Add my voice to the chorus of people disappointed with British Lion, the debut solo offering from Iron Maiden’s visionary founder, Steve Harris. It’s not just because it doesn’t sound like Iron Maiden, because I wouldn’t want it to sound like Iron Maiden. It’s because Steve’s hired the most bland lead vocalist I’ve heard in many moons. Mr. Bland’s name is Richard Taylor, and he lacks any sort of grit, power, or character. I’m sure there was a method to Steve’s madness, and a reason he chose Mr. Bland to sing for him. I’ll be damned if I can figure it out.
Steve self-produced this album, with Kevin Shirley mixing, and sonically it sounds good, especially the final track: The lush “The Lesson” features strings and acoustics, and sounds great. Unfortunately a good sounding production can’t inject life into these dull songs.
I hate to use such harsh language as “dull” and “bland” where Steve Harris is concerned, but I’ve played the album five or six times now, and I still can’t remember most of these songs distinctly. There’s one standout: the pop metal “Eyes of the Young”, which has a catchy chorus and is instantly memorable. There are far more songs that are instantly forgettable: the single “This Is My God”, for example, and the aforementioned “The Lesson” despite its production values. “Us Against the World” isn’t bad, starting with keys and organ before some dual guitar harmonies kick in. But then Mr. Bland opens his mouth.
Steve’s trademark bass is more groove oriented and less rinky-dink, which is fine. He seems to gel well with the rest of the band, but unfortunately aside from some tasty guitar solos, the rest of the band is generic sounding and lack a distinct identity. I lay most of that straight at the feet of Mr. Bland. A really great singer could have injected some passion into these otherwise unremarkable songs.
A nice added touch: The CD comes with mp3 copies, so you don’t have to rip to your portable device. It comes in two forms: mastered loud, and mastered very loud!
RECORD STORE TALES Part 162: “Is it out in Toronto?”
I guess this is one of those weird urban myths. Growing up in Kitchener in the 1980’s, some people used to think we got new releases later than big urban areas like Toronto. I can distinctly remember childhood friends of mine having this discussion with me. Just swap out the names of the bands depending on the person.
Me: “I saw the new Judas Priest video today. It was awesome. I can’t wait for the album.”
Friend: “It’s not out yet?”
Me: “No, I asked at A&A Records and it’s out in about a month.”
Friend: “Yeah, but that’s here. I bet it’s already out in Toronto. Toronto gets everything first.”
I thought maybe that was just an isolated myth, relegated to our group of friends in the Stanley Park part of town. We didn’t have much in the way of record stores within walking distance. There was a Zellers (no longer there, now a Walmart), and later on the aforementioned A&A Records and Tapes. When all we had was Zellers, you could imagine they might not order the new Judas Priest on the day of release. It wasn’t their thing.
When I was working at the record store many years later, I discovered this urban myth did indeed perpetuate among different groups all over town! I had heard more than once, “It’s gotta be out in Toronto, right?”
For example, in May 1996, I did have this exact conversation:
Customer: “Do you have the new Tragically Hip?”
Me: “No, it comes out on Tuesday though. Do you want me to reserve you a copy?”
Customer: “Tuesday? That’s just here though, right? Toronto would already have it, right? I’m going to try in Toronto on Saturday.”
No! Why would Toronto already have it? This wasn’t the 1800’s, delivering parcels on horseback! I don’t get where that idea started, but it did exist, and let this article be a remembrance of an earlier age of CD ignorance!
I’m done my series of Maiden reviews, so Aaron has challenged me to get out of my comfort zone. Together, we will be reviewing some of the albums he bought in Toronto during Record Store Excursion 2012. I’ve never heard any of these albums before, in fact I know almost nothing about most of these bands. Here’s part 1. Enjoy. (?)
I know nothing about Dave Bidini, I know nothing about this band, and I know nothing about this album. I didn’t cheat by reading up on them, or reading other reviews. I truly went into In The Rock Hall blindly with open ears.
It’s obvious these guys don’t give a crap about commercial songwriting. Anything considered standard, radio-friendly, or easy is tossed out the window in short order. The songs twist and turn through different, sometimes contradictory sounding sections. It sounds like it was painstakingly composed, piece by piece. This is all good — I like a challenging listen. It’s all done with a wink and a smile. They sound like they’d be very loud, live. It’s also obvious they love their ganja, as the subject comes up more than once!
