Customer Reviews

Heartbreak Station

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Not so long ago, rock bands made albums that contained musical muscle, healthy diversity, good lyrics, creativity, high emotional content, a big dose of asskicking, AND the ability to sell. It should be noted that such albums then got satired, forgotten, and essentially crapped on by the public just a few short years later.
"Heartbreak Station" fulfills the critera to count as such an album. This is the only album I ever bought used, as I never happened to catch Cinderella on the radio or MTV, and I just wanted to make sure I WOULD NOT like them and I wouldn't have to waste my time with their catalog (giving them a chance had much to due with my love for Bon Jovi). I put the cd on and even before the first chorus, I new this band would immediately jump into my "top 20" and I felt embarrassed for not knowing them earlier.
Today, the music industry has gotten so hollow, many albums only have a song or two that are even marketable, let alone musically viable. By sharp contrast, "Heartbreak Station" had (and still has!) the elements that were helping to make rock music taken more seriously as an art form. While maintaining all of the raw and gritty adrenalizing elements of soulful rock and roll, this album contains songs that speak the truth in a most musically motivating manner ("Shelter Me" and "Sick for the Cure"), a nod to funk ("Love's Got Me Doing Time"), a soft, tender title track that even my father of 60 years can verify as aesthetically pleasing, a short and simple nod to what really matters in life ("One for Rock And Roll"), a respectable answer to 'Blaze of Glory' ("Dead Man's Road"), and one of the most emotionally gutwrenching songs ever ("Winds of Change"). Oh, right, and heart-stomping kickass rock and roll ("The More Things Change" and "Make Your Own Way"). This is one of the more solid albums in existence.
The ways in which a) this band should be taken seriously and b) this band has subsequently been laughed out, could not be more opposite, except for maybe occasionally in the case of Poison. "Heartbreak Station" is a very strong album that makes me embarrassed for ever predicting otherwise. It got me into the band, made me buy the rest of their albums, and helped me learn that had they not been stopped dead in their tracks by shallower musical trends, each new studio release was proving Cinderella to be one of the best bands in rock history in terms of musical evolution. Though still alive and kicking, I mourn this band's creative spurt. At least we have this music, and it can be listened to forever. If you think that purchasing this album will uncomfortably stick you in "hair band land", take it from me; the music is real, the songwriting is of a very high level, and the album speaks for itself once you've heard it. Everyone should check this out.

As an attempt to get recognition as a serious and mature musical entity, Cinderella shifts direction on this recording trying to make a big departure from the cheap corporate tones, artificiality and over exploited gimmick that made hair metal so hateful on its final stages in the late 80's and early 90's.
On Heartbreak Station, the band brings to its sound deep influences from traditional North American musical styles such as blues, country, folk and gospel as well as the British Invasion tones of the Rolling Stones and The Faces, all this in order to validate its roots as authentic rock musicians. This blend of influences creates an atmosphere of honesty, celebration, introspection and musical craft and poise. The novelty, however, its not only on the sonic department; lyrics have been traded for a reflexive and intelligent ironic mood, instead of the hedonistic and party celebratory vibe of the past.
It's been almost 13 years since the first time I listened to Heartbreak Station and still makes me wonder, what would've happened if Tom Keifer and the boys had reached the recognition and success that this risky and honest album deserved?.
Highlights: "Shelter Me", Sick For the Cure" and "One For Rock 'n' Roll" a dylanesque, evocative and beautiful song.

Heartbreak Station, Cinderella's third studio album and ultimately their last record to achieve platinum success, is one of the forgotten gems in the 80's hard rock era. Long Cold Winter, for all its virtues, was marred by its pop-metal conventions. Heartbreak Station erases such principles. Filled with Rolling Stones / Aerosmith sensibilities and a fearlessness to deviated from the generic formula of hair metal, this genuinely great album showed that Cinderella had more genuine grit than their poodle-haired contemporaries.

