There is no doubt that Golden Earring are Holland’s greatest export to the rock and roll universe – they were in existence for 60 years. Sadly they called it a day when guitarist and leader George Kooymans was diagnosed with ALS and would retire. This is their classic 1973 album reissued on the excellent Music On Vinyl label.
We kick things off with the superb Candy’s Gone Bad – a great uptempo groover. Are You Receiving Me is a lot more spacey and reminds me of King Crimson -especially with the saxophone – and I love the extended jam at the end. Suzy Lunacy closes out Side 1 and is basically a blues shuffle.
Side 2 opens with the legendary Radar Love, and unless you have been living off planet for the last 50 years, I’m sure you have heard this track. A killer riff and groove drive the song along, and it is the song that everyone associates with the band. Just Like Vince Taylor is up next and was the B Side to Radar Love (at least in the UK anyway) and is a straight up boogie. The album closes out with The Vanilla Queen and you’d be forgiven for thinking this was Arnold Layne-era Pink Floyd – at least with the beginning. I saw them a couple of times and they always put on a great show.
8.5/10 from The Grooveman.
