There's a 1976 Golden Earring song - "Con Man" - with some lyrics that fit TFG,

[highplainsdem]

even though the song predates his rise to fame in the 1980s.

I don't have any background info on this song, why it was written, or whether Golden Earring's lead singer, Barry Hay, who wrote the lyrics, had any particular con man in mind (maybe someone in the Netherlands who didn't make the US news). Or maybe there was some film or book about a famous con man that had inspired him.

But some of these lyrics certainly fit TFG:

Con man's mastermindin' on a brand new heist
Blueprintin' through the secret files
Your tune ain't gonna be so nice
When he gets through with you

He'll be foolin' us all if we don't watch out
Leavin' his lies, spreadin' doubts all about
Con man's got a bloodhound nose for flaws
Profits from both sides of the law

Was listening to the song again the other night and the line about "the secret files" really caught my attention now.

The song expresses some admiration for the con man's cleverness, but also calls him "the Devil's son."

This was on Golden Earring's 1976 album Contraband (its title everywhere except in the US, where it was released in 1977 as Mad Love, that title taken from one of the tracks). It was a Top 10 album with a Top 10 single ("Bombay" ) in the Netherlands, but barely charted here.

"Con Man" should have been released as a single, though it would have had to be cut from its album length...and it really should be heard in its entirety. And it's even better at the longer, concert length. I was watching a reaction video on YouTube this morning that included the live version of "Con Man," and the guy doing the video had said during this song that Golden Earring hadn't really needed "Radar Love" to be impressive.

Unfortunately there is no actual concert video that I can find of this song showing the band performing, thought there are audio-only live recordings, including on their first live album in 1977. That's the second video below.

LOL! Just noticed as I looked for a studio version to post, the first video below, that a comment under the video calls it "Donald Trump's theme song" - and that got some thumbs-up responses on YouTube. Hadn't noticed that before.

[highplainsdem]

1. Kicking, because this is a kick-ass song more people need to hear. A review of

Contraband that I ran across on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Contraband-Golden-Earring/product-reviews/B0070T0M66?reviewerType=all_reviews

pretty much matches my opinion of it.

ONE tune especially, is just plain legendary. What a shame that only a few thousand humans have ever realized the awesomeness of this composition/performance. Con Man captures the essence of Golden Earring's brilliance. This tune grabs you immediately and never lets up. Of special note, this song contains one of the best secondary Bridge pauses EVER..you know that transition that's really needed to keep the listener enthralled and even more entertained..that sudden change of pace. THIS CON MAN TUNE ALONE IS WORTH $30.00..you can't find it anywhere except on this import CONTRABAND.

That secondary bridge starts about 4:30 in the studio version and 5:30 in the live version.

I love it, too. Not sure Barry's ever done any vocals I liked more. And the way the band jams then... Wow. Incredible outro.

[highplainsdem]

2. Btw, re what Barry is singing just after 6 minutes into the live video,

the second video, thanking the crowd for coming and adding that it was a larger crowd than they'd expected...

This show at London's Rainbow Theatre, which was being done both for charity and for a later radio broadcast, was more than three years after "Radar Love" had been a huge hit in the UK (it was released later in the US than in Europe, 1974 here instead of 1973 in Europe).

And at least one British rock journalist was surprised by how large the crowd was, given how much time had passed since that hit.

I got my remastered copy of that 1977 live double album today, and it came with a 30-page booklet that included the concert review in Britain's weekly music magazine Sounds, written by Geoff Barton, who later founded the heavy metal magazine Kerrang!.

Barton said in the first paragraph of the review that with no hits in the UK since "Radar Love," he'd thought the concert might be a "half empty, half hearted, rather dismal affair."

But he'd already contradicted that with the headline (well, if he'd written the headline himself; he was also an editor at Sounds): Searing Earring.

The review was a rave, with Barton writing about how the band "rampaged" through their material, with their music "impeccably balanced" and "immaculately played" from the start at a "frantic pace" to the ending with the audience "eating out of their collective hands."

Barton concluded:

Let's hope that the band will tour Britain in its entirety very soon, Concerts as good as this one shouldn't be reserved for London exclusively.

The whole country deserves to see 'em.

It's a shame that concert wasn't filmed, but at least much of it was released on that double album, which I've sometimes seen called one of the best live albums of all time.

And this remastered double album did come with a bonus, a DVD with video of 4 songs from their concert in Zwolle months later. This DVD should have better quality video than what I've seen so far of that concert - I haven't taken time to watch the DVD yet - but I already posted 3 of the 4 1977 videos from that concert here - https://democraticunderground.com/103478520 - in the OP and replies 2 and 4 there, since the band was so great then.

And "Con Man" was part of how great that London concert was.

[highplainsdem]

3. This song is why I ended up watching the longest reaction video I've ever watched, 1 hr 11 min.

Last edited Fri Sep 16, 2022, 01:04 AM - Edit history (1)

I'm going to post that below. I ran across it because "Con Man" is listed in the video description and YouTube's algorithm turned it up when I was searching for any live performances.

The video's quite long because the guy reacting/commenting had been told to listen to several tracks from Golden Earring's live 1977 double album, and all the tracks are fairly long.

He started knowing almost nothing about the band, and ended up amazed by them, putting them in the same category as the Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead as a great live band.

Some other comments:

"These guys can jam their asses off, man. Who knew? Who'd've thought?"

"That was excellent all the way through. Guitar-led rock and roll at its best there."

"I really loved that, man. That was great, man. A really excellent introduction to Golden Earring, especially... You didn't even need the presence of 'Radar Love' in it."

"Fantastic stuff."

Here's the video. This guy makes very few comments while he's listening, which is nice. An adult listening, rather than a kid mugging for the camera, as in too many reaction videos.

And this is good if you just want to hear a sampling of a great live album, starting at 3:43 and running through 50:25. The songs: She Flies On Strange Wings, Vanilla Queen, Con Man, Radar Love, Just Like Vince Taylor.

EDITING to point out that the album cover you'll see just glancing at that video is from the greatest hits collection by the very young Golden EarringS, released in 1968, two years before drummer Cesar Zuiderwijk joined the band (and just before they dropped that S from their name). Later in the video you do see the cover of the live album, the artwork done for that, but the video below shows the band as they looked in 1977, at the end of a concert a few months after the one at the Rainbow: