Golden Earring

Golden Earring - Grab It for a Second - 1978 - Polydor

This GE albumr received mixed reviews on it's release. The album is arguably better tnan many critics made it out to be. The album is not as complex in it's musical structure as other GE releases. Instead, it is more of a rockin' album.with some great guitar work. A few slow tracks are included, but they are good songs, and received much undeserved criticism from media critics. A.O.O.F.C would be interested in your opinions on thid album. Check out their outstanding 1973 "Moontan" album @ GE/MTAN

TRACKS

A1 Roxanne (3:39)
A2 Leather (5:01)
A3 Tempting (3:43)
A4 U-Turn Time (3:25)
1-1 Movin' Down Life (3:31)
1-2 Against The Grain (4:35)
1-3 Grab It For A Second (4:10)
1-4 Cell-29 (6:39)

All songss composed by Barry Hay and George Kooymans

BAND

Eelco Gelling - guitar, slide guitar
Rinus Gerritsen - bass, keyboard
Barry Hay - flute, vocals
George Kooymans - synthesizer, guitar, vocals
Robert Jan Stips - keyboard
Cesar Zuiderwijk - drums

OTHER MUSICIANS

Tony Britnel - saxophone
Lani Groves - vocals, background vocals
Jimmy Maelen - percussion
Kevin Nance - keyboard
John Zangrando - saxophone

REVIEW

On Grab It for a Second, Golden Earring continued in the straightforward hard rock direction they started with 1977's Contraband. They also went for a more radio-friendly sound by teaming up with producer Jimmy Iovine, who polished their sound to a new level of slickness and also fleshed out the group's sound with session musicians like percussionist Jimmy Maelen. The result is an album that rocks hard, but loses sight of the band's personality. Much of Grab It for a Minute feels like an attempt to compete with the likes of Bad Company or Aerosmith: rockers like "Roxanne" and "Tempting" crackle with energy but feel like they could have been performed by any second-tier hard rock band of the 1970s. The hard-rocking numbers are further hindered by Jimmy Iovine's overtly slick production, which causes them to sound so similar to each other that they end up blending together into an indistinguishable blur. The one rocker that stands out from this pack is "Leather," a cheeky ode to sadomasochism built on a distinctive and powerful dual-guitar riff. Other highlights include "Against the Grain," a synthesizer-drenched power ballad that sports a memorable singalong chorus, and the title track, a steam and intense rocker that sports some of the album's most intricate guitar riffs and is further enhanced by the addition of congas on its instrumental breaks. Despite these occasional high points, Grab It for a Second is too faceless of an affair to win Golden Earring any new fans and is only recommended to the group's most fervent devotees. © Donald A. Guarisco, All Music Guide

SHORT BIO

Best known in the U.S. for its hard rock material, Golden Earring has been the most popular homegrown band in the Netherlands since the mid-'60s, when they were primarily a pop group. The group was founded by guitarist/vocalist George Kooymans and bassist/vocalist Rinus Gerritsen, then schoolboys, in 1961; several years and personnel shifts later, they had their first Dutch hit, "Please Go," and in 1968 hit the top of the Dutch charts for the first of many times with "Dong-Dong-Di-Ki-Di-Gi-Dong," a song that broadened their European appeal. By 1969, the rest of the lineup had stabilized, with lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Barry Hay and drummer Cesar Zuiderwijk. They experimented with their style for several years before settling on straightforward hard rock initially much like that of the Who, who invited them to open their 1972 European tour. Golden Earring signed to the Who's Track label, which released a compilation of Dutch singles, Hearing Earring, helping the group break through in England. 1974's Moontan LP spawned the single "Radar Love," a Dutch number one, U.K. Top Ten, and U.S. number thirteen hit. The group toured America opening for the Doobie Brothers and Santana, but the lack of a follow-up ensured that their popularity remained short-lived in America, even though they remained a top draw in Europe over the rest of the 1970s. 1982 saw a brief American comeback with the album Cut and the Top Ten single "Twilight Zone," but as before, Golden Earring could not sustain its momentum and faded away in the U.S. marketplace. All of Golden Earring's basic lineup has recorded as solo artists in Europe. "Radar Love" enjoyed a second round of popularity when pop-metal band White Lion covered the song in 1989. © Steve Huey, All Music Guide

BIO (Wikipedia)

