2 Meter Sessies, Volume 5 is a various-artists compilation released in 1994 on the Dutch Varagram/Radio Records label, collecting highlights from the long-running Dutch radio and television program 2 Meter Sessies (2 Meter Sessions). The program, hosted by Jan Douwe Kroeske and broadcast on VARA Radio 3 since 1987, invited both established and emerging artists to perform in a stripped-back studio setting capturing performances that emphasized directness and intimacy over polish. Lisa Germano appears on Track 14 with a studio session recording of “The Darkest Night of All,” a song from Happiness.
2 Meter Sessies began in May 1987 when Neil Finn of Crowded House—appearing on Jan Douwe Kroeske’s radio program Twee meter de lucht in on VARA Radio 3—performed a set of acoustic songs in lieu of a standard promotional interview. The format proved compelling enough to sustain as its own ongoing program, predating the international profile of MTV Unplugged by several years. By the early 1990s it had expanded to include a television component and had hosted hundreds of sessions by artists ranging from Nirvana and Radiohead to James Taylor and J.J. Cale.
By the time Volume 5 was compiled in 1994, the series was well established as a document of the international touring circuit as it passed through the Netherlands. Artists visiting Europe on promotional tours were routinely invited to record a session, resulting in a cross-section of the mid-1990s alternative and indie landscape. Volume 5 reflects this—its seventeen tracks range across American alternative rock (Buffalo Tom, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Matthew Sweet, The Posies, Morphine), folk and country-inflected acts (James Taylor, The Walkabouts), international artists (Angélique Kidjo, An Emotional Fish, The Scabs), and of course, Lisa Germano.
Germano’s appearance would have coincided with 4AD’s early-1994 promotional campaign for the UK reissue of Happiness and the Inconsiderate Bitch EP. Having left Capitol Records and signed with 4AD, she was actively touring and promoting in this period.
Themes
As the closing track on Happiness in both its Capitol and 4AD configurations, “The Darkest Night of All” occupied a deliberate emotional position in Germano’s sequencing—the album’s final exhale, a slow, plaintive piano ballad that offered not resolution but a tentative acceptance of loss. A secular elegy in tone, it was widely noted by reviewers as among the most emotionally exposed moments in her discography to that point.
Germano’s choice to perform this particular song for a Dutch radio audience in early 1994 is notable. Rather than presenting one of the Happiness tracks more likely to receive airplay (“Bad Attitude,” “Energy,” or “Sycophant”), she performed the album’s quietest, most interior piece. This is consistent with what is known about Germano’s live approach throughout her career: an indifference to conventional promotional logic, and a tendency to present material that meant something to her rather than material positioned for impact.
Released: 1994
Label: Radio Records
Catalog No: 477702-2
Format: CD
Country: Netherlands
Availability: Rare
Note: Better scans of this release coming soon.
| No. | Artist | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buffalo Tom | I’m Allowed | 4:13 |
| 2 | Shine | Shame | 5:39 |
| 3 | G. Love & Special Sauce | Blues Music | 4:49 |
| 4 | James Taylor | Millworker | 4:24 |
| 5 | The Scabs | Hard Times | 4:53 |
| 6 | The Walkabouts | Loom of the Land | 5:48 |
| 7 | Toad the Wet Sprocket | Fall Down | 3:12 |
| 8 | The Scene | Brand | 3:09 |
| 9 | Oleta Adams | God Bless the Child | 5:04 |
| 10 | Inspiral Carpets | I Don’t Wanna Go Blind | 3:34 |
| 11 | Morphine | Lucky Day | 4:20 |
| 12 | Angelique Kidjo | Agolo | 5:05 |
| 13 | Chris Bailey | Gone With the Wind | 4:15 |
| 14 | Lisa Germano | The Darkest Night of All | 4:01 |
| 15 | An Emotional Fish | Sister Change | 3:06 |
| 16 | Matthew Sweet | Divine Intervention | 3:21 |
| 17 | The Posies | Burn and Shine | 7:12 |
Sessions for were recorded live in Dutch studio facilities, primarily at NOB Audiostation 1 in Hilversum (the Netherlands’ main public broadcasting complex) and at Bullet Sound Studios. The Volume 5 release credits acknowledge both NOB and Bullet Sound, along with VARA Radio 3 and NOS Cultuur as the broadcasting partners. The recordings were captured for simultaneous or near-simultaneous radio broadcast, with the television component beginning in 1993. Performances were typically single-take, with minimal or no post-production, giving the recordings their characteristic documentary quality.
According to the 2 Meter Sessies official archive, Lisa Germano’s session was recorded on March 3, 1994—approximately five weeks before the release of the 4AD version of Happiness, placing it squarely within the promotional build up for that reissue. The session included at least two performances: “The Darkest Night of All,” selected for this compilation, and “Happiness,” the album’s title track, which survives as a separate recording available via the 2 Meter Sessies YouTube channel. This suggests the session was a fuller engagement than a single-song appearance, with the compilation track representing only a portion of what was recorded that day. Germano performed as a sole performer—no additional musicians are listed, in contrast to the multi-member ensembles credited for other artists on the release.
The compilation was produced and licensed by Varagram/Radio Records and distributed by Sony Music Entertainment (Holland). Individual track licenses were obtained from the respective rights holders; the Lisa Germano track was licensed via 4AD (Beggars Banquet Records Ltd.), consistent with her signing to the label earlier that year.
Packaging & Design
2 Meter Sessies, Volume 5 was released as a standard jewel case CD with a printed booklet, consistent with the other volumes in the series. The track listing, credits, and publishing information were included in the liner notes. The booklet includes a photograph of each performing artist alongside their personnel credits, listed in Dutch (gitaar = guitar, piano, zang = vocals). The Germano photograph shows her in the session studio.
Personnel
Lisa Germano: guitar, piano, vocals
Written by Lisa Germano
Published by Polygram Songs BMI / Emotional Wench (via 4AD / Beggars Banquet Records Ltd.)
Recorded at NOB Audiostation 1, Hilversum, or Bullet Sound Studios, Netherlands, 1994
Program host: Jan Douwe Kroeske
Label: Varagram / Radio Records ℗ & © 1994 Varagram / Radio Records
Distribution: Sony Music Entertainment (Holland)
Critical Reception
2 Meter Sessies, Volume 5 received no significant press coverage as a compiled release; the volumes in the series functioned primarily as archival documents of the broadcast program rather than as music releases in the conventional sense. Dutch fan commentary has characterized Volume 5 as one of the stronger entries in the series, with particular praise for The Walkabouts, James Taylor, Inspiral Carpets, and An Emotional Fish. The Germano track has not been the subject of dedicated critical writing, but her session performance has been referenced in at least one retrospective piece on the Happiness era as evidence of her affinity for the song in a live context.
For Germano’s discography, the track’s significance lies in its scarcity: it represents one of only a handful of officially released live recordings of her work, and the only known commercially released document of her in performance during the Happiness period.
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