Mad Curry -

Mad Curry was a Belgian jazz-rock/psych band that released a 1970 self-titled album and a standalone single on the Pirate’s label.

Members: Viona Westra (vocals), Giorgio Chitschenko (saxophone), Danny Rousseau (organ), Jean Andore (bass), Eddy Kane (drums)

Background

Mad Curry formed in Antwerp in 1970 as a five-member group with singer–percussionist Viona Westra, saxophonist Joosk Geeraerts, keyboardist Danny Rousseau, bassist Jean Vandooren, and drummer Eddy Verdonck. Geeraerts recorded under the name Giorgio Chitschenko, Vandooren under the name Jean Andore, and Verdonck under the name Eddy Kane. The group worked without a guitarist and placed voice, saxophone, Hammond organ, bass, and drums at the front of its sound.

Belgian manager and concert organizer Louis de Vries added Mad Curry to a circle that also included The Pebbles and Irish Coffee. De Vries brought the group to Pirate’s for the single “Antwerp” (b/w “Song for Cathreen”), issued before the self-titled LP.

Mad Curry

Mad Curry released their self-titled album in 1971 on Pirate’s.

The album blends organ-led jazz-rock and sax-forward psychedelic rock, performed by vocalist-percussionist Viona Westra, reedist Giorgio Chitschenko, keyboardist Danny Rousseau, bassist Jean Andore, and drummer Eddy Kane. Mad Curry arranged the record without guitar, so Rousseau’s Hammond and harpsichord tones share the upper register with Chitschenko’s saxophone. Westra places a high, blues-toned vocal above compact rhythm-section figures, while the band pivots through short meter changes and abrupt section turns.

“Men” slams into a blunt backbeat before Viona Westra belts the lead and a saxophone break cuts across the vocal release. “Big Ben” struts through a bass-and-organ figure, then repeats its main section with harder vocal entries and brassy replies. “Beauty” snaps male and female lines into a clipped call-and-answer shape, with the early beat held tight under Westra’s sharper phrases. “Music, The Reason of Our Happiness” scats through fast samba-tinged motion, then drops into softer lead lines before the busy ensemble returns.

“Jack Is Away” churns through the album’s last sustained stretch of heavy, jazz-angled song form. “5 Longhaired Children in a Cave” jolts through quick turns and playful Canterbury-like cadence shifts. “The Worker” hardens the social text around a piano-harpsichord tone and a more severe rhythmic tread. “Sound for Tomorrow” closes the sequence in a shorter, plainer frame.

Stylistically, Mad Curry pairs the sassy raunch of femme-led contemporaries Goliath, Room, Mr. Albert Show, and Earth and Fire with the chromatic jolt of continental Soft-like acts Supersister, Ping Pong, Burnin Red Ivanhoe, and Wigwam.

A1. “Men” (4:08)
A2. “Big Ben” (4:53)
A3. “Beauty” (3:32)
A4. “Music, the Reason of Our Happiness” (4:05)

B1. “Jack Is Away” (5:17)
B2. “5 Longhaired Children in a Cave” (3:55)
B3. “The Worker” (5:48)
B4. “Sound for Tomorrow” (2:18)

Mad Curry appeared in a six-panel fold-out sleeve by Jef Winnepenninckx. The cover image uses a black ground, purple keyhole outline, two eyes, and an open mouth beneath the white band name.

Pirate’s issued “Antwerp” as a 1970 single (b/w “Song for Cathreen”). Wah Wah reissued Mad Curry in 2013 with a bonus 7-inch that restored both sides of the single.