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GOLDEN EARRING

Prog Related • Netherlands


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Golden Earring biography
Founded in The Hague, Netherlands in 1961 - Still active as of 2018

A complete bio of this group would take up a few pages. A concise one would still take up much space. This is one of the rock groups, that along with the Stones and Status Quo have been around for over 4 decades. And they're still a vital musical force ! So here is a brief overview :
Golden Earring was formed in 1961 in The Hague by 13-year-old George Kooymans and his 15-year-old neighbour, Rinus Gerritsen. Originally called The Tornados, the name was changed to Golden Earrings, when they discovered that The Tornados was already in use by another group.Their name was from a song originally sung by Marlene Dietrich in 1947 and a hit for Peggy Lee in 1948, with which they opened their concerts.
They achieve their first success in 1965 with "Please Go," as a pop rock band with Frans Krassenburg as lead singer. It reached number 9 on the music charts in The Netherlands. Their next single "That Day",went up to # 2 on the Dutch charts, stopped only by the Beatles "Michelle". Come 1968, they top the Dutch charts for the first of many times with "Dong-Dong-Di-Ki-Di-Gi-Dong," a song that spread their name through Europe.
By 1969, the rest of the lineup had stabilized, with lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Barry Hay and drummer Cesar Zuiderwijk. As with many late 60s groups, they find themselves looking for their own style for several years before settling on straightforward hard rock, initially much like that of the Who, who invited them to open their 1972 European tour.
From '69 and their first tour in the U.S., through their Europeen treks in the early 70s, the group slowly builds up a following. By '71, they are a regular presence on Dutch charts, and are starting to climb up the ladder in Germany. They sign on to the Who's Track label, which released a compilation of Dutch singles, Hearing Earring, helping the group break through in England. Already on the way up to stardom in Europe, 1973 becomes their big year.That most driven of driving songs is released on the world. Golden Earring have grabbed the golden ring with "Radar Love" and the album "Moontan". They hit the American market for long tours with such acts as Santana, the Doobie Brothers, & J Geils. The world seems theirs. But the lack of a follow-up hit ensured that their popularity remained short-lived in America, even though they remained a top draw in Europe over the rest of the 1970s, as their singles &...
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GOLDEN EARRING discography


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GOLDEN EARRING top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

2.12 | 15 ratings
Just Ear-Rings
1965
2.12 | 19 ratings
Winter-Harvest
1967
2.47 | 21 ratings
Miracle Mirror
1968
2.51 | 24 ratings
On The Double
1969
3.82 | 69 ratings
Eight Miles High
1969
3.86 | 67 ratings
Golden Earring [Aka: Wall of Dolls]
1970
3.62 | 69 ratings
Seven Tears
1971
3.30 | 55 ratings
Together
1972
3.93 | 138 ratings
Moontan
1973
3.10 | 60 ratings
Switch
1975
3.17 | 62 ratings
To the Hilt
1976
3.13 | 50 ratings
Contraband
1976
2.38 | 27 ratings
Grab It for a Second
1978
2.84 | 28 ratings
No Promises ... No Debts
1979
2.64 | 29 ratings
Prisoner Of The Night [Aka: Long Blonde Animal]
1980
3.15 | 39 ratings
Cut
1982
2.56 | 23 ratings
N.E.W.S.
1984
2.63 | 19 ratings
The Hole
1986
1.70 | 18 ratings
Keeper Of The Flame
1989
2.16 | 26 ratings
Bloody Buccaneers
1991
2.41 | 15 ratings
Face It
1994
2.27 | 13 ratings
Love Sweat
1995
2.62 | 14 ratings
Paradise In Distress
1999
2.94 | 14 ratings
Millbrook U.S.A.
2003
3.50 | 19 ratings
Tits'n Ass
2012

GOLDEN EARRING Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.82 | 38 ratings
Live
1977
3.00 | 17 ratings
2nd Live
1981
2.55 | 11 ratings
Something Heavy Going Down (Live From the Twilight Zone)
1984
2.67 | 19 ratings
The Naked Truth
1992
3.56 | 9 ratings
Naked II
1997
3.22 | 9 ratings
Last Blast From the Century
2001
3.50 | 8 ratings
Naked III Live in Panama
2006

GOLDEN EARRING Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

GOLDEN EARRING Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

1.00 | 1 ratings
Hits Van De Golden Earrings
1967
3.96 | 4 ratings
Hearing Earring
1973
3.92 | 11 ratings
The Continuing Story of Radar Love
1989
2.00 | 3 ratings
Collections
2006

GOLDEN EARRING Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

GOLDEN EARRING Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Switch by GOLDEN EARRING album cover Studio Album, 1975
3.10 | 60 ratings

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Switch
Golden Earring Prog Related

