Shampoo -

Shampoo was a Belgian jazz-rock band that made the 1971 album Volume One on Disques Motors. They merged with the Dutch vocal trio Hearts of Soul for the 1973 single “All of Us” and the 1974 album We Love the Policeman. Saxist Giorgio Chitschenko hailed from Mad Curry.

Members: Luk Smets (keyboards, vocals), Cel De Cauwer (drums, percussion), Giorgio Chitschenko (saxophone), François Maes (saxophone), Rudi Pincé (bass), Yves De Vriendt (guitar), Jean-Noël Passagez (trumpet), Nick Roland (guitar, vocals), Jean Hulsens (bass, double bass), Jean-Pierre Onraedt (drums, percussion)

Background

Shampoo formed in Belgium in 1971 when keyboardist Luc Smets and drummer Marcel “Cel” De Cauwer left The Pebbles. Smets joined The Pebbles in 1966 and co-wrote the 1968 single “Seven Horses in the Sky.” De Cauwer entered the band in a later lineup.

The pair recruited guitarist Yves De Vriendt, bassist Rudy Pincé, and saxophonists François Maes and Giorgio Chitschenko. De Vriendt previously played lead guitar in The New Inspiration. Chitschenko came from Mad Curry, which cut a 1971 self-titled album on Pirate’s.

All six musicians rehearsed at the Sint-Martens-Latem Club in Temse-Velle, where Marc Moulin also worked with an early Placebo lineup. French label operator Francis Dreyfus signed Shampoo to Disques Motors for the first album.

Volume One

Shampoo released their singular album, Volume One, in 1971 on Disques Motors.

Volume One features the six-piece lineup of De Vriendt, De Cauwer, Pincé, Maes, Chitschenko, and singer/organist Smets, who wrote the album’s lion share. Musically, they echo the Volume Two school of Soft Machine, as purveyed by Mad Curry, Pazop, Supersister, and the Moving Gelatine Plates.

“Brother” skips through bright piano figures and deliberately silly singing. “Keep the Day Cool” veers across abrupt early changes, settles when sung phrases enter, then reopens around bass and keyboard figures before an extended dual-saxophone exchange. “Some Reason” shifts from stern ensemble passages into a sugary sung lull, then quickens behind a guitar solo and scat syllables before a classically inflected turn leads into brassy improvisation.

“Summer” bursts from busy ensemble interplay, drops through a brief solo rotation, then settles beneath the sung section. “Hot Dog” toggles between French and English passages, reprises the comic phrases, and ends with paired lines. “Hurry Up” scurries through a fast instrumental entrance, pauses briefly, then rebuilds before a long drum solo consumes most of the track. “My Sweet Honeybee” threads near-spoken narration through restless ensemble passages.

A1. “Brother” (3:10) – Smets
A2. “Keep the Day Cool” (6:23) – Smets
A3. “Some Reason” (10:52) – Chitschenko–Smets

B1. “Summer” (4:22) – Chitschenko–Smets
B2. “Hot Dog” (4:06) – Smets
B3. “Hurry Up” (8:57) – De Cauwer–Smets
B4. “My Sweet Honeybee” (4:13) – Smets

Guitarist Yves De Vriendt produced Volume One with engineers Jos Clauwers and Rony Sigo. His Shampoo role followed late-1960s work with The New Inspiration, while Clauwers and Sigo previously engineered the self-titled Mad Curry album.

Luk Rijckaert designed and photographed the gatefold sleeve. The front sets the group name in white capitals against a plain magenta field.

O-Music issued a CD reissue in 2012 and restored the album to vinyl with a 2022 edition.

Hearts of Soul

Shampoo changed personnel after Volume One. Smets retained saxophonist François Maes and recruited guitarist Nick Roland, bassist Jan Hulsens, drummer Jean-Pierre Onraedt, and trumpeter Jean-Noël Passagez. Dutch sisters Bianca, Patricia, and Stella Maessen worked with the revised group under their established name, Hearts of Soul.

Philips issued the 1973 Shampoo single “All of Us” (b/w “Today Is the First Day (of the Rest of Your Life)”). Hearts of Soul supplied backing parts. Smets produced both sides and co-wrote “All of Us” with Bianca Maessen.

We Love the Policeman

Hearts of Soul & Shampoo released their joint album, We Love the Policeman, in 1974 on Barclay.

The album pairs six songs by Smets and Bianca Maessen with six remakes of earlier popular material. Smets sings with Maes, Roland, Hulsens, Onraedt, and Passagez, while Bianca, Patricia, and Stella Maessen handle the principal female parts.

“We Love the Policeman” lurches from an abrupt opening break into a sticky recurring rhythm as strained group singing heightens the campy tone.

A1. “You and Me” (4:29) – Smets–Maessen
A2. “Theme From Spider Man” (1:58) – Lemberg
A3. “Mama Won’t You Tell Me” (3:19) – Smets–Maessen
A4. “Yesterday You” (2:59) – Smets–Maessen
A5. “Music Box” (3:15) – Smets–Maessen
A6. “We Love the Policeman” (4:47) – Smets–Maessen

B1. “Rhum & Coke” (2:46) – Sullivan–Baron
B2. “Blueberry Hill” (3:25) – Lewis–Stock–Rose
B3. “Let’s Have a Party” (1:43) – Robinson
B4. “I’m Sorry” (2:26) – Allbritten–Self
B5. “Love Me Tender” (3:26) – Matson–Presley
B6. “Bei Mir Bist Du Schon” (2:03) – Secunda–Cahn–Chaplin

Smets arranged, conducted, and produced We Love the Policeman after completing the 1973 Philips single. Engineers Clauwers and Sigo returned to mix the album at Reward Studio.

Peter Verbruggen designed the 62-by-60-cent foldout poster sleeve under Barclay art director Tony Bloemen.

Barclay issued “We Love the Policeman” as a 1974 single (b/w “Theme From Spider Man”).

SDBAN revived the title on a 2017 split single with “Mona Call” by Kiosk and also included the album recording on Funky Chimes Part 2: Belgian Grooves From the ’70s.

Dream Express

Shampoo disbanded in 1975 when Smets and the Maessen sisters formed Dream Express. At the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest, the quartet represented Belgium with “A Million in One, Two, Three” and finished seventh.

Discography: