Audio CD review:
Golden Earring - Contraband

Golden Earring - Contraband

Band: Golden Earring Title: Contraband Rating: Release Date: 2001-11-05 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Bombay 2: Sueleen 3: Con Man 4: Mad Love's Comin' 5: Fighting Windmills 6: Faded Jeans 7: Time's Up

Classic Golden Earring It is one of my three favorites along with Moontan and the 1977 Live album. Contraband / Mad Love was the second GE album I heard. The songs Bombay, Mad Love's Comin', Sueleen, Con Man, and Fightin' Windmills are 70s rock gems. The guitar work on this album sound great - especially the opening riffs to Bombay and Mad Love's Comin'. Fightin' Windmills get bonus points for referencing Don Quixote. Other favorites: Moontan (U. S. version), Live, The Naked Truth, Seven Tears, Grab It for a Second. . Their worst album But my question is: why? Don't get me wrong-I'm a big Golden Earring fan. I must apologize as I realize that this is a much-loved album. But Contraband is, in my opinion, a junker. It only contains 7 songs, and I can honestly say that I don't enjoy a single one. Time's Up is garbage. Fighting Windmills is dull and pointless. Con Man is as weak as a water popsicle, and Mad Love's Coming is extremely overrated. The best song on the album might be Bombay-and that's saying alot, as Bombay is as mediocre as mediocre comes. I hate to do this to my favorite band, but Contrand is a real dud. Don't waste your money unless you thouroghly enjoy the "Grab It For A Second" and "Switch" albums. In my opinion, the mid-late 70's was GE's big down period. Their 1980 and newer albums I find much more appealing, as I do Barry Hay and George Kooymans' 1987 solo albums, "Solo" and "Victory Of Bad Taste", both of which are rarer than an F5 tornado in LA. You'll have to keep an eye on ebay for those two. If you want QUALITY GE, go for "Bloody Buccaneers", "Millbrook USA", "Cut", "Prisoner Of The Night" "The Last Blast Of The Century" "Moontan" "The Hole" "Keeper Of The Flame" "Seven Tears" "Face It" and "Something Heavy Going Down". I myself am partial to these over "Contraband" "Grab It For A Second" and "Switch". this flows smoothly...like B.O.C's "agents of fortune" not a recommended first purchase for the neophyte,but of course essential for the diehard!. i like the different textures this album offers,from "bombay" to "mad love" to "time's up" and everything inbetween is excellent. i like to pair this album with blue oyster cult's "agents of fortune" for some odd reason. another textbook reason on how G. E. knows how to floats outside the realms of hard rock into interesting territory i never get tired of!!!,yet it still can rock pretty well. Half and Half Btw, this album was originally released in the US as "Mad Love" and had a different track order and a few different tracks. Like the other 70s GE albums, this one is half really good and half really average. Still I think it is worth it for the good tracks. Easy does it,easy does it. The result is a relaxed sounding, easy flowing ,totally GE sounding cd. After trying to make everybody happy,but themselves(maybe), GE hires a slide guitar player,and lets loose. Bombay bounces,Sueleen swings and Mad Loves keeps coming at ya. The other 4 tracks are solid GE too. If you like GE this is a solid addition to your collection,and if you are real fan you probably already have this. But me being the only one to review, some of you out there are losing out. You can see a complete list of all Golden Earring discography, or go back to the Golden Earring tabs