The Mercy’s are a pop band formed in Medan, Sumatera Utara,
Indonesia in the late 60s. They were one of the bands that gained considerable
popularity after the wake of Koes Plus. During their heydays in the 70s, they
were considered among the top five bands of the era, along with Koes Plus,
Panbers, D’lloyd, and the Favourite’s Group. Much like the other four bands,
they continue to enjoy lasting success and recognition through a number of hit
songs, re-released and remastered over the years by their record label, Remaco.
Some of the members of the band have been elevated to legendary status as they
charted lasting impact in the history of popular music in Indonesia.
The Story
Depending on the sources on the net, The Mercy’s formed in
either 1965 or 1969. The band’s name was said to derive from the popular
nickname of Mercedes-Benz cars, the Mercy. It was possible that the band formed
in 1965, yet they did not fare well until 1969, when they secured a contract
for a string of gigs in Malaysia and Singapore. At the time, a great number of
Indonesian bands and singers had been contracted for playing in public places
in Malaysia and Singapore, sometimes for months. The first of these bands were
The Peels, which included future prog luminary Benny Soebardja on guitar, whose
tenure in 1967 resulted in a local best-selling live album as well as a handful
of singles, mostly covers on Indonesian traditional and popular songs. The
trend of Indonesian musicians touring Malaysia and Singapore started from then
on to the early 70s, with a number of these bands and singers eventually signing
recording deals with international record labels, such as RCA/Victor and
Philips.
The line-up that had been set to play in Malaysia comprised
founding members Rizal Arsyad (rhythm guitar), brothers Erwin (lead guitar) and
Rinto Harahap (bass guitar, vocal), Iskandar (lead vocal, keyboards) and
Reynold Panggabean (drums, percussion). Prior to their departure, Iskandar left
the band to concentrate more on his studies in medicine. The remaining members
of the band rushed to find the replacement and installed Charles Hutagalung to
fill in Iskandar’s spot. Charles proved to be a dependable member and soon
became key to The Mercy’s success in both performance and recording. The band’s
tenure in Malaysia lasted six months, with the band performing covers of
Indonesian popular and traditional songs with originals thrown in here and
there for good measure. They enjoyed lasting popularity in Malaysia, resulting
in some of their albums released by Malaysian labels in the 70s.
Going back to Medan from Malaysia, with cancelled
Singaporean tour dates and Charles becoming a full-time member, the band seek
to secure a recording contract. Following in the footsteps of Panbers, a fellow
Medan band whose first album had made considerable national impact, The Mercy’s
made a move to Jakarta in the early 70s. Rizal refused to move with the band
and chose to continue his study in Germany.
After a series of sessions, it was clear that the band’s
main songwriters were Charles and Rinto, with few contribution from Erwin and
Reynold. However, the “leader” of the band was always Erwin Harahap, as was
also stated later on the sleeves of their albums. Charles and Rinto each had a
fair share of writing both sentimental, slow songs and more upbeat, rock n’
roll tunes which was showcased in their early efforts, particularly in the
first two albums (later re-released by Remaco in 2003 as a single-cassette
split album). Seeking to diversify their sound, which was by then dominated by
Charles’s organ sweeps and Reynold’s percussive attack, the band asked Albert
Sumlang, an aspiring saxophone player, to join in. In the band’s first album,
Albert’s expressive, soaring and sometimes wailing saxophone work can be heard
on a number of songs. Albert also contributed one song to the first album, “Kisah
Seorang Pramuria,” one of the band’s career-defining songs.
The band eventually secured a contract with Purnama Records
and in 1972, their first album was released to much fanfare. The upbeat songs,
such as “Di Pantai”, showcased what The Mercy’s were made of. It was, however,
the band’s slower, more melancholic songs that fared better: “Tiada Lagi”, “Kisah
Seorang Pramuria” and “Love.” The success of “Tiada Lagi”, their first single,
was interrupted by a fellow Medan band, Judas, claiming that the song was
theirs. To this day, however, the song still belongs to the Mercy’s back
catalogue. “Kisah Seorang Pramuria” was considered to be their runaway success
and perhaps their career-defining song. It was the song that people today
identify most with The Mercy’s. It has all the trademarks of the band’s career:
Charles’s nasal voice and Farfisa riffing, Albert’s meandering saxophone work
and the sense of balladry supported by narrative lyrics told in first person
which was to become The Mercy’s lasting style. The band also started their
trend of inserting a song with English lyrics in their albums with the song “Love”,
known for Charles’s and Albert’s emotional delivery on their instruments.
The second album followed a year later with pretty much the
same formula and met with pretty much the same success. By the third album, the
band had pretty much established a stable formula: lots of the trademark
ballads with a few upbeat and jamming-oriented songs such as “Woman” and “Tak
Mungkin” sometimes showcasing their rock n’ roll, blues and hustle roots.
