Search - Golden Earring :: Devil Made Us Do It: 35 Years

35 Years and 30 Albums....This is a superlative box set!!!

George J. Dezenberg, Jr. | Huntsville, AL USA | 11/23/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Golden Earring are one of those great bands largely lost on American audiences. Most of their albums are only available on import and most Americans knowledge of the band does not go beyond "Radar Love". If you have not previously been exposed to these great Dutch rockers this box set is a perfect overview of their 35 year career. Disc One titled "Hand's Wet On The Wheel" overviews their Sixties output which is quite folk influenced. Excellent songwriting and performances characterize this period of the band. Not heavy metal at all...very Beatles influenced. Starting with "Back Home" the band starts its Rock and Roll period...this track sounding like Jethro Tull crossed with early-era Who and Kinks. "Radar Love" and "Instant Poetry" close out the first disc and are unlike the preceding tracks. These tracks signal the entry of Golden Earring into their heavy metal period sounding like early Deep Purple or Uriah Heep.Disc Two is entitled "I Do Rock And Roll" and chronicles 1975-1984 era Golden Earring. Perhaps this disc gives some indication of the reasons for Golden Earring's lack of Stateside success---the band being overly eclectic, some songs ("Just Like Vince Taylor") being country-influenced rock numbers, others sounding like straight ahead Who-influenced rock ("To The Hilt"), others sounding like Deep Purple {"Sleepwalkin'). All four members of the band are accomplished musicians and they tend to explore different textures and genres of rock....never settling into a "voice" for the band. Whereas bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Jethro Tull were easily recognizable, Golden Earring never developed a sound whereby you could identify any particular song as being a "Golden Earring song". The song "I Do Rock 'N' Roll" is a stripped down rocker sounding very much akin to prime Richard Thompson. The full 7:54 version of "Twilight Zone" appears on this disc (Earring's second best known song). The disc closes with several songs from their synthesizer seventies period...proving much less interesting than previous incarnations of the band.Disc Three entitled "There Goes The Old Neighborhood" chronicles the period from 1986-2000. "Quiet Eyes" kicks things off...a very polished rock number sounding not unlike same period Scorpions (without the screaming vocals). "They Dance" is Golden Earring meets the Bangles. The band hits its stride beginning with "My Killer, My Shadow". That song and the following four show off the band as the mature accomplished outfit that they have become. Hard to imagine how these songs didn't catch on in the U.S. Any one of these would have sounded at home on American AOR radio. The disc follows with three live tracks proving that this band is now in the same league with the Who, Kinks, Stones....survivors of three and a half decades. The remainder of the disc is uniformly excellent....clearly there is way too much great material from this era to fit on this box set.Disc Four entitled "From The Treasure Chest" contains outtakes and previously unreleased tracks and maintains the high quality of the preceding three discs covering every period of the band from 1966 to 2000.If you do not own any Golden Earring discs this box set is THE place to start. If you already own several of the band's records you need the box set for the outtakes and unreleased tracks. All in all this is an EXCELLENT box set. The essays are written in German but the music is the point! Pick this up!"

Quite a retrospective!

eveoflove | North York, Ontario Canada | 01/13/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Made in GER in 2000, 4-disc digipak longbox, Serial#549-149-2.First the good news: Lots of tracks (74), running over 312 minutes (the shortest CD clocks in at over 77 minutes). This retrospective covers the last 35 years of the band, including material up to their latest (29th) album, "Last Blast Of The Century".Now the not-so-good news: The tracks featured on the first 3 discs are mostly taken from singles, but the nice part is that they're generally in full-length format. These guys have released a lot of good material, and a fair share of it is outside the "singles" market. I was a bit disappointed to see that the discography in the booklet shows pictures of the CD albums, which are sometimes different than the original (check out "Miracle Mirror" credited to Golden Earrins (sic)). You still get your money's worth if you're unfamiliar with most of their albums.If you're really interested in this compilation, check out George Dezenberg's review below: I think it describes this box set pretty well. HOWEVER, I would like to make 3 corrections to his review:1) Golden Earring didn't go through a heavy metal period. Their "heavier" stuff is probably in the mid-seventies, for the "Moontan" and "Switch" albums.2) Disc 4 contains material that's a bit harder to find, made up generally of solo material (from Barry Hay, George Kooymans, Rinus Gerritsen, and a collaboration with LABYRINTH), b-sides, and even stuff from the bonus disc included with the "Naked Truth" album (called "The Complete Truth"). It does however contain a few unreleased tracks.3) The 48-page booklet is in Dutch, not German..."

The Devil Made Us Do It

Jessie | USA | 10/28/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Devil Made Us Do It was released as box a two disc CD and a four disc boxset. This is the expensive, box set version that includes songs from the 60's-90's as well as solo tracks, live tracks, and B-sides. I have to say that I'm very pleased with some of the track choices, but I disagree with the inclusion of some as well.



DISC 1



Disc 1 is made up of their early work, spanning from 1965 to 1974. Naturally, the classic "Radar Love" is included, as well as their very first song, "Please Go", and fan favorites "Another 45 Miles" and "She Flies On Strange Wings". I have to say that I'm really not into 60's music, so their songs from that decade really don't do much for me. Songs that I would have liked to see included are "A Thousand Feet Below You", "Avalanche Of Love", "Candy's Going Bad", "From Heaven, From Hell", and "See See", as opposed to "In My House", "Don't Run Too Far", and "Dong-Dong-Diki-Digi-Dong". They are certainly superior songs and I'm sure GE knows it as well but I suppose that what the record company had a hand in it.



DISC 2



Disc 2 is made up of tracks from 1975-1984. What really peeves me off here is including the ridiculously stupid rap-like song "NEWS". The song sucks and the video sucks, period. There was no need to include it. Also, "I Do Rock 'N Roll" is a weak, lazy, lifeless song with unintelligent lyrics that only sounds decent when performed live. Sleepwalking is also one of those must-hear-live-to-appreciate songs. The version that really rocks is on Second Live although that album has a problem with too loud of a bass. Songs that should have been included are "Will And Mercy", "Mission Impossible", "Lost And Found", "Future". But "Twilight Zone", "Long Blond Animal", "When The Lady Smiles", and "Clear Nite Moonlight" are all present and accounted for.



DISC 3



Disc 3 spans 1986-1999. First of all, I frown on the popularity and inclusion of "Angel". I just don't see what's so appealing about the song. It's not catchy and it has absolutely no hooks or interesting riffs. It does nothing for me. "Legalize Telepathy" from the same album (Face It) would have been a MUCH better choice. And, while Temporary Madness is a good song (everything from Bloody Buccaneers is good), I can't condone including that song instead of the much-loved and excellent "In A Bad Mood". Plus, I would have liked another selection from the Love Sweat cover album besides the dull "This Wheel's On Fire." How about "Turn The Page" and "Gotta See Jane?" I would have liked to see some more from the Bloody Buccaneers album.



DISC 4



Disc 4 is a grab bag of rare goodies such as solo tracks and B-sides. Kudos for the wise inclusion of "Time Warp", the 1991 B-side. And God bless them for having them common sense to include the rock version of "Gimmie A Break" rather than the hideous standard version sung by George Kooymans. "The Devil Rides Again Tonight" is a lovely song from guitarist George Kooymans' 1987 solo album, although I do prefer "Lost For Love". I'm sad to see that Barry Hay's "Jezebel" from his 1987 solo album is missing. Try A Little Tenderness is a nice cover from 1996, a bonus track.













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