Musically, Shocking Blue was hard to peg. While their solid rhythm section comprised of guitar, bass and drums, was regularly augmented by an array of instruments including sax, sitar, banjo and mandolin, their repertoire freely leapt from proto-glam to kickass country rock. Robbie Van Leeuwen’s obsession with American music was apparent with one listen to The Big 3’s 1963 update of Stephen Foster’s 1847 song, “Oh, Susanna,” which they renamed “The Banjo Song.” Tim Rose, Jim Hendricks, and the future “Mama” Cass Elliot gave Foster’s famous tune a rock ‘n’ roll edge with a driving guitar riff straight out of Henry Mancini’s theme song to the popular TV show Peter Gunn. Whether a flagrant case of plagiarism or merely “inspired by” The Big 3, Robbie kept the music fully intact, note for note, chord for chord, while re-writing the lyrics, transforming the obscure novelty folk number into the pop smash “Venus,” and topped the Billboard charts in December 1969. Other obvious influences can be heard in the song’s intro, which kicks off with chiming suspended guitar chords by way of Pete Townshend’s “Pinball Wizard” from The Who’s Tommy (released only a few months before “Venus” in March 1969). In 1988, Cor van der Beek, confessed that “Venus” “was stolen from The Beatles.” While one might comb the Fabs’ albums looking for the source of the song’s irresistible guitar hook, it was actually Billy Preston’s electric piano groove from “Get Back” (imitated by Cees Schrama of Golden Earring) that van der Beek was referring to. It also didn’t hurt that Robbie van Leeuwen’s lead guitar break on “Venus” strongly resembled John Lennon’s slinky licks on The Beatles’ 1969 single. Robbie van Leeuwen was obviously hip to American roots music and had no qualms about re-working it into great pop. For their 1972 single “Rock in the Sea,” van Leeuwen employed the electric mandolin and lifted a verse directly from the Holy Modal Rounders’ “Mole in the Ground” (who’d copped it from banjo picker Bascom Lamar Lunsford). Shocking Blue’s “Navajo Tears,” which featured Robbie on mandolin and saxophone, employed the melody of “The Trees They Do Grow High,” a traditional folk song sung by Joan Baez, Pentangle and many others. No matter what their source of inspiration, or which direction their sonic compass pointed, Mariska Veres inevitably became the group’s focal point. Her striking looks - long dark hair, cut into bangs (said to be a wig) framed her alluring kohl-ringed eyes. Dressed in wild print blouses, short skirts and high boots, she drew comparisons to every sultry brunette who ever fronted a rock band, from Grace Slick, to Cher and Linda Ronstadt. But Mariska had something extra. She was Romany - an exotic cocktail of Hungarian, Russian and French. One of three daughters, Mariska began her career singing and playing piano with her father, Lajos Veres, a violinist with a gypsy orchestra. By 1963, she was singing with a twangy guitar group called Les Mysteres, who recorded a righteous reverb-soaked cover of “Summertime.” Nearly every article written about Shocking Blue compared the band to Jefferson Airplane. But the similarities between Mariska and Grace Slick were superficial at best. To begin with, Veres would prove a more versatile vocalist, and while Grace was a legendary wild woman and provocateur, Mariska was said to be a gentle soul who loved cats, didn’t smoke, shunned drink and drugs, and warned her bandmates upon joining their ranks that relationships were strictly out. Years later, Mariska told the Belgian magazine Flair: “I was just a painted doll, nobody could ever reach me. Nowadays, I am more open to people.” From: https://pleasekillme.com/mariska-veres/
