REVIEW: Winger – II – In the Heart of the Young (1990)

Part II of a Winger DOUBLE SHOT.

WINGER – II – In the Heart of the Young (1990 Atlantic)

Another awful album cover; another Winger album!  The ambitious follow-up, still sonically mutilated by producer Beau Hill, was several steps forward and a few steps backwards at the same time.  The year was 1990, and while most bands were starting to toughen things up and go a little heavier, Winger turned on the tap marked “syrup”.

Truly awful is “Can’t Get Enuff”, which Winger admitted took about five minutes to write, when he decided they needed to “make a video about sex”.  Because that’s never been done before.  Nor has a song called “Can’t Get Enough” (spelled correctly).  There is nothing new or necessary here; the talented band are neutered by programmed rhythms and cheesey, generic lyrics.  Not good enuff, although the second tune “Loosen Up” is better.  There could have been some rock and roll groove with “Loosen Up”, but the plastic and thin production removes its teeth.

Keyboardist Paul Taylor, who left the band after this tour, wrote the ballad “Miles Away” by himself and it hits all the bases that a power ballad needed to hit:  Big chorus, sad keyboards, and sappy lyrics!  “Miles Away” never quite felt like it fit on the album stylistically, but it’s actually a decent ballad.  It’s well written and arranged, but so pigeonholed to its time.

I hate synth horns, therefore I hate the single “Easy Come Easy Go”.  There is no substitute for real horns.  Keyboards are quicker and easier, but there is no comparison to the real thing.  Thankfully Winger did utilise real horns on “Rainbow in the Rose”, the first of two epics on the album.  Where “Can’t Get Enuff” was written in minutes, “Rainbow in the Rose” took a year to compose and arrange.  Its complexity is admirable, but a better producer could have given it the finish it deserved.  It’s a shame that with a complicated track like this, you can barely hear what drummer Rod Morgenstein is doing.  He’s one of the best in the world, but he’s buried under keyboards.  When you do listen to what he’s doing, it’s quite incredible work.  As for the song?  The chorus kills!

The second side was more of the same, including another epic at the end.  “In the Day We’ll Never See” was Winger’s attempt to write more serious lyrics, and that’s all well and good.  With a peppy riff and serious tone, it’s a good enough song for a car tape.  Reb Beach’s anthemic guitars are the highlight.  Another side; another ballad — “Under One Condition” sounds like a Warrant song, although that’s probably being unfair.  Warrant could never play like Winger.

Side two has a slew of annoying songs in the middle.  “Little Dirty Blonde” is as putrid as it sounds, but let’s face it folks, it’s not as bad as Kip Winger rapping.  The story goes that they wanted to get Tone Lōc to do his thing over “Baptized By Fire”, but that didn’t happen so Kip rapped it himself.  It’s as annoying as you expect.  One of the most impressive moments on the album is just a short instrumental break, sounding like speedily tapped guitar and bass, right before “Baptised By Fire”, but it’s over too soon before MC Kip takes over.  “You Are the Saint, I Am the Sinner” improves the outlook mildly, annoying title aside.  That leads to the final epic track, “In the Heart of the Young”.  Like “Rainbow in the Rose”, this is a more ambitious arrangement, done with skill and care.  Once again, focusing on Rod Morgenstein allows you to hear the complexities within.  The melodies are strong and Kip’s singing is under-appreciated.

Winger were on to something with the more progressive material.  Where they lost fans was with the dumbed down sounds of songs like “Can’t Get Enuff”, and they paid for it during the grunge onslaught down the road.

2/5 stars

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29 comments

    1. Yeah I know eh? Them and Scorpions are two albums I really associate with September 1990. Neither album was really that good…thank God Priest came out with Painkiller a few weeks after!

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  2. Good couple last reviews Mike, dig yer score although probably take .5 of the debut and this is about a 1 (thought this was worse than many yer Flaming Turds LOL) Both this and Adrenalize were genre killing IMO, too much sugar pop and whatnot. Aside from a couple tunes (Madalaine and Hangin On) the debut died quickly and this was worse.

    Having said that the debut was fun for its time and agree with HMO Pull was magnificent :)

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    1. I still don’t have Pull! I just have a best-of that has some of those songs. Winger did a live TV appearance in Canada on MuchMusic — their did their track Who’s The One acoustically on live TV. It was AMAZING. Got that recorded!

