Earth And Fire
In 1969, progressive rock was in its infancy, evolving from a mix of styles that include psychedelic pop and rock and blues. Bands around the world were finding ways to expand on or break out of the traditional format. Also in the small country of The Netherlands. One name that still has a large number of enthusiastic fans is Earth And Fire. Their timeline is filled with style changes, but the first couple of albums contain some very fine psychedelic and symphonic rock.
One of those albums is, in my humble opinion, a full-on all-time classic in the world of symphonic rock music, as you will read below.
Later albums would go into pop areas, with a symphonic track here and there on a couple of albums. For this Discography Reviewed series, we're diving into the first couple of albums, which will be of interest to the readers of DPRP.net. A final chapter will deal with interesting tracks on later albums.
Jerry van Kooten
The history of Earth And Fire starts not long before their first release, but twin brothers Chris and Gerard Koerts started operating as The Singing Twins in 1962, then changed to The Swinging Strings in 1965 when they started to play more rock & roll, and in 1967 they regrouped as Opus Gainful with a serious focus on psychedelic rock and writing their own material. In october 1968 they changed the name to Earth And Fire.
The band had a few Dutch contemporaries active in the psychedelic and progressive genres, but each had their own style. Supersister (first album April 1970) were going in a really progressive style nearing Canterbury. Group 1850 (two albums in 1968 and 1969) were in the psychedelic garage rock or acid rock corner. Ekseption (first album in 1969) were a mix of classical-based progressive rock. Golden Earring had their psychedelic era but were still heavily in the blues rock / classic rock style. And Focus (first album in September 1970, same as Earth And Fire) of course, who were more progressive and fusion. Alquin, Solution, Kayak, and Finch came just a bit later. (I am sure you will see some of those appear in this feature series.)
Earth And Fire — Earth And Fire
Related non-album tracks (6:07): Hazy Paradise (3:49), Mechanical Lover (2:18)
In September 1969, Jerney Kaagman replaced first singer Manuela Berloth, and already in December 1969 they released their first single, Seasons / Hazy Paradise. The A-side was written by Golden Earring guitarist George Kooymans, and the band were undoubtedly helped by him and his fame in getting a record contract and some first nationwide attention. Earth And Fire had been the opening act for Golden Earring for a short Dutch tour in late 1969, and both bands are from the same region in the Netherlands.
Although Kooyman's help must have been important, it cannot be the only factor in the band getting a hit with their first single. (It went to the top 5 in 3 weeks, peaking at #2.) It was the start of a whole string of top 5 hits for the band over a period of several years, all written by the band themselves. The arrangements of the song are completely Earth And Fire as well, as it lives perfectly among the rest of the album. In some respects, Seasons might be even one of the most traditional tracks on the album in terms of sound and composition.
Most of the songs are around the 4-minute mark, but don't let that fool you into thinking this is just another album in the genre of the time, mostly dominated by the more psychedelic-tinged songs as found in a lot of British and American acts at the time. Every song shows an escape from the traditional tunes. During gigs, the band included songs by Jefferson Airplane or Jimi Hendrix, which says something about the musical style they were pursuing. But even as early as this in the band's history, they show their own identity (even if they would change that themselves later).
The strong emphasis on melodies is omnipresent. With the twin brothers sharing those on guitar and keyboards there is a lot of variety. A difference with many psychedelic pop songs is probably the tendency to have slightly darker sounds and atmosphere, a clear break from the typical happy hippy sound.
Another strong element in the sound is the many changes within several the songs. They are already on the progressive side of psychedelic music.
Singles
Two more singles were released before the album: Ruby Is The One / Mechanical Lover, and Wild And Exciting / Vivid Shady Land. The A-sides and one B-side ended up on the album, but with Hazy Paradise (from the Seasons single) and Mechanical Lover there are two non-album tracks.
The first CD issue, on Repertoire, included a rather weird collection of bonus tracks. Besides the album-related singles, which make sense, other singles from years later were included. Taking into account that the band changed their musical style several times, listening to the whole CD makes it go off near the end. To me there are only two non-album tracks that belong to the first album.
For a 2004 Japanese CD issue they decided to include the two non-album singles that relate to the time period of the first album. I do consider many of the Esoteric / Eclectic releases to be the definitive editions, and their 2009 release is excellent as well. It also includes the same two bonus tracks. (A caveat with this release concerns the opening track, as described below.)
Although Invitation shows the style of the first album but the fact that it is coupled with the single version of what would become the title track of the second album, I consider that single to belong to that second album.
