THE CONTINUING STORY OF RADAR LOVE

Quite a nice compilation this one by Hollands most famous rock band ever, Golden Earring. And no doubt their most progressive one as well. Because I believe Golden Earring is most of all a classic rock band with only slight progressive elements. Doesn't matter, they are here now and it gives me the opportunity to give my opinion about them. I will give a song by song review with short description.

1. Radar Love. Probably the most famous dutch rock song ever. What can you say, No.1 in the USA in 1973, the pride of Holland. But it also tells you we are dealing with pop (rock) music, this is not progressive at all in my opinion. Good song though, pity I heard it way too often by now. 3,5*

2. Vanilla Queen. This could be the song that got them over the line for inclusion on our site, if not at least a good example why they are here. And also a great song, one I didn't even know so well until lately. 4*.

3. Candy's going bad. Another one with progressive elements but not as much as previous track. And, coincidence or not, not as good either. 3,5*.

4. She flies on strange Wings. One of my all time favourites by this band. A real classic, a saw it on a live video once and I noticed the crowd was a bit bemused by the song probably because 80% of their fans are rock fans and this song is really progressive. Tremendous instrumental part in the middle. 4,25*.

5. Ce Soir. One of the lesser songs of this compilation. A common pop song actually, not impressive. 3*.

6. Mad love's comin'. Now we're back on (prog)track again. And again one of the better tracks. 3,75*.

7. Leather. This one is slightly progressive and worthwhile listening to. 3,5*

8/11. I will not do these one by one because they are all in the (classic) rock style and therefore not very interesting to talk about on PA. On average they are 3,25*. So not bad, not great either.

12. Twilight Zone. Another very famous one by the Earring (as we call them over here). Also went to the top in the States and slightly more a personal fav than Radar Love. Another one with a great instrumental break in the middle. 3,75*.

In my descriptions I was emphasizing quite strongly on progressiveness and I did that deliberately because after this summing up it appears that exactly half of the songs are more or less progressive. And that's important since we are a progressive site and I presume most of our readers are interested in the grade of progressiveness of a song when we are talking about a 50-50 band like Golden Earring. I come to almost exactly 3,5 on average with this one and once again I will have to let the gut feeling decide for the 3 or 4 stars. I'm not a big fan of this band but I have the greatest respect for them and so I should because they deserve it. Let's not forget: they achieve almost the same thing as the Stones. Ok, they are around since '62 and Earring 5 years shorter, but they have been around all the time (hardly any breaks or split ups or even change in line-up) and that deserves huge respect. It's a pity two of my favourite songs by them (Back Home and the superb Julie Driscoll/Bob Dylan cover This Wheel's on fire) are not on this compilation but all the other great ones are, so 4 stars for this. But beware, this is only prog RELATED.

If you need to start and maybe finish your Golden earring representation in your music collection this is probably the best start. First you get all the well known material and in full versions e.g. no single edit of Twilight Zone here.

Earring are not a prog rock band in the vein of classical fusion but they do have some sophisticated moments. She Flies on Str\tange Wings is both Part 1 and 2 if you ever had the single. I think I had quite a few from many, many years ago. But Strange Wings is a rocking, lyrical, dramatic intricate number.

I've no problem (don't want to be a snob) with arena rock in which Earring really belongs. Classic rock is a sales format not a style and arena hard rock is the Golden Earring area of expertise. So a couple of the last few numbers fit into this category.

The album works as a brief (2LP or 1 CD) introduction to Earring. Possibly a 2 or 3 Cd anthology might be more appropriate to get a picture of the band's work. However, this is a fine compilation and if you were not aware it was one you'd think you were listening to one fantastic effort. Which it is.

Oh by the way, if you want a little more Earring for your pleasure I'd throw in the '77 Live album as well; it underlines the very high quality arena rock standard, and this one emphasizes the generally best writing. Here's probably the best place to start.

cheers