Review by Awqaq

4 stars It's a minor tragedy that Golden Earring is primarily remembered for their two albotross (albotrosses? Albotri?) in "Radar Love" and "Twilight Zone". This album is sorely underrated, perhaps due to it having a tough act to follow commercially. I personally view Switch as a continuation of the band's previous effort Moontan, with the latter album's closer "The Vanilla Queen" bearing many sonic similarities to the former's "Absurdio" in arrangement, like an extended cooldown after Moontan's brassy finale. "Switch" largely plays like an orbit around an alien landscape, with an intense sense of serene loneliness throughout the album. As the album progresses, more and more semi-funk influences surface, with plenty of guitar effects and quick, yet mellow keyboard triplets peppering tracks to great success. Many tracks are quite accessible, particularly helpful for relative newcomers to progressive and related music, with not quite anthemic, yet still clearly pop influenced tracks throughout the tracklist. While perhaps not the most traditionally progressive work (Iron Maiden's decision to cover a decidedly heavy song like "Kill Me (Ce Soir)" is a natural fit), the quintet stylishly shows their command of their respective instruments with performances that don't overly show off but are clearly alert and involved. This album is an auditory treat and worth listening to at least once that both starts and ends on a mellow high note.
 Miracle Mirror by GOLDEN EARRING album cover Studio Album, 1968
2.47 | 21 ratings

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Miracle Mirror
Golden Earring Prog Related

Review by DangHeck
Prog Reviewer

3 stars Their third studio album, following Winter-Harvest a year before, Miracle Mirror is a real sign of the times on the international music scene. Perhaps gone are the days of Pop-Rockin' Nederbeat for Golden Earring, and here we are, in full(er) Psychedelic swing.

Our album starts with the slow, fuzzy intro of "The Truth About Arthur", which features some really nice guitar work. Interesting vocal melody, to say the least: it's very minimal, almost Proto-Punky. The chorus features some nice group vocals. I'm not a huge fan of this'n though... Up next is "Circus Will Be In Town In Time"... And with that news, I can only say just how much of a relief that is to hear hahaha! This is a sort of post-Dylan acoustic-led ballad. The one melody line is very familiar, and I wish I could place it. As some other songs to follow, this melody reminds me of early Bee Gees. The verses are the strongest parts of the song, for sure.

Up next is "Crystal Heaven", a sort of R'n'B feel calling back to their Nederbeat, in my mind. It's still in the vein of Psychedelia, though. Pretty good chorus, which features a stabbing horn section. After the second chorus there's this really interesting instrumental section. It's hard to describe, but it has an interesting array of horns. Pretty good overall. More of a Rock thang on "Sam and Sue", it's reminiscent to me of the Nazz. The chorus on this one is very nice. It's more a Garage Rock thing, if you didn't get the Nazz implication, and in that, the production is a tad wanting, if anything. Next is some solid Psych Pop on "I've Just Lost Somebody", and [now not so] interestingly enough, the first band that comes to mind is the Bee Gees. I've mentioned it before, but if fans of Psych Pop and Psych Rock somehow don't know Bee Gee's First in the least, it is seriously one of my favorites of the genre. This song features some lovely vocal harmonies and a fuller orchestration of instruments: Quasi-Baroque Pop? It's low and slow, but the strongest song thus far (probably why I know it from one of their compilations already).

"Mr. Fortune's Wife" gives us some "Sha la la la"s over a nice Rock beat. The drums are... so nice! Very of- the-time drumming, with sweet tom rolls and dramatic play. The new(?) best song on the album to this point? I just really wish this song in particular were on Spotify. Until a sudden break, the organ sounds almost Eastern European in tone in the first half. Straight-ahead and upbeat all throughout. Definitely check it. Next, "Who Cares?" is, of course, markedly melancholy. More a piano-fronted number, this also features some really cool drums. Nice group vocals. Really cool, really groovy bass, too! Nice Psych-Pop-Rock! "Born a Second TIme" is in stark juxtaposition, a more balladic acoustic number with... what sounds like harp? I'm totally unsure what that is aside from guitar. It all features some very pretty, fairly bucolic flute playing as well.

Next is the rockin' "Magnificent Magistral". This has a sort of jangle in the guitar, but the rest of the instrumentation is straight-ahead and on the heavier side. Great riffs, great, crisp lead vocals, and once again it features nice post-Beat drumming. So tasty. Another juxtaposition in the softer, more Psychedelic "Must I Cry?" This is a steady Rock track with another lovely, jazzy flute solo toward the end. "Nothing Can Change This World of Mine" has a very cool, middle-period Pink Floyd feel. Like totally something that could have been on either Obscured by Clouds or Atom Heart Mother. The melody, though, is unmistakably '60s. Undoubtedly. Definitely one of the strongest tracks. Finally we have "Gipsy Rhapsody", with some fitting instrumentation in the intro especially. It's very upbeat and, I guess, mystical? This track has more strings than most others. Good melodies and fun, I would say, Moody Blues-esque instrumentation and composition. Awesome album closer.