During this era, the band accumulated a lot of following and was even voted as
the most popular band by several magazines and polls, including the poll
conducted by the Armed Forces (!), considered the most prestigious popular
music poll at the time.
At the height of the band’s popularity, Albert was fired in
1974 shortly after finishing the band’s eighth album, citing personal and
musical differences. The band decided that they could go on without Albert and
moved on as a quartet. After Albert’s departure, things got more laid back in
the band’s quarter, thus allowing Charles to form a short-lived project called
Ge & Ge (Genial and Gentlemen), whose musical output was not drastically
different from The Mercy’s. The project, however, enjoyed moderate success with
the single “Hanya Satu,” which sometimes finds itself amidst a compilation of
The Mercy’s songs, despite being performed by an entirely different band. Rinto
traced back his Malay and Batak roots and experimented with traditional music.
This was evident later in the band’s three volumes of pop Melayu (Malay pop),
released perhaps to cash in on the success of Koes Plus’s pop Melayu albums. Koes
Plus were The Mercy’s label mates as The Mercy’s switched labels from Purnama
to Remaco from their eighth album onwards. However, being more in touch with
Malay and Batak musical tradition, The Mercy’s Malay pop outputs were drastically
different from Koes Plus’s. While Koes Plus rejected to release a
Mandarin-pop-influenced album, The Mercy’s agreed on releasing a
Mandarin-pop-styled album, sometime at the end of their recording career. It
was at this point also The Mercy’s re-recorded their early hits without Albert,
with Charles’s organ and Erwin’s guitar solos replacing Albert’s parts. The
session resulted in sleeker and more polished versions of their songs. The
results of this session were later used for many of the band’s greatest hits
compilation albums, thus diminishing Albert’s role in the eyes of many late
listeners of the band except for a handful of songs.
By 1978, it was clear that the band had become a shadow of
their former selves. The balladry formula was no longer tried and true, but
rather a tired one. Their ballads have become sappier yet less emotional. The
return of Albert and the release of their final studio album, Mimpi, did not
save them from calling it a day. By late 1978, the members parted ways and
minded their own business. Charles chose to pursue his solo career and did not
revive Ge & Ge. Rinto and Erwin became songwriters and producers for other
musicians, establishing Lollypop Records, with Rinto becoming a more
influential figure in pop music. Reynold ventured into the realm of fusion
dangdut with his then wife, Camellia Malik, in an outfit called Tarantula.
Albert continued on as a session saxophonist and ventured cafes in the
Netherlands at times.
Twenty years after the breakup, the band chose to reunite
and tour the nostalgia circuit. The reunion resulted in a live album and a
karaoke album with old songs in new arrangements. They toured extensively with
great success with Charles particularly in good spirits after recovering from
stroke. One of their most memorable post-reunion performances was the televised
sold out concert at Ancol, where they shared the stage with their
contemporaries, D’lloyd and Koes Plus. The band’s newfound success was cut
short, however, by Charles’s death in 2001. Realizing that they could never
replace Charles, the remaining band members parted ways once again.
The legacy of the band lives on to this day, thanks to
Remaco releasing a number of greatest hits albums and inserting the band’s
songs into select compilation albums of Indonesian evergreen hits. In 2003,
Remaco also remastered and re-released the band’s first six albums, whose
rights were previously owned by Purnama Records, finally giving a chance to the
younger generation to grasp The Mercy’s original, rawer sound. In January 2005,
the band’s Rinto-penned ballad, “Ayah,” was reworked as “Aceh” and released as
a single from the charity album for the 2004 tsunami/earthquake disaster in
Aceh. The single was performed by a number of well-known Indonesian singers,
including Ariel of Peterpan and Candil (then) of Seurieus.
Rinto hinted in an interview that The Mercy’s were never
dissolved, but the band’s reunion is rendered improbable due to the apparent
absence of Charles and that, at the time, there was nobody suitable enough to
replace him. However, the final fate of the band was seemingly sealed by the
death of Albert Sumlang in 2009. Concerts to honor The Mercy’s musical legacy
have been held sporadically at times, with the latest held in November 2012,
joined by Rinto who jammed with the sons of Albert Sumlang.
The Music
Here are two examples of The Mercy's musical trademarks. The first is Di Pantai, their light rock n' roll tune, while the second is arguably their most well-known ballad that characterizes their whole career of balladeering, Kisah Seorang Pramuria.
Di Pantai by The Mercy's
Kisah Seorang Pramuria by The Mercy's
Note: Images courtesy of questing.wordpress.com and bazz-com.blogspot.com, respectively