The guitar work is striking. Like I said, I didn’t do any cheating to learn more about this album, so I have no idea who the guitar player is, but he or she has weaved together some unorthodox hooks. Riffs and melodies strike you from the speakers, demanding that you pay attention!
“I Wanna Go To Yemen” crosses acoustic riffing, latin-sounding clapping, unusual beats and electric guitars with some pretty funny lyrics:
I wanna go to Yemen, I wanna go with you, We’ll get high in the morning, And in the afternoon
It defies categorization, which is a good thing. I’m not too keen on the singer’s flat vocals, I’m hoping they will grow on me. It reminds me of Pavement, a band I’m not too into. But it demanded a second listen, on which it grew further.
“On Camoragh Lake” starts with annoying beeps and gratuitous “fucks”. It’s pretty tuneless until you get to the chorus, which features some nice electric chords and female backing vocals. The song takes a turn around the 2 minute mark, getting a bit more passionate and noisy. It has some guitar squeaking that would make both Joe Satriani and Tom Morello happy. This annoying song gets more and more catchy as it goes on. It grows on you, with more listens.
Third is “Big Men Go Fast on the Water” (well, it was true for Vince Neil)! This is the most melodic and straightforward tune thus far, very enjoyable. This is the first song I can say I truly enjoyed from start to finish on first listen.
Another great tune follows, the passionate “Last of the Big Dead Things”. This dark, acoustic, beautiful tune was instantaneous. But just when you think you know what’s going to happen next, they go into a shouted section at 3 minutes, and then a quiet whisper.
“Needle Beach / Outdoor Motors” has a vague (but only vague) surf-rock sound, but it’s more distorted and twisty/turny than that. I’m not sure why the band seems to be obsessed with water themes, but hey, it’s all good. This one’s a bit too odd to get on first listen, but it does hit a catchy vocal part towards the end.
Better is “Hey Paul and Donna”, a nice acoustic one with a great chorus. “Hey Paul and Donna, I’m glad you took the train to Taranna!” That’s Toronto, for those who don’t know! It has a vintage 1960’s sound, and is probably the simplest, instantly catchy song on the album.
“Popcorn” features some intricate catchy guitar licks. It’s also a pretty simple catchy tune, the melody doesn’t do much for me, but that guitar part is truly great. I wish I could play that effortlessly. At 2:40 it takes another twist, with female vocals, almost sounding Christmas-carol-y.
Distorted robot vocals usher in “The Best Thing About The 80’s Was You”, complete with apropos drum programs. If you like 80’s music, this is a whimsical homage. If you don’t, like me, this one built for the skip button. It’s all tongue in cheek, but it’s not for me. “‘The Final Countdown’, the 80’s was you!”
There’s nothing simple about “Eunoia”, a 10 minute monster. It starts as a poem, with Tom Waits-esque backing music and noise. Then it goes into some nice guitar chords and understated vocal melody. It’s powerful and melodic. As you can imagine, it has multiple sections, each with some incredible guitar work, demanding that I pay attention. Just when I’m getting tired of one section, it twists into something else.
Up next is the percussive “Earth (Revisited)”, a humourous retelling of human history. It’s anchored by relentless drumming, and plenty of ooh’s and ahh’s.
The album closes with another long one, the title track, “In The Rock Hall”. Somewhat obviously, this one is about the Hall of Fame in Cleveland, but with a tongue in cheek. The lyrics are amusing, musically I felt like we’d already visited this territory.
Coming up with a simple rating is not easy. One cannot overlook the chops, the unorthodox stylings, the variety, and the refusal to keep things simple. On the other hand, I found the ooh’s, ahh’s, and la-la-la’s tiring, as well as the perpetually flat lead vocals. I don’t know how often I’d want to come back to this one. Striking a balance, I’ll rate In The Rock Hall:
Alas, the end: Part 45, the final chapter of my series of Iron Maiden reviews!
In case you’re new to LeBrain’s blog,you may as well go back and start here. I have covered every album, every EP, every single, every rarity that I have had access to. I don’t know if a more comprehensive review of Maiden material can be found on the web. Enjoy.
It’s been a slice. Without further delay, here’s the final part. En Vivo!
