Album Notes

Sleepy Joe Tomato is a Dutch singer/songwriter, living in Amsterdam. In 1991 his first CD appeared: 'Leaps in the dark'. It was released by the Dutch record company Music and Words. Members of the Dutch band The Fatal Flowers (drummer Henk Jonkers and bass-player Geert de Groot)and the great guitar-player Eus Menage participated in the making of this album. The album was recorded on an old 16-track recorder in a space that the musicians had to leave during the recording session, because it was discovered that the ground beneath the studio was polluted (there used to be an ink factory in the building where the studio was built). The recorder and mixing board were carried through Amsterdam to different locations: first to the studio of a friend and shortly afterwards, after complaints of her neighbors, to the small appartment of drummer Henk (the mixing of the album was the mixing board's last job; it was dumped after the mixing of 'Leaps in the dark').

The music of 'Leaps in the dark' is rootsy: it is a mix of pop, country, rock 'n' roll and r&b. All songs were written by Joan Ter Maten (alias Sleepy Joe Tomato). Perhaps you will be able to listen to fragments of some of the songs which are on the site of CD Baby (for example 'She whispered his name', on which track you can hear a nice horn section, including the great trumpet player Mike Booth, now member of the Dutch band De Dijk). The song 'You ruined my party' was released on vinyl (45rpm). It is a collector's item now. If you have found a copy, please let us know (snork@euronet.nl).

If you're interested in more information, you can check out the other albums of SJT which are also on the site of CD Baby. Or you can vist SJT's website: www.snork.nl

By the way: it’s possible to download songs of all CDs at Apple-iTunes, if you’re only interested in a couple of songs.

You can watch a video, made by Eus Menage and SJT, of the song 'Drinking and drinking and drinking' on YouTube.

Some opinions in the press about 'Leaps in the dark':

'A very enjoyable record' - Music Maker

'A tasty homegrown product' - Music Magazine Oor

'A pleasant "roots" CD' - Musicmania