Earth And Fire — Retrospective, Part 1
In 1969, progressive rock was in its infancy, evolving from a mix of styles that include psychedelic pop, rock, and blues (and not much later clearly classical music as well, but we're not there yet in this story). 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 that I believe is very interesting to a large number of prog-loving people.
One of those albums is, in my humble opinion, a full-on all-time classic in the world of symphonic rock music. But more about that one later.
After a couple of years and albums, their music would move into pop areas, with a progressive track here and there on a couple of albums. For this Discography Reviewed series, we're diving into the albums that will be of interest to the readers of DPRP.net.
Because of the length of the article, the story is split into several parts. The first three parts will discuss each of the first three albums, the next chapter will describe the next two albums, then a chapter on the interesting tracks (from a prog fan's point of view) on the remaining albums.
All chapters will include the singles and a loose track that were released around the respective album, plus a few unreleased but otherwise available and important live recordings will be mentioned as well.
Jerry van Kooten
Special thanks to Wouter Bessels and Christel van Capelleveen for fact-checking and proofreading this article and giving suggestions for improvement.
The history of Earth And Fire starts not long before their first release, but founding 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, writing their own material. In November 1968 they changed the name to Earth And Fire.
The band had a few Dutch contemporaries active in the psychedelic and early progressive genres, but each had their own style.
Supersister (first album April 1970) were going in a really progressive style, a bit like mixing Canterbury with Van der Graaf Generator. Group 1850 (two albums in 1968 and 1969) were in the psychedelic garage rock or acid rock corner. Ekseption (first album in 1969) played a mix of classical-based progressive rock, and with Rick van der Linden later founding Trace, he really got into The Nice and ELP territories. Golden Earring had their brief 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) were more progressive and fusion. Alquin, Solution, Kayak, and Finch all came just a bit later and also played in quite different styles.
Earth And Fire — Earth And Fire
Related non-album tracks (6:07): Hazy Paradise (3:49) (B-side of Seasons single), Mechanical Lover (2:18) (B-side of Ruby Is The One single)
Jerry van Kooten
In September 1969, Jerney Kaagman replaced the band's first singer Manuela Berloth, and already in December 1969 the band released their first single, Seasons / Hazy Paradise. The A-side was written by Golden Earring guitarist George Kooymans. This, the man and his fame, undoubtedly helped the band in getting a record contract and some first nationwide attention. Earth And Fire were the opening act for Golden Earring for a 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, and it lives perfectly among the other tracks on the album.
In some respects, Seasons is even one of the most traditional, conservative, or even safe tracks on the album in terms of sound and composition. It is a bit untypical with Chris Koerts singing the low parts of the verses, but with a first single, not a lot of people had an idea of what to expect. A nice build-up to the chorus with a catchy melody in a lovely arrangement, and it's easy to sing along. It has a swinging groove in a psychedelic arrangement. Perfect for its time, but I still listen to this often. There's not really a middle section, as the break is the start of the second part of the song, a repetition into the fade-out. It is a very good single that also makes a good album track. If this is one of the least-outstanding tracks, you know you are listening to a wonderful album.
The opening, by the way, sees two 3/4 bars breaking a series of 4/4 bars a few times. It's one of many examples of how the band slip unexpected things into the songs that are noticeable when you pay attention but sound organic and not disturbing the flow at all. There are a lot of things like this going on.
Most of the songs on the album 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. Almost every song shows an escape from traditional tunes and songwriting. During gigs, the band included songs by Jefferson Airplane (I know of one recording where they play She Has Funny Cars) and Jimi Hendrix (although no recording exists as far as I know, it's said the band played Third Stone From The Sun that could last half an hour), which says something about the musical style they were pursuing at this time. But even as early as this in the band's history, they do show their own identity.
The strong emphasis on melodies is omnipresent. With the twin brothers sharing those on guitar and keyboards, there is a lot of variation in nearly everything — no two songs sound the same or are alike. A difference with many psychedelic pop songs of the era is the tendency to have slightly darker sounds and atmosphere, a clear break from the typical happy hippy sound. Of course, this is 1969 and not 1965. The world has learnt a lot from Herman's Hermits, Mamas and the Papas, Jefferson Airplane. In this sense the band share something with The Doors, perhaps, but only in a very limited way.
More importantly, for prog fans, at least, is that listening closely to the songs reveals how clever and often subtle many of the arrangements are. In so many places you can hear little touches of organ or flute when the guitar is playing, or hear the guitar do tiny unexpected things. A chorus where the guitar is doing a little melody slightly differently every time, or the organ does a little line instead of the guitar, things like that.
My colleague Mark Hughes reviewed a reissue of this album about 15 years ago.
The album opens in a more Cream than Jefferson Airplane way, and Wild And Exciting shows the focus on the multilayered arrangements straight away. Refined guitar playing over powerful drums and bass with supporting organ sounds. The bridges to the choruses are brilliant, and wait till you hear the two guitar solos. Fierce, fast, and melodic, showing Chris Koerts is a master already. A wonderful album opener.
Twilight Dreamer is very different and still in the same style. Groovy, mysterious, organ-led verses, a break to the pre-chorus with flute. The soundscape is amazing, and again the arrangements with different vocal melodies, how the drums (great drumming by Ton van der Kleij) and organ are mixed to build up to the next verse.
The same happens with Vivid Shady Land. Such lovely contrasts and breaks, with crunchy guitar in the verse, groovy build-up to the chorus with its three short distinctive sections, climaxing with precision of vocals and drums. And there's the unexpected symphonic middle section with a jazzy guitar sound. There's a lot of variation in the vocal melodies, from low (Chris again?) to high and with great harmonies, while the chorus is contagiously happy, with lyrics fitting the hippy sound.
Rocking as well is 21st Century Show. A full-blown intro with a high-paced march for the verse. The riffing with organ swirls has a wonderful psychedelic groove. Here you can hear how well the album was mixed. All details are very clear with drums and bass equally audible. The middle section is another unexpected one with acoustic guitar and flute. Another psychedelic gem.
Ruby Is The One is clearly a single A-side. More choruses, catchy melodies and harmonies, easier to follow lyrics and sing along, shorter instrumental passages, that still have the nice little touches that are typical for this album. While Seasons was a more typical single, this heavier / rockier song also became a big hit. Kaagman is showing a bit more of her range. How the acoustic and electric guitars are mixed (almost separate channels) works really well and shows how important the mix was even for a new band and their first album.
To me, You Know The Way is the least exciting track on the album. Fewer changes in the composition and a middle section with a few guitar slides that sound like the song was not finished when it was recorded. Listening to it more closely still reveals to attention to detail in arrangements and sound. The solo section is a repetition of a few bars, but at the time perhaps might have been an experiment in sound, and the slight increase in tempo shows attention to detail. Interesting parts, like the intro with the vocal harmonisation (some very deep voices there) and chord changes, and the mix is excellent again, but the end results are not as exciting as the rest of the album.
Love Quiver stands out more and not just because it is the longest track on the album. It has wonderful arrangements of guitar riff, organ swirls, and vocal lines. The audible bass and drums are again proof of a good mix. The fast keyboard solo over some nice riffing is excellent and another step towards symphonic prog, which as you will see in the next chapter, is a hint of where the band was taking their music.
Closer What's Your Name could not be anywhere else than at the end of the album, a breather at the end, but not just a simple song. Its acoustic guitar guided by light flute and organ, and sung by Chris. It's a showcase for his acoustic guitar playing. You can listen to this as a nice ballad, but listen closely to the guitar picking, changing melodies, to hear another example of the band's finesse. I really like the mysterious atmosphere here.
My playlist for this album has the non-album (described below) before this track, to make What's Your Name the final song on the playlist as well.
