Customer Reviews

Long Cold Winter

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Cinderella's debut featured bluesy rock which was reminiscent of AC/DC. On their follow up they up the rootsiness factor while still rocking in late 80's fashion. The result is a winning album that is an overlooked classic of 80's hard rock.

The album starts off with some harmonica and a national steel guitar while Tom Keifer sings a blues as an intro to "Fallin' Apart At The Seams". It works wonderfully. It's worked so that the key riff of the hard rocker is alluded to and then played on intentionally "historic" sounding guitar. "Gypsy Road" follows which is another riff rocker with a riff Keith Richards probably wishes he wrote. Following that is the excellent "Don't Know What You Got Till It's Gone" which is a fantastic power ballad. Probably the best thing about it though, not to detract from the song, is Tom Keifer's excellent solo. Another standout rocker in "The Last Mile" follows. Other standout tracks include "Long Cold Winter" which is in the vein of Led Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Loving You" with some stirring guitar and "Coming Home" which is a great country rock ballad. "If You Don't Like It" is the kiss-off/screw you song that every good rock album needs and works on that level. "Second Wind" and "Fire And Ice" recall the band's debut "Night Songs" with the latter being the superior track. "Take Me Back" rounds out the album with some kickng drums with cowbell and a great slide riff, and a rootsy upbeatness.

The thing about this and Cinderella's next album ("Heartbreak Station") is that they started showing a way out of being pigeon holed in the "hard rock" scene. Cinderella were stretching the boundaries of what the hard rock and mainstream audiences would accept. At the same time though there were rockin' out with a fury. Tom Keifer's Janis Joplin/Brian Johnson voice may not be for everyone, but the guy always played a mean guitar, and here with Jeff LaBar is just a great rock CD. It's been lumped in with dreck for so long. It stands up a lot better than many of the stuff that was on "Headbanger's Ball" at the same time. And maybe oneday "Long Cold Winter" will be acknowledged as the great rock album it is.

Cinderella followed its debut Night Songs with Long Cold Winter, which featured some improved instrumentation, distinct songs instead of the same sound throughout, and a more blues-based song infused with their usual metal. The opening "Falling Apart/Bad Seamstress Blues," has some classic acoustic blues before launching into metal blues in the second part, including some superior electric blues guitar. As in their first album, they put forth a sound that should've put Warrant, Firehouse, and Winger on alert to what metal should've been.

The heavy rocking "Gypsy Road" is this album's "Shake Me." Strangely enough, the video for this song was released before "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)," as that song charted first. As it turns out, this was released as a single after the success of the first three singles. It peaked at #51, and I put this to the order when it was released. Why not release it as the first single as it was in the UK?

Probably because of the success of pop-metal bands doing ballads; Cinderella's first single (and second video) "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)" bettered its previous ballad, "Nobody's Fool," by one place, peaking at #12. It starts as a piano ballad before going full force with the guitars and synths to give it a soaring effect, of some hope left to mend what was sundered.

The next single was "The Last Mile," which falls into the metal blues category. This hard-driving song reached #36, which would've signaled them to hold off on singles, but they came out with yet another one, the mid-paced "Coming Home" which made it to #20. Some country inflections on the mellower parts give evidence that they just didn't go for straight ahead metal. A definite asset to this album.

As for the rest, it's mostly hard-driving numbers such as "Second Wind," that push this album on further heights than Night Songs. "If You Don't Like It" shows a defiant stance on lifestyle a la Billy Joel's "My Life" but with some attitude. "If you don't like it, I don't care" becomes an anthem against that elite exploitative 9-5 set. "Fire and Ice" is another song on a predatory woman, with its "shake for me ooo yea" a reminder of their first single, "Shake Me."

The title track sees them going into slow heartfelt electric blues mode, with Tom Keifer's banshee-like vocals strangely not out-of-place, showing that Clapton and ZZ Top didn't have the sole monopoly on blues-based rock.

Long Cold Winter also benefits from extra drumming assistance from Cozy Powell, who took Carl Palmer's place in ELP, and Denny Carmassi of Heart, as well as session percussionist Paulinho da Costa. And given that Keifer and bassist Tom Bittingham were two of three co-producers showed that this time, they were ready to break new ground. A definite improvement over Night Songs, Long Cold Winter will warm those who are 80's metal fans, whether rediscovering or discovering this for the first time.

