Customer Reviews

To the Hilt

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Golden Earring have their share of great and not so great albums in their long discography, but this one is one of my alltime favourite albums by any band. Far as I know, it followed 'Moontan' which was a perfect seventies rock album (and I don't use that term lightly), but is a stylistic departure after that hit album, taking the intensity level down a notch in favour of a slightly more relaxed sound - not so much in pace or playing, but in atmosphere.

I can see why this album didn't do as well as its illustrious predecessor in the commercial arena, being as mentioned not as straightforward mainstream in it's sound, but on the other hand that 'weakness' is its strength. Featuring more clean guitar work and adding Moog sounds, plus some extra violins and saxophone etc to flesh out the atmosphere, there's a consistent 'feel' to the album that I haven't heard anywhere else - a kind of night-time ambience. In places it's almost like seventies jazz meeting seventies rock. The only other album I can compare it to in that regard is The Strangler's 'Feline', which also is a unique sounding album with a beautiful night-time aura around it.

It still features a instantly catchy hit single in the classic 'Sleepwalking', but the rest of the tracks offer more depth and need a few listens to sink in. After the initial familiarization, it repays you handsomely by being an album you can return to time and again without getting bored. It's also worth listening to on headphones - especially while working late at night - it's that beautiful atmosphere, great drum sound, and allround room-filling warmth of the record. Even when the band is going off, it still somehow sounds relaxed and free flowing. And apart from anything else, the sheer quality of the musicianship displayed here is a joy to listen to - you can tell they were really hitting their stride in terms of effortlessly working off each other, the way the Experience, Byrds, Eagles, Deep Purple etc did in their prime.

This is one to put on whenever you get bored with the rest of your album collection. If they'd been an American or UK band, this album would be one of those period classics for the afficionados.

I've always thought that this was a great album! I was going Golden Earring nuts at around the turn of the 80's after hearing the "Moontan" album. All I knew before that was the edited version of "Radar Love" and its b-side, "Just Like Vince Taylor." (Great song!!!) Their albums were getting a little difficult to get, but I was keeping my eyes peeled for any of them. Their mid 70's stuff seemed to be allowed to go out of print quickly.
When I played this album, I was not one bit surprised to have another great Earring album in my collection. George, Rinus and Cesar had some great rhythms going on this album. "Why Me" is a solid, exciting opening tune. I love the rhythm guitar in this one! "Facedancer" has an incredibly cool acoustic guitar riff at the beginning along with simple percussion (sounds almost like someone tapping on an acoustic guitar). Once everything kicks in, an electric guitar takes over the riff and some fantastic drumming ensues. What I find most striking in "To the Hilt" is the lyrics. "Nomad" is my least favorite track, but again, it starts with a really cool set of chords along with a really hooky rhythm (It makes it hard to stop listening). "Sleepwalking" was always one of my two favorite cuts from this album. After the lines: "Across the bridge/Around the poop/A fire escape/Won't hesitate," there's a pause, and then some of the best drumming I've ever heard starts up. I don't know how to describe it except to say that it sounds as though the drums are stuttering, and he wraps them around the timing of the rhythm beautifully. It's really masterfully done! Again, very cool chords on the rhythm. Very solid, fabulous track!!! Another of my two favorite tracks, "Latin Lightning" starts with some great chords that hook you immediately. After they sing: "You'll be in a daze all night just watchin' latin lightning," they settle in to a really great rhythm and play on it a bit. They neither go overboard with its length, nor play the section too heavily. Extremely well done! "Violins" opens, yet again, with a great, irresistible rhythm guitar that really has a great groove. After the line: "Listen to the screech repeatin'/Watch the flags go slack," the music pauses and a set of 4 really neat e-chord variations start, first on the guitar, then the bass, then the drums come in, keyboard, and then violins! Lots of 'em! I like the lyrics throughout the album also.
Great album!!

