Customer Reviews

Pride

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I agree with everyone here, Vito (White Lion's guitartist) is phenomenal on this album. I don't play guitar but know enough that the work on this album, especially on 'hungry' and 'don't give up' is unbelievably great and you'll never get tired of listening to these tracks. The first time I heard White Lion I was listening to every other hair band in the Eighties. But when I heard this album, the hair on my neck stood up due to the sheer complex and intricate style Vito brings to these otherwise simple songs. If you like George Lynch of Dokken, the get this album if only for the incendiary guitar solos.

I first saw White Lion on MTV in 1987 when their video for "Wait" came out. The moment I saw Vito Bratta play his solo I knew right then and there that I wanted an electric guitar, and I've been playing ever since. In the almost 20 years since, I've played all sorts of styles and listened to all kinds of music, but when I sat down recently to tune up my playing I found myself rummaging through old CDs and began listening to WL with fresh ears.
The results were pleasing if not life-changing, and now that I've put in almost twenty years of my own on guitar, I can safely say that Vito merits being an inspiration. While the rhythm section of James Lomenzo and Greg D'Angelo was often under-utilized (considering what they've done with Zakk Wylde, DLR, and other post-WL projects) the biggest weakness has always been Mike Tramp's voice. This is not to denigrate his prowess so much as his tone. Live videos of his singing have consistently revealed him to have weak projection and limited range-HOWEVER, let us consider that many of WL's songs vary in key and none of them are in A on this album, the easiest key in which to sing.
Tramp had a voice that, like Springsteen, Rod Stewart, or Tom Petty, has a certain nasality and raspiness that you either like or dislike, with no middle-ground. That said, any glance at the concert videos for the original line-up or his reformed version of WL on YouTube should remove any doubts that he is an energetic and engaging frontman.
What really matters, though, is the music, and contrary to what anyone thinks, the lyrics to a song really are not more important than the melody. Want proof?-sing Nena's hit "99 Balloons" in German. Can't do it? I thought so. Now hum the melody, or the synthesizer riff. That's what counts, and that is what raises White Lion above hair metal sewage like Faster Pussycat, Bang Tango, or Britny Fox. Tramp's vocal lines and Bratta's leads both obey the first rule of music making, which is create a memorable melody. In fact, it is what separates the great songs on this album (of which there are many) from the mediocre(of which there are few.) Let's examine each track:
1."Hungry"-A perfect intro features Vito introducing the main riff interspersed with tasty fills that leads into Tramp's seductive lyrics. The interplay between their call and response sells the song, and Lomenzo and D'Angelo pound out a solid base for Bratta to layer his combined lead and rhythm work. The undermining factor here is Tramp's voice-his stylistic quavers make the seductive nature of the lyrics short out. Watch his new band on YouTube and his voice is deeper, stronger, and sells this song much more effectively. 8/10
2."Lonely Nights"-A moody, midtempo lament of lost love supported by a nicely fingerpicked acoustic intro. Most of WL's songs are always compositionally sound and this one is no exception. The lyrics paint a dark picture of teenage runaways on the streets of NYC (no surprise since 3/4 of the band are native New Yorkers) and Tramp's voice most of the time fits the overall ouevre of the tune, particularly on the chorus' harmonized vocals. That's right, I said ouevre in a review of a hair metal band. Deal with it. The problem is that the song never gets into a higher gear, and musically resembles a movie with great background shots that never develops its plot. 6/10
3. "Don't Give Up"-In all honesty, this song is a guilty pleasure. Tramp sings earnestly but the hokiness of the lyrics in the chorus detract from what may be Bratta's most intricate yet most soaring leadwork, as well as a definite feeling of desperation in the verse that demands the over-the-top anthemic quality of the refrain. 7/10
4."Sweet Little Loving"-Catchy as the common cold, the refrain on this tune might actually make you want to dance. Lomenzo's bassline is notably swinging for a pop metal act and Bratta displays a restrained and tasty solo that segues nicely into a foot-stomping bridge. I've played this for headbangers and my grandmother at the same party and they both liked it! 8/10
5."Lady of the Valley"-One of the songs that places WL ahead of other hair bands, this is an overly ambitious attempt at creating an epic composition along the lines of "Stairway to Heaven" or "Free Bird." Most of it works-Tramp's vocals suit the theme of loss and sorrow, the terraced dynamics constrasted between fingerpicked acoustic guitars with thunderous Sturm und Drang on the irresistible refrain, a few brilliantly crafted leads, and a rumbling, propulsive rhythm throughout sell the song. The one weakness here are the lyrics-I think Tramp uses the word "cry" more than any lyricist this side of Hank Williams. This is excused, however, by the fact that Tramp is from Denmark and gets points for writing anything in his second language. 9/10
6."Wait"-Well, how to review this one? If there's anything that hasn't been said about it since it was on the charts 20 years ago, it probably isn't worth mentioning. EXCEPT-whether you love or hate the song, listen to Tramp's alternate arrangement on YouTube where he extends the coda and drops the song to a lower key. At first I didn't like it, but found myself going back to listen and it eventually won me over. What does this prove? That an interesting arrangement of a song requires that it be a good song in the first place, and "Wait" qualifies. Tramp's voice is perfectly suited to this tune, the arrangement of the acoustic and electric guitars has real synergy, the dynamics created by Lomenzo and D'Angelo lift your heart, and if you can't sing along with the chorus, then you just don't like any kind of rock or pop music. 9/10
7."All You Need is Rock-n-Roll"-Apparently, lucky number seven doesn't count here. The lyrics are pedestrian even for this genre, there's no force or conviction behind the amped up chorus, and with a title like this, shouldn't everything be over-the-top? Sadly, it's not. Its one saving grace is Bratta's fadeout solo where he flashes some of his blues chops and reminds you what he can do when he cuts loose. 4/10
8."Tell Me"-It was the lowest charting of the three singles released off this album, which is a crime. On the other hand, I take some pleasure in knowing that it still belongs to a true fan and won't be used in a Cingular commercial in ten years. From the opening kickdrum, the anthemic power chords, and the harmonized vocals in the first ten seconds, the pulse of this song charges up and never lets go. This is a pop song in the best sense of the term, and there isn't a wrong note anywhere in it. Tramp's delivery perfectly suits the song's theme of forbidden teenage love, Vito's fills are artfully subtle, and when the chorus kicks in, the song keeps every promise rock-n-roll ever made (to paraphrase Greil Marcus.) 10/10
9."All Join Our Hands"-A bit of a letdown after "Tell Me"'s exuberance but still a solid tune. Tramp has always distinguished himself from most glam metal singers by writing lyrics about what was going on in the world rather than how many groupies he boinked last night, and here the focus is on his despair over how we all can't live in peace. The raise-your-fist-and yell bridge puts the rest of the song over. 7/10
10."When the Children Cry"-OK-their biggest hit. Yes, Mike Tramp's voice is cloying. Yes, the lyrics are right out of a high school girl's notebook for a poetry workshop. Yes, Vito's tone is a tad brittle on the solo. Minor quibbles. Bratta's fingerpicked acoustic guitar (recorded without bass or drums, mind you) demonstrates why he was a cut above his contemporaries like Lynch, Beach, DeMartini, and Timmons-no one played better acoustically amongst any of the hair bands of the day. The message is heartfelt, the guitar playing is elegant, and if you honestly hate this song, you're just a sad, sad human being. 10/10

