Customer Reviews

Demo Anthology

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Despite the band's image, that they were often lampooned for even during the era (no thanks to Metallica's home video of the "Black Album"'s recording process), Winger has always been a band of phenominal musical talent. The band has quite an impressive catalog in their brief early career in the late 80's and early 90's.

Yet Kip and company still managed to continue on in solo projects or in other bands. Till the band could no longer deny the demand for their products anymore. Thanks in part to Poison's annual summer tours with the best names in the genre, Winger was finally back in gear in 2001 with their "Very Best of" collection featuring a new track. Touring followed the next year w/ Poison and not too long afterwards, Kip was touring more often solo and his solo work was finally starting to get it's due.

The band has always impressed me live and in the studio. What's really nice about this collection is the closeness to the more familiar versions we've been listening to for the past 20 years. Yet these demos have a freshness and a raw energy component that some of the finished versions lack a bit. Overall, there's about an album's length worth of unreleased material on here that's worth the purchase alone. A must for any diehard Winger fan.

Too bad there wasn't any demos of "IV" on here but yet due to time constraints and the fact that the album is pretty much recorded as is in the studio (*see the limited edition DVD "Making of Winger IV" to see the song writting process) Some of the "new" material will have a immediate reaction for they are the core of the final songs on the albums. Others were totally unreleased gems that can still hold a candle to anything out there today!

Most of this material has been put out on the net or other mediums over the years, so here's Kip putting it all together in a phenominal 2 disc set! My iPod runneth over!!!! If you like their studio work, you have to see this band live! They do not disappoint. A worthwhile purchase awaits you here!! - Sonny Thomas, The H.M.D. Music Resource Guide® - www.TheHMD.com

I have recently got into Winger. This was actually my first CD that I bought. It is a really good set. They are remastered demos. So you have a really raw sound to each track. As opposed to their more commercial sound. I really like their first CD (Winger) a lot too. I highly recommend this Anthology!!

This is what the songs were originally supposed to sound like before they were re-recorded and processed. There is a much rougher edge to the songs than the studio release. This is a great collection. Highly recommended.

Wow! I have a whole new respect for this band, if that is even possible. I have been in lust with Kip since their debut album from the 80's...I was a teenage, groupie wanna-be and couldn't watch him enough on MTV. I was hesitant to get into the newer stuff, but boy am I glad I gave it a listen. Kip's voice is as amazing as always and the band really knows how to jam! I hope these guys keep making more awesome cd's because I will continue to buy them. If you liked the 80's and 90's Winger, you will LOVE this. I also recommend buying the Winger Live DVD...it is a huge treat to watch!

On edit: I highly advise buying the new Karma CD. Wow, it is super! You won't be disappointed!!

"Demo Anthology", as the title suggests, is a collection of demos by the highly acclaimed US hard rock/glam metal group "Winger" originally released in 2007. This release is a 2CD set featuring a total of 37 demo songs recorded during the late 80s in between their three classic albums ("Winger", "II" and "Pull"); so you can expect demo versions of songs from all three album plus a total of ten previously unreleased song.

Considering the time these tapes were produced, the demos are of high stereo quality and make for an enjoyable two CD set for any fan of the band or 80s hard rock in general. So what sets these demos apart from the official versions? Well as bassist/vocalist Kip Winger explains on the back sleeve notes, the majority of these demos, if not all, were recorded solely by lead guitarist Reb Beach and himself where the two musicians would play their respective instruments while drums were programmed on a drum machine. In addition the presence of keyboards is somewhat reduced in comparison to the official versions.

On the other hand, one finds the guitar to be the protagonist instrument on these recordings, making the demos sound much heavier than the official material. In addition Kip's vocals come out in a more forceful manner delivering more hard rock attack while remaining technically impeccable.

Overall "Winger-the demo anthology" is a complete as it gets package featuring 37 tracks including 10 previously unheard songs. So the release serves both as a fan item as well as an introduction to those new to the music of "Winger".

This disc is more than just for collectors. The songs you can't find anywhere else are worth the purchase alone!

I'm so happy Winger decided to release a demo anthology instead of a greatest hits collection. It's been over a year now, and hardly a day goes by that I don't listen to a few songs from this album. In fact, this is the album that got me excited about their last studio album, IV.

If you ever liked Winger, you will love this one. Pick it up while it's still in print!

For the past few years, the only Winger album I listened to was Pull. The first two albums were a part of my past (I graduated from high school in 1991), but at one point, I had even given those albums away.

With the release of IV, I have to admit that I got interested in Winger again. I bought the first two albums, and when Demo Anthology was announced, I got psyched.

Demo Anthology isn't just a "demo" album. All of the songs on it hold their own, and I found myself listening anew to some of the "classics" that I had forgotten about.

This is a powerful album, and I hope Kip and the boys continue to record and play music for years to come.