Fight to Survive [Extra tracks, Import, Original recording remastered]

White Lion | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 11, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Mike Tramp Productions
• ASIN: B000AL51J4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #775,713 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Broken Heart

2. Cherokee

3. Fight to Survive

4. Where Do We Run

5. In the City

6. All the Fallen Men

7. All Burn in Hell

8. Kid of 1000 Faces

9. El Salvador

10. The Road to Valhalla

Editorial Reviews

Debut from glam/pop metal band from New York, originally released in 1984. One of the more talented acts to crawl out of the hair salons in the mid to late eighties. Digitally Remastered. Unavailable domestically. 1991. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for White Lion and guitar rock fans, August 15, 2004

By 

marky "marky" (Old Bridge, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fight to Survive (Audio CD)

I grew up in Staten Island,NY (where some of these guys are from) and first purchased this on vinyl at one of their local shows. White Lion was managed by the owners of the infamous rock club, L'Amours, and would play there every month. With so many glam and hair acts playing at the time, these guys stood out. They could sell out any New York rock club quicker than most national and signed bands. Although Pride was a bigger success and more polished, you need to pick up this cd to realize what an insane prodigy Vito Bratta was and how hard and raw the band really was. Check out the original version of Broken Heart and All the Fallen Men. White Lion's latter success overshadowed their true musical genius but Fight to Survive will always be a testament to one of the greatest rock bands to climb out of the New York jungle in the 80's.

A little F.Y.I.-- White Lion's famous rhythm section of Lomenzo and D'Angelo do not play on this cd. Staten Island local Nicky Capozzi plays drums and Felix Robinson, from the band Angel, plays bass.

Electra records signed the band, but refused to put out the album because it was too hard and heavy for the softer image they wanted them to have.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terribly underrated debut from the early 80's, September 12, 2003

By 

Murat Batmaz (Istanbul, Turkey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fight to Survive (Audio CD)

Formed in November 1982 by ex-Dreamer guitarist Vito Bratta and Mabel and Studs vocalist Mike Tramp, White Lion released their debut album Fight To Survive in 1984 in Germany. The band went through several line-up changes until they were fully established. First, bassist Felix Robinson was replaced by Dave Spitz (Americade) and drummer Nicky Capozzi by former Anthrax drummer Greg D'Angelo. It is bassist Dave Spitz that appeared in the band's first video "Broken Heart" before he went to join Heavy Metal legends Black Sabbath. Enter James Lomenzo (ex-Rondinelli) to fill in his shoes and the final line-up of White Lion was completed. The album got released in Japan through Victor Records and was highly successful. Shortly after the band landed a part in the Tom Hanks movie "The Money Pit" but this didn't really bring them in the spotlight like they had hoped. In addition to this their American label Elektra dropped them out of the blue and all of a sudden here was a band that had no contract and support Stateside. Unfortunately it would take over 3 years till they could break in the USA with their multi-platinum record Pride in 1987.

Fight To Survive was produced by German producer Peter Hauke who was originally also supposed to produce Pride and Big Game but somehow producer Michael Wagener handled the duties on the band's later releases. Because of the difference of producers and the mix, FTS sounds rather raw and heavy. Very heavy and in your face kind of 80's metal with crushing riffs from Vito Bratta and thoughtful lyrics from Mike Tramp. With the exception of perhaps only two songs ("Where Do We Run" and "Kid of 1,000 Faces") this is a typical heavy metal album . To this day I still run into people that loved White Lion on their debut effort and gradually lost interest after their follow-up Pride. I think I can see where they are coming from. Fight To Survive is melodic, heavy, dark... simply an album of protest. The duo's first ever song "Broken Heart" opens the album and it progresses with the heavy rockers "All The Fallen Men", "El Salvador", "In The City" and closes with the killer ballad "The Road To Valhalla". Vito's naive yet emotional guitar playing shines on this one. Both Vito and Mike were only 22 when they recorded their debut in White Lion.

It is a shame that even after White Lion got gold, their fans had great difficulty locating this album for years. It wasn't until 1992 when Music For Nations finally made it available and released it worldwide. If you like melodic heavy metal from the 80's, it should be in your best interest to check Fight To Survive out. It is definitely much better than the majority of the other debut albums of any band out there.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars White Lion's best album - finally remastered!, October 26, 2007

By 

Justin Gaines (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fight to Survive (Audio CD)

It's a shame that White Lion's debut album is so hard to find, because it may well be their best release. Fight to Survive didn't make much of a splash when it was released in 1984. It wasn't until 3 years later that their second album, Pride, brought them the attention they deserved.

Fight to Survive is a solid album and a great example of the kind of melodic hard rock/heavy metal that was so powerful in the mid to late 1980's. It features the single Broken Heart, which was re-recorded for White Lion's final album Mane Attraction. Broken Heart is probably my favorite White Lion song. Other standout tracks include the title track and El Salvador. Singer Mike Tramp and guitarist Vito Bratta worked quite well together on this album, and managed to record some very melodic songs with great guitar hooks and smart lyrics. Like later releases, which always had at least one song that just didn't seem to fit (Dirty Woman from Big Game is a good example); Fight to Survive's only dud is the song Kid of 1000 Faces. That one song aside, I give White Lion's debut album a very high rating.

This is a must-have album for all White Lion fans, as well as fans of the whole 80's hard rock/hair metal scene. It's one of those albums that totally captures the spirit of that era.

NOTE: For the longest time, the only way to get this great album was to buy an expensive Japanese import. Fortunately Fight to Survive was reissued by AOR Heaven in 2005. This is good enough news all by itself, but the best news is that the album was digitally remastered under the supervision of Mike Tramp himself. After hearing both the old and new releases, I can tell you the difference in sound quality is very noticeable. The reissue also features 7 bonus live tracks. They're a nice enough addition I suppose, but they're not all from the Fight to Survive era (only two songs are from this album), so I can't really see how it made sense to include them here. Still, the remastering alone makes the reissue a more than worthwhile purchase, especially for those who may have missed the album the first time around.