SEVEN TEARS

Along with Wall Of Dolls, Seven Tears is probably their proggiest, even if 8MH and Moontan have much to dispute them. The classic quartet is at the top of its form and Barry Hay's songwriting (along with guitarist Kooymans) is also enhanced by his increasingly excellent voice and flute playing. He also dabbles into acoustic guitars and sax playing. But Barry is not alone on this ship. Coming with a non-committal gatefold artwork (but the title cites seven tears for seven tracks), this is their third "modern-era" album and one of their stronger, due to the fact that GE has that essential touch of dramatics and urgency lacking many of their Dutch compatriots, starting with Alquin and E&F.

Along the album, some of the most dramatic tracks are the superb Silver Ships, the spine-chilling Hope (where Hay shows that even the sax is in his reach), the ultra-classic (and long-time crowd favourite) She Flies On Strange Wings and the wild You're Better Off Free with a killer guitar solo. Overall the brilliant songwriting and dramatic effects and plenty of instrumental interplay make the full success of the album. Even the shorter tracks like Don't Worry holds plenty of energy (Rinus' bass is overplaying, but man is that unusual sound with his Danelectro guitar), but overall the longer track are the essence of this album

Clearly GE was a force to reckon with, but aside from their previous hit Big Tree, Blue Sea (a little too Tull- ish), all that is lacking the group is international recognition, which will come with Radar Love, but that's still two albums away. In the meantime start with this one and work backwards if you're not familiar with them.

This LP firmly established the band within the current heavy progressive/hard rock trends at the threshold of the 1970s. Influences from LED ZEPPELIN, PINK FLOYD or URIAH HEEP are obvious but the question is were they used for good or bad results?

The magnum opus of the album, She Flies on Strange Wings is masterpiece of mini prog-epic setting the blueprint for similar compositions to come (eg. Are You Receiving Me). Heavy, saxophone-driven riff of Hope reminds of VDGG's Jaxons' pyrothechnics, while This Is the Other Side of Life is yet another excellent heavy psych song containing an irresistable odd time signature played by piano and strong bass, while flute and what sounds like electric sitar provide an acid-like post Hippie atmosphere. Finally, the closing You Are Better Off Free bring the album to an end with fiery, blues-based heavy acid rock with organ backing of the forefront guitar soli. Easy Floydian opener Silver Ships is nice introduction presenting Barry Hay on flute.

Unfortunately, what prevents me from giving another star to this interesting album is a weak and somtimes really flawed vocals, along with naive lyrics. I am not sure who was to be blamed for it - Kooymans or Hay - but I don't like them. Another drawbacks are a downright stupid hard rocker The Road Swallowed Her Name and Don't Worry which although having very good piano chords and excellent driving bass is downplayed by poor vocals. Nonetheless, I would still recommend this album to all heavy prog/hard rock fans, while She Flies is a must listen.

PERSONAL RATING: 3,5/5

P.A. RATING: 3/5

The band is now capitalizing on his growing fame and recorded another very good album after ''The Wall Of Dolls''.

To consider this one as a prog effort is maybe a step I wouldn't make, but the fine fluting definitely adds a special flavour to their heavy rock music which is to be experienced during the fine opener '' Yellow And Blue''. Some might be reluctant while listening to the hard-rocking ''The Loner'' but this was also the essence of the band.

Would they be native of the UK, they would have another fame, for sure. This is another very good Golden Earring album. I am a bit confused with Seyo review who finds that vocals are weak here. Barry is IMHHO an excellent singer and on top of all, he is also playing fine flute and sax.

When I listen to the great ''Hope'', I can only be impressed. A great song indeed and a definite highlight. Not all songs are of this calibre (otherwise, this album would have been a masterpiece): ''Don't Worry'' is the best example. Some sort of uninspired tune with prominent bass play.

Miles behind the huge ''She Flies.''. Some sort of a great and elaborate hard-rock number which was a great live experience as well (which is fortunately available on their excellent first live album). This track is of course no lullaby but at the same time, it holds all the ingredients of the great GE: drama, melody, convincing vocals, crescendo music. In all: a fantastic rock song. THE highlight from these ''Seven Tears''. The fabulous ''Moontan'' is getting nearer. This track is a definite predecessor for ''Vanilla Queen''.

The album closes on a great heavy blues-rock number which features some excellent guitar play. To keep up with the fine mood, I guess. especially towards the second half of the song.

Seven out of ten for this good record. But downsized to three stars.

Even though this is the band's seventh album from its debut release, I only knew this album as the second because i would say that Golden Earring solid album started with its self-titled album (a.k.a The Wall of Dolls) released in 1970. This release is as solid as the previous one. The music composition is quite strong in terms of melody, harmonies, and structural integrity. You can not see much progressive elements here but there are segments that remind you as a progressive music like those in 'Hope' and 'She Flies on a Strange Wing'. As an album released in early seventies, the vintage sound seems very obvious and all music was composed with song orientated approach. And the characteristics of seventies music is the riff-based song using simple notes resulted from guitar.

