When we left Maywood yesterday, they had just come off of a poor 1990 performance at Eurovision, finishing in fifteenth place. However, we're getting way too far ahead of things at this point. First, we need to hit the rewind button, and got back to 1982 for their third album, Colour My Rainbow.
I had high expectations for this album based on the prior two, and for the most part, this was met. The vocals of Caren (burnette) are just amazing, as usual, and this works in tandem with Alice's (blonde) strong writing and music direction.
Tracks one through five packed the hardest punch, which really drew me in. However, by song number six, things turned very ballad and slower paced love themed heavy. This shift in ton stayed for the remainder of the album, and honestly tanked the back half of Colour My Rainbow for me. I wanted continuous high energy, and solid pop rock, which I suppose may be my own fault for expecting this.
In hindsight, I can understand why there was a hiatus for five years. before their next album. I can definitely hear the decline in "hits". As a whole, it's just not as good as their self titled debut or follow up, Different Worlds. It kind of feels like the duo ran out of material midway through recording their 1982 record, and were just trying to gun it to the finish line.
Their final 80's album, Beside You was released in 1987. However, as of this writing, I have just now been able to track a copy down, and it should be enroute from France. While I won't be able to dive into it tomorrow, I'll definitely make it a point to swing back around to it upon its arrival.
Until then, to continue with the girls history from yesterday, after 1990's Eurovision, Maywood would release the Dutch language Achter De Horizon that same year. In 1991, they'd release the English language, Walking Back To Happiness, and additionally that year, Six Of The Thirties. Unfortunately, continued flopped singles and rapidly declining sales meant the end for the duo. They disbanded in 1995, and Alice continued a relatively unsuccessful solo career. It was also established that she would be the only one to use the name Maywood. However, Caren did not adhere to this, leading to Alice suing her in 1999. It was ruled in Alice's favor, and she was awarded the rights since she was the writer of the lyrics and music. Caren was forced to pay her for damages as a result for each identified instance of infringement.
In 2004 it was announced that the two had come to some form of agreement, and would perform together again. However, this didn't come to fruition. By 2006, Alice was looking for a new singer, and thought she found that in Rose Louwers. Days before the two were scheduled to perform, the show was cancelled, with Alice stating her and Louwers were, "Too far apart." She would elaborate by saying she had, "A very well-defined idea about how it should sound and what the décor should be." Louwers would disappear into anonymity after parting ways.
Alice continued her solo career, and utilized new singer, Inge Peters in 2010 to fill the void of her sister. Caren, on the other hand, began her own revitalization attempt in 2007. Teaming up with cabaret artist Henk Smaling, she returned to the stage with a café chantant -like program, Hotel Weemoed , a pun on Maywood. The two sisters briefly reunited for a series of Gerard Joling concerts in 2013, where they performed a medley of their hits with him. Sadly, a year later they picked up where they left off with arguing, and once again went their separate ways.
Though there has been no news from them since, hopefully, Alice, now 70, and Caren, 71, have found that the bond of sisters is stronger than any top ten hit, and made piece with each other. At the end of the day, what good is a hit song, when you've lost your sister (or brother...or any loved one) in the process?
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS June 26, 1982 |
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