Each track is strong, distinctive and never repeating themselves, a fatal error that plagued many hair metal albums. "Electric Love", "Love Gone Bad" and the sweet, boogie-rock of "Sick for the Cure" are swaggering rock n' roll that recalls the best of Aerosmith, when that band did not need power ballads or a Michael Bay movie to climb to the charts. "One For Rock N' Roll" is a simple, country-fused ditty about lacking worries and just playing rock n' roll. And "Shelter Me" is a riotous commentary on censorship (the accompanying video featuring Little Richard was comedy gold).

But the album's coup de graces remain the two songs that have the making of an instant classic: the title track, with its melodic acoustic guitars, honky piano flourishes and an beguiling 12-string guitar solo, and the opulent "Winds of Change" both have an emotional splendor boosted by Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones' majestic strings. The title track, in particular, is the true highlight, ranking with Bon Jovi's "I'll Be There for You", Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" and Skid Row's "I Remember You" as one of the era's greatest power ballads.

It may have not been their most commercially successful album but Heartbreak Station showcased a more ambitious, talented band whom many have taken for granted. Unfortunately, that's what happened when grunge came by and swept everyone associated with hair metal. It was a dark day for 80's hard rock and for Cinderella, as their careers went into a startling decline while bands like Helmet, L7 and Pearl Jam achieved gold status.

You know, what's funny? Back in the 1990's, everyone would have crucified a band for playing music like this but today, everyone wishes we could have an album like this again. It is the testament to Cinderella and especially Tom Kiefer that they created an album that was unfairly neglected and reaped for rediscovery. Even if you're not an 80's hard rock fan, you should pick this album up and give it a try. It is not only a great 80's rock record; it's a great rock album in general.

I was sadly dissappointed with this album and only give it 3 stars. Perhaps it was the fact that I've listened to their first 2 albums for so long, but overall this album just doesn't get it done in my opinion. Give me the hard rocking Cinderella of old any day vs. this lightweight version. The title track, Heartbreak Station is indeed a great song but other than that the rest of the album just didn't do much for this hard rock fan. Many of the songs vocals are also very muffled and aren't nearly as clear as Cinderella's previous 2 albums. Here's hoping "Still Climbing" is much better. Despite the fact that it was a letdown, it's still much better than anything being released in today's hip-hop, bubble gum pop, whiny world of music.

move over ACDC Cinderella can go it all metal and rock, get this one now, they are also a great liveband!

Another solid effort by Cinderella that once again failed to raise them to the level of their buddies Bon Jovi. And that is in some ways unfair as their debut and it's follow up had more honest grit than just about all of Bon Jovis albums combined. Not that they were great by any means but they were from a beer swillin' heavy rocker headspace, even if the image was that of a shameless hair metal band in search of cash and girls.

Heartbreak Station sees a considerable shift for the boys (now looking more like boys with each album) and this is portrayed upfront with The More Things Change. In with the blues, in with a less hysterical image, in with some slide guitar and honky tonk stylings. Each track feels totally as if it came from a different band to that which gave us the first two Cinderalla albums with the possible exception of the aforementioned track. A lot of jangly guitars, a more rustic feel and year another simplistic production job aid the band in this, what amounted to an effort by the band to be taken more seriously. The same trick was tried, with varying degrees of success, by a number of bands in the late 80's/early90's and given their musical track record Cinderella were perhaps more deserving of success. What shouldn't be forgotten is that this shift to more blues/country songs with open structures happened prior to grung. It came out in 1990 so this album deserves credit for NOT being a change in direction due to panic at impending oblivion.

Of course that doesn't make the music great. Whether you but into the new Cinderella will depend on how receptive you are to an ex-glam/hair rawk rock band suddenly "getting" a more laid back style of the blues and going into a studio where the radio was glued onto an alt-country station. And then a few months later coming out with this album.