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 Hazy Paradise (from the Seasons single) and Mechanical Lover give us two non-album tracks.
These tracks fit the album perfectly. Mechanical Lover follows its rocky A-side, although it is a little rougher and darker. It's the shortest track of the collection, but even here there are such nice little things. A few touches on the piano, brief flute melody, a fierce 2-bar guitar "solo", the break from riff to flute...
A break from the rocking songs is the dreamy Hazy Paradise with flowing vocal melodies over guitar strumming during the verses, although the bridges and choruses are somewhat darker than your typical song of the era. Great organ and guitar playing, as ever. In a perfect album playlist, You Know The Way would be at one-third, and Hazy Paradise at two-thirds into the album.
Listening to the album for the purpose of a review is different. I thought I knew this album very well. But I've never spent so much time listening to the different ways they let the guitar sound, or how well all instruments have a designed place in the compositions. A lot of time and attention has gone into the compositions and the sound.
I love early Jefferson Airplane, and they have a few brilliant songs, but I find their guitar work often "clangy" and, save a few excellent exceptions, it does not come close to Chris' playing. The Airplane's dual-guitar sound is also a long way from the combination of the Koerts brothers' keyboard and guitar interplay as well as the more intricate arrangements of the songs altogether. The experimentation with different sounds and tonality of the instruments is also a bit more mature and daring in the music of Earth And Fire, especially when you realise this is just their first album. (Still a lot of respect for the Airplane though, since they paved the way for a lot of other bands who followed, and their music is just lovely to listen to.)
Original drummer Cees Kalis left to pursue other interests after the two singles were recorded and before the album sessions. his drumming is only audible on Seasons, Ruby Is The One and the two non-album B-sides. The latter two don't give him much space to excel (not much drumming on Hazy Paradise and the rather straightforward Mechanical Lover demanded a rather simple beat), but the A-sides display his clear presence and several tracks show he had an inventive style. It's remarkable that his long-time replacement Ton van der Kleij fits into the same style (although Van der Kleij adds to it and is a perfect match for the band's sound). The mix of the album, especially on the Repertoire release, is excellent, giving the drums a lot of room.
Another strong element in the sound is the many changes within several the songs. Except perhaps two songs, even the ones that are clearly meant as singles show a wonderful variety in structure and arrangements. The band are already on the progressive side of psychedelic music. Prog fans who have skipped this album because of its psychedelic tags, take note!
What also cannot go unmentioned is the mix. The vocals, organ and guitar go without saying, but even the bass and drums are clearly audible everywhere. In many places, these instruments are further away from the centre sound than usual (a wide stereo mix was not uncommon at the time). With guitar (multiple tracks in some cases) and organ, this creates a nice dynamic. I could only find Fred Haayen as the producer for the album, but no names for the engineer, who I would like to praise for a wonderful job. The album was recorded in the GTB Studio in The Hague, which makes it likely that owner Gerard Bakker and his son Erik were the engineers. (Erik Bakker is credited for the band's second album.)
The spectrum of sounds on this album is very wide. Compositions go into many directions, arrangements are full and display a great number of surprising elements. And still, everything sounds like a unit. One hell of a unit. One hell of a debut album.
The Album Cover
Besides the review above, I'd like to focus on a few other things about this album. First, the fact that this album was released in two different covers, both of which have become rather iconic.
The matchbox cover. Shown here is the Music On Vinyl release from 2012.
The cover has been one reason for this album to get more attention and some early pressings to become quite valuable. The original Dutch pressing was dressed in a sleeve that was like an old package of matches. This has come to be known as the matchbox cover.
You flip open part of the front of the gatefold (with the photo), and the inside looked like a set of matches, with the album info above (on the back of the photo). The inner sleeve has a picture of a set of matches, held in place by the bottom part of the gatefold.
A lovely gimmick cover, designed by Ron Seubert, who also designed the covers for a few Golden Earring albums.
