Monoriti’s colorful illustration for the cover which perfectly fits in the music compiled in this record. Lovers of Nederbeat, Dutch-Baroque-Pop and lite Pop-Psych will surely fill this record between their genre’s faves. Thanks to Dutch music export Erik Meinen this selection is now available again with such a rich and detailed liner notes insert. It was about time these songs would be rediscovered and newly presented in all their splendor. We sure hope you’ll like them as much as we do!