Customer Reviews

Moontan

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Purchasing an import copy of _Contraband_/_Golden Earring_ the other day, the clerk at the counter closely inspected the song lists. "Wow, no Radar Love." Too bad the Earring had the misfortune to actually pack an entire album's worth of fantastic music onto _Moontan_, because the bulk of the population never got past track one. (Okay, you can hear _Vanilla Queen_ from time to time on classic rock radio - but only during the enlightened hours of the evening.) This is the American pressing of this album, which contains "Big Tree, Blue Sea" whose original version is on _Golden Earring_, and leaves out "Suzy Lunacy" and "Just Like Vince Taylor" along with the racier cover art on the European pressing. "Blue Sea" is a fantastic, musically adventerous track by itself, almost exactly anticipating _Heavy Horses_ era-Tull by a full five years! Having indulged themselves and surprised the listener with the extremes of their artier tendencies, there are blasts of dense hard rock ("Candy's Gone Bad"), complex riffing and generous quantities of strings and well-used horns ("Vanilla Queen"). And then there's the single; its much easier to digest after all these times in the context of the rest of the album. Im constantly surprised how much this band's best output has been ignored by reviewers when considering great music in this decade; you could fit it into prog-rock or hard rock categories in equal parts. Or as another reviewer put it, the ultimate driving album. THE album to own by this band.

This is a fantastic album....not just the fact it contains the bands biggest hit "Radar Love"....but also because it contains "Big Tree, Blue Sea" an extremely rare version that only exists on this MOONTAN album...and it should be noted that it is very different from the version on an earlier Dutch album. This version is a major improvement over the other.

I have been a longtime fan and have every cd they ever made...altho I consider this an excellent album....I wouldn't sell their other cd's short....Check them out while they're still available. Some I recommend are:
Live 1977...Grab it for a second...Prisoner of the night...No promises no debts...Cut...These represent GE during the 1976-82 period.

The only shame about this CD is that it doesn't come with the packaging of the original European LP. (This had a very attractive woman on front and back, together with some excellent concert photos inside.)

This is just a fantastic rock album. Hardly a moment of it is sub-par. It has no pretensions to be anything other than a thumping good listen, although that is not to say that it is all guitar riffs. Both tracks 2 and 3 feature some good synth arrangements from bassist Rinus Gerritsen (apologies if I have misspelt the name, which is missing from my CD). The drumming of Cesar Zjuiderwick (apols again for the spelling) is excellently recorded.

When this first came out, the British pop papers wrote of a Dutch invasion. Focus had just released the currently deleted Focus III, and Hocus Pocus was doing well as a single. In terms of musicianship, Focus were probably the stronger, but Earring completely outrocked them.

Twenty-seven years on, I personally don't feel this album has dated. Radar Love will always be a classic. But as a driving song, it is actually bettered by the last track, Are You Receiving Me.

The follow-up album, Switch, was a bitter disappointment. Indeed I have never found an Earring album that comes close to this one, which remains in my all-time top ten.

yes folks,this is where golden earring makes a complete paradigm shift from their last 4 hard rockin' records to territory undescribed!.yes,i know how sick we all are of "radar love"(really the GE's most simplistic song,everybody's gotta eat,right!!!)but all the other songs are pure gold.i still never tire of "candy's goin' bad","vanilla queen" and 'are you recieving me?",and 'just like vince taylor" weighs masculinity with feminity well.i do prefer "big tree,blue sea" from "wall of dolls" better but in the context of this album,it's still classic.an essential purchase for earring/hard rock buffs/classic rock afficiandos!.

This is one of those rare albums that is excellent from start to finish, one that never dates, one that is still a pleasure to listen to even after all the years since it's release. Considering Earring have 29 (at last count excluding best of comppilations) albums (about 1 a year since they formed) finding the best is a hard task until you hear "Moontan"! (If you can get "Moontan" and another album "Cut" as a package deal (which I think Amazon has promoted before) then you have 2 of THE best albums of all time, not just the best of Earring.

Like some of you, I originally bought the 45 of Radar Love (and still have), but went gaga over the b-side (Just Like Vince Taylor). I immediately purchased the LP Moontan, which strangely enough didn't include Vince Taylor. But who cares, the rest of the album put those first two to shame. If you ever thought of owning a Golden Earring anything, this is a must have. Long instrumentals do it for me and the experimentation of early keyboards is great. NO, don't turn away from your terminal, go get it now. There, don't you feel better. Just for your info, their '82 release Cut, runs a close second. Enjoy

This is a classic album by a classic band from the Netherlands, Golden Earring founded 1961(!) released their first album in 1965 (Just Earrings) got world-fame by this 1973/74 release featuring their best know: 'Radar Love' this song became bigger than the band worldwide, only people in the Netherlands know that the band is still touring, playing 100 live-shows a year and they released their 28 album 'Paradise in Distress' (Arcade/CNR) in 1999. Golden Earring; the worlds most underrated Rockband!

If you want something that covers all from the old days, get this album. It is a historical album with all the songs that are important from those days. A must for the real Earring fans.
There are 6 long unforgettable songs on it!

I have recently begun buying CDs of some of my favorite albums.In the process I have gained a new respect for a few ,and noticed that many of the albums over the last 40 years haven't aged well.Also the idea that rock music is an art form has become debatable in most cases.This album is one of the best pieces of music I have owned.I don't know how much thought the band put into it,but they nailed it.I believe that "Moontan" as an album is art.Rarely does a band or album hit the bullseye like this.I haven't explored there history enough but for a few years in the 70s they but to vinyl some very fine music.This should be in any rock collection.

More than 20 years ago, a friend of mine proposed an exchange: "...your Ten Years After album for my Golden Earring album, if you want..." A good deal, at that time I did not know about 'Moontan' and the band who played 'Radar Love'. But, let me tell you, I really enjoyed that record. I used to regret my old copy of 'A Space In Time' to the point that, later, I bought a new copy; still, after all, it was a good deal, because that Golden Earring disc was and will always be a truly great record. Each song is a gem. Musical beauty. Truth. The sound is not flawless, yet it is overcomed by the technique, the genius of the musicians. Progressive Rock, mixed with some jazz, folk, and even hard-rock elements, that's how is 'Moontan' to me. The sonics of the cd reissue is, according to my copy, a coherent replica of the goode olde LP.