Several pressings and reissues used the artwork but on a regular album sleeve. Only an early Japanese pressing and the 2012 Music On Vinyl reissue use the matchbox gimmick.
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), it got a cover designed by Roger Dean, also with a gimmick. 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. Even the Music On Vinyl release from 2012 is becoming more and more expensive.
Both covers have been used for CD issues, and variations (showing the matchbox inner sleeve as the front cover) are known as well.
Different Versions
Besides different covers, there were also different versions of the album, primarily because of different versions of Wild And Exciting.
Wild And Exciting
Some releases have a shorter version of Wild And Exciting, which fades out during the guitar solo (about 4:06), while other releases have the full song (about 4:30) with a proper ending.
Perhaps a single version that was used on some albums as well? The fade-out to win roughly 25 seconds makes not a lot of sense, really, as 4:30 fits on a single perfectly. With Discogs listing not fewer than 37 versions of the album, it is very hard to check all releases, but when you see a time for Wild And Exciting closer to 4:10 than 4:30, it will be the short version.
There are both LPs and CDs that have the short version and other LPs and CDs that have the full version. Let me break it down for you from all the data I could find.
The Repertoire CD has the long version and probably has the best sound. The Memories 10CD box 
and the First Five compilation CD box have the long version and exactly the same mastering (more about that later). The original Polydor 2441 011 LP and the Akarma 2017 LP have the long version and sound very good. The 1972 Superstarshine compilation LP also has the long version.
The As & Bs compilation CD has the short version and sounds rather muddy. The Music On Vinyl reissue from 2012 has the short version. The sound is very good, though. As expected, the 2004 Japanese Polydor/Nepentha UICY-9642 release from Japan has the short version but the mastering is another reason to avoid this one.
For some reason, the Esoteric release from 2009 contains the short version of Wild And Exciting, I assume because the original UK release had the sort version and the stereo masters of that original UK release were what they had to work with.
Ruby Is The One
The single version of Ruby Is The One is rumoured to have a different mix than the album version. I have not been able to find a version with a mix that sounds any different. So this might not be true, or none of the versions I managed to check (from versions of the debut album or compilations) actually included the single version. I wish I had a version of the actual single version, but I don't.
I had access to several versions of the album (links in the section above): the Repertoire CD, the Memories 10CD box, the First Five compilation, the singles collection The Golden Years Of Dutch Pop Music, a Japanese CD from 2004, plus digital versions from vinyl of the very first Polydor LP, a 2007 re-issue from Italy on the Akarma label, the 2009 Esoteric CD, and the 2012 version in the Music On Vinyl series. I also have a digital version of the Superstarshine Vol. 2 collection, which contains six songs from the first album and its related singles. So in total I was able to compare 10 different releases of this song.
The version on the Golden Years compilation album is different, in that it runs slightly faster than all the other releases, which are almost exactly the same speed and therefore length. The mix, however, simply sounds the same. (The mastering is different, but that will be discussed below.) Even the collection with the subtitle The As & Bs, implying it contains the single versions (it does have the short version of Wild And Exciting) has a version that sounds exactly like the others. However, I know several mistakes have been made in other releases in this series. So it is not conclusive, but so far, no real different versions of Ruby Is The One.
Different CD Bonus Tracks
The first time this album was released on CD was in 1991, on Polydor in Japan. This version did not have any bonus tracks.
Two years later, Repertoire released a version that was considered the definitive version for a long time, but included a rather weird collection of bonus tracks. Besides the two album-related singles that are the obvious bonus tracks, there are 7 more tracks from other singles from years later. Taking into account that the band changed their musical style several times, listening to this whole CD makes it go off near the end.
Lost Forever was the B-side of Storm And Thunder (September 1971) so really belongs to the second album. Invitation, although more in the style of the first album, 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 belongs as bonus tracks to 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.
Some CD reissues copied this track listing, making 16 tracks in total, and some others were limited to the two non-album tracks that actually make sense, giving a total of 11 tracks. A few CD reissues only include the original album tracks.