Golden Earring is a Dutch Hard rock/pop group that was founded in 1961 in The Hague as the Golden Earrings (the 's' was later dropped). They had international chart success with the songs "Eight Miles High" in 1969, "Radar Love" in 1973, and "Twilight Zone" in 1982. In their home country, they had over 40 hits and made over 30 gold and platinum albums. Current members of Golden Earring are Barry Hay (vocals, guitar, flute and saxophone, member since 1968), George Kooymans (vocals and guitar, founder of band), Rinus Gerritsen (bass and keyboard, founding member), and Cesar Zuiderwijk (drums and percussion, member since 1970). Golden Earring was formed in 1961 in The Hague by 13-year-old George Kooymans and his 15-year-old neighbour, Rinus Gerritsen. Originally called The Tornados, the name was changed to Golden Earrings when they discovered that "The Tornados" was already in use. The name Golden Earrings was taken from a song, originally sung by Marlene Dietrich in 1947 and a hit for Peggy Lee in 1948, with which they opened their concerts. Initially a "teenybopper" band, Golden Earrings had their first chart success with their debut single Please Go, recorded in 1965. It reached number 9 on the music charts in the Netherlands. Unsatisfied with Dutch recording studios, the band's manager and co-discoverer Freddy Haayen arranged for the next single to be recorded at Pye Studios in London. The record cut at Pye, That Day, reached number two on the Dutch charts, having been prevented from rising to number one by The Beatles' "Michelle". In 1968, the band earned their first number one hit in the Netherlands with the pop song "Dong Dong Diki Diki Dong. This was followed by the success of their psychedelic album Eight Miles High, which featured an eighteen-minute version of the title track, itself a cover of The Byrds hit. The live version, which could last 45 minutes, was considered by some to be a highlight in their first and second American tours. Golden Earring embarked on their first major US tour in 1969 - 1970, and were among the first European bands to do so. Due to American influences, their music evolved towards hard rock, and they performed along with Led Zeppelin. Between 1969 and 1984, Golden Earring completed thirteen US tours. During this period, they performed as the opening act for Santana, The Doobie Brothers, Rush and .38 Special; and in the early seventies, when "Radar Love" was a hit, had KISS and Aerosmith as their opening act. They enjoyed a brief period of stardom but were unable to secure further chart success until 1982's "Twilight Zone", which was followed by "When the Lady Smiles" in 1984. After a rather disappointing reaction in the US to the latter, Golden Earring turned their focus towards Europe where they continue to attract standing-room-only crowds. Golden Earring has recorded over 30 gold and platinum albums and singles , and a number of artists like U2, White Lion, R.E.M. and Bryan Adams have covered their international hit and rock classic "Radar Love". In total, over 200 covers exist of this song. Golden Earring is known for powerful live performances, performing over 200 concerts a year,mainly in homecountry The Netherlands and occasionally in Belgium and Germany. Their energetic live performances have led to several live albums. Live, recorded at London's Rainbow Theater in 1977, 2nd Live, 1981, Something Heavy Going Down, 1984 (also released on DVD as Live from the Twilight Zone.) Last Blast of the Century, a live registration of their last concert of the 20th century, is available on both CD and DVD. Golden Earring has kept the same line-up since 1970. The band is the longest existing rock band in the world, as they were founded in 1961, one year before the Rolling Stones. While Golden Earring has almost faded from the international concert scene, they still maintain a core group of loyal fans, and their music is still played on US, Canadian, British, Australian and other radio stations. However a new American or European tour is something the band is undecided about, although their 2003 record Millbrook USA was recorded in Millbrook, New York state, at the studio of fellow-musician Frank Carillo, which indicates the band still have not lost touch with the US. Golden Earring was one of the first major European rock bands to tour the United States, in 1969. Golden Earring has released music worldwide and enjoyed brief superstar status in the Seventies when the single version of 'Radar Love', from the album 'Moontan' became a hit in both Europe and the USA. A non nude album cover was distributed for the North American release. Moontan itself was awarded a gold record in the US. The song 'Radar Love' has its own website http://www.radar-love.net.... On this site you will find 200 covers of this song which were voted "best car song ever" by readers of [USA Today] in 2005 and second best "greatest driving song" in a poll of [BBC]'s program "Top Gear", after "Don't Stop Me Now" from 'Queen'. George Kooymans wrote 'The Twilight Zone' in 1982 which brought Golden Earring a second international round of success. This song, was accompanied by one of the first rock videos, directed by Dick Maas. As MTV had just launched their music television channel in 1981, the airplay helped "Twilight Zone" secure a Top Ten hit in the States. When the Lady Smiles, from the album N.E.W.S., was the next international hit in 1984, again helped by a video, although it never became a hit in the US because the original video was banned from MTV due to nudity and the portrayal of the rape of a nun. A newly cut version of the clip failed to capture the true intentions of the director and Golden Earring, although When the Lady Smiles did make hit number 3 in Canada and became their fifth number one hit in their home country. When touring the United States in 1984, Golden Earring played the Great Arena of Six Flags Great Adventure on May 11, 1984 and were in the midst of their concert when the fire at the Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure began on the opposite side of the theme park, killing eight teenagers. Their best selling albums were Moontan of which over 1 million copies were sold worldwide, and the unplugged acoustic live CD/DVD The Naked Truth in 1992, which sold over 500,000 copies in the Netherlands alone and laid the foundation of their successful unplugged theater tours that started in 1992 and continue to date. This album was followed by Naked II, and the trilogy was completed in 2005 with Naked III Live at The Panama. Golden Earring celebrated its 45th anniversary in 2006 and has been performing almost continuously ever since 1961,and in the same line-up since 1970 making this band the oldest rock-band around.