Around the release of
Younger Days, Dutch music critics were arguing whether
Fatal Flowers or
Claw Boys Claw were Holland's hottest band of the moment. In doing so, they ignored each band's distinctiveness. Although both evolved from the local
punk scene of Amsterdam (known as "Amsterdam School of Guitar"), their musical approach sounded very different. Beside that, they went along fine and respected each other's work. Competition probably only existed in the heads of self-consumed journalists. On
Fatal Flowers' second album the lineup consisted of
Richard Janssen,
Marco Braam,
Henk Jonkers, and
Dirk Heuff, who had just replaced
Erwin Wolters on guitar. Upon entering the music scene, they all had agreed to put all of their time and effort exclusively into the band, something which was not regarded as common practice by most of their colleagues. Their iron discipline resulted in a repertoire of catchy
rock songs and an exciting live performance. With
Younger Days they did more than improve upon their debut mini-album,
Fatal Flowers. Although the sound is at times a little over-produced --
Vic Maile wasn't able to catch their energetic live appearance -- it still offers the blueprint for the band's creativity. Part of
Younger Days reminds of the Dutch "Nederbiet" movement. However, the influence of the '60s shouldn't be overexaggerated, for their sound showed just as much familiarity with the '80s. For instance, the classic
rock of the title track (a minor hit in the Netherlands) is placed beside the
new wave bliss of
"Ballroom." The latter is among the best tracks on this album, which further includes the desperate plea of
"Nowhere to Lay My Head" and the "murder-
ballad"
"Well Baby, Pts. 1 & 2," a second single drawn from
Younger Days which failed to make the charts. Much like
Daryll-Ann during the '90s,
Fatal Flowers made Dutch
rock music exciting and most relevant outside the Netherlands. ~ Quint Kik
