THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,215) Golden Earrings — “I Am a Fool”
Here is a lovely, “effectively moody” (Mark Deming, https://www.allmusic.com/album/just-earrings-mw0000454482) ballad off the Earrings’ (see #63, 163, 319) first LP, 65’s Just Ear-Rings. The Golden Earrings are my favorite British beat group . . . from Holland! But not only could they sound just as if they had washed up on a bank of the Mersey, a feat in and of itself, they also wrote great songs. Unlike some groups, they didn’t have the luxury of having Lennon and McCartney donate to the cause. The Earrings have earned a lot of good will in my book — everything that happened in the 70’s is forgiven!
Mark Deming writes that:
Golden Earring were hailed as one of the hottest new bands in America when the song “Radar Love” . . . was released in 1973. Funny thing was, Golden Earring were hardly a new band; while they weren’t well known outside the Netherlands, in their native Holland they were major stars who had been scoring hits for eight years. Just Earrings was their first LP, recorded in 1965 when they were still billed as the Golden Earrings, and it’s fine British Invasion-style beat music that suggests the group was still formulating a sound of its own, but had absorbed the influences of [the usual suspects] and had fashioned the bits and pieces into a sound that was powerfully tuneful and engaging. The Golden Earrings wrote nearly all their own material at a time when even the U.K. bands they modeled themselves on performed a fair percentage of covers . . . . George Kooymans and Peter De Ronde were a great guitar team, bassist Rinus Gerritsen and drummer Jaap Eggermont push the music forward with energy and imagination, and Frans Krassenburg’s vocals show both attitude and aptitude, especially since he’s singing in English (though the lyrics don’t always survive close scrutiny). If Just Earrings had been recorded by a British band, chances are good the group could have scored that first hit in America a lot sooner — the album is certainly on a par with the work of most of the U.K. bands that were storming the U.S charts at the time, and if it took longer for America to warm to rock & roll from Holland, this is fun stuff that swings in any time zone.
Kieron Tyler talks of the album and the band’s formation:
They were always melodic, always focused, always immediate, their music combined the tough chunkiness of The Who and The Kinks with the minor-key, brooding melodies of The Zombies. . . . Where bands like the rough-hewn Outsiders defined the edgy sound of Amsterdam, the more polished Golden Earrings defined the sound of The Hague. . . . Just Earrings . . . stands as one of Europe’s best beat-era albums. and that includes the UK. Beyond displaying a top-drawer songwriting talent, the album included only one cover version. Who else was that confident in 1965? . . . The roots of The Golden Earrings lie in The Tornados, a band formed by 13-year-old George Kooymans and 15-year-old Marinus Gerritsen in 1962. . . . An instrumental outfit, their repertoire included Shadows and Ventures numbers. . . . The Hague . . . was stuffed with rock ‘n’ roll bands and competition was tough. . . . [The] boom was fuelled by bands made up from Indonesian immigrants. Indo-Rock had been born. . . . The Tornados – due to their youth – started out playing school parties. . . . [then] they’d begun playing clubs. After the British Tornados’ Telstar became a Dutch hit in late 1962 . . . . the band chose The Golden Earrings, from the standard that Peggy Lee had a hit with in 1948. . . . [B]y the end of 1963, it became clear that the shifting musical climate meant the band would have to incorporate vocals. Frans Krassenburg became their singer in early 1964. . . . The Dutch bands were well aware of the desire for beat music that was on their doorstep. Pirate radio station Veronica was broadcasting from a ship moored off the Dutch coast . . . . The[ir] break came in July 1965 . . . . Freddy Haayen saw the band at their regular venue Club 192 . . . . Haayen said he worked for Polydor Records and that he wanted to record them. Actually, he was an architecture student who also worked as a trainee at Polydor’s warehouse. The Golden Earrings didn’t know this and duly turned up at Hilversum’s Phonogram Studio on the afternoon of 8 August to record four tracks . . . . Haayen had made good on his bluff and scored a deal with Polydor. Released in September, Please Go immediately started climbing the Dutch charts, reaching number 10 . . . . As momentum built, The Golden Earrings were billed with visiting British bands . . . . In September they played with The Who; November saw them teamed up with The Kinks. . . . [T]he band completed their first album, Just Earrings. Released November 1965, the album showcased the band’s supreme confidence.
http://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2011/11/the-golden-earrings-just-ear-rings-1965.html?m=1
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