This band is know for "Radar Love" and "Twilight Zone", but those are just the tip of the iceberg. It sounds cliche, but this really is one of the most under-rated bands around. I first heard "To The Hilt" in the late 70s, and I wondered why these guys weren't as popular as Pink Floyd or Queen. The closing track "Violins" has stayed with me to this day. Enjoy this CD!

This is not my most listened to album by Golden Earring but then I have most of them and this one kind of gets lost. Sleepwalkin always struck me and is my favorite on the album. The rest of the songs are good solid material, not their best but somewhere in the middle.I recently listened to this twice and realize that this is a great album. It's one of The Earrings most progressive efforts. A more mellow side to them is prevalent here. As mentioned above Sleepwalkin is my favorite, it really drives! A very underated effort from this outstanding group. If you haven't listened to these guys yet... HURRY!

Although it always helps to have a major hit like radar love to get a band on the map,Golden earring has been spared from overexposure in the states.To the hilt is a great example of their work.I love the fact that at this point in their career they had not yet streamlined their songs,not so with later albums.The music does not conform to a formula,it rather just flows along at its own pace.Golden earring sustains what i refer to as an international sound ,meaning its impossible to tell where their from but you just know their not from around here.To the hilt's comlexity and subtelty allows for repeated listenings without sounding overbearing or irritating. a true gem.

To the Hilt is yet *another* underappreciated effort by the greatest Dutch rock band ever- Golden Earring.

Moontan had sparkling production and wonderful songwriting leading one to believe it was destined to be a worldwide commercial success (and in a way it was, I suppose). Their follow-up album Switch continued with more fantastic songwriting, but contained a more straight forward style with a bunch of catchy pop songs. For some incredibly bizarre reason, it didn't make a splash in the American market at all. That will remain a huge mystery to me for the rest of my life.

Now enter To the Hilt. The music on here doesn't resemble either of the previous two albums and instead proves once again that Golden Earring experiments like no other rock band. It's honestly quite difficult to describe the majority of the songs because the album is not necessarily focused around hard rock riffage and horns like, for example, "Radar Love". Instead it touches upon many different styles.

Alright so perhaps "Sleepwalkin" is a rewritten version of "Radar Love" (and it's definitely one of the best songs on To the Hilt with a remarkably catchy guitar riff and chorus) but that's about the only similarity to the famous Golden Earring song on the entire album.

One thing's for sure- the instrumental chops are a tad better than usual (at least, in comparison to the previous two Golden Earring recordings) probably because they're more melodic and tighter than ever before. Another memorable aspect is the lead singer- he proves once again how talented and professional he conducts himself. I also admire how *clear* his lyrics normally are- there's never any difficulty understanding the words coming from his mouth. He honestly feels really American to me.

This album sounds remarkably clean and technical, with more experimenting. Do NOT expect another Moontan or Switch- this is something else entirely.

"Nomad" has a really catchy vocal melody and decent guitar soloing around the halfway point. Perhaps the final few minutes are relatively pointless though. One moment I hear a cat meowing sound effect, I kid you not! It's right before horses can be heard charging down a dirt road, haha. At least the song comes to a conclusion on a high note with the bluesy guitar solo. Maybe it's just me but "Facedancer" sounds WAY ahead of its time. It's a fast-paced acoustic track, and the only time it doesn't sound like a modern day tune is whenever ths synths make an appearance. What a strangely appealing song. I honestly can't recall any other acoustic-dominated songs from the 70's that resemble this.

Perhaps my two favorite songs are the final two on the album- "Latin Lightning" strongly resembles the classic period of the Doobie Brothers during the first half, and the guitar jam at the end is REALLY melodic and performed in an amazingly cool kind of way. I love it. Pay attention to the beautiful and melodic way the keyboards are played throughout the song, too. It's really great stuff.

The final track titled "Violins" is a major daring experiment for the band. The orchestral way the violins are performed during the second half of this 10-minute track is really good and actually reminds me of the final track from the James Gang's Bang album, of all bands. Look at the album cover and listen to those violins- a perfect match! The first half contains some really bizarre lyrics about zoos and monkeys... it's certainly very unusual! The way the vocal melody is sung is equally bizarre.