This album scored OK with a bunch of critics at the time (Kerrang magazine etc) but the bands fan base either weren't up to the change in direction or had grown up and gotten jobs by 1990. Which is a pity as the band pulled off the change fairly well, even if by halfway through the album your hankering after a numbskull rocker like Hell on Wheels or Somebody Save Me. Which is probably why the album stiffed so badly - fans of their previous genre are more likely to slit their wrists listening to this maudlin stuff than tell their friends to go out and buy it.

This is my favorite Cinderella album, coming in just ahead of Long Cold Winter nad Night Songs, and way ahead of Still Climbing, though that is also a good album.

Back to Heartbreak Station. This album is one of those rare recording you can listen to when it is first released, then find it under the couch eight years later, put it on, and still love it as much as you did the first time the bluesey slide guitar and screeching vocals of frontman Tom Keiffer blasted through your eardrums.

This album is pure musicianship and pure writing talent. I have not seen anything in the last five years that can even try to compare to it, with a very few exceptions. The whole band functions like a well-oiled, hard rockin' machine. Great songs like the four radio singles "The More Things Change", "Love's Got Me Doin' Time", "shelter Me" and "Heartbreak Station", are true masterpieces of American rock. If these songs weren't so great, "Sick For The Cure", "One For Rock N Roll", "Make Your Own Way" and the absolutley amazing "Dead Man's Road" would have been the singles, and in my opinion, would have succeded just as well.

Every song stands on its own. every song brings something different to the table. It would be impossible to pick just one favorite because every track shines in its own special way. I think that is one of the key ingredients to a great, timeless album like this one.

By all means, buy this album. If you don't like it, sell it at a pawn shop. Give someone else the chance to experience this magical recording

Cinderella took their sound as far into blues rock territory as they possibly could with their third album - 1990's Heartbreak Station. This album is pretty far removed from the straightforward hair metal of Night Songs, but it still rocks. It's just a bluesier, more Southern-sounding kind of rock, complete with twanging guitars, horns, and the occasional gospel-style choir on background vocals.

It may not be the Cinderella everyone was familiar with, but I love what they did on Heartbreak Station. Soulful songs like Electric Love, Dead Man's Road, and the title track give the album and the band a sense of depth that a lot of Cinderella's peers were sadly lacking, and it's hard to resist the boogie-rocking The More Things Change, Shelter Me, and Make Your Own Way. People went nuts for Bon Jovi's cowboy fixation. Why not extend Cinderella the same kind of credit, especially when the results are this good?

It's not as good as Night Songs or Long Cold Winter, but Heartbreak Station is still a very strong Cinderella album, and I have a soft spot for it as it was one of the very first albums I bought when I moved from cassettes to CDs. Ah, long box memories.

I was a huge fan of Cinderalla in the 80's. Their first 2 albums are classic. So of course I was extremely excited when they put out a new album. I wasn't all that excited about the title track as the lead off single, but I bought the CD anyway. Probably should have waited until it made the cut out bin.
The CD felt forced to me, like they had run out of material and just threw some songs together to fulfill a recording contract. Non of the songs are catchy or memorable in my mind. I have probably only listened to it 2 or 3 times since it came out. Hoping maybe it would grow on me, NOPE.
I just recently saw them in concert, and they don't even play anything off of this collection. Should probably tell ya something. Get their first 2 CD's only get this if you are die hard, or looking to die hard.
Sorry Cinderella, better luck next time, if there ever is one.

Heartbreak Station is a classic album, containing a dazzling array of musical styles which Cinderella moves through seamlessly. Each of the 11 songs is breathtakingly original, and some of them (Winds of Change, Electric Love and Heartbreak Station) are hauntingly beautiful, as well. Particularly poignant is One for Rock and Roll. Heartbreak Station has a lyrical and musical quality that is rare for an album of any genre, and as such, is a must-have album, not just for Cinderella fans or rock fans, but fans of all types of music. It is a sample of the very best that rock and roll has to offer.