Overall Rating: 8/10
If you're in a bad mood after listening to this album, please talk to your doctor about Zoloft.

"Pride" (1987) was my very first introduction to White Lion and remains my favorite album by the band. This album is an absoluteley flawless work of art. Mike Tramp (Who sounds a bit like a cross between Megadeth's Dave Mustaine and Testament's Chuck Billy) has a talented and unique vocal style that mixes perfectly with one of my guitar heros, Vito Bratta. Ex-Anthrax drummer Greg D'Angelo has a powerful 80's style to his snare and kick drums while bassist James Lomenzo rocks awesome on the 4-string. "Pride" begins with the catchy and heavy song "hungry", which instantly grabs the listener. Next comes "Lonely Nights" which is also a very catchy song and has an absolutely phenomenal solo by Vito Bratta. "Don't Give Up" and "Sweet Little Loving" are also great songs with awesome guitar riffs and suprises. Then comes the more serious "Lady of The Valley" which features a great variety of tempo changes, mixtures of acoustic and electric guitar, and some very beautiful harmony, including a mysterious but awesome solo. "Wait" is another excellent song with great rhythm and tapping work by Vito. "All You Need Is Rock N Roll", "Tell Me", and "All Join Our Hands" are also very great songs with exceptional metal chemistry and breath-taking solos. Last but not least comes "When The Children Cry", which is a very surreal ballad that is put together as a beautiful ensemble of acoustic guitar and harmony. In this song, Vito plays an extremely emotional solo, which could literally bring tears to your eyes. I can't conjure up enough postive compliments about "Pride" and White Lion. It upsets me that some reviewers think of Vito Bratta as merely "a rip-off of Eddie Van Halen." I can bet that most of those negative reviewers have never went out and bought a guitar and an amp and tried to play in any articulate manner and appreciate how difficult it actually is. No offense to Van Halen (I happen to like Van Halen), but when you put White Lion next to Van Halen, White Lion blows Van Halen away. Van Halen made maybe 2 good albums (with Roth), but all 4 White Lion albums are so much more musically satisfying. Vito Bratta shows us joy and sorrow, love and hate, hope and despair and every human emotion with his guitar. Eddie Van Halen shows us talented tapping which is neat, but gets repetitive after a while. Vito Bratta remains the most unrecognized and profound guitarist in heavy metal. Vito Bratta is the only guitarist who's hypnotizing guitar skills have left tears in my eyes after listening, which is not easy to accomplish and is something that Eddie Van Halen has not even come close to. It's really unfortunate that White Lion was only around for such a short amount of time and that they were so extremely underrated. White Lion made the choice to not go for the gold and girls which definitely seperated them from the less talented musicians and made them less popular. Instead of singing about sex, money, and girls, White Lion emphasized on more serious issues in the world such as relationships, war, family abuse, rights, and freedom. It was also the early 90's grunge movement that eventually ended many of my favorite band's carriers. Grunge pushed a lot of great 80's heavy metal bands out of the way and then creeping up out of no where in the lime light came(c)rap "music" which really screwed things up. In conclusion, "Pride" was one of the albums that I lived on throughout highschool and it always brings back a lot of memories when I listen to it. If you don't have this album, if you love 80's heavy metal, and you don't want to be dissapointed, White Lion's "Pride" is the ideal start. I also strongly suggest "Fight To Survive", "Big Game", "Mane Attraction" and "The Best of White Lion." Long Live White Lion! ROCK N' ROAR!!!