Different Mastering
The mix is how the different instruments (when recorded separately on multi-tracks) are mixed together. Some instrumnets are louder here and softer there, or sound like they are on the left or right, or all over. In many if not all cases of reissues, the final stereo mix has been used to make a re-issue, on LP or CD. So a remix is not really an option. But remastering is possible.
Albums come in different ways and not just regarding bonus tracks. There is also a difference in mastering - the final tweaks and settings before a recording is ready to be pressed. Limitations of the format (vinyl or CD or tape) often lead to slightly different mastering. (In fact, every single re-issue probably has been remastered. Those stickers yelling "remaster!" are a bit overkill.) How the mastering was done could make a difference in sound and listening experience.
As with everything, a lot there depends on your taste, how you would prefer the music to sound. All amps and music players have some kind of equalizer or bass/treble settings, and several people also tag digital files with a gain for music players. Many people don't care, but if you do care, you might be interested in this section. And maybe this will lead you to compare some different releases yourself.
Mastering is partly under the influence of what is popular at the time (probably what the record company thinks will sell). You see common changes in mastering throughout the history of records and their re-issues.
A common practice during remastering is sound compression (not the same as file compression, which is making the file smaller often by taking things out). This is a technique where softer parts are made louder and go closer to the louder parts. (This is a technique used a lot in TV adverts that sound louder than the program you were watching.) This can bring out some details that are hard to hear, but often is overused and removing the contrast that makes music lively. Sometimes so much compression has been used, the softer parts are made so loud the louder parts need to be limited in sound. All the sound fills the room, even the quiet bits. When this became popular, people started to talk about the "loudness war". When the sound is too loud and overdriven, causing what is called "clipping", is also not good.
It could be your taste, and you like heavily compressed sound, of course, but to my ears it is often destroying the sound. Let's have a look at some different mastering of this first album.
The compilation box The First Five contains a version of the first album with pretty bad mastering. The right channel is significantly louder than the left, has more compression and has clipping in multiple places. A very sloppy job resulting in an inconsistent mix and sound that is just not good. The Memories 10CD box has the exact same mastering for the first album. To get a good sound for the first album, avoid these boxes. (In a later chapter, you will read that this The First Five box has one advantage, though.)
The Japanese CD from 2004 (which has the Nepentha logo on the CD but is a Polydor release, with number UICY-9462) is even worse. There is too much compression but also too much loudness, as if you're playing the music too loud and on a bad sound system. It is just messy. (I've found that with a lot of Japanese releases. In fact, I don't have a single Japanese version in my collection of any albums, of any band.)
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 and the two non-album tracks. Although it contains some bonus tracks that should have been on other CDs, it has the best sound, probably the closest to the original mastering. Compared to other CD versions, the mastering is a little softer, which can be solved by turning up the volume, of course. I think this is actually the best version of the first album.
The Esoteric release from 2009 comes close! I have heard better from this label, to be honest. It is still very good, but loud. At least there is hardly any compression like on the Japanese release. And, as I said above, this version has the short version of Wild And Exciting.
For LPs, it's harder to tell the differences. I could only base my research and opinion on a limited number of pressings, and many of them are very much alike. It's likely they used copies of the same master tapes for re-issues of the LP, especially in the 1970s, and only started remastering for LPs much later. The original LPs might sound a little older or darker because of their age. The later reissues, like the Akarma from 2017 or the 2012 Music On Vinyl are very good and sound very clear.
Conclusion
The first Earth and Fire album is a wonderful debut album, the music being mainly psychedelic rock with an overlap towards prog because of the melodic focus and clever compositions. The band would move away towards a more symphonic style, so save a few tracks here and there, this is the psychedelic era of the band.
When trying to find a copy of the album, look out for the different versions of Wild And Exciting, if that is important to you. And depending on your ears and taste, pay attention to the mastering, as that varies quite a lot.