After Guns N' Roses' "Appetite For Destruction" and Def Leppard's "Hysteria," this is my favorite album from the late-80s hard rock bands. The bluesy sound of "Long Cold Winter" makes it stand out from anything released in its time, and although it lacks the intensity and virtuosity of Guns N' Roses, it sounds far more authentic than many contemporaneous efforts (Warrant, Poison, Bon Jovi, Winger, etc.). Tom Kiefer is a gifted songwriter, and the best tracks on this disc (including the intensely bluesy "Long Cold Winter," the upbeat Wanderlust-ode "Gypsy Road," and the epic "Don't Know What You Got Till It's Gone") still hold up after a dozen years. Admittedly, doing hard rock by way of the blues was hardly an original idea -- a decade and a half earlier it had already been done by Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith, and Cinderella is not in their league. Still, this is a good effort, worth purchasing for fans of straight-out, unpretentious guitar rock.

Yes you can call me crazy but please keep reading. This is the greatest album of the pop music era. This cannot be called an album the damn thing is an oratorio the best collection of art since Handel's immortal "The Messiah". How Keifer got away with this religous message on a major label is beyond me. This album puts accross so much heart and soul it would make Otis Redding smile and cry. I would love to see what Keifer went through to write these songs and what the release looked like when he put them on paper. The album must be listened to from first song to last and you should probably sit down and read the lyrics as the record plays as it will tell you a story of life, love, heartache,strength,hope, and acceptance. Please forget about image when you listen even though theirs was over the top it did not effect the music like it may have with some other bands of this genre. When it comes to hairbands no one could play the blues like these guys.

Bad Seamstress Blues/Fallin' Apart At The Seams- Great mood swings starts out with a Robert Johnson influence and winds up hard rock.

Gypsy Road-A rock anthem, should be a classic

Don't Know What You Got(Till It's Gone)-The slow song, the hit, but aside from that it tells an honest soulful story

The Last Mile-cool riff, great lyrics,good vocal arrangements.

Second Wind-Makes a simple but nessacary statement to the albums story

Long Cold Winter-A 12 bar blues in a minor key played with metal distortion.My favorite song on the record. It is my opinion that this is currently the highest evolution of the blues as the current artists rehash the same old thing. Includes the most soulful singing and guitar playing you can hear. A Keifer Masterpiece

If You Don't Like It-Every piece of work will have parts of it you like better or worse, but the songs statement is again useful to the story

Coming Home-great guitar arrangements, great lyrics, maybe the best song on the record

Fire and Ice-I like the music and the words again need to be there

Take Me Back-The title says it all. Fun song,great lyrics and slide guitar.

This album is a must have for ANYONE. People need to hear this band and pay no mind to the bad rap. Tom Keifer is one of the most gifted and underrated songwriters of all time. Any artist throwin' it down from their heart and soul should not be denied.

THE BAND: Tom Keifer (vocals, guitars, harmonica), Jeff Labar (guitars), Eric Brittingham (bass), Fred Coury (drums & percussion).

THE DISC: (1988) 10 tracks clocking in at approximately 44 minutes. Included with the disc is a 4-page foldout containing song titles/credits/times, song lyrics, 2 band photos, and thank you's. Recorded at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, NY. Additional players included - Cozy Powell (drums), Rick Criniti (synth, piano), Denny Carmassi (drums) and Kurt Shore (keyboards). Label - Mercury Records.

