WHITE LION – Fight to Survive (1985 Music for Nations)
Growing up in the 1980’s, there were a lot of new bands coming out that we latched onto pretty quickly. White Lion was one. My buddy Bob probably liked them better than I did, but I was a fan too. Back in those days, I was the guy buying all the rock magazines, while he was starting out in college. I’d tell him all the latest rock news, what albums were coming out, and so on.
One afternoon we were chatting, and I had something pretty major to tell him. I had read a White Lion interview in Circus magazine, and it revealed something neither of us knew before: Pride was not the first White Lion album! They had done a previous, independent (and rare) record called Fight to Survive that we didn’t know existed. Even back then, Bob and I were collectors, so we sought that album with great vigor.
It took years for him to find it on cassette, and then several more for me to get it on CD. Now I have it, so let’s talk about it.
The opener is “Broken Heart”, which was re-recorded in ’91 for Mane Attraction. Perhaps this early version, sans keyboards, is the better of the two. Regardless, this had hit single written all over it even back then. The chorus kills and even though it has ballady verses, it also has enough balls to pump the fist in the air. “Cherokee” is another one with a killer chorus. The songwriting here isn’t perfect, or polished. It has some clunky moments, but it definitely had something. Unfortunately, the title track is a lame-o Van Halen rip off, trying to be something like “Mean Street” or something, but missing the mark. The lyrics about shields and swords are out of place on an album with a song like “Broken Heart”. Vito Bratta is ripping off Randy Rhoads rather than Eddie Van Halen on the solo, but he had really yet to evolve into the player he became.
“Where Do We Run” picks up on one of the albums themes: great choruses (and guitar solos) that don’t have a great song around them. However, “In the City” has nothing much of anything going for it: it’s a real flaccid side closer. Side two’s opener “All the Fallen Men” is much better, sounding something like a Dokken single. This song is a standout. The rhythm section of James LoMenzo and Greg D’Angelo had already established a good groove together. Mike Tramp’s lyrics are not profound (nor would they ever be) but he’s trying.
“All Burn in Hell” is one of those choruses without a song. “Kid of 1000 Faces” is a song without a chorus. “El Salvadore” opens with a really cool classical guitar/eletric guitar duo. This at least has an original sound, or at least for 1985 it was. And the song itself? Another great chorus just begging for a good song, a memorable riff — anything! White Lion were really good at writing song fragments. Finally, the piano-based ballad “Road to Valhalla” is one of the cheesiest, unconvincing “serious” ballads I have ever heard in my life. Mike Tramp’s flat vocals don’t help the matter much, but this song is so cookie-cutter that it sounds as if taken from a handbook called How to Re-Write “Home Sweet Home” in Three Simple Steps.
Fight To Survive has a couple great songs, and several brilliant fragments. If they’d tightened it up and put out five as an EP, we’d be on to something. Unfortunately, Fight To Survive is only worth:
2.5/5 stars
mikeladano.com 
Not heard the music but I’m quite enamoured of that hot blonde chick on the back cover.
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Haha. That reminds me of a story from the 80’s. My buddies and I were driving past a gas station, when one of them yelled out the window “Nice Ass” to the hot blonde chick pumping gas. She turned around and we saw it was actually a dude we went to High School with. We never let my buddy live that one down.
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We’ve all been there, or I certainly have anyway!!
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I watched a documentary on metal one time, and when they got to the glam period, one of the interviewees said something along the lines of ‘oh yeah, lots of guys wanted to f*ck all the girls in Poison.’ Haha.
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That sounds so familiar.
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Ouch, this sounds like it maybe wasn’t worth the effort of finding it. “White Lion were really good at writing song fragments. ” Oh man, that could describe so many bands.
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Well, you know me, having the “complete” collection makes it worth it. Musically, not so much, but I’d probably still have hunted for it.
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Mike Tramp couldn’t hit a note under gun point. That said, I think Pride was a killer record, but this one really sin’t although I’d give them a thumb up for their youthful hunger and passion. Broken Heart is really a great tune and this version totally owns the one on Mane Attraction. I think El Salvador is great also and The Road To Valhalla might be a bit cliché – it probably would have suited Manowar better lyrically – but I really like the tune. But the rest of the songs… nah. And the production… well, it sounds like a demo.
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Yeah I pretty much agree with all that. Mike Tramp is a very overrated singer. But, I guess he had the looks needed to get by. Where the band needed credibility, they had Vito.
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Yep. Also, their rhythm section of James Lomenzo and Greg D’Angelo was really underrated. Killer musicians. everyone except Tramp.
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YES INDEED. D’Angelo was in Anthrax, let’s not forget that!
I don’t know if you’re aware but James LoMenzo was on an American reality show called Amazing Race. He had to leave the race part way because he and his partner lost their passports.
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I had no idea.
But I do know that he is now in a band (read: project) called X-Drive with some dude that used to be in Montrose. Pretty good record. I’m gonna review it one of these days.
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Cool! I’ve heard of X-Drive…I wonder if it’s the singer from Montrose that briefly did time in Quiet Riot last year?
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Always thought this was a great debut.
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There is a road that leads to Valhalla…
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I think you were a little too hard on this one. I like hearing them heavy and uncompromising, even if the songwriting is a little rough at points. Vito is always a treat. Also, Greg and James don’t play on this album even though they’re credited. It’s Felix Robinson on bass and Nicky Capozzi on drums.
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