Overall, To the Hilt is a fantastic album despite its lack of success, though you have to feel sorry for the poor guy on the album cover. His fate is sealed.

`To the Hilt' would probably have been considered a re-hash of Golden Earring's "Moontan" album if the more progressive "Switch" had not been released between them. This album really belongs to Robert Jan Stips and his keyboards and synthesizer work. On "Moontan" he provided punctuation for the band, and on "Switch" the keyboards and guitars complimented each other nicely. That balance is gone here, and at times it seems like George Kooymans - who's fantastic guitar work dominated the previous albums - had become a sideman for this project.

That doesn't mean that `To the Hilt' is unsatisfactory - it's just different. "Switch" needed a few listens before I warmed to it and so did this album. The one song that jumped out at first listen was "Sleepwalkin'", a peppy Radar-love style song with vocals being delivered over a drum-and-bass backdrop, giving in to full instrumentation on bridges and choruses. "Violins" is an extended track that morphs from a slow, funky beat into mainstream rock, and then finishes off with a string section leading over a somewhat jazz-tinged chord progression. These two songs are worth the price of the album alone (although `Violins' does go on a bit too long).

`Facedancer' is the most unorthodox song here. Basically it's Barry Hay singing over a guitar that's plucking the same melody he's singing on the verses. It's quite interesting and works very well, but some people will probably hate it. `To the Hilt' juxtaposes depressing lyrics over familiar upbeat music.

`Why Me', `Nomad', and `Latin Lightning' are the more mediocre cuts on the album, the latter being the best of the three. While the band does a good job of `hinting' at Latin music, it doesn't sound genuine. Still, the tune proceeds along quite nicely until it abruptly slows down for the last minute or two (think "Candy's Going Bad"). The other two songs simple plod on a bit too long for their own good. I think the album could have been stronger by lopping off a minute or two from all three of these songs and giving us one more song instead.

Overall, in the scope of their entire collection, this would be on my `Must Have' list, but it'd be nearer to the bottom of that list. RJ Stips synthesizer would be replaced by the slide guitar work of Eelco Gelling on the next two studio releases (and a live album), so they never returned to the sound of this album, making it a worthwhile acquisition.

Sleepwalking is a great song that sounds like a slightly more mellow Radar Love. It has a great driving funky bass, and some great jazzy saxophone playing at the end. It sounds great, and the version on Second Live is faster and also terrific. Violins is the dud of the album. Nomad is a nice, long, relaxing nighttime song. All in all, this isn't an album to rock out with (except for Sleepwalking), it's more of a mellow, jazzy relaxing album.

This is a great 70's album that's a bit more mellow with a jazzy, nightime feel mixed in. The best track is Sleepwalking, a jazzy rock song with a driving bass. The song sounds a bit like Radar Love, so if you like RL you'll probably like this song. It has some synthesizers and saxophones mixed in at the end. The version of Second Live is great as well, leaving out the jazz feel and going for a faster, more straight up rock sound. You should hear both versions, really. I also like Nomad. It's not a song to rock out to, it's a mellow, dreamy song that is great to unwind and relax with. I love the sound effects in the middle of the song that make it sound like a cowboy is out riding under the stars. It's mesmerising, even though I usually prefer to rock out. Latin Lightning is possibly the jazziest song on the album with some great sax and electric guitar. Why Me and Facedancer are great songs, even though they're really not my thing. My two least favorite tracks are To The Hilt (the Live version is much better, but it's just a bit to much country dance for me) and Violins.

Moontan.After Switch,and not being as popular as Moontan I
think GE wanted to give fans another Moontan,with longer trippy spacey tunes.So they did, but it did not really become Moontan,
but a little harder to get into.But if you have a little patience,you will be well rewarded.Standout tracks here are
Nomad(dreamy),Sleepwalking(rocking,like Radar Love)and Violins
(multi layered 10 min.track).This is a very good disc.