Chris Koerts (1947 - 2022)

One of the greatest guitarists The Netherlands had in the 1970s passed away recently. Just to show how good, is that I would love to cover one or two of the great 1970s singles of his band Earth & Fire with my band Sweetwood. Everytime I listen to one of his solo's, all I can think of is: NO WAY. The speed, variety and showmanship is at a level I can never aspire towards, let alone achieve. All that remains is to listen in awe.

Earth & Fire entered my world with a single called 'Seasons' early in 1970. A song written by George Kooymans of Golden Earring who gave it to the young band from Voorburg. It was a song that was different from a lot of things I had heard as a boy at the time. It was very rhythmic, had a prominent keyboard sound and it clearly rocked. It has this driving force that stands out. What made it totally different was the dreamy coda. An 'Atlantis' in reverse. And of course a singer in a sexy outfit that made my young boy's heart skip a few bests. Jerney Kaagman drew my eyes towards her the whole time.

'Seasons' was the beginning of a long string of hits, that with some downtime in between, lasted until the early 80s, after which the band called it a day. Many of these hits can be qualified as symphonic rock and especially on the first albums, Earth & Fire made totally different music than its hit singles. Or. so I was told by a schoolmate who had the album 'Song Of The Marching Children'. Albums, something I could only dream of at the time.

For me Earth & Fire is the band of fantastic singles between 1970 and 1974. After that the band went disco, a move I never really understood, but had everything to do, I think, with Jerney taking the lead with her partner, bass player Bert Ruiter, who had left Focus and joined Earth & Fire. The role of the twins Koerts, Chris and Gerard, diminished and bass player Hans Ziech had left. It all culminated in a number one hitsingle 'Weekend' in 1981, with Jerney in this futuristic blue outfit, the band's biggest hit, a sort of reggae song.

When the two Koerts and Ziech wrote the songs, I simply loved the band, as a hit machine. Each song was a new surprise of wonder and of learning about music and the instruments. Perhaps more so than from kindred U.K. bands like Deep Purple and Uriah Heep. 'Ruby Is The One' was my first Earth & Fire single, but far from my favourite. I had missed 'Wild And Exciting' at the time, like most hits in the second half of 1970. It must have had to do with a bad reception of pirate station Radio Veronica in the south west of the country. It is a fantastic rock song. From there the band moved more towards what we now call symphonic rock. I had no clue in 1971. 'Invitation', 'Storm & Thunder', 'Memories', 'Maybe Tomorrow Maybe Tonight', all songs that are burned into my mind as great rock songs from my past.

On the news, where there was a small item on Koerts, they played 'Maybe Tomorrow Maybe Tonight' and I can't get it out of my head. The organ playing the main riff and then that fantastic, cascading guitar solo, again, that driving rhythm. For a few years, Earth & Fire was one of the best bands in the world. Whether the rest of the world knew, I can't tell, but they were.

Wout de Natris