An Excellent classic rock music

'Silver Ships' f lows mellow with bluesy style. Do you know Paul Rodger's Bad Company? If so, the music of this opening track flows in the vein of Bad Company's kind of music. It's a very nice opening track with ambient vocal line strengthened by flute work and nice acoustic guitar. This song is truly a representation of the seventies music. The combination of flute and guitar fills is a nice shot from this track.

'The Road Swallowed Her Name' is a riff-based song, combining guitar and bass works, with a dynamic style. Yeah, the riffs characterize the music especially as the vocal line brings the music into the seventies nuance. The drumming style reminds me to Grand Funk Railroad's 'We are an American Band'. The lead guitar plays important role in determining the overall tone of the song, combined with singing style.

'Hope' is probably what prog heads may consider as a song with progressive elements. It's not that the saxophone that is used throughout the song but also the structure that sounds like a symphonic prog music. You may associate the saxophone work with those kind of work done by Van Der Graaf Generator. Of course this song is not that dark as VdGG. But it also gives a flavor of King Crimson. I personally like this song for two reasons: it has nice melody and the music flows in dark ambience supported by excellent vocal line.

'Don't Worry' is an energetic music which relies its composition on groove, using piano as music filler, while bass guitar plays a very dynamic and tight basslines. Yes, bass guitar is the key to this track and it does not serve as typical rhythm section as the notes used are dynamics.

The intro part of 'She Flies on Strange Wings' again reminds me to the bluesy style of Bad Company music. Once the vocal line ends, guitar riffs enter with a full blast of music. The music flows beautifully in solid rhythm section where guitar and bass demonstrate their contribution quite dominantly. The song also has style changes especially at approx 4:15 into mellow and bluesy style with ambient vocal line. The vocal work is handled excellently by Barry Hay.

'This is The Other Side of Life' starts nicely with bass guitar lines and it flows in simple with straight line structure. It continues with grooves created by piano and dynamic basslines. The singing style reminds me to Alex Harvey's style.

'You're Better of Free' starts beautifully with a bluesy guitar work followed with guitar fills and energetic vocal line with catchy melody. The song is full with vocal accentuation backed with nice guitar fills. Even though it has a simple straight forward structure, the interlude part is truly stunning especially with its great guitar solo and unique rhythm section. I personally enjoy this guitar work. In fact, this song is great for live performance, I believe. The song really suits its position as a concluding track. It's inspiring, really.

Overall, this is an excellent addition to your classic rock collection with some flavors of progressive elements in some segments of the song. The key characteristics of this album are: excellent melody, balanced harmonies of vocal as well as instruments and the album has solid structural integrity in terms of song structure as well as the whole album in its entirety. Keep on proggin' ..! Because proggin' is really healthy.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

This was one of those bands I first became acquainted with in the 1980's when their song and video "Twilight Zone" received a fair bit of airplay for a while. Not bad but not quite my taste. I never knew that the song "Radar Love" was also by Golden Earring, but that song was never totally my taste either.

It was a surprise to me to find this band on PA, but given that many bands of the early seventies ventured into the progressive rock zone there is probably a good reason for their inclusion. Seeing a familiar name, I decided to check out Golden Earring by listening to samples of their music on iTunes. My choice for a first-time purchase: "Seven Tears".

The band's seventh album, "Seven Tears" includes seven songs, each with a distinct style and approach. Rock based to be sure, Golden Earring don't venture too far from just plain and simple good rock songs; i.e. the prog factor is pretty low, thus their place here as only prog related must be considered. Nevertheless, it's a fairly entertaining album with at least one stand out track. If you listen to nothing else, give "She Flies on Strange Wings" a run through. It's the longest track and includes a slow beginning, a terrific rock groove with a bit of swing to it, some great mixing of the bass guitar, a slow and spacey middle part with synthesizer, and a rocking conclusion with saxophones. This is a rock and roll band stretching out and doing something more with their music.

The rest of the album never achieves this level of adventurousness; however, as a rock album it's quite good. "Silver Ships" begins with some acoustic guitar and flute. It keeps to a slow and easy pace with electric guitar and organ joining along with bass and drums. At times it has a bit of an American rock feel to it. "The Road Swallowed Her Name" is a straight ahead hard rock song that fits in very nicely with the burgeoning hard rock genre of the day. This was one of the songs that sealed the deal for me to buy this album first. "Hope" reminded me of Jefferson Airplane in a way, perhaps because of the passionate vocals and acoustic guitar. The song turns electric and includes saxophones, too. "Don't Worry" opens with bass and piano and has a really cool bass groove with a bit of swagger going on. It's funky and hard and the bass and piano lead the music until the guitar solo.

Side two opens with the aforementioned "She Flies on Strange Wings", the real showcase song of the album. Next is "This is the Other Side of Life", which starts with a backwards spoken line that says "Uh, this is the other side of life" in a silly accent (I found this out by putting the song in a music application for iPhone that can play songs backwards). It's a weird number with an odd beat and peculiar vocal style, and again strong piano and bass. "You're Better off Free" is slightly blues-based but features a lengthy guitar solo backed with a simple organ melody. The wah-wah effects remind me of a Uriah Heep guitar solo. It's a good closing song for the album.

Once again, not much progressive rock here but a varied and enjoyable album with some very good songs and one standout track that should please a good number of progressive rock fans. For a prog-related album, I give it a very high three 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*)