Golden Earring - new boxset "The Complete Studio Recordings"

Now that I have established that Wall Of Dolls is one of my favourites I have just bought the polydor CD to see/hear what the fuss is all about. Haven't had time to A/B with the Red Bullet from the box yet, but so far the polydor sounds great.

 

Hope to get some help here on this thread...I just ordered MOV of "Love Sweat" on limited vinyl. "Face It" is hitting as well, never heard that album, My question, is Face It worth getting? MOV limited vinyl...thanks in advance.

 

Face It is great. Some of their best later era tracks IMO. Worth the price of admission of Hold Me Now and Liquid Soul!

 

I'm with Pim, Face It is a really good album. A good mix of electric & acoustic tracks

 

Saw them last week. Solid 2 hour show (compared to the 80 minute show I saw in October 2017). Full version of "Vanilla Queen" and "She Flies on Strange Wings", extended version of "Radar Love" with drumsolo. The rest of the setlist basically consists of the hits. The only exception being "Identical".

 

Sounds great. Did you enjoy it? Where was the gig? Wish I'd seen it

 

I enjoyed it very much. They still know how to rock. George Kooymans impressed me with his vocals. He hit some really high notes, which caught Barry by surprise. A lot of fun on stage. The gig was in the south of the Netherlands.

 

They were so great when I saw them in the summer. Will have a look at next years dates. Must see them again! I fancy another trip to Holland/Belgium if finances permit. (Or the wife permits

 

Just found some Midnight Special clips of Grab If For A Second & Against The Grain. Quality of picture not great but performances with Eelco Gelling are pretty good. Outfits are very new wave, band look very under-nourished too.
Guitar work on the clips is great (as you'd expect). Just goes to show: not the bands fault this album didn't work. Good find if you can bear it .

 

Now I'm listening to the album again & finding 3-4 tracks that I like. Still not their best stuff though.

 

I could never really warm up to this album. Still have my original vinyl of it. I do agree it has a few decent songs, always liked "Leather", but a very hard album to listen to all the way through, pretty much impossible, at least for me...

 

I've posted this before, but I've always loved this interview with Golden Earring's then manager Bill Curbishley. Their absolute peak in America was 1973.

 

Positive interview with regard to the band. Wonder if Cesar really got the idea of leaping over the kit from BC?
How long were they involved with Track? I got the impression it stopped after Switch.

 

Totally agree. Side 2's OK. Ish. I do like the title track, Against The Grain & Cell 29. Equally, I can do without hearing them ever again, in the big scheme of things......

 

People probably get tired of me posting this.... but I do own this box set (and I love it). George must surely be the most underrated guitarist ever. His lead parts, his rhythm parts... of course a great songwriter.

I really think the guy is an all timer.

Maybe you guessed I’m a big fan

 

I agree with everything you said! George is absolutely superb! Also don't forget his production skills. Go George!

 

I don't have the box set but I got a nice Dutch vinyl copy of On the Double recently. I figured it was going to be 60s beat style rock, but it really isn't. In fact, it's great! Yes, it's a bit poppy in places but you can really hear that Eight Miles High and Wall of Dolls are just around the corner too. As a double album, it really doesn't wear out its welcome and the production is really nice too. No, it's not Moontan or Seven Tears (my personal favorite GE), but I certainly wouldn't overlook it.

 

Either that or they’re having fun with Not To Find being hard to find.

The reconfigured US version of Moontan (earring cover) had a re-recorded version of Big Tree, Blue Sea which also seems to be missing.

 

Up until the late 80’s every album has something to recommend it. Especially N.E.W.S., Prisoner Of The Night and Cut stand out for me.
Bloody Buccanneers (1991) was seen as a return to form at the time.

 

Anything between the late 60’s and the mid 80’s delivers the hard rock goods.
I would go to Eight Miles High and go from there.
Make sure you pick up the Live album from 1977 at some point!!

 

Switch, To The Hilt and Contraband should definitely not be overlooked.
The band at their mid 70’s prog zenith.

 

The album it belongs to, No Promises No Debts, is a bit of an acquired taste. It’s predecessor Grab It For A Second drove the more streamlined approach of Contraband to it’s logical conclusion (that was actually a second attempt to sway America with it’s reverb-laden production courtesy of Jimmy Iovine).
NPND sounds confused with great ideas not being fleshed out enough. More often than not a song fades out just when it gets started. Very fragmented.

 

The band doesn’t seem too fond of it and the lyrics are embarrassing, but I think it’s a great, lean little rocker.

 

I like this track too, could have been put on NPND instead of By Routes. Even if the band are not overly keen, they have performed it live recently.

 

I really like NPND & its one of my favourite CDs to play in the car. I also get what you're saying though. As I said in an earlier post tracks light D-light Heartbeat Weekend Love & I Do Rock n Roll might have sounded even more awesome given the treatment of a top-line producer such as Mutt Lange. Imagine the even bigger choruses on these songs & Tiger Bay.
Some of the tracks I can do without though, Snot Love In Spain? By Routes?Also is Don't Stop The Show really better than I do Rock n Roll? Bah!
On the other hand I think Contraband is a great album. I have a lot of love for Fighting Windmills in particular. The 2 guitars really work. It sounds like a 'summer' album to me. If you know what I mean .
That 'Grab It' follows this album is a real disappointment to me as it should have been even better with the band being really settled with Eelco, following all the touring & the brilliant live album. Would like to hear some live versions of the Grab It songs though .