Golden Earring - No For An Answer (studio version + live in Toronto, 1983)

[highplainsdem]

This 1980 song was a hit in the Netherlands for Golden Earring, one of a number of hits they had there between their international mega-hits "Radar Love" in 1973 and "Twilight Zone" in 1982.

I posted the concert video below in Music Appreciation last night -- https://www.democraticunderground.com/103477455 (you can find a link to the setlist there) -- in part because their set started with this song, which hadn't been in other videos I'd posted. Then I added the studio version, a performance for a Dutch TV show where they were lip-syncing.

The concert video was missing the first 15 seconds and the first line of the song, but it was still better than the studio version.

I wanted to share both here because so many Americans are familiar with just those two mega-hits from this great band.

I love the energy of this song, especially live. We can all use more energy now.

And I love the '50s-rock sound, too. Lead guitarist George Kooymans, who wrote almost all their songs (some by himself, many with Barry Hay writing the lyrics, after Barry joined the band), had fallen in love with rock music and learned to play guitar at the age of 8, in 1956. (See this -- https://www.facebook.com/georgekooymansboek/photos/a.309608799196864/575760755914999 -- for a picture of George with a guitar bigger than he was.) He didn't form the first version of the Earring till he reached the ripe old age of 13, when he was also giving guitar lessons, but you can still hear that '50s influence in some of their music, though they had a lot more influences later, including psychedelic/prog rock.

The 3-1/2 minute studio version, and the live version in the first 4-1/2 minutes of the concert.

[highplainsdem]

1. The AllMusic review of the 1980 album this song is from gave some special attention to

this track:

https://www.allmusic.com/album/prisoner-of-the-night-mw0000462443

Prisoner of the Night Review by Donald A. Guarisco

Although the band has put out several fine albums over the years, Golden Earring has not always had an easy time staying consistent from album to album. This 1980 effort is one of the rare instances in the Golden Earring catalog in which the group takes a good album, No Promises...No Debts, and actually improves on it. Like the aforementioned album, Prisoner of the Night presents a collection of songs that combine pop hooks and hard rock muscle in a radio-friendly way. However, Golden Earring improves on this style instead of recycling it: The guitar riffs hit harder, the hooks are catchier, and the arrangements are more willing to toss an occasional left turn at the listener while still managing to keep the songs lean and exciting. Good examples include "No for an Answer," which combines a muscular array of guitar riffs and a frenetic hard rock tempo with a killer singalong chorus, and "My Town," an amped-up slice of driving power pop that is worthy of Cheap Trick. However, the finest of the rockers is "Long Blond Animal," which combines a stomping beat, a circular guitar riff, and another infectious chorus to create a blood-pumping rocker that is as catchy as it is invigorating. Some of the other songs don't quite hit the manic highs of these standout tracks, but everything is well-arranged and features unexpected twists that keeps things fresh (i.e., the new wave synthesizer riff that pops up out of nowhere midway through the power ballad "Will and Mercy" ). The end result is one of the finest albums of Golden Earring's career. It's a required listen for the group's fans and an album that is likely to win over any pop/rock devotee who gives it a spin.

[highplainsdem]

2. Audio from their 2nd live album, released in 1981. Don't think this is quite as good as

the 1983 performance in Toronto, though. By '83 they'd worked out a perfect arrangement for the song. And they were on fire that night, and with great sound at Massey Hall.

Still, this was a pretty good live performance in '81 of a very high-energy song.