COMMENTS: Though not quite in the same league as Cinderella's '86 debut ("Night Songs"), this sophomore release is still a great rocker. Where "Night Songs" was for the most part straight ahead 80's hair/glam rock, this "Long Cold Winter" continued to rock, but also showed Keifer's love for the blues. Highlights include the opener "Bad Seamstress Blues / Falling Apart At The Seams"; the piano ballad "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)" that coolly reminds me of Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home"; the album's first hit "Gypsy Road"; the slow and melancholy title track; and two minor hits with the mid tempo rocker "The Last Mile" and the heaviest track on the album "If You Don't Like It" (in the same vein as their earlier "Shake Me"). "Don't Know What You Got" reached #12 on the US charts - and turned out to be the band's biggest hit to date. Two filler songs with "Second Wind", and "Fire And Ice". As an album, "Long Cold Winter" failed to top the #3 "Night Songs" (reaching #10 in the US) - both albums have sold 3+ million units. One of the hidden gems on this album is "Coming Home" with it's slow acoustic intro and Keifer singing, well, sounding almost normal... I like his voice here and often wondered what would've happened had he sung more songs like this. The music on this album is varied - fast, slow, bluesy... and a sign of things to come - their 3rd album "Heartbreak Station" (1990) was very bluesy. If I'm going to grab one Cinderella album, more times than not it will be "Night Songs", but this "Long Cold Winter" comes in a close 2nd. A very accomplished record at the time (4.5 stars).

Long Cold Winter was released in Hair-Metal Heyday, but you can listen to this in the present without being embarrassed. Like almost every other reviewer of this album here, Cinderella headed towards a bluesier side that would become more apparant with their third album. However Long Cold Winter rocks and has some real gems.

'The Last Mile' is probably my favorite. 'Gypsy Road' is very good also, but with MTV overkill, I really can't sit through this song too many more times. Which is not fair to say, it's an excellent song, but too much of a good thing can have it's drawbacks and MTV played the hell out of this.

The title track is possibly the only song I was never really that crazy about. It's very long and too slow it seems. I can see how Cinderella was trying to make this their Swan Song, but to me it just didn't quite work. However rockin tunes like 'Fire and Ice', 'If you don't like it', and 'Take me back' will keep your feet tapping. Not every album from the 80's sounds as fresh as this, thanks to the lack of synthesizers. If you have worries about discovering 80's 'Hair Bands', Cinderella is not to fear. They had a lot more substance than fluffy Bon Jovi garbage.

Cinderella made a classic with this one. This is the best heavy metal record of 1988. The blues influence is real and not forced like some bands would later do.(Poison anyone?) Cinderella was not shallow like most of their peers. They should have gained a level of stardom equal to bands like Van Halen and Aerosmith. A classic.

The band had something to prove with this album. Coming of the big first album "Night Songs" and the much played tracks from it. This album to me showed off even a wider rang in the bands style. Showing that yes they could do the power ballads that so many late 80s group were known for. They also proved that the power of metal still was alive and kicking inside of them. I don't hear many people talk about this one, but maybe talk is not what you need!! Put it on and listen and hear what I'm talking about.

You could tell things weren't going to be the same just looking at the cover to Cinderella's 1988 sophomore album Long Cold Winter. The stark white cover stood in direct contrast to the poofy hair and silly posing of Night Songs. Likewise, from the very first notes of the bluesy intro Bad Seamstress Blues, you knew Cinderella had taken a big step forward. They were still a hair metal band, but a newfound maturity was plain to see.

Soulful, blues-based hard rock is what the band delivered with this album, and man did they do it with style. Fallin' Apart at the Seams is a monster of a blues-rocker, and Gypsy Road is so infectious that there's no way it wasn't going to be a hit single. Of course, the ballad Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone) was THE big hit from this album, and while I understand why it was huge (it was essentially Cinderella's Every Rose Has Its Thorn) it's probably my least favorite song here. It certainly can't hold a candle to the soulful title track, where Tom Kiefer's whiskey-soaked wail sounds like he's literally ripping his heart out. The vaguely Southern road anthems Coming Home and The Last Mile were also pretty big hits, and are among the album's better songs. Even "filler" songs Second Wind, If You Don't Like It, Fire and Ice, and Take Me Back were still head and shoulders above what most bands were releasing at the time. There really isn't a song on this album that I'd consider weak (OK, If You Don't Like It was a bit silly, but it still rocked).

Long Cold Winter is the album that made it impossible to write Cinderella off as "just another hair band". It's by far the band's best work, and is an essential album for any 80's rock collection.

Sure, "Night Songs" did well and Cinderella were already a household name by the time this album came out. Still, this album produced almost as many MTV hits (remember when MTV actually played videos while people were awake?) as Def Leppard's "Hysteria", and for good reason. This disc is a must have for anyone looking for good. bluesy hard rock.