Gold [Original recording remastered]

Cinderella | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 25, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Island / Mercury
• ASIN: B000ETRBFE
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,623 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TOTALLY UNDERRATED BAND...THE 80s FACES PERHAPS???, June 5, 2006

By 

Larry Davis "powerpoplarry" (NYC/Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gold (Audio CD)

Can't believe I'm the first one to review this 2CD collection of Cinderella, their entry in Universal Chronicles' "Gold" series!!! It IS a goodie too.

To be honest, of all the hard rocking bands that emerged in the MTV 80s, Philly's Cinderella possibly got the short end of the stick. They were miscategorized as hair metal, and when they were on the verge of bigger and better things, after 1990s' "Heartbreak Station" and tour, Tom's voice went kaput, it then took 4 years for him to recover and release the excellent followup "Still Climbing". And, you know what then happened...alternative rock was "in" and Cinderella was "out". Not their fault though. Well, 12 years later, Cinderella's brand of rock is "in" again, but I felt they've never fit in to that 80s "hair band" movement anyway.

In a way, Cinderella are/were kind of like a current answer to 70s band the Faces (fronted by Rod Stewart) mixed with AC/DC for good measure. Tom's an amazing songwriter, and he has great influences, like country/roots rock, blues, soul and gospel (maybe that's why he's been based out of Nashville for years now), and it's cool how he mixes all that good stuff together in his writing, add in his throaty wail (like a Brian Johnson/Rod Stewart hybrid...plus his smooth croon on appropriate songs), whilst Jeff, Eric and Fred back him up as an extremely tight and loud, but also loose, soulful and swinging, rock and roll band. Add in the fact that UK producer Andy Johns did the honours on Cinderella's first 2 albums (he did the Faces too, as well as other similar-minded UK bands), and there ya go. I think their music holds up extremely well today because it was fairly timeless from the beginning, although the first album "Night Songs" not as much because of the production style...aka Tom's dreaded REVERB.

Now, the tracklisting...yes, it has live versions of 6 tracks, including the favourites "Somebody Save Me" and "Gypsy Road". Firstly, I like the fact the songs are not in chronological order because it treats each song and album it's from as equals. This means that otherwise overlooked gems like "Sick For The Cure", "Talk Is Cheap", and "Second Wind" get spotlighted as much as "Shake Me" and "Nobody's Fool". I also like the fact that there are as many songs from "Still Climbing" and "Heartbreak Station" as there are from "Night Songs" And "Long Cold Winter", and honestly??? I think the 3rd and 4th albums are better than the first 2, objectively, espesh "Heartbreak Station", my favourite as well as Tom's.

I'll even go so far as to say that Tom's best song he's written is the COUNTRY song "Heartbreak Station", which should have been a bigger hit than it was (#44 pop and #10 rock), it's just a gorgeous, sad, melancholy song (with a fitting, perfectly shot black and white clip, with an old steam train to match, love Tom's pedal steel solo too, very country). I would even suggest that a current alt-country act like Ryan Adams or one with some mainstream appeal like Dierks Bentley, or even the Dixie Chicks, they should cover "Heartbreak Station" and it should be a single!!!!

Back to the live tracks here, 4 are previously unreleased and 2 are from the rare Japanese promo EP "Last Train To Heartbreak Station". Sure, it would have been nice to have the studio singles of "Gypsy Road" and "Somebody Save Me", but the 12-minute live version of "Gypsy Road" just kicks ass and is even better, with the eerie keyboard intro, sorta like "Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City" or something Gary Moore would do, and the audience participation bit...shows how tight and fun a live band Cinderella was and continues to be, no ego, and totally unpretentious.

One thing I'd recommend...the compilation "Once Upon A..." has 2 exclusive songs..."War Stories" and a cool cover of Janis Joplin's "Move Over", get that comp for those and studio versions of the live cuts, BUT "Rocked, Wired And Bluesed" is a great single disc with everything remastered. So, get those 2 or download the missing tracks from iTunes, and happy about that DVD of RW&B.

All that's needed are remasters of the 4 albums, with B-sides and unreleased tracks...possibly in a 3CD boxset, and a new album...hopefully their long drawn-out battle with Island Def Jam will get resolved soon, we can all move forward...Cinderella and their fans like us.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cinderella Gold with "New" Live Tracks, June 21, 2006

By 

Richard Thompson "Music Fanatic" (El Paso, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gold (Audio CD)

I've been a Cinderella fan since the late 80's when Long Cold Winter came out. What a fantastic album of bluesy rock 'n roll. Saw them open up for AC/DC way back when "Shake Me" was their only hit single, and saw their headlining tour with Nelson as a support act (remember them? Non-other than Ricky Nelson's twin son's) Well, Nelson has long been forgotten on the road map of Rock 'n Roll, but Cinderella lives on as strong as ever.

They never really were a "hair metal" band, they just had to take on that image at the time because that was the way the music business was leaning. Ever see the early photos of Gun's 'n Roses when Axl and company were a "Glam Rock" band struggling to break into the club music scene in L.A.? His hair all teased up all over the place. Great stuff. Anyway, Tom Keifer/Cinderella did what they had to do to make it no different than KISS's Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley before them. Point is, don't dismiss them as some kind of has been, old fashion, out-of-style 80's rock that plagues so many other good acts. Cinderella is "the REAL Thing". An honest, hard working, and very talented Rock 'n Roll band.

Now, to the Gold collection. How can you go wrong? Thirty (yes...30!) tracks. All newly remastered with today's technology. (That's something that needs to happen to all the Cinderella albums, but that's another issue) An 18 page booklet of photos and liner notes, including the details of those "new" live songs. Thought maybe they were from the Key Club show in 1999 or maybe the same as the BMG Extended Versions disc from 2005 didn't ya? Well, here's the scoop:

Two of the six tracks have been available before, but only on the hard-to-find, rare Japanese promo disc "Live Train to Heartbreak Station". The other four are from the same live show, which to my excitement was the last concert I attended in my home town of Little Rock, Arkansas. Yes, all you fellow Arkansian's, the Cinderella concert at Barton Coliseum on May 21, 1991 was recorded and is now being released on this 2-disc collection. Awesome! They do a fantastic 12 minute version of Gypsy Road at the end. Highly Recommended to all true ROCK Fans!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Double-Disc Set Of Workingman's Hard Rock, August 5, 2006

By 

The Footpath Cowboy "rockerusa2002" (Kingston, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Gold (Audio CD)

Like their benefactors, Bon Jovi, Cinderella were a hair band, but they were often much more than that. True, their first album was generic pop-metal, but they grew up real fast, and almost immediately started writing chronicles of working- and middle-class people struggling against their circumstances- often coming up short, but never ceasing to fight. Cinderella were kind of a heavy metal version of all the great Southern rock bands, if those bands were fronted by the rasp of Rod Stewart circa 1971. Leader Tom Keifer's belief that the young Australian tourist jailed in Indonesia since 2005 for drug-smuggling was unjustly convicted, as well as his advocacy of increased funding for community policing, makes this anthology an essential purchase for both your ears AND your conscience.