IRON MAIDEN – En Vivo! (2012 CD, blu-ray, EMI)
Once again, Iron Maiden have followed a studio album with a live album. Unlike the last one, Flight 666, this time Maiden released a set representing the tour for their last studio platter, the excellent Final Frontier. For the first time, you will have a chance to own live versions of songs like “El Dorado” and “Coming Home”, mixed with a standard set of Maiden classics, recent and vintage.
The splendid set starts with a pre-recorded version of intro “Satellite 15”, which melds directly into “The Final Frontier”, an excellent Maiden rocker with a chorus built for the live experience. This version brings to the forefront Maiden’s melodic guitar goodness, along with Bruce’s powerful pipes. Adrian Smith rips the solo to absolute shreds, only to be followed by an energized Dave Murray. What a start. It’s an absolutely flawless start, and the Chilean crowd goes wild.
Just like the album, the band then seamlessly moves into “El Dorado”, which is superior here to its album version. More guitars, faster pace, more backing vocals, a more lively lead vocal…what more could you want? Even the most cynical fans, only there to hear “Run to the Hills”, would be blown away if they only opened their ears.
“2 Minutes To Midnight”, which was also available on the Flight 666 and Rock In Rio CD’s, is next. This one, I probably could have done without, after hearing it on two prior live albums, not to mention A Real Dead One and the immortal Live After Death! It is a great song, no doubt, and there’s nothing wrong with this version. But why not throw in something else, like “Icarus” maybe?
Then back to new material: a haunting “The Talisman” and the anthemic “Coming Home”. “Coming Home” in particular seems perfectly designed for the live concert environment. Both songs bring forth all the complexity and passion of The Final Frontier, with the crowd supplying ample backing vocals. Clearly, Chilean fans don’t mind new songs.
One of my personal favourites of more recent vintage is next: “Dance of Death”. I love Bruce’s Hamlet intro: “There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” The vocal is a tad more shaky than the version on Death on the Road, but once the song gets going, Bruce finds his footing. He has the crowd in the palm of his hands the whole way.
“The Trooper” only makes the ecstatic crowd that more crazy. Unlike “2 Minutes”, this is a song I never tire of. The solo just smokes, the Three Amigos blasting through. Then onto “The Wicker Man”, a song not heard on a live album since Rock In Rio, although some fans (like me!) are lucky enough to own a 2002 version on the Japanese “Rainmaker” single. “The Wicker Man” is a modern classic, a song that I believe belongs up there with “The Trooper”. Once again, Adrian performs a flawlessly melodic solo. One more track from the Brave New World album follows it, “Blood Brothers”. I was a bit surprised to see this slower one resurrected live, but like the other songs, this one was perfectly built for a live audience. Bruce wouldn’t even need to sing on the chorus, so loud is the audience.
The last of the newer songs is next, the amazing “When the Wild Wind Blows”. Not brief at 10 minutes, this is one of my favourite songs from The Final Frontier. The crowd is on board for every moment, every riff, every section, every emotional breath from Bruce’s mouth. Truthfully, if Maiden were not a band with over 30 years of classics in the back catalogue, this song would be considered a standard, never to be missed. But when you could easily play a 6 hour set of nothing but classics, it’s hard to squeeze them all in. All I can say is, I hope this song makes future tours, but at 10 minutes, don’t be surprised if it’s left out in favour of older classics.
And speaking of older classics, get ready for a whole slew of them: “The Evil That Men Do” (so much more powerful with three guitars!), “Fear of the Dark”, “Iron Maiden”, “The Number of the Beast”, “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, and “Running Free”. “Running Free” contains the usual band intros (Nicko being described as “the indescribable, the inevitable, the inimitable, the uneatable”), and the crowd goes wild once again.
And the listener is exhausted, after over 2 hours of regal metal classics performed by one of the best, if not the best, heavy metal band in history. The best? Well, I don’t want to open that debate. But after revisiting the entire catalogue these past few months, I’ve definitely gained a new respect for a band I already loved. The growth of this band, not always appreciated, has been steady with integrity. And the live experience is still one that tops bands less than half their age. En Vivo! proves this.