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  4. I thought ‘hey I don’t know much about Winger, I’ll let Lebrain educate me.’ And then I got this far : “Winger turned on the tap marked “syrup”” and thought ugh. If I’ve made it this far in my life without them, this wasn’t selling it to me. 2/5 fair enough.

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  7. Mikey…u need to Loosen Up …maybe a Little Juicin Up..
    I actually liked this one better than the debut but of course the last time i listened to this was probably 92ish…..??
    But yeah lot’s of syrup and Miles Away ..aaaaargh..Sap Like ….

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    1. I think I’ve reviewed all my Warrant albums now. Slaughter I know I did the first LP and the live EP. But I haven’t reviewed Wild Life yet, an album I really liked!

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  10. Let’s agree to disagree on this album. I love this record. Beau Hill’s production never made Winger justice but hey, at least Winger never ended up with morons like Ron Nevison or Neil Kernon, that would have been really bad.
    Sure, Little Dirty Blonde’s lyrics are just as embarrassing as Seventeen’s, the whole song should have been shelved actually. And the rapping on Baptized BY Fire is horrendous, but Baptize is otherwise an awesome tune.

    About the synth horns on Easy Come Easy Go (a brilliant song), I never thought about it as synth horns, I just thought about it as a synth, never thought it was meant as horns. I’d give this album 8/10.

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    1. I don’t think Winger really had a chance to do what they needed to do before Pull. I think they were pandering for hits before Pull, much of the time. And sure, more power to them, they could play and had the chops. But I prefer today’s Winger, unworried about hits!

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        1. “Down Incognito” rocks, great song with bad lyrics though. “My monkey’s M.O”. What the hell? Some great tunes on Pull. I like this second album more than Mike also. I remember reading an interview with Kip where he says that the first two albums were influenced by his relationship with Beau Hill. Beau had been recording Kip since before either of them were popular. He says as a result there are songs on both albums he doesn’t like, he specifically called out “Easy Come Easy Go”, and said that “Little Dirty Blonde” was the worst thing they’d ever done. He says “Pull” is how they should have started out in the first place. Mike Shipley mixed that one to perfection.

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  12. I have mixed feelings about this band. I had the first one and liked it before the next two. despite all the B&B shit they get, they’re all absolutely astounding musicians. While the lyrics to “Seventeen” are bad, the playing is pretty damn good. There are a lot of good pop songs on Winger, the Hendrix cover sucks, but their original tunes are pretty good proggy pop metal. I’m really disappointed though that they played down to their audience like they did, if they weren’t so obsessed with being a pop band and if Kip wasn’t such a beefcake, they would have been so much better.

    I figured I’d comment on this now because I just bought this one and their next album Pull about a month ago. Your review of this actually made me debate whether to even get the second album even though they were both only $3.99 and I’m a collector. That’s how hard you chainsawed this album. You made a collector think about leaving a hole in their collection you shit on this one so hard. I mean you fucked this one about as hard as your QR III review. I’d heard the singles, that awful Michael Bay directed video for “Can’t Gitt Enuffghff (Of Poor Speling)”. Sucky director for a cheesy song. Overall though, I actually like this album. There’s so absolute crap, but there are a lot of bright moments. Rainbow in the Rose and The Day We Never See were in the direction they should have followed. Both of those are great epic type songs. I think Pull is decent, but a lot of it they sound like they’re trying too hard to be heavy. The lyrics are absolute shit too. I just found out the first Winger turns thirty tomorrow. Happy Birthday. Here’s your present.

    A parody.

    “Can’t Gitt Enuffghff (Of Poor Speling)”

    School isn’t easy, I don’t see straight
    So damn dyslexic, never got an ‘A’
    I need therapy, I need a prescription
    I need you teacher, to put me in

    Special education for my spelling
    I can’t get enough, first grade’s so tough!
    I write like I’m six, but I’m sixty!
    Teacher give it up, I’m a total fuckin’ putz!

    I’m so dumb, don’t talk good, not a word I spell, is understood
    In the classroom, the other kids, beat me up because my name is Kip!

    I really can’t spell, I’m Kip Winger!
    I played in Alice Cooper, now my career’s in the pooper!
    I read like I’m six, but I’m sixty!
    I really should read up, but my brain ain’t up to snuff

    Can’t get enough! Of poor spelling
    Never enough! Grammar lessons in the school
    Can’t get enough! Learning disability!
    Never enough!

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