MOONTAN

Many newcomers to the band have heard the driving guitar proto-metal song ''Radar Love'', which laces itself with horns and synths halfway through, as their first Golden Earring tune. I happen to know longer a song they did in the 80's called ''Twilight Zone'', but then I heard ''Radar Love'', got turned on to this album and became hooked on the rest.

I practically know the entirely of MOONTAN from memory/by heart, so that means something in my variably expanding music collection. That instantaneous quality that good hard rock can give its listeners is right here, but there are plenty of eccentricities and depths to the tunes to the point where it bends backwards right into prog rock. Even if we get a boogie shuffle in ''Suzy Lunacy'' and a nod to the Rolling Stones in ''Just Like Vince Taylor''.

''Radar Love'' and ''Candy's Going Bad'' are the face-pounding hard rock tracks that give the album its edge; I already discussed ''Radar Love'', but ''Candy's Going Bad'' functions in similar terms excepting the last few minutes which diverge on a jazzy groove. The prog in the mix are the two nine minute excursions, and both deliver in both prog rock and hard rock. Both epics get strong when the instrumental sections are laid out, even if not much solo-y stuff is happen. Climaticizing these epics is crucial, and Golden Earring more than deliver especially on the sax-driven rising climax of ''Are You Receiving Me'', the overall best track on the album.

Those with the North American version are lucky enough to get a proggier version of MOONTAN, opting to extend an earlier epic ''Big Tree, Blue Sea'' (heavy Jethro Tull influence here) in favour of the two four minute songs. In either case, if you need a great album in the ''Prog Related'' section, get MOONTAN. The quality of the songs far surpasses my usual expectations of prog rock to the point where it's a firm essential.

Share this GOLDEN EARRING review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Sinusoid
• Report this review (#756263)
• Buy GOLDEN EARRING music online with PA partners
• Show all GOLDEN EARRING MP3/Stream
• Go to GOLDEN EARRING page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Moontan page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for GOLDEN EARRING related discussions