Night Songs

Cinderella | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Island / Mercury
• ASIN: B000001FK4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,361 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #25 in Music > Classic Rock > Glam
  • #60 in Music > Hard Rock & Metal > Hard Rock

Editorial Reviews

CD

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Not The Lightweights You'd Think From The Cover December 13, 2001

By tin2x

Format:Audio CD

I'm a Cinderella fan and I'll admit that their look turned me off in the beginning, but if you listen to the album you don't get Posion/Warrant rock. These guys were taking their cue from AC/DC, Aerosmith, and heavy Stones.

This album is a LOT more bluesy than you'd think. Not blues. But VERY blues based. As other reviewers have noted as well there is a certain darkness to this album as well. There's something a little haunting about songs such as "Night Songs", "Nothin' For Nothin'" and "Back Home Again". "Shake Me", "In From The Outside", "Hell On Wheels" and "Once Around The Ride" all rock hard. The lyrics may not be all that original (admittedly, but then again rock lyrics generally aren't) but the band is just tight and the execution of the whole package is excellent. "Nobody's Fool" is an excellent power ballad, and as a kiss off has a slightly different slant than the usual sappy ones. And "Somebody Save Me" is a great song that's very poppy when you look at it without the overdriven guitar. "Push Push" is a song about sex but it has such a great riff behind it that it overpowers the somewhat formulaic lyrics.

Overall this album musically is so tight, and not quite the glam you'd think, that it comes off as a great, yet not representative mid to late 80's hard rock album.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Cinderella's FIVE STAR debut! August 22, 2006

By Randall M. Benton

Format:Audio CD

I remember seeing the cover of "Night Songs" when it first came out and thinking that these were just another bunch of spandex-wearing pretty boys playing by-the-numbers pop-metal. They seemed like a thousand other bands that were gaining popularity at the dawn of 1986.

However, after much coaxing from my girlfriend, and after seeing the video for "Shake Me" on MTV, I could look her squarely in the eyes and say "I WAS WAAAAAAY OUTA LINE!" The music on "Night Songs" is completely in your face rock 'n roll with blues undertones that is so far above the drivel of Warrant et. al that it isn't even funny.

Cinderella (who I just saw last Saturday night in Tampa with Poison) is NOTHING like the (thankfully short-lived) image that was first cast upon us. In fact, by their second album (the excellent "Long Cold Winter") the glam look was mostly history in favor of black leather, and a somewhat darker image. They wanted to be taken seriously and they sure deserved it. From what I witnessed and heard a few nights ago - they still do.

"Night Songs" is a romping, explosion of sounds and heavy riffs that leaves the listener always craving more. "Shake Me," "Nothin From Nothin," "Somebody Save Me," "Hell On Wheels," "Nobody's Fool," and (my personal favorite) the raunchy and suggestive "Push Push" are all incrediblely infectious and top-notch.

Every song on this is a winner. I know the word "classic" is as cliched as any in the English language (especially when it comes to rating things), BUT... I have to use it none-the-less. "Night Songs" is a classic rock album and one of the truly underated debuts ever.

Cinderella should never, ever, ever be lumped in with all the thousands of "hair bands" that dominated the mid-late 80's music scene. They are a pure blues-based band that has the swagger and groove of Aerosmith as well as the electricity and punch of AC/DC.

"Night Songs" is one album that still stands the test of time and never sounds dated.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Cinderella's nobody's fool on their debut June 9, 2005

By Daniel J. Hamlow HALL OF FAME

Format:Audio CD

At the same time Bon Jovi finally exploded on the scene with Slippery When Wet, they were also responsible for signing up Cinderella on their label, Mercury Records. Given the considerable softening of their sound on Slippery When Wet, it's no surprise that Cinderella's debut, Night Songs, rocked harder than that of their benefactors, with Tom Keifer's banshee-like voice and harmonies from the other members giving Cinderella an extra edge.

The title track, heralded by tolling bells, has a slow and steady that could fit home on a horror film soundtrack, but actually it's about a burned out trucker who needs the title songs to keep him going on a job that barely gets the bills paid and such.

The lead single, the one-night stand grindfest of "Shake Me" shows them getting in gear, with the team putting their signature sound of pounding skins and heavy guitars into tight rhythmic formation.

Equally as hard-driving was their third single, "Somebody Save Me," which paints a bleak picture of the American dream: "Put your money in a big house/Get yourself a pretty wife/She'll collect your life insurance/When she connects you with a knife." Those thinking of getting married-take heed to that. The despair can be further felt in the chorus, where the law of the jungle is melded with the urban jungle: "somebody save me, I lost my job, they kicked me out of my tree."

Their first foray into the charts came with the operatic power ballad "Nobody's Fool," replete with airy synths and blaring guitars, which peaked at #13 in 1987, one below peers Motley Crue with "Girls Girls Girls" and alongside Poison's "I Won't Forget You" that same year so that is a sign that metal was gaining entry into the heretofore unreachable charts.

If you have the urge to get that speedometer to three digits after listening "Hell On Wheels," I wouldn't fault you-just don't make any roadkill. The fast-paced guitars and drums shows the band at their fastest on their album. The been there done that "In From The Outside" has Jon Bon Jovi singing the first verse of the song before Tom Keifer takes over for the rest of the song.

The arena rock of "Back Home Again" is a tribute to finally making it big after years of hard work, and how being on stage when rolling into town makes one feel at home again.

A consistent sound provided Night Songs a kicker of a debut album for Keifer and company. They would make it bigger with their followup, Long Cold Winter.