I have to say that I'm now (further) surprised by these lower ratings on here. I don't know if people who rate these albums in these not-quite-Progressive categories (I wanted to use the prefix "extra" but didn't want to confuse anyone) just are unaware of how it works. We should be rating based on the greater scope of Rock music in these cases, not just the specifically 'progressive' idiom on which the site focuses... I know I do just genuinely love this kind of music, this era of Rock in general (especially the early Guitar Pop of the post-Beat world and Psychedelia), but... I don't know. I'm not saying people have to agree. Just surprised.

True Rate: 3.5/5.0

 Winter-Harvest by GOLDEN EARRING album cover Studio Album, 1967
2.12 | 19 ratings

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Winter-Harvest
Golden Earring Prog Related

Review by DangHeck
Prog Reviewer

3 stars Their early material, represented in their debut album, Just Ear-rings (1965), is likely the prime example of the Netherland's answer to Mersey Beat: naturally, Nederbeat. One of the few songs I remember/know from this album is the very good "Please Go", which really sounds like it could have been penned by John Lennon, but sounds like if... The Beatles collaborated with The Rolling Stones. Best I can say. Now, onto this their second album, what I always thought was slightly better received/loved, Winter-Harvest was released in 1967 and continues in a Rock 'n' Roll style with Beat and Pop hooks. I recall enjoying quite a bit from this album when I had first heard it who knows when [frankly, not that long ago].

The album starts off with the earwormy "Another Man in Town". As implied, awesome melodies and solid, kind of cleaner Garage Rock instrumentation. I've been listening to a lot of Power Pop the past year or so and this fits right into that Proto-Power Pop late-60s feeling. This would have just preceded some of the biggest releases of the Freakbeat movement (a few of them being some of my all-time favorite albums) and does, with the big Pop feel, still look back to Beat music. Next, "Smoking Cigarettes" is a sort of bluesy, introspective number, with low rhythm and the inclusion of vibes in the verses. Its chorus is a bit bigger. Though on that lighter side, a pretty classic Pop Rock song. This song, like the song from their debut I mentioned, is like the poppier side of The Stones, if I can place it.

"In My House" has a sort of honky tonk piano and a solid, very of-the-time backbeat over layers of harmonies. The lead vocals are clear. I think my favorite piece is the harmonies though. Seriously very nice. What is coming to mind here is The Small Faces. Then "Don't Wanna Loose That Girl" (a misspelling?) has a very simple rhythm and clean, low guitar, sort of sonically like a jazz guitar comp(?). The harmonies definitely win the day here, but nothing great about the song. The aforementioned Rock 'n' Roll is in fuller swing, though in a slower swing feel, on "Impeccable Girl". The song ain't much, but the chorus is fairly memorable. "Tears and Lies" is a piano-led ballad with jangling acoustic guitar and bass. Not sure it would appeal here.

Moving on, next is "You've Got the Intention to Hurt Me", which is... a very straight-forward title, isn't it? This is more Garage Rock with almost soaring guitar, especially notably for this time. The vocals here are gruff and big. Pretty good. Next is a song that I wouldn't be surprised if you knew it as I did when I first listened through, "Dream". This whole song is one big ol' hook. Very Blue-Eyed Soul, if I can place it. This song has some upbeat, forward and full instrumentation, including horns. The chorus and the verses are both super memorable to me. I'm trying to remember the song, but there's a later Phil Collins/Genesis melody that sounds a lot like "Dream"'s (though I wouldn't be surprised if Golden Earring's melody was also derivative of something that came before). [I'm certain the song that I was thinking of was Genesis' Soft Rock but honestly very lovely hit "Follow You Follow Me" in the chorus. I was trying to think what the starting point was for maybe both of them. "Baby Love" by The Supremes came to mind, and there's something in that... but... Dunno. Doubt that.]

"You Break My Heart" is... interesting. I don't like it. Hard to say what it is exactly, but I also don't care. Next is "Baby Don't Make Me Nervous". This is a sort of dark Rock number. The chorus has some pretty cool vocals, but the song overall is just alright to me. The other things that win it, if anything is the organ and the real stellar guitar solo (interestingly, this is possibly the best lead guitar on the whole release). Worth hearing once, I'd say. Next is another tasty number, "Call Me". The lead vocals are once again super clear and the instrumentation is upbeat and straight-forward. Really though, love this chorus. "Happy and Young Together" has some nice vocal harmonies and is another that glances back at Mersey Beat, but with a firm Garage Rock something. Nice hooks, nice melodies. Sort of jangly, actually. Don't know how I didn't pick up on that initially.

In the final swing of the album, "Lionel the Miser" is next with acoustic guitar and sort of... Western sonics? Silly kind of feel. Big surprise (/s), but the group vocals are the best part of the song. Again, it's just kind of silly. And finally, we have another very familiar and timeless number, our closer "There Will Be A Tomorrow". I love this song, and I think it's interesting, because, to me, they ended this with their absolutely strongest track. Love the instrumentation, the melodies, the vocals, everything. It's a perfect Pop Rock song. Kind of balladic. Again, excellent end to a pretty decent album.

 Together by GOLDEN EARRING album cover Studio Album, 1972
3.30 | 55 ratings

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Together
Golden Earring Prog Related

Review by VianaProghead
Prog Reviewer

3 stars Review Nº 494

Golden Earring is a Dutch rock band, founded in 1961 in The Hague as The Golden Earrings. The "s" was dropped in 1969 and the prefix "The" disappeared also in the same year. They achieved worldwide fame with their international hit songs "Radar Love" in 1973, which went to number one on the Dutch charts, reached the top ten in the UK and went to number thirteen on the US charts, "Twilight Zone" in 1982, and "When The Lady Smiles" in 1984. During their long career they had nearly 30 top ten singles on the Dutch charts. Over all those years they produced 25 studio albums.

Golden Earring is the most successful Dutch import since the windmills. The name was changed to the Golden Earrings when they discovered that the name The Tornados was already in use by another group. Initially, Golden Earring was formed by Rinus Gerritsen and George Kooymans as a quartet called The Tornados. The band initially was the Dutch version of ABBA. Golden Earring experienced various musical styles all over their lengthy career, names and personal, before settling on a straight edge, hard rock approach, sometimes with some progressive rock influences. The move paid off as a band, by then known as Golden Earring, was courted by The Who to open their European live tour of 1972. The Who subsequently signed the group to their record label the Track Records, were Golden Earring prosped and soon after released their ninth studio album "Moontan", which is considered by many, critics and fans, their best and most sucessful album. "Moontan" is also the album with their first and biggest hit "Radar Love", with its single version.

The band's line up currently consists of the two co-founder members Rinus Gerritsen (bass and keyboards) and George Kooymans (vocals and guitar), along with Barry Hay (vocals, guitar, flute and saxophone), and Cesar Zuiderwijk (drums and percussion). All musicians in the present line up of the band have been continuous members of the band since 1970, although some other musicians have joined and left the band during the intervening career years.

"Together" is the eighth studio album of Golden Earring and was released in 1972. It represents a different step for Golden Earring. Unlike the group's previous outings, "Eight Miles High" of 1969, "Golden Earring" aka "Wall Of Dolls" of 1970 and "Seven Tears" of 1971, the songs on "Together" don't fall into the strict rock or progressive categories. Instead, the group blurs those strict lines and weaves elements of each genre into a distinctive style that gives the songs a unique and distinctive flavor. The group also makes a concerted effort to give to each song a tight arrangement and usually more than one catchy hook. The final result is a band's truly solid, enjoyable and consistent album, really.

"Together" has eight tracks. The first track "All Day Watcher" is a good slow burning, mid tempo rocker which kicks the album off right. This track has successfully set the overall tone of the album. The second track "Avalanche Of Love" has great harmony of music and catchy melody reminiscent of the 70's music. It might have had a more melodic and progressive direction but it hasn't lost their edge at all and the track still retains some of their heavy metal roots, as happened with the previous track too. The third track "Cruisin' Southern Germany" is in the same vein of "Avalanche Of Love". It represents a logical continuation with its similar type of music, a guitar riff based music. The fourth track "Brother Wind" is a different kind of music, more dynamic and more energetic. It has the complex arrangement and length of a prog rock epic, but it moves forward with the energy and powerful riffing of a hard rock song. The fifth track "Buddy Joe" is a surging, dramatic adventure tale built on a sing along chorus and an insidiously catchy Indian style guitar riff with an inspiring chorus line. This rousing tune has remained a popular part of the band's live set list. The sixth track "Jangalene" is basically a ballad in an acoustic setting. It has a cleverly arranged tune that starts out as an acoustic blues but flowers into a full throttle rocker midway through. The verse melody is really catchy and the guitar breaks near the end works well too. The seventh track "From Heaven From Hell" has a mysterious atmosphere to it that I find a little appealing. It has great melody and singing style. The vocal job on the screaming part is really good. The composition, structure, melody and harmony are nice. The eighth track "Thousand Feet Below You" is straightforward rock song that doesn't do anything outstanding. It isn't a bad track, so doesn't spoil the overall quality of the all album.

Conclusion: Despite it isn't as good as their two studio albums "Eight Miles High" and "Golden Earring" and even "Seven Tears", but especially and above all, not be as good as "Moontan" is, "Together" remains, for me, an impressive album and clearly shows off the chops and songwriting skills that would bring the group a massive worldwide success the next year with their worldwide acclaimed album, "Moontan". So, with "Together", Golden Earring is in a fine form and at the height of their powers on this release. "Together" doesn't really have a bad moment throughout and holds up well after forty years, still isone of Golden Earring's best albums as well as some of the best rock albums to come out of the early 70's in general, with some great guitar riffs and some of the best drumming work of any rock album in general.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

 Moontan by GOLDEN EARRING album cover Studio Album, 1973
3.93 | 138 ratings

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Moontan
Golden Earring Prog Related

Review by Mellotron Storm
Prog Reviewer

3 stars I must admit I had no idea how many albums this band has put out or the fact they formed in The Netherlands in 1961! Originally they called themselves THE TORNADOS. First studio album was released in 1965 by which time they had already changed their name to GOLDEN EARRING. "Moontan" is their ninth studio album released in 1973. I have a feeling that cover sold a few copies to teenage boys over the years. Mind you it's not the only cover they used for this one and to confuse matters more there are different track listings depending on the copy you have. I have the U.S. version with five tracks. Yes this band probably has the ultimate Classic Rock song in "Radar Love". For someone like me who has spent a great deal of time listening to my music while driving I must admit this is one of the ultimate driving tunes. Just that relentless beat along with the vocals and lyrics makes this my favourite track on here by far. Honestly for me the good music ends when that opener finishes. Just not into this record at all surprisingly. The guitarist and horn player composed the music and that sax player adds flute. Some keyboards and moog from the bass player. We get a few guests adding slide guitar, vocals and additional sax. One of the sad things for me in a way was that even "Radar Love" has become stale to me after all these years.
 Seven Tears by GOLDEN EARRING album cover Studio Album, 1971
3.62 | 69 ratings

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Seven Tears
Golden Earring Prog Related

Review by VianaProghead
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Review Nº 465

Golden Earring is the best known, and internationally is the most successful rock band to come out of the Netherlands. Formed in 1961, Golden Earring has been active for more than fifty years non-stop, which makes of them the world's longest surviving rock band in the world, formed a year before The Rolling Stones. The current line up has been intact since 1970. In 1961 George Kooymans and his neighbour Rinus Gerritsen formed The Tornados in their home town of The Hague, the Netherlands. In 1963, as the band found out that there already was a British band called The Tornados, they decided to change their name into The Golden Ear-rings. Under the Golden Earrings moniker the band eventually recorded four albums between 1965 and 1969 in the Netherlands, "Just Ear-Rings" in 1965, "Winter-Harvest" in 1967, "Miracle Mirror" in 1968 and "On The Double" in 1969, besides twelve hit singles, 10 of which reached the Dutch Top 10.

The band's international career only started, and modestly, to take off in 1969, the year of the release of the fifth album, the psychedelic "Eight Miles High", their first tour of the U.S. and also the year in which the band name was slightly changed into The Golden Earring. On their early U.S. tours, their long, wild cover version of The Byrds' classic "Eight Miles High" impressed audiences and press alike. 1970 saw a dramatic shift in Golden Earring's musical style. After the melodic, often Beatle esque 60's beat of The Golden Earrings and a brief phase of psychedelica and hippie rock, Golden Earring's trademark became heavier, a riff based brand of rock with catchy hooks. It marked the start of a decade of domestic and international glory. Between 1970 and 1973, Golden Earring released more four albums, "Golden Earring" aka "Wall Of Dolls" in 1970, "Seven Tears" in 1971, "Together" in 1972 and "Moontan" in 1973. Their international popularity increased, mainly after their single "Radar Love" and the lengthy 1972 tour of Europe, supporting The Who.

Besides the guitarist George Kooymans and the bassist/keyboardist Rinus Gerritsen, the band's lead singer during the early Golden Earrings years was Frans Krassenburg. He was replaced by Barry Hay in 1967. The band's drummer for much of the 60's was Jaap Eggermont. His successors were Sieb Warner in 1969 and, in 1970, Cesar Zuiderwijk, Golden Earring's definitive drummer. So, the line up that is still active today is Barry Hay (lead vocals, guitar and flute), George Kooymans (vocals and guitar), Rinus Gerritsen (bass, harmonica and keyboards) and Cesar Zuiderwijk (drums).

With their seventh studio album "Seven Tears", Golden Earring laid a good, if not full fledged successor to their two previous exceptional works "Eight Miles High" and "Golden Earring". "Seven Tears" has seven tracks. The album begins with "Silver Ships" which is a wonderful psychedelic ballad, a real gem in their complete oeuvre. The stark counterpart to the dreamy "Silver Ships" is the second track on the album, the powerfully dry piece, "The Road Swallowed Her Name". Musically, the piece is somewhere between Deep Purple and Uriah Heep settled. It's a riff based song, combining guitar and bass works, with a dynamic style. "Hope" moves in the field of rock ballads, interspersed with some interesting tempo changes and enriched with powerful organ and saxophone inserts. "Don't Worry" is a straightforward rocker, a typical Golden Earring piece. It's an energetic track using piano as music filler, while the bass plays a very dynamic and tight basslines. The same goes for "She Flies On Strange Wings", although the piece in the intro suggests something psychedelic. But then no strong rock sound dominates, interspersed with unbelievably enthralling hooklines. In short, "She Flies On Strange Wings" is one of the best rock songs of the year 1971. As a single release, the piece internationally unfortunately couldn't build on the success of the hit "Back Home". "This Is The Other Side Of Life" sounds unfamiliar, too poppy, but thanks to the great guitar work of George Kooymans, the track can convince. It has nice bass guitar lines and it flows in simple with a straight line structure. His whole class is once again proved on their next final track, "You're Better Off Free". Despite the track sounds a bit cumbersome at first, it knows how to convince after repeated listenings. The song suits its position as a concluding track and is very inspiring, really.

