Golden Earring's 1969 double LP (since reissued on a 66-minute single disc) is a competent rendering of a wide variety of period
rock styles. It's far from being a counterpart to
The White Album, though. It's just ordinary, late-'60s
rock, certainly more accomplished than most bands working in non-English speaking countries at the time, but not of high distinction, either. There's riff-driven material hinting at the direction they'd pursue more extensively in the 1970s (especially on
"Songs on a Devil's Servant"), Continental-flavored acoustic
folk balladry,
singer/songwriter-flavored
folk-rock, good-time hard-rocking
pop/rock (
"Goodbye Mama"),
classical-tinged pomp
rock, rather nice
soul-pop (
"I Sing My Song"), and self-conscious
music hall parody. They could have fit into the opening slots of big-name
rock bills without many suspecting they were of non-Anglo origin, but nor were they going to be upstaging many headliners. It's merely adequate, without standout songs or an individual flavor. ~ Richie Unterberger