Lost Forever was the B-side of Storm And Thunder (September 1971) so really belongs to the second album. Invitation was released as a single in February 1972, which was three months after the release of the second album, and had the single version of the album's title track as the B-side. The single Memories / From The End Till The Beginning was released in April 1972 and therefore also should have been included on a re-issue of the second album.
Thanks For The Love was a non-album single A-side in October 1974 and What Difference Does It Make was a non-album single A-side in March 1976. Completely out of place on a CD of the first album.
Cover
The matchbox cover. Shown here is the Music On Vinyl release from 2012.
The cover has been a reason for this album to get more attention and some early pressings to become quite valuable. The original Dutch pressing (and a couple of foreign pressings) were dressed in a sleeve that was like an old package of matches.
Although later pressings used the same artwork, the original version has the cover actually open up
You flip open part of the front (with the photo) and the inside looked like a set of matches, with the album info above (on the back of the photo).
As far as I can tell, only a few of the original releases and the 2012 reissue on the Music On Vinyl label use the same technique.
The Roger Dean cover. Shown here is a photo of the original pressing on the Nepentha label, with a few lines from the lyrics of Twilight Dreamer.
A second cover was not much less legendary, as when the album was released in the UK (and again, other countries too) got a cover designed by Roger Dean. It shows a tree trunk, with the spaces between the roots cut out, showing the brightly coloured inner sleeve.
Original pressings of both covers can go up to several hundreds of euros.
Both covers have been used for CD issues, although I have not seen a CD cover that actually has the matchbox design of folding open the front to show the matches.
Versions
The album has been released many times and I only have a few, so I cannot compare all versions, but I do know that some LPs have a shorter version of Wild And Exciting (a fade-out during the guitar solo at 4:06) and some have the full version (4:30). I don't have copies of the first matchbox version or the first Roger Dean cover version, so I cannot say which version was released first. I can only assume that the short version is the single version, but have no idea why the short version would be used for album releases.
CD Versions
If you are looking for CD issues of the album and related singles, you cannot go wrong with the first CD issue on Repertoire Records from 1993, which has the long version of Wild And Exciting. Although it contains some bonus tracks that should have been on other CDs, it has the best sound. The Memories 10 CD box is good too.
For some reason, the Esoteric / Eclectic releases contains the short version of Wild And Exciting instead of the full version.
The mastering on the Repertoire CD is slightly softer than on the Esoteric CD, which is louder and has a little bit of compression, meaning a little less contrast between softer and louder sections. The sound on the Esoteric CD is still excellent and there is no clipping.
The 6CD box titled The First Five (Universal Music, 2019) is to be avoided. The mastering is pretty bad on that one: the sound has a lot of compression and clipping. Later on you'll read this box has one advantage, though.
Earth And Fire — Song Of The Marching Children
Related non-album tracks: Lost Forever (2:47), Invitation (3:50), Song Of The Marching Children (single version) (4:10), Storm And Thunder (single version) (4:51)
The Album
With their second album, Earth And Fire went from psychedelic rock straigt into symphonic rock. The step forward is big, and with the side-length title track pretty amazing.
But let's start at the beginning.
Storm And Thunder
Then the title track. At 18:24, it is going through several movements.
The march itself has always intrigued me. Who thinks of a march in 5/4 time?
The band played this track live for several years, although in later years it was abridged and rearranged to 13 minutes.
Singles
Invitation was released as a single in February 1971. Although closer to the release of the first album (September 1970) than the second album (October 1971), it shows the band was very active writing new material: it has the single version of the title track of the next album, Song Of The Marching Children. I therefore see Invitation belonging to the second album's non-album tracks.
Musically, the single A-side is closer to the first album. Psychedelic rock, slightly hippy lyrics. But the structure of the song is already becoming more progressive, and the sound is more symphonic too. A great build-up towards the choruses, and a great, full ending section. I guess it just sits perfectly between the two albums.
The single version of the album's title track (the B-side of the non-album track Invitation), was not just an edit. It was a separate recording comprising all the themes/sections of the suite, weaved together using a few different bridges. Several parts of the lyrics are different too. Since the single was released a considerable amount of time before the album, I guess it might have been an early version?
Shortly before the album release, the single version of the Storm And Thunder was released, in September 1971. This version is an edit of the album version.
The B-side is very interesting, as Lost Forever is a non-album track.
Conclusion
This is a very important album in the history of Dutch progressive rock, Dutch rock music in general, and progressive rock in general. Althoug not the first album with a major symphonic rock suite filling a whole side (think of Pink Floyd, Can, Van Der Graaf Generator — but not Yes), it was still relatively early in the history of prog. It shows the progress the band made from the first album, the skills of the musicians and writers. That, plus the fact that I love this album so much and to my taste is the best album they made, makes it a full 10.