Conclusion: All in all, "Seven Tears" is really a very good album, which draws its charm not least from the enormous craftsmanship and wealth of ideas of the band. For Golden Earring fans, the album is a must, and if you want to hear 70's hard rock, away from stale riffs, you should definitely listen to this album. This album is in the same vein as their previous recordings but not as inventive. There's a touch of prog here but mostly it's straight ahead hard rock. I really don't know if "Seven Tears" is one of the most proggiest albums of Golden Earring but I'm convinced that it's one of the most balanced in their entire career. It's true that it's an album without highlights, but on the other hand, I can't find any weak points on it, really. Although, I know that overall "Seven Tears" is more like a collection of songs than a fully realized album, but still are enough strong enough moments to make it worthwhile for hardcore Golden Earring fans.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

 Grab It for a Second by GOLDEN EARRING album cover Studio Album, 1978
2.38 | 27 ratings

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Grab It for a Second
Golden Earring Prog Related

Review by TCat
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin

2 stars Somewhere between the release of Moontan and Cut, the two most popular albums by Golden Earring, the band continued it's aimless wandering of trying to find their next hit, and the proof of their wandering is probably most evident in their 1978 release "Grab It For a Second". With the release of each album during this time, their popularity kept waning as their music just seemed to keep missing the mark. The band was constantly trying to get notoriety, but it seems they were having a lot of trouble trying to find that sweet spot, pushing their music to be more rock oriented, radio friendly and less progressive.

There really isn't much to say about "Grab It for a Second" since it just doesn't have a lot to offer. What you have here is a very short album with 8 songs on it, only one of them exceeding the 6 minute mark. Throughout the album, you hear the band missing opportunities left and right to make some great music, even if it isn't progressive, yet they can't seem to pull that off. Neither Hay nor Kooyman's vocals show any kind of emotion. The entire band just seems like they are going through the motions of "hurry and release another album and fill it with songs that were written in 5 minutes and sound like they were recorded in 2 minutes".

There really is only two tracks that stand out on this lackluster album: "Leather" which is a mid-tempo blues rocker that also appears on their "Continuing Story of Radar Love" compilation (which you would be better off getting than this album), and "Against the Grain" which breaks from the boring formula of rock beats to be a bit more heartfelt and more ballad-like, even hinting at some progressiveness, but not enough to really waste your time with this album.

The album goes by rather quickly with hardly anything on it to make any impression on the listener. It's all just less-than- mediocre music that has no soul or great hooks. If the performers can't bring out any enthusiasm for the music, than how can you expect their fans to get excited about it. Once again, Golden Earring misses the mark, but this time, seemingly even further than before.

 Golden Earring [Aka: Wall of Dolls] by GOLDEN EARRING album cover Studio Album, 1970
3.86 | 67 ratings

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Golden Earring [Aka: Wall of Dolls]
Golden Earring Prog Related

Review by VianaProghead
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Review Nº 425

Golden Earring earned a unique place in the Dutch rock music history. Golden Earring was formed in 1961 in The Hague, Holland and still is active in our days, albeit slowing down on their prolific discography. Golden Earring is one of those bands who have literally been cranking out albums since the days when The Beatles were launching the British invasion all over the world. During all these years, the band released an impressive amount of albums and toured many times. After a debut single and album in 1965 the band continued to release new material in every decade that followed. The classic line up of the band came together in 1970 and is still going strong today. Golden Earring continues to perform monthly, performing electric and acoustic shows. No other band in Holland comes near these statistics, really.

The first outlines of Golden Earring emerge in the early 60's in The Hague, inspired by the British music. In those times, the music scene in The Hague starts to thrive, thanks to hundreds of brand new bands who perform in local clubs and halls. It doesn't take long for Golden Earring to become one of the prominent faces of this new era in the Dutch music. In the years that follow Golden Earring show a spectacular artistic growth. The band embraces new influences, while creating their own distinguished sound. Meanwhile the albums from the band began to coming, "Just Ear-Rings" in 1965, "Winter-Harvest" in 1967, "Miracle Mirror" in 1968 and "On The Double" in 1969. The band's growth has its consequences and in 1969, Golden Earring tours America, a first for any Dutch band. Later that year the band returns to the States to promote their new album "Eight Miles High" of 1969. That album became the first true classic album to Golden Earring, a very important mark to the band, showing that the band continues expanding their horizons. Their self-titled new album, also known as "Wall Of Dolls" by many fans, shows the sound of Golden Earring with a new style.

