Listen: Indian Reservation / Don Fardon
Indian Reservation / Don Fardon

Believe it. Don Fardon, age 68, has a hit single in Holland. This very minute. A song called ‘Im Alive’. I heard it with my own ears just last week blaring out of The Bulldog coffee shop, aka legalized pot cafe, near Amsterdam’s American Hotel.

Years ago, Corinne and I visited for a long weekend. It was an irrational, last minute idea we got on a Friday morning and by evening, we were on some cheap KLM ticket out of Heathrow for said adventure. I was in London for several weeks at a patch back then, as Island was still UK based.

Saturday afternoon was spent working off my first Indonesian meal (gado gado) by digging for 45′s in the shops and outdoor flea market stalls near the American Hotel, the best place to stay even to this day. My collection is strictly US and UK pressings, but the rules do get bent for Dutch 7′s from the 60′s, especially those Decca/Deram ones in the generic picture sleeves, all with the same geometric layout yet using some very obscure band photos. Love those.

This was around November ’88, and shockingly, there were still plenty of nice items to snag. Amongst them The Attack ‘Colour Of My Mind’ in the Dutch sleeve. Very nice.

As the day wound down, Corinne wanted to try out a coffee shop, sample the brownies. Reluctantly, I agreed. The heavy dub reggae blaring onto the street convincing me to live a little.

Oh boy. Big mistake. One brownie didn’t seem to touch me, so I bought a second. No sooner was that down, and boom, the first one hit. Hard. Couldn’t get back to the hotel fast enough.

I always scurry past those coffee shops these days, even a flashback is too frightening a thought. But I was well pleased to hear Don Fardon from down the block last week.

Anything sounding remotely tribal has always caught my ear, and that’s how I kind of describe ‘Indian Reservation’. Not unlike Don Fardon’s first band, The Sorrows, and their UK hit, ‘Take A Heart’ before it. Both are heavy with original arrangements and stand out big time from most other releases during their respective time periods.

Shockingly, ‘Indian Reservation’ was a US hit (#20) as well as a British one (#3). Despite being on a small indie, I guess it picked up some airplay and broke through on quality.