A blu-ray release provides the same concert experience with stunning visuals, plenty of space-age Eddies, and a manic Bruce running to-and-fro, while the rest of the band defy age. There’s also a great bonus feature: 88 minutes of documentary footage called “Behind the Beast”, chronicling the creation of the Iron Maiden live show.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 161: The Woman Who Got Her Bike Stoled
The date: July 15, 2005
The location: My store
Straight from my journal, here’s the tale.
One weird thing happened today. This strange woman came in to sell CDs, but left her bike outside unlocked, and it had been stolen. Now, instead of blaming it on the lack of a lock on her bike, she decided to blame the lack of surveillance cameras outside. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know any CD store that has cameras OUTSIDE. But apparently that’s “dumb”.
She came back later in the day, telling me that she ran into two guys drinking beers in the woods. She had a beer with them. She came back into the store saying “Now I have a ‘cheap’ buzz on.”
Now I’m wondering, does she mean “cheap” as in “free”? Or did these two mysterious woodsmen charge her for the beer? The mind reels.
My journal does not say if the woman ever found the bicycle or not. Typical day on the shady side of town!
RAINBOW – Down To Earth (1979, 2011 Universal deluxe edition)
I was a little surprised (in a good way) that Down To Earth by Rainbow was given the deluxe treatment. I really only expected the Dio albums to be re-released in such grand fashion, but here we are with the sole Graham Bonnet offering. (To date, the debut album Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow has yet to be issued in deluxe form.)
The brand new liner notes reveal that Cozy Powell was not happy with the commercialization of Rainbow’s sound, and that’s why he quit the band. Indeed, Down To Earth sounds like a very different band from that who recorded Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll. (And in fact only Cozy and Ritchie Blackmore remain from that album.)
Having said that, Down To Earth is a damn near perfect confection of Blackmore’s sublime riffing and commercial rock. Yes, many of these songs could have been on the radio at the time, but the guitars are cranked, and Graham Bonnet has grit and power to spare. In short, this is a fantastic album, majestic and grand, with all the hallmarks that make Ritchie Blackmore one of the most important guitarists in history.
From the opener “All Night Long” to the manic closer “Lost In Hollywood” and everything in between, there is not a weak track on this album. Everybody knows the hit, “Since You Been Gone,” which still gets played on rock radio today. In a way I like to compare this album to Seventh Star by Black Sabbath — a shift, but the elements are still in place. Except Down To Earth is still heavier than Seventh Star, it just lacks Dio’s mysticism.
My personal favourites, aside from the above tracks, include the mid-tempo and sublime “Making Love”, and the manic “Danger Zone”. None of the eight tracks are skip-worthy though.
The new lineup included future Deep Purple keyboardist Don Airey, and Ritchie’s old Purple bassist Roger Glover. Glover had built quite a career producing bands like Nazareth, and he also produced Down To Earth. He did a great job of it too, in particular with Cozy’s smashing drum sounds.
Two bonus tracks on disc one are “Weiss Heim”, the instrumental, and the B-side “Bad Girl”. Both songs were previously available on Finyl Vinyl and other compilations, but it is nice to have the sum total of the Graham Bonnet studio recordings here in one place.
The second disc contains a series of instrumental demos, which really highlight Cozy’s incredibly solid drumming and Ritchie’s picking. You can hear all the subtleties of Blackmore’s playing, every note and every stroke of the pick ringing clear. If you’re the type who can listen to a record and learn to play a song by ear, then you will love this disc. You’ve never heard Blackmore’s playing so bare. And Cozy? Well, his cymbal work is to die for, and of course his snare drumming is metronomic. It’s incredible that even if he wasn’t inspired by the songwriting, he was still playing this good. There are also a few tracks with embryonic lyrics such as “Spark Don’t Mean A Fire” (which became “No Time To Lose”). A “Cozy Powell Mix” of “All Night Long” is an annoying remix with the vocals mixed way way back, the guitar almost inaudible, and the drums upfront. Interesting from an analytical point of view, but not very enjoyable to listen to. The demos do a much nicer job of highlighting Cozy’s work.
Missing: “Since You Been Gone” live Monsters Of Rock Festival, Castle Donnington, England 1980. Also previously released on Finyl Vinyl, no idea why it’s not here. There was plenty of room. Also missing is “All Night Long” from the same show, which was released on a compilation called All Night Long – An Introduction To Rainbow, and another just called Anthology. It would have been nice to every Bonnet related recording in one place, but maybe they are planning on a Donnington live album at some point, who knows?
As with all deluxe editions, there are photos and great liner notes. This little-known period of Rainbow is illuminated by a lot of facts and stories of which I was previous unaware. A good read to go with some great music.
Now let’s get a deluxe going of Blackmore’s Rainbow, already!
I’d like to dedicate this unusual review to Aaron who is the biggest Boss fan I know.
THE TRANSFORMERS – “Rock and Roll-Out!” (Marvel comics, issue #14, March 1986)
Written by Bob Budianski
Remember that one outdoor Bruce Springsteen concert back in March of ’86, when the Autobots saved the day?…No?
Well, clearly you weren’t reading Marvel’s original Transformers comic series back then. Issue #14, March 1986, featured just such a mash-up, only with a slightly different twist. While some real-life people, most notably Richard Branson, had appeared on the pages as themselves, Bruce appeared as the similar-monikered Brick Springstern (also spelled “Springhorn” on one page!), with his Tenth Avenue Band. The band came complete with an afro-sporting Max Weinberg, and Clarence Clemons himself, going by his nickname the Big Man.
Brick’s songs included the smash hits:
“Dancing in the Night”
“Born in America”
Something referencing Margarita
…and presumably many more familiar sounding tunes!
In this issue’s tale, the Autobots are replenishing their ranks after the devastating events of issue #12. Optimus Prime has revived “memory engrams” of five Autobots: Hoist, Tracks, Skids, Smokescreen, and Grapple, and puts them in new bodies. Optimus sends four of the five (holding Grapple behind, in order to build Omega Supreme, who appears in issue #19) out with Bumblebee on a training mission.
It is while getting gas on this mission that Skids discovers that he loves the music of Brick Springstern/Bruce Springsteen! “This Springstern produces a most intriguing sound,” says Skids, as he sets his radio to the correct “coordinates”. Soon, however, the Autobots discover that Decepticon commander Shockwave plans on harvesting the sound energy from that night’s Springsteen…err, Springstern concert for his own evil uses! This unlikely plot serves to bring the Autobots closer to Springstern, by attending the concert themselves, in the parking lot!
Shockwave’s “energy siphon” actually removes the sound from the concert, converting it into “energon cubes”! The audience isn’t happy! Hoist disconnects the siphon, triggering a Decepticon attack!
The autobots transform into robot mode to protect the audience from Decepticons Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker. Luckily the audience (improbably) thinks it’s all part of the show. Hoist instructs Bruce…err, Brick, to keep playing music to keep the audience from panicking! Brick and the Big Man launch into the next song, and the ploy works to keep the crowd enthralled and distracted from the missiles exploding over their heads. Even the arrival of Shockwave, in the form of a friggin’ 40 foot long laser gun, doesn’t seem to alarm the crowd. The Autobots defeat the bad ‘bots, and leave Brick to finish the concert. The show must go on…
The plot is loaded with massive holes. Earlier in the story, Autobot medic Ratchet is complaining that he doesn’t have enough spare parts, even gaskets, to keep the wounded ‘Bots from leaking to death. Then, a page or two later, there’s five brand new bodies built for the new Autobots, aka new toys that Hasbro had to sell. Then there’s the siphoning of the music from the concert to create energon, when the Decepticons could have just stolen the electricity itself.
Not a great issue, but since it introduced five new toys, as a kid I was happy with it.
2.5/5 stars
The comic has been reissued several times, notably by IDW As Transformers Generations #3, and again in the collection Transformers Classics #2.
I’m going to be covering more of my rarities in 2013. Here’s a neat little item that I picked up back in 1996 for the princely sum of $4. A guy called me up and said he was bringing in some discs including a Sex Pistols 3″ single. I’d never owned a 3″ single before, so I knew right away that I would want it for myself. He came in right at the end of my shift and we did the deal.
This 3″ single contains 3 tracks, all of them available on Pistols albums:
“God Save the Queen” (from Never Mind the Bollocks)
“Did You No Wrong” (from Flogging a Dead Horse, which collected this B-side)
“Don’t Give Me No Lip Child” (from some versions of The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle)
I only own one Pistols album, a 2 CD edition of Never Mind the Bollocks, including a bonus disc called Spunk and Spedding Demos. That one album is more than enough Pistols for me (although I do still want to pick up Filthy Lucre Live) and I really never liked the bonus disc too much. The album itself is the meat and potatoes.
Having said that, this single was a great way for me to pick up two more Pistols songs that I liked, without having to get more albums that would probably sit collecting dust on my shelves. And I do like these two tunes. “Did You Know Wrong” is a particular favourite, “Don’t Give Me No Lip” sounds like it was probably recorded live in the studio. It’s muddy and you can barely hear Rotten. You certainly can’t really make out the words! You can hear tape drop out at 1:47, don’t know if that’s on the album or not.
I’m going to try and cover more rarities from my collection in 2013. Here’s a very rare one indeed! First, the story of how I acquired it, then the review.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 160: Harem Scarem Acoustic Sessions
Everybody at the store knew I was a big Harem Scarem fan. A bunch of Japanese imports found their way into the store, and I bought them all. I also played their music frequently in-store, as it was melodic and radio-friendly. Their stuff ranged from early Jovi-goodness to mid-period progressive pop rock sounds, to later pop punk. I liked pretty much everything they did, until they changed their name to Rubber and drifted too far into the pop direction for my tastes.
At one point in the early 2000’s, we had a large warehouse in the back of one of our stores. The idea was, we’d warehouse stock for opening future stores. There was a warehouse manager, and he would inventory everything in there. We’d send him anything decent that we had too many copies of. He’d also have stock from liquidations, or estate sales.
A lot of the time, the stuff from liquidations would include promo CD singles. I have dozens of promo discs from him, that we couldn’t sell in store. Usually these promo discs would have edit versions of album tracks. I have stuff from him including promos from Metallica, David Lee Roth, Motley Crue, and King’s X. Some of them, like the King’s X (which we’ll talk about in the future), had rare non-album tracks too.
He also ran our eBay store, and eBay have strict rules about selling promo discs. So basically, anything that was obviously promo sat in boxes gathering dust in our warehouse. On occasion, when it was a band like Harem Scarem that he knew I liked, he’d let me have it. Otherwise it would have sat there for years, probably just to be thrown in the garbage at some point.
One of the discs that he sent my way was a Harem Scarem EP called Acoustic Sessions. Subtitltled Limited Edition, there were only 500 copies made (see footnote for confirmation of this number.)
Most commercial retail releases have barcodes, and this one does not, indicating it probably was not a commercial release. Yet it also doesn’t say, “Not For Sale: Property of Warner Music Canada Ltd.” like a promo should, so who knows? It doesn’t even have a year printed on the case, only the CD itself (1991). The spine of the CD doesn’t even have a serial number. Maybe it was given to fanclub members or contest winners?
Either way: Never seen it before, never seen it since. I don’t truthfully know how it ended up in our possession, whether it was a liquidation, or just something we purchased off a regular customer somewhere. The details are now lost to the sands of time, but either way it ended up in our warehouse and consequently my collection. I also don’t recall what I paid for the disc. Probably $3. That would have been typical, with my staff discount, for something like this. With hindsight, we probably could have sold it for much more than that, but the folks in charge always underestimated the selling power of bands like Harem Scarem.
If it’s true that there’s only 500 copies out there, then I’m thrilled.
Oh, who am I kidding? It’s a rarity no matter what! I’m still thrilled!
HAREM SCAREM – Acoustic Sessions Limited Edition (1991 Warner Music)
The EP starts with a 3:16 edit version of their single “Something To Say”, the fifth single from Harem Scarem’s self-titled debut album. It’s a ballad, pleasant enough, acoustic. It has a really nice acoustic guitar solo courtesy of virtuoso player Pete Lesperance. Otherwise I’ve never considered it a standout. If you like “To Be With You” by Mr. Big or “More Than Words” by Extreme, this is another ballad for your collection. This same version was later released on another EP called Live & Acoustic.
Onto the exclusive acoustic tracks. These three songs were only available here, or the 1994 Japanese import version of the debut album. Good luck finding that today at a decent price!
The debut single “Slowly Slipping Away” (co-written by songsmith Marc Ribler) is rendered in acoustic form first. These acoustic sessions were recorded at Cabin Fever studios and self-produced by Lesperance and singer Harry Hess. As great a song as “Slowly Slipping Away” surely is, I think it does miss something in its acoustic form. That really nice electric guitar hook that precedes the verses, I miss it! I also miss that throbbing bassline. Yet the band’s incredible harmony vocals are just as powerful as ever.
“How Long” is next, a great album track in acoustic form. The chorus is just as big and dramatic as the album version, thanks to the band’s trademark harmonies. In my opinion, the band’s strength here was the original drummer, Darren Smith. What a voice. (The quartet were rounded out by original bassist Mike Gionet who stayed for three studio albums and a couple live releases.)
“Hard To Love” was not a single, but it works really well acoustically and maybe should have been a single after all. Once again the harmonies soar, with Smith in particularly standing out. I’ve always felt that the band really lost something when he left in the early 2000’s. This is a great track, radio ready and full of hooks.
The fifth and final track is just the regular album version of “Something To Say”, at 4:41, with the full (intricate) acoustic intro.
For a five song EP, this one is a winner. Just wish I knew more about its history!
4/5 stars
ADDED NOTE: Reader Danny has emailed the haremscarem.net site, and heard back from somebody regarding there being only 500 copies of this CD:
yes it’s true. Very rare now, because it was released in this very limited quantity. Take care, Dan
CINDERELLA – Long Cold Winter (1988 Polygram Records)
I remember how excited I was upon hearing the first single, “Gypsy Road”, in the summer of ’88. Cinderella had managed a bluesier, more “authentic” hard rock sound for their critical second LP. Night Songs was OK, but Long Cold Winter was better in every way. The cheese factor had been replaced by pedal steel guitars, pianos, and Hammond B3 organs.
Drummer Fred Coury was touring with Guns N’ Roses (Steven Adler had broken his hand punching a wall) during much of the making of Long Cold Winter. It’s not clear how much of Long Cold Winter he played on, as the band pulled in two incredible session drummers for the project: Denny Carmassi (of Heart and later Coverdale – Page), and the late great Cozy Powell!
From the bluesy opening of “Bad Seamstress Blues”, it was clear that the AC/DC clone Cinderella that featured Bon Jovi cameos in its videos had evolved. Two incredible, throat wrenching rockers follow this: “Fallin’ Apart at the Seams” and “Gypsy Road”. Both songs easily stand up today as forgotten classics of the “hair metal” era. But truthfully, Cinderella only made one “hair metal” album. Long Cold Winter doesn’t really fit in with that scene, and their next album Heartbreak Station would leave it behind completely.
“Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)”, the epic power ballad, is more Aerosmith than Poison, and still features a great guitar solo straight out of the Iommi blues notebook. I’m not too keen on “The Last Mile”, a straightforward rocker, but it was still chosen as a single from this album. Much better is the side-closing “Second Wind”, amped up and stuttering.
Side two opened with Cinderella’s “serious” blues, the title track. It’s a bit too contrived for me, it has a vibe of, “Hey, let’s write our ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’!”. Lots of repeated “baby baby baby” Plant-isms. At the time it was released, this song was seen as a serious departure for the band, but in hindsight it’s really just a first step into a larger world. It’s somewhat reminiscent of the rare occasions that Black Sabbath has attempted a slow blues (I’m thinking “Feels Good To Me”, also featuring Cozy Powell) mixed with Zeppelin.
“If You Don’t Like It” is another standard rocker, nothing special, but this is followed by no less than three great songs in a row. First is the single “Coming Home”, not really a ballad, but a hybrid. This was one of the most immediate songs that I fell for when I picked up the album. You can tell that Cinderella wrote a lot of this album on the road, by the lyrics. “Coming Home” is one such road song.
“Fire and Ice” is heavy, sort of a revisited “Second Wind”, another standout! Then the album closes with the slide-laden “Take Me Back”, which strikes me as another road song. Just as good as “Coming Home”, but heavier, it was a great album closer. Personally if this album had spawned a fifth single, “Take Me Back” would have been my pick, hands down. And I think this album could have justified five singles.
The band evolved further with album #3 (which featured strings by John Paul Jones!), but I think Long Cold Winter strikes the perfect balance between screeching rock and bitter blues. From the classy album cover on down to the perfect production, I don’t think they’ve ever made a better album.
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