So, "Golden Earring" is the sixth studio album of Golden Earring and was released in 1970. The line up on the album is George Kooymans (lead and backing vocals and guitar), Barry Hay (lead vocals and backing vocals, guitar and flute), Rinus Gerritsen (bass guitar, piano, organ and Mellotron) and Cesar Zuiderwijk (drums and percussion).

"Golden Earring" is a hard rock album with its roots firmly in the blues with a touch of the psychedelic music. The flute is one of the main instruments used on the album. Some music lovers associate the flute work with Jethro Tull. And no matter how similar it is to Jethro Tull or not. In this case, we have almost a tracing from Ian Anderson. Musically, the music on the album can be divided into two categories, the heavy blues-like ballads and hard based rock with repetitive riffs. These riffs often cause a déjà vu sensation because it seems you have already heard all this somewhere. Sometimes Golden Earring tries to trample across the Led Zeppelin field. Still, other hard rock heroes will not be overlooked like The Rolling Stones and Deep Purple. At the same time it seems that Barry Hay and George Kooymans try to imitate Robert Plant. The bass lovers should also pay attention to Rinus Gerritsen and to George Kooymans for his guitar playing. By the way, John Bonham influences can also clearly see in the Cesar Zuiderwijk drumming style.

The album begins wisely with "Yellow And Blue", a folky title dear to Kooymans. The acoustic guitar and the ambient flute work confirm their standing in psychedelic with a bluesy style. But, as soon as the second title, we get to the heart of the matter with "The Loner" where the guitar riff is heavy and the bass has a bass sound. "This Is The Time Of The Year" is more melodic, in turn angry and softer to the psychedelic and with a throbbing chorus. "Big Tree Blue Sea" is a kind of a mid-tempo electric trip, a little bit scary and where the flute, invariably, brings us back to Jethro Tull. "The Wall Of Dolls" is a simple music piece but magnified by the echo of the guitar. It's a superb track just like "Back Home". "Back Home" is another great track in Jethro Tull's style, especially during the superb opening. They returned to folk with "See See" that combines heavy prog with rock elements, before returning to heavy riffs with "I'm Going To Send My Pigeons To The Sky". This is a wacky track reminiscent of Budgie. The final track "As Long As The Wind Blow" is an epic ride song that brilliantly closes these forty minutes of magic rock music, which at times has many prog traces.

Conclusion: "Golden Earring" is a very well balanced album. Undoubtedly, it represents one of the best albums of this classic Dutch rock band. In reality, we can't say that this is properly a truly prog rock album, but I can see prog traces on some of its tracks. It has some complicated riffs and it reminds me some other bands like Led Zeppelin, Gravy Train and even Jethro Tull. It has some great tracks and nice arrangements too. This is typically a good Golden Earring album. It's full of guitar oriented blues rock with some nice vocals. Like most of their albums it's well produced and full of quality material. There's a little psychedelic and a little prog, and a lot of rock and roll. It can be considered a classic album of the golden era of the 70's. It's recommended to anyone who wants to discover the band in their prime career.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

 Eight Miles High by GOLDEN EARRING album cover Studio Album, 1969
3.82 | 69 ratings

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Eight Miles High
Golden Earring Prog Related

Review by VianaProghead
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Review Nº 415

Golden Earring had and still has a leading role in the history of the Dutch rock music. Golden Earring was formed in the mid of 1960 in The Hague, Holland and still is active in our days, albeit slowing down on their prolific discography. They've managed to maintain a big popularity in many European countries all over these years. Golden Earring had made their name in their native Holland by dominating the charts with a series of The Beatles- aping singles. In between this early stage of Golden Earring's existence and the career zenith of "Radar Love", there lies a transitional period covering the years 1970-72. During these years the band played a brand of rock popular as many headlining European groups of the era, a blend of the two budding genres of progressive rock and heavy metal, with an emphasis on the contrast between the heavy and the light. This resulted in an overlooked period of the band's history which produced three excellent albums of the genre, the 1969's "Eight Miles High", the 1970's "Golden Earring", also known as "Wall Of Dolls" and the 1973's "Moontan". The first of these three albums is the one which will be the subject of this my review.

However and strangely, their unique brand of Rock'n'Roll has largely been overlooked by the American audiences. In reality, the long lived Dutch rock band is of course best known for the most casual music fans in the United States for approximately two songs, by their 1973 worldwide breakthrough hit "Radar Love" recorded on their ninth studio album "Moontan", which is an arena rock milestone that had been deliberately constructed to appeal to the American marketplace, and for their 1982's hit "Twilight Zone", which was recorded on their sixteenth studio album "Cut". This is a very curious and interesting thing because ironically enough, the music that Golden Earring created has always been exactly what America likes, pure and honest Rock'n'Roll that acknowledges but never gives in to the current trends.

