◄◄ REWIND
In ‘07, AB launched a timeless series: ◄◄ REWIND. Central to this series are Belgian musicians who perform ‘their classic’. Call it a milestone in their career or go a step further: a key record for popular Belgian music. Often, but not always, we're talking about albums that are etched into collective memory. Let's just say: points of reference in the landscape of Belgian music. So each season a number of performers play their entire ‘pièce de résistance’. Entirely? That's right, in the exact order that they want to tell their story now or wanted to tell it at the time of its success.

With ◄◄ REWIND AB also contributes to the activation of Belgium's musical heritage. Those who have already passed in review: ‘Royalty In Exile’ (The Scabs), ‘Gorky’ (by Gorki), ‘1981-1984’ (The Neon Judgement), ‘The Kids’ (The Kids), ‘Nooit Meer Drinken’ (Raymond Van Het Groenewoud), ‘Op Zoek Naar Romantiek’ (Guido Belcanto) and also ‘Jonge Helden’ by Arbeid Adelt!
The three Belgian classics pivotal to this new issue: De Mens who present their effervescent debut ‘De Mens’ from ’92, Luc Van Acker who picks up the thread of ‘The Ship’ from ’84, and also Wim Mertens with his under-appreciated album ‘Struggle For Pleasure’ (’82).
Just as previous performers, they too will be honoured with an official stone-laying ceremony in the Steenstraat next to AB: in recognition of their contribution to Belgian (pop) music.

◄◄ REWIND: Wim Mertens plays ‘Struggle For Pleasure’ (1982)
Wim Mertens' ‘Struggle For Pleasure’ was released in ’82 and – according to Wim Mertens – is a part of a ‘triptych’ including the albums ‘At Home – Not At Home’ (’80) and ‘Vergessen’ (’82). ‘Struggle For Pleasure’ is now the most successful Wim Mertens album. Writer Jan Delvaux calls this album ‘One of the much maligned masterpieces of Belgian music’. The two most well-known compositions on this album are undoubtedly the title song (that turned up for a while in Proximus advertisements) and also ‘Close Cover’ that was used as theme tune for De Nachtradio on the former BRT. Both songs would later also end up on the soundtrack of Peter Greenaway’s ‘The Belly of An Architect’, which at the same time gave Mertens international elan. The Wire once described both songs as “cunning, concise compositions that deserve their success”. What's more, Belgian techno producers Minimalistix reworked both songs in '00-'01 with European hit listings as a result.
Wim Mertens has his roots in the school of American minimal music. What's more: his book ‘American Minimal Music’ was published in ’80, the same year his debut ‘For Amusement Only’ was released. In the book he scrutinized American minimalists like Terry Riley, La Monte Young and Philip Glass. At the time he wanted to distance himself from ‘the score as ‘artwork’’ (see: Xenakis, Cage, Stockhausen,…) and return to the source, or: be gone with the rational and focus on the emotional.

In that period, Wim Mertens received more recognition internationally than locally. So it was that he toured in Italy, Japan and Greece, even before he'd been booked in his own country - like in our very own AB for example (that was only in ’89). Wim Mertens is now immensely popular in Spain and Italy.
At the end of last year, in leading monthly The Wire, there was a 6 page special on Wim Mertens in connection with a concert of his on English soil. In the article, they commended Mertens’ singing as “a passionate counter-tenor voice in the same vocal ballpark as Sigur Rós that connects very emotionally with large audiences.”.

Wim Mertens plays ‘Struggle For Pleasure‘ will be performed by a string quartet, saxophone/clarinet, harp, piano, chant and contains following compositions: 'Tourtour', 'Struggle For Pleasure', 'Salernes', 'Close Cover', 'Gentleman of Leisure', 'Inergys', 'Circular Breathing', '4 Mains', 'Multiple 12', 'At home' and 'Not at home'.

◄◄ REWIND: Q&A
Afterwards, now true to ◄◄ REWIND tradition, Wim Mertens will be interrogated in the AB Club by De Standaard journalist Wouter Van Driessche and Jan Delvaux (author of ’97 publication and reference work on Belgian pop music ‘Big In Belgium. Het Verhaal Van De Belgische Pop’). Delvaux is currently working on a sequel (working title: ‘Belpop. De eerste vijftig jaar. 1960-2010’) that is to be released at the end of the year.