Earth And Fire — Atlantis
The third album show both the progress of the band and the pressure from the record label to deliver something commercial. It was an actual decision to continue and develop the style and not remain in the symphonic regions. Although the title track is a 16-minute story, to put it simple, it is composed of a few compositions that have clearly not been composed as a single piece, glued together by a recurring theme.
That sounds a bit harsh, as the arrangements are excellent, making it sounds like a unit. The separate elements themselves are
Side B starts with what I think is an amazing track. Maybe Tomorrow, Maybe Tonight did well as a single, but has a lot to offer. It harks back the bluesy hard-rock heard before, has a storming organ melody and great vocal lines and delivery in the choruses. The verses are very melodic with lush arrangements and layers, and then there are the two fierce guitar solos. This turns it into a great track from a blues-rock / progressive blues perspective but also turned it into a successful single.
The feeling of Atlantis as a composition spills over to side B, with Interlude and Theme From Atlantis (which is not just a repetition of part of side A).
The band have said in interviews that they felt rushed by the record company and were not entirely happy with this album. It showed in the fact that they stopped playing Atlantis while Song Of The Marching Children was on the setlist for many years after. It's a bit short, which probably has to do with being forced to deliver.
Earth And Fire — To The World Of The Future
Related non-album tracks: Tuffy The Cat (3:09), Fun (3:40), Thanks For The Love (3:41), Excerpts From To The World Of The Future (5:37), What Difference Does It Make (3:10)
Singles
Besides the 7 album tracks, the complete collection for this era includes 5 extra tracks. Tuffy The Cat was the B-side to Love Of Life, the first single related to this album, released in June 1974, 11 months before the release of the album.
DATES CORRECT?!?!
In October 1974, still 7 months before the album would be released, the single Thanks For The Love was released, with a curious B-side: Excertpt From To The World Of The Future. In 5 and a half minute, parts of all sections are played with a Dutch voice-over presenting the album and some background information.
Fun was the B-side of the Only Time Will Tell single, release April 1975, one month before the album.
What Difference Does It Make was released as a single (A-side) in March 1976. This is truly a non-album track, since the B-side contains the instrumental version of the same track.
De tijd zegt niks
Eclectic Recordings have released a remastered version of this album with all the mentioned non-album tracks, except for two tracks that could have been included here since they were from the same time. First there is the instrumental version of What Difference Does It Make, the B-side to the version with lyrics. And the second is De tijd zegt niets from the various artists compilation album Zing in je moerstaal. Both are available on a few Earth And Fire compilations but if you have everything you're paying for a lot of duplicate stuff.
Earth And Fire — Gate To Infinity
The last of the albums that are of interest to the readers of DPRP.net is probably Gate To Infinity. Another science-fiction story.
Later Albums
After this, the songwriting shifted towards pop more and more. Some songs deserve a special mention, though.
1979 saw Earth And Fire score the biggest hit in their career with a song I can't stand — Weekend, and I know for a fact I am not the only one who thinks so. It's rather typical for the direction the band were going to, but it's a sleazy pop song and the xylophone makes it worse. All is fine if you like that song, but we're interested when the music touches something of a progressive sense.
A few months after the single came the album, Reality Fills Fantasy. And it also opens with a long and more symphonic track, in this case the 11-minute People Come, People Go.
Fun fact is that with Ton Scherpenzeel, Max Werner, Edward Reekers, and Johan Slager, almost the whole of Kayak are guests on this album.
Andromeda Girl from 1981 continues in the same style as the previous album, except, again, for one track. Not the first track for a change. Track 3 is the 12-minute title track. I guess they did like their science fiction!
This is the last album with Chris Koerts in the line-up. And his influence is limited. Ronnie Meyjes took over the guitar duties, Chris only plays occasionally here, and offered string arrangements.
Late 1982 saw the band's last album for a while, and it contains the 7-minute I Don't Know Why. Gerard Koerts is still on keyboards, but with only four titles to his name, his influence is limited. Interesting to see is that he is still pushing the limits, not wanting to keep playing in one style. The final track, Dona Nobis Pacem is an instrumental where especially the keyboards are experimental for a band like this. When the Koerts brothers would record an album under the Earth And Fire Orchestra several years later, they would explore this path further and would go into electronic and ambient regions.
Seven years later, the band's swan song was released under the title Phoenix. The album shows a lot of ballad-like love songs and pop songs that, admittedly, have an emphasis on keyboard melodies and several guitar solos. No doubt this has to do with the fact that Kayak main man Ton Scherpenzeel is now part in the band, having written 9 out of the 12 tracks.
