PRISONER OF THE NIGHT [AKA: LONG BLONDE ANIMAL]

With this album GE enters into the eighties and released their fifteenth album in a 15 years period. Quite consistent to say the least. One surprise here: the come-back of Jan Stips (who was absent from the prior release). Would this mean anything in terms of music?

Well not during the opener: ''Long Blond Animal'' has a definite new wave sound (but this could already be noticed in ''Grab It?'' which was released in 1978). Nor during the pure revival rock ''No For An Answer''. It is obvious that the band is not focused in the writing of longer songs and that the format now is more radio-friendly than several years ago. But, were the radios still interested in air playing a band as GE in the early eighties?

This album is no better than ''No Promises?''. There are little variety available: same sort of basic rock tunes with little spicy ingredients. Not disturbing, but not thrilling either like the vaguely AOR ''Prisoner Of The Night''.

The first good song could have been '' I Don't Wanna Be?'' but the chorus line is hard to swallow. It all started well and involves a fine middle part though. But fine moments are hard to find on this album. The pop-rock ''Come In Outerspace'' maybe.

The electronic oriented '' Going Crazy Again'' sounds definitely as a song from the eighties at least during the intro which is keyboards oriented (finally Stips can be noticeably heard!), but again the poor chorus ruins it partially.

This is not a good album. I really hesitate between one and two stars but I'll give the band credit. For this time.

In this reviewers opinion, the last album to really sound like the GE that we knew from the 70's. They were definitely in that adapt or die change as well as naturally moulding their music for the 80's revolution. The album does suffer as a result. Golden Earring have always proved to be far better sticking to their trademark sound, as some incredible latter day live recordings have testified, than go more AOR/Pop.

So we have a mish mash of songs " Long Blond Animal" a very likeable new wave sounding track alluding to GE's humour when it came to appreciation of the fairer sex. The title track is not half bad either and " Going Crazy Again" gives the album some closure but all in all an album for completionists only. They continued to release works right up to present day and still have a cult like following especially in their homeland, The Netherlands. Check out earlier works first.

The end of the seventies was a difficult time for the Earring. To survive they changed their music to the demands of time. Shorter and simple songs which you can't call progressive. Prisoner of the night isn't a bad record, but far away from good. It's more something for fans only. Long blond animal is a song they still play (almost) every concert . The song has a irritating singalong part in the midst of it which I never singalong. ( I like it when they play Fighting windmills, then I'm enthusiastic and most of the crowd is quiet.) No for an answer is better but not a great classic from them. You can find the first five tracks on the album 2nd Live, but in fact I like the last four songs the most!

Okay I understand the difference between a PROG review vs Basic Album Review. Mine will be a basic rock album review as it relates to GE albums.

I assume anyone reading this is thinking about getting this album since they are interested in GE. I am a GE fan. I have over 20 of their albums and have been a fan since about 1982. Cut was the their first album I ever heard by them. I have most of their releases from 1970 and on. I do not love every song by GE. In fact there are almost entire albums I cannot listen to (To The Hilt is my least fav album by them). I write this review in 2012. It is not a review of how it fared in 1980 but rather - is it listenable now?

With this mind -- my review. (1 to 5 stars.)

Overall notes. PRISONER OF THE NIGHT is one of my favorite GE albums. I think as a whole the album shows how much they learned in the 70s about making music. They had done all the experimental lead flute, jazzy, prog, extra long stuff and got it out of their system. By 1978 they turned to more AOR rock songs. 1978-1989 is my favorite era of the band. They spent time developing each of these songs. They all have very distinctive grooves and I don't confuse GE with any other band.

The official release had 9 songs as shown above. GE released two B sides with their singles. I have both and are included in this review.

1 - LONG BLOND ANIMAL. Rocker. Okay its 80s GE and AOR is the new direction. I went along for the ride. GE used this song a lot in their live sets. It was a fan favorite. Its a rocking song. The drumming is excellent. Very tight. Barry's singing is excellent. He's in great form and the lyrics work well with this song. 5/5

2 - NO FOR AN ANSWER. Rocker. The lyrics are nothing special but it works. The chorus is rather good and singable. The guitar solo rocks. 4/5

3 - MY TOWN. Rocker. Great song. The boys are singing about the fact that their home town is big city nice. Its got everything every other city has. Dopers, hookers, winos etc.. Its grooves along and for a simple song, its works great. I play it when I want to just rock out. 5./5

4 - PRISONER OF THE NIGHT. Bluesy rock. I get a 70s vibe from this song. Guitar solo is great. Its worth a listen. 4/5

5 - I DONT WANNA BE NOBODY ELSE. Lite Rocker. This song has a nice chorus that gets a little poppy. But it works in the song structure. 4/5

6 - CUT 'EM DOWN TO SIZE. Rocker. In my opinion its just okay. It has an okay groove but the lyrics dont' do anything for me. 3/5

7 - WILL AND MERCY. Rocker. One of my favorites. Everything just gels with this song. Simple love song and George on vocals again. He knows how to hit the high notes which pushes the song above normal. 5/5

8 - COME IN OUTERSPACE. Rocker. The song has the potential to work but it lacks a good lyric. The guitar solos are nice. the basic groove is good. But it never comes together. 2/5

9 - GOING CRAZY AGAIN. Light Rocker. I overlooked this song for years when I owned the LP version of this release. I bought it on CD and allowed it to play to the end. This song really grows on you. It starts slow, sounds kinda spacey keyboards and then this awesome grove comes in and the chorus hits. Wow. I missed out for years with this little pop gem. 5/5

EXTRA B TRACKS. Obviously these were not included on the album since they were considered by the band as being weak or not suitable by the cooperate heads.

10 - TRIPLE TREAT. Light Rocker. Its a song about the singer telling how he got his wife and girlfriend to agree to 3-way sex. I got to give it an extra star just for content. Its got a nice little groove. I found this song on iTunes a few years ago. It was a nice find to hear some 80s GE I hadnt heard before. For song lyrics and groove its 4/5

11 - ANNIE. Light Rocker. This song is a meandering groove. The chorus comes in and its a nice little lyric. I grew to like it but I know the average listener will probably not agree. If you are a big fan and want to be a completest, get it. Its a nice little addition. If your new to GE there is a ton of other songs to get first. 3/5

4 out of 5 stars for this album.

I really like the 3 early 80s GE albums and will play them back to back. Prisoner of the night, Cut, NEWS. No, its not 70s GE. But this is a time capsule of good GE music.