REVIEW: GOLDEN EARRING – NAKED II (LP, RECORD STORE DAY EXCLUSIVE)

After the immense success of The Naked Truth, there followed an acoustic album by Golden Earring, which under the name Naked II in 1997 saw the light of day on CD.

4.4/5 - (348 votes)

After the immense success of The Naked Truth, there followed an acoustic album by Golden Earring, which under the name Naked II in 1997 saw the light of day on CD. With well-known tracks from the band that were missing on the first part, some hits and new work in an equally lively setting. In honor of Record Store Day, Music on Vinyl releases the album for the first time on limited vinyl as part of the 500+ exclusive releases at the 2018 edition of the annual event.

Naked II did not come into being for nothing. The Naked Truth, which Golden Earring set up together with Veronica in 1992, was so successful that a successor could not stay out. In addition, Barry Hay and George Kooymans, the creative minds behind the band from The Hague, were also very busy at the time with the singer Anouk (Teeuwe), whom she discovered in 1997, who broke through in 1997 and quickly became very popular. Enough reason for a second throw to already achieved success with mostly written work. And who gives the band wrong, given the success of the first acoustic record?This is how it happened and in 1997 Golden Earring played in the Luxor Theater in Rotterdam for a full hall. The band had been familiar with live recording of albums for years and during this concert too Hay and his friends soon realized the band’s ecstasy and euphoria, which did so well on The Naked Truth and became even more thin in between. in the garage of Kooymans, where Face It (1994) was partially semi-acoustically recorded for a much smaller audience. Of course some recent hits from the band had to be played to complete the ‘Naked’ recordings and the album was expanded with two tracks recorded in the studio that fit perfectly on this album.Naked II is, apart from those two tracks recorded in the studio, again the epitome of that typical Golden Earring vibe that came from the stage to the audience (and listener). With considerable tempos, an audible high level of energy and joy of playing and a band that was dyed by the proverbial wool, it quickly became warm in the Luxor Theater. Bo Diddley’s Who Do You Love turns into a contagiously played Buddy Joe , The classic She Flies On Strange Wings sounds unplugged as strong as the original from 1971 and Bombay , When The Lady Smiles and The Devil Made Me Do It are of course perfectly suited to give live performances for an audience that knows what to expect.

Where Will I Be is a beautiful resting point in the whole and very nice is the Bob Dylan cover This Wheel ‘s On Fire , which in Hague hands came into its own. Of course the single Burning Stuntman is present on Naked II, together with the track Moon Indigo written by Kooymans for Anouk . Both tracks were recorded in the same Belgian studio where the album was mixed, supplemented with copper and strings from Hilversum’s Wisseloord Studios. Although nice for the real Earring fan to have, it is still the live tracks on Naked II that stay up to date.

This individually-numbered and limited edition of Record Store Day Exclusive is the first version of Naked II that can be heard from a plate groove. The LP (like the original CD) is a bit clear, but also pleasantly dynamic and more than capable of transferring the energy from the stage to the enthusiast at home. Despite the fact that the vocals are not always nicely recorded. The mastering for vinyl is good. The original was not tampered with and the pressing itself is of very high quality, quiet and completely flat. For fans of Golden Earring this unique release is of course already a walk to the local record store.

Music: 8 ½
Sound: 8
Quality pressing: 9 ½
Label: Music on Vinyl
Length: 56:39 minutes
Website: www.golden-earring.nl