After pursuing a strict
art rock
style on
To the Hilt
,
Golden Earring
altered its style once more on the band's next album.
replaced keyboardist
Robert Jan Stips
with guitarist
Eelco Gelling
and put aside its
pretensions for a
hard rock
sound dominated by the group's new twin-guitar attack. The result was
Contraband
, the band's strongest album since
Moontan
. It starts powerfully with
"Bombay,"
an exuberant blast whose elaborate arrangement works in plenty of atmospheric
country
-styled shadings into an otherwise
track. Other highlights include
"Mad Love's Comin',"
a dazzlingly atmospheric rumination on romance that transforms from a tense
acoustic blues
into a spacy mid-tempo
rocker
worthy of
Pink Floyd
, and
"Fighting Windmills,"
a stately tribute to being an individual (a common theme of
songs) that works a snaky, Indian-sounding guitar riff augmented by swooning strings into the song's midsection.
"Con Man"
is another worthwhile track, a tribute to the raffish character of the title that highlights the electrifying guitar interplay between
Gelling
and
George Kooymans
. Despite this high percentage of strong tracks, not everything on the album is this strong: For instance,
"Sueleen"
"Faded Jeans"
are solid tracks but lack the sense of dynamics and powerful riffs that fuel numbers like
"Bombay."
However, even these lesser tunes work thanks to lean arrangements and a consistently energetic performance from the band. In the end,
is a worthwhile addition to any
collection, and well worth a spin for fans of '70s
in general. ~ Donald A. Guarisco