This 1969 album shows a great band at the peak of their powers. On the scale of great psychedelic albums this should be high. Listen to Barry hay's flute open track, "Song Of A Devil's Servant", and you are transported somewhere else entirely, which is the achievement of only truly great music. As well as being highly psychedelic this album is also a very heavy rock album at times. The band had evolved from a very good pop band on their first album to a very serious psychedelic hard rock band on this, their fifth album. However, the band didn't make an album this psychedelic again.

The line up on the album is George Kooymans (lead and backing vocals and lead guitar), Barry Hay (lead and backing vocals, flute and rhythm guitar), Rinus Gerritsen (bass, organ and piano) and Sieb Warner (drums and percussion).

"Eight Miles High" has only five tracks. The album is divided into two parts, four tracks on the first side of the LP and one lengthy track fills the entire second side of the LP. So, among the favorite tracks of the band is certainly the over eighteen-minute song "Eight Miles High", the track that fills the entire side two of the album. Golden Earring in 1969 was still pretty much at the beginning of their musical career. The title song caused a worldwide sensation with its extensive guitar duels, the imaginative drumming and many surprising tempo changes. This marathon version of The Byrds' classic was sometimes extended to over 45 minutes during live concerts and had hardly any resemblance to the original, except for the chorus. The bass set the tone here and was the dominant instrument. It was wonderfully rowing with its lines alternated with long-lasting and stretched to the madness of single tones. But, in between, there were wonderful drum escapades, which culminated in a solo that was about four minutes long. The whole thing was enhanced by orgiastic screams and wild moaning. But the four other titles, which are on the first side of the LP left a very strong impression too. In the opener "Landing", Gerritsen plays very well his organ that paired with a rousing lead guitar, the band fires here a great job. With a quiet flute intro begins "Song Of A Devil's Servant". The title is steadily increasing through the use of an acoustic guitar and quiet vocals, before Golden Earring then bring out the heaviness again. It's probably the catchiest song of the album. Central here too is a class solo by Kooymans on the guitar. On "One Huge Road" we can see so much dynamism and power in this title. A heavy and sluggish with very intense lead vocals, but on the other hand, "Everyday's Torture" comes out of the speakers. That is a highlight of this album, too.

Conclusion: "Eight Miles High" is one of the better things that Golden Earring ever produced. The transition from the beat/pop to rock is pretty well complete by this release. Its sound is hard rock and heavy psych with some 60's vibes. It's nice to see how Golden Earring can implement progressive rock elements without ever losing the rock feel, which is a pretty rare thing. As I mentioned above, the band didn't make an album this psychedelic again, but if you like of this album and you haven't heard their music before, besides "Radar Love" and "Twilight Zone", try "Golden Earring", "Moontan" or even "Seven Tears". You aren't losing your time cos all these albums have some great musical moments.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

 Live by GOLDEN EARRING album cover Live, 1977
3.82 | 38 ratings

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Live
Golden Earring Prog Related

Review by friso
Prog Reviewer

3 stars Golden Earring was a beat group in the mid-sixties, a psychedelic proto-prog group around the turn of the decade and a more regular rockgroup with some Americana flair in the mid-seventies. To me it sounds like the band's sound was heavily influenced by Quicksilver Messenger Service's 'Happy Trails' record. The band was particularly good on stage and stayed that way well into the 21th century. It is strange then that there are so few live albums of the band playing at full force. 'Live' in 1977 features some of the band's stronger cuts and material from their by that time latest record 'Contraband'. The band is supported by Eelco Gelling (of Cuby and The Blizzards fame), one of the best Dutch guitarist of his generation. The band has a nice rhythm and blues rock vibe and the guitars sounds great here. Golden Earring was one of those bands that fluently improvised within its song formats and allowed the songs to grow on stage.

The first record opens with the wild and urgent 'Candy's Going Bad', what a way to get a rock party started. Especially the inciting pre-chorus gets me going. 'She Flies on Strange Wings' needs little introduction. It is a classic rock favorite. The version of 'Mad Love's Coming' is simply one of the best recordings of the bands career. A stellar tight opening section with the slightly overdrive twin guitars, the bluesy and expressive vocals of Barry Hay (as magical here as Jim Morrison was a decade earlier) and a great instrumental ending sections with great solo's and a thick hardrock sound. On their famous cover of The Byrds' 'Eight Miles High' the band also shows its instrumental prowess and quite frankly kills the album version of 1969. 'The Vanilla Queen' has some symphonic rock elements and is treated with some more extended soloing. The second vinyl is quite the opposite. To my ears all songs sound very dull, excluding the extended version of 'Radar Love' - which the band plays slightly more psychedelic and lively than the original.

The first record of this 2lp deserves a four star rating and I don't think the weaker second record should prevent you from picking up this still widely available lp. Just make sure you hear this version of 'Mad Love's Coming' at least once before you die.

Thanks to debrewguy for the artist addition. and to Quinino for the last updates

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