GOLDEN EARRING [AKA: WALL OF DOLLS]

This eponymous GE album (and not TGE anymore) is also know as Wall Of Dolls in retrospect to the voodoo-esque gatefold artwork picture while the inside gatefold showed the band (still the usual quartet) in exploring some forest. This album did not receive exactly the same track list depending in which country it was released in, but it in this one that the group started making international impact with their Tull-esque Big Tree Blue Sea, although the track will be present in further studio release (even as far as Moontan some three years later).

Besides the usual hard rocker GE will be known for, like Landing in 8MH and Back Home in WOD, the albums holds many more tracks that develop some atmosphere, sometimes mysterious, sometimes a bit gloomier: like As Long As The Wind Blows, the title track or The Loner. WOD is a bit perplexing because in some ways it's proggy, yet could've been so much more had they extended a few tracks and maybe skipped some more. And of course there is the absolute beauty of Big Tree Blue Sea, the longer track of the album, but also an international hit (in an edited version): with its awesome flute parts and its crunchy guitars, you might have mistaken this track for a lesser known Tull single, but it's pure GE works.

WOD is probably my fave GE and the centre of what I call their first trilogy (8MH; WOD & ST) and definitely a very good entry point to the group's early priggish period.