After spending much of the late '70s and the early '80s as a cult band,
Golden Earring returned to an international level of popularity in 1982
with the hit single (and popular MTV attraction) "Twilight Zone." This
song and seven others are featured on Cut, a solid album that found
Golden Earring starting to deviate from the pop/rock formula they
perfect on No Promises...No Debts and Prisoner of the Night. Like those
albums, Cut works its way through a series of guitar-based rock songs
built on strong hooks. However, the band allows themselves to
instrumentally stretch out a bit on some of the songs this time out. The
most notable example is the midsection of "Twilight Zone," where George
Kooymans lays out an exploratory series of guitar solos that build to
crescendo over the taut bassline provided by Rinus Gerritsen. The other
songs on Cut aren't as tightly crafted and hook-laden as those on the
last few albums, but there are still plenty of strong tracks: "Baby
Dynamite" is a power ballad about a fame-seeking girl that is built on a
nicely harmonized chorus and "Lost and Found" is a strong mid-tempo
rumination on the end of a relationship that boasts an impassioned yet
subtle vocal performance from Barry Hay. However, the best non-"Twilight
Zone" track on the album is the least typical: "The Devil Made Me Do
It" is a witty, fast-paced pop-rocker about love gone bad built on an
eccentric but effective combination of mock-gospel call and response
vocals and an energetic horn section. Some of the tracks fall short of
the mark ("Future" runs a decent riff into the ground by failing to
develop it in an interesting way), but the album contains enough strong
tracks to make it worth a listen for the Golden Earring fan. (Donald A.
Guarisco/allmusic.com)
George Kooymans - Guitar, Vocals
Barry Hay - Vocals
Rinus Gerritsen - Bass, Keyboards
Casar Zuiderwijk - Drums
&
Robert Jan Stips - Synthesizer (Track 3, 7)