WARRANT – Cherry Pie (1990, 2004 Sony remaster)
It was bands like Warrant, and albums like Cherry Pie, that made the 1991 grunge onslaught inevitable.
If Motley Crue were the poor man’s Kiss, and Poison were the poorer man’s Motley Crue, then Warrant are the pauper’s Poison. Heck, Poison’s C.C. Deville even shows up on guest lead guitar on Cherry Pie‘s title track. Think about that a moment. How bad do a band have to be to warrant (no pun intended) a C.C. Deville guest guitar solo? Guitarists Joey Allen and Erik Turner even confessed to having guitar tutors in the studio helping them come up with their own lead work.
Cherry Pie was an improvement in some regards over the prior album Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich. The second single, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, remains a high point for this band. Swampy bluesy guitars and a kick ass melody? Who cares if that’s not Warrant playing on the acoustic intro (it’s singer Jani Lane’s brother Eric Oswald), and so what if that’s not Warrant on the banjo (that’s producer Beau Hill)? “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is one of those rare Warrant songs that you just have to get. Instead of singing about girls, Jani chose to write a story about a murder and a coverup. It’s far more entertaining than “She’s my cherry pie, put a smile on your face ten miles wide.”
Speaking of “Cherry Pie”, as embarrassing as it is, did you notice that’s not Jani Lane on the opening scream? It’s an uncredited Dee Snider, sampled from Twisted Sister’s song “I Want This Night (To Last Forever)”. Guess who produced both albums? Beau Hill. Rather, he overproduced the hell out of both albums. Rather misleading.
Warrant’s biggest hit was a ballad, and so Cherry Pie has more. “I Saw Red” was glossy and enhanced with piano, but the acoustic version that was later released as a B-side was better. The second ballad, “Blind Faith” had more heft, though it is little more than a rewrite of “Heaven”. Another acoustic track called “Thin Disguise” was even better than either of these songs, but was relegated to a B-side. Too bad. This album could have used it.
Warrant are better when just rocking out. There are a couple indispensable Warrant rockers on Cherry Pie. “Mr. Rainmaker” is remarkably powerful with dark clouds. It’s in the same mold as “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, with a chorus that is still memorable today. “Bed of Roses” and “Song and Dance Man” are strong also-rans. There are other notable songs (“Sure Feels Good to Me” set speed records for this band) but on the whole they are a harsh blend of sound-alikes.
Buyers should be aware there are two versions out there of Cherry Pie, “clean” and “dirty”. The “clean” version is missing the track “Ode to Tipper Gore”, and has a naughty word beeped at the start of the Blackfoot cover “Train Train” (1979). How unexpected it was to hear that beep, and how ripped off did we feel since it was not advertised as a censored version? A beep in a rock song is a rare thing indeed. If you get the uncensored version, you’ll hear the “All a-fuckin’ board!” intro correctly, which is important since “Train Train” absolutely smokes. “All a-BEEPin’ board!” just didn’t cut it. Covering “Train Train” was one of the best decisions Warrant made on this album. Warrant transforms it from a hard southern rocker to a plain old hard rocker, but the transformation works and the groove is the only solid one on Cherry Pie.
As for “Ode to Tipper Gore”, it is just a joke track made up of naughty outtakes from Warrant concerts spliced together into one stream of “fuck”. (Tipper Gore was behind the PMRC, the scourge of 1980s censorship.) It is included on the 2004 Sony remastered edition, along with two bonus tracks. Strangely enough the two bonus tracks have nothing to do with this album. “Game of War” is the long-sought 1988 demo that garnered Warrant attention at the labels. It’s unpolished but you can hear how an A&R person looking for the next Poison would have signed this band. Finally there is a track called “The Power” from a 1992 Cuba Gooding Jr. movie called “Gladiator”. It is the only song on the CD not produced by Beau Hill. Erwin Musper gave the band a less cluttered sound, and the song has a corny stadium-ready stomp like “Rock and Roll, Part 2”.
Although you don’t need the remastered version if you just want to check out Cherry Pie, you do need to at least seek out the uncensored version with “Ode to Tipper Gore”. That way you won’t have to listen to the beep in “Train Train”, which is a song worth having.
2.5/5 stars
A pauper’s Poison! Ouch haha. What’s their best album for newbies then? I’ve got (I think) the first three but I can’t bring myself to listen to them…
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I would say Dog Eat Dog. I don’t have it, but I will get it, and it’s their generally accepted best.
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Love the nods to the guest musicians credited and uncredited. Great write up.
For me Uncle Toms Cabin and Mr Rainmaker are two great songs for the hard rock canon.
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Amazing songs. SOmetimes a band just surprises you with the ability to come up with something as good as that!
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Wow! I have even less respect for hem now. They were pretty bad. I agree on Uncle Tom’s Cabin. That is a fantastic song. These guys were what killed the genre. Very generous rating.
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I love your poor man’s hierarchy. I would love to see all music categorized by you in this way.
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Jani Lane wrote all the songs. He was the only one with talent in that band. He had a gift for melody. I read an interview with his ex, Bobi Brown (from the Cherry pie video) after his death in which she noted that she had told him he needed to pursue a career as a songwriter or a Brian Adams-style solo artist after the grunge revolution rather than trying to keep Warrant alive by edging them up.
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Confirmed! In a RIP magazine interview Jani said he wasn’t into the heavier sound of Dog Eat Dog but wrote what his band mates wanted to play.
He quit briefly after that and was working on a Mellencamp-style solo album, acoustic rock. All true.
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Fabulous poor/poorer man line Mike – shame the album wasn’t anywhere near as fabulous!
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I just could never stand this lot at all, as achingly authentic as Milli Vanilli, but maybe that was the whole point. We needed Seattle to come and rain all this muck away.
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Oooft. These dudes sound dreadful. Definite boy band posing going on there, too… well, you’d never get the kneeling lady behind the car door on a New Kids on the Block album, but the posing is boy band 101, huh?
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Outside of track 1 this is a decent album but it’s a Lane solo album pretty much….give it a 3…I did a Cool Lil Numbers on Mr Rainmaker….great track……
Dog Eat Dog was real good but no one cared but it still creeped to Gold….
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Haha, ouch :) What can I say, I like Cherry Pie (the track). I haven’t ever sought out any of their other music, or even thought about it. Perhaps it’s for reasons you mention? I do like several Poison songs so this may be a reflection of your hierarchy….
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Was searching around for some album info and found a link to your site. Just found it this morning and really dig it. Nice job.
Just had to comment on this as I missed da despised Warrant when they first dropped. Gotta say though, over the years, I’ve really become a fan of their later work (anything after the first 2 records). Dog Eat Dog and Ultraphobic I think are amazing. Dog is obviously the best but Ultra I think is a really cool sounding record, even with them chasing a grunge-type sound on it. I still think they pull it off and dig it.
Think he was one of the more underrated songwriters of my time with this type of music when his head was right. Heard a few of the Jabberwocky tracks too that never got officially released. Sounded like really good stuff (especially Very Fine Line & Washington State). Always hoped that somehow some quality finished versions would see the light of day.
That’s it. That’s my long-winded opening comment for the day lol.
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Wow. I think I could skip this one, honestly!
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Yes, I think you could!
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How does the rock candy remaster compare to the 2004 remaster ? Thnx .
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