Most songs are typical for the time, and quite stale to be honest. The verses are, as common at the time, mostly percussive and not much else going on, so not to distract from the vocal lines. But there are two surprising tracks to be found, both around 6 and a half minute.
The first is Keep On Missing You.
The other noteworthy track is Streets Of Shame, comprising three different sections.
Discography
Singles and albums with their first release date. * means non-album track.
| release | type | title |
|---|---|---|
| 1969-12 | 7" | Seasons / Hazy Paradise * |
| 1970-05 | 7" | Ruby Is The One / Mechanical Lover * |
| 1970-08 | 7" | Wild And Exciting / Vivid Shady Land |
| 1970-09 | LP | Earth And Fire |
| 1971-02 | 7" | Invitation * / Song Of The Marching Children (single version) * |
| 1971-09 | 7" | Storm And Thunder (single version) * / Lost Forever * |
| 1971-10 | LP | Song Of The Marching Children |
| 1972-04 | 7" | Memories * / From The End Till The Beginning * |
| 1973-02 | 7" | Maybe Tomorrow Maybe Tonight / Theme From Atlantis |
| 1973-04 | LP | Atlantis |
| 1974-06 | 7" | Love Of Life / Tuffy The Cat * |
| 1975-04 | 7" | Only Time Will Tell / Fun * |
| 1975-09 | LP | To The World Of The Future (ESOTERIC SAYS THIS IS 1975-04!) |
| 1975-10 | 7" | Thanks For The Love * / Excerpts From To The World Of The Future * |
| 1976-03 | 7" | What Difference Does It Make * / What Difference Does It Make (instrumental) * |
| 1977-11 | 7" | 7/8 Avenue / Dizzy Raptures |
| 1977-11 | LP | Gate To Infinity |
| 1979-10 | LP | Reality Fills Fantasy |
| 1980-02 | 7" | Fire Of Love / Season Of The Falling Leaves |
| 1981-03 | 7" | Weekend / Total Loss (by Kayak) |
| 1981-09 | LP | Andromeda Girl |
| 1981-10 | 7" | Dream / Jerney's Day Off (???) |
| 1981-12 | 7" | Tell Me Why / What More Could You Desire |
| 1982-02 | 7" | Love Is An Ocean / You |
| 1982-11 | 7" | Twenty Four Hours / Strange Town |
| 1982-11 | LP | In A State Of Flux |
| 1983-02 | 7" | Jack Is Back / Hide Away |
| 1983-05 | 7" | The Two Of Us / Love Is To Give Away |
| 1989-10 | 7" | French Word For Love / Gemini |
| 1990 | 7" | Keep On Missing You / Under A Burning Sky |
| 1990 | 7" | Good Enough / Under A Burning Sky |
Outro
In my opinion, Earth And Fire have not received the credit they are due. Of course, during their active years they have received their accolades. There were successful tours. There were hit singles from the first album on, which got the band exposure on radio and TV.
But after that, I don't read a lot about recognition for the work they have left behind. As you can read above, it is my opinion that they have released some very good albums, and especially with Song Of The Marching Children an all-time classic symphonic record.
I think there are two important reasons for this.
First, they were Dutch. Everyone knows a few bands like Focus or Golden Earring and many know some of their albums. They have left their mark in musical history. Then several Dutch bands have had hit singles even in the USA, but only a few people know a whole album. Promotional budgets were never high in a small country like the Netherlands. Several bands did tour abroad, but briefly. I believe Earth And Fire share a fate there with some otherwise excellent Dutch bands that really stood out at their time and should be mentioned a lot more in history, like Supersister, Trace, Alquin, or Egdon Heath.
Second, and this applies more to Earth And Fire than the other examples, is that the Koerts brothers, as the main composers, seemed to be bore of a musical style rather soon. The band changed their style quite a bit. I believe only the first two album can be classified under small banners, but with Atlantis the music was incorporating more different styles, with pop music being the strongest. Although every album can have its own share of fans, I can imagine it would make it harder to classify the band. Classification or labels, that is just words, but if you want to know if a certain band might be interesting for you, many people just look at a few labels. And then, pop music would be the strongest one for Earth And Fire. Nothing wrong with that, but it would not put focus on the first couple of albums.
There is still some kind of following, for example in Facebok groups, with many enthusiastic people rooting for any era of the band. Still 99% Dutch, I suppose.
It is what it is. The first three, and especially the first two albums have been long-time favourites of mine, so a feature on DPRP.net just had to happen one day. While focusing on the psychedelic and symphonic elements that I am certain a lot of readers would find interesting, the emphasis on the timelessness of the first albums two should not be misunderstood.