Now, let me start off by saying that I am a BIG White Lion fan. I own every album they did except for Fight To Survive (which I'm soon to own as I ordered it, hehe). Though one of my favorite songs of all time by them, which happened to be off the Fight To Survive album titled "All The Fallen Men", really let me see a heavier side to them, I believe Pride best demonstrates their effort in a heavy, yet not so raw feel. Let me break down each song and tell you what I think, personally.

Hungry- 10/10: The first song on the album, and indeed it's a very explosive way to kick things off. The song comes in with a nice power guitar (alone at this time), which gives you an almost pure arena rock sense. The drums then kick in, and everything comes together very nicely from there forward. Very well produced, and of course a great solo by Bratta.

Lonely Nights- 10/10: My favorite song on the whole album! A beautiful acoustic guitar coming in to play the riff, which is followed by a distorted rhythm repeating the riff again, only a step higher (I believe). Great vocals by Tramp which really fit the tone, but the most memorable part of the song, for me, was the absolutely incredible solo by Vito Bratta. One of his best solos ever, in my opinion.

Don't Give Up- 9/10: Keeping up the fast pace, a more popish sounding tune places as the third track on the album. In fact, if anything, the melody is the greatest aspect of this song. The vocals were top notch, and the half step up was executed perfectly. The only thing that made me give a 9 for this song was the rather uninventive lyrics. Overall, great song though.

Sweet Little Loving- 8/10: Normally, I'd say a song like this is great. However, for White Lion standards (well, maybe just in my eyes), it's okayish. It's got a pretty catchy chorus and all, but I just have that lasting memory that I get from most White Lion classics.

Lady Of The Valley- 10/10: "Lady of the Valley/Can you bring him back/To the days when we were kids"...One word, oustanding! The longest song on the album, but every second of it is worth the listen. Awsome intro from a slow, but soothing distorted riff leading into a mysterious-like fingerplay. What I love about this song is just all the progressive changes made throughout it. Against, great vocals by Tramp. This one's a definite keeper.

Wait- 9/10: This was the first hit single from the Pride album. A lot like their song Tell Me, it has a rather memorable melody and some catchy hooks in there as well. On the other hand, for me...this, by far, wasn't my favorite song on the album.

All You Need Is Rock In Roll- 1/10: I guess I can't really comment on this song, as I kind of thought it was a waste of time adding it to the album. But don't be fooled. White Lion are some of the best musicians around, possibly my favorite band of all time, but everyone must have their downfall.

Tell Me- 10/10: Ah, the second hit from their Pride release. Unlike Wait, I enjoyed mostly every aspect of this song. The lyrics were pretty decent, but what stood out more than anything was their driving melody and a chorus that would stick in your head for quite awhile. Also, a fantastic lead part by Bratta...again.

All Join Our Hands- 7/10: The way this song was put together sounds very anthem-like, and I believe that's the way they intended, so good job on that. The reason I give this song a seven is because, even though the idea and production behind the song was great, I thought the song itself lacked a lot.

When The Children Cry- 10/10: Now, most people would disagree with me when I say that When The Children Cry was, and still is, an excellent song. Superior fingerplay work by Bratta, and a nice emotional solo in the middle part. I'm not really sure Mike Tramp's vocals were strong enough in this one, but they were still good.

Overall, I give this album four stars. Me being a big fan, you probably would have expected five, but I'm very picky on my music :). There are really only two songs that I think fill this album, and those are "All Join Our Hands" and "All You Need Is Rock And Roll." The other eight tracks are tremendous. My favs from the album were "Lonely Nights, Lady Of The Valley, and Tell Me."

If you only purchase one White Lion album, make it this one!!!

I recently saw the music video for Wait on MTV. I rushed out to purchase this CD the very next day. I'm glad I did. It begins with Hungry, this song has one of the best guitar intros I have ever heard in my life!

I also have to mention Lady of the Valley. It has one of the best rock choruses I have ever heard!

Vito Bratta is an excellent guitarist with his own unique style. I love his work on all of the songs on this album.

Contrary to what people seem to think, Mike Tramp is an awesome singer with a nice raspy edge to his voice. I also enjoy his lyrics.

I would recommend this album for anyone to experiment with. Who knows you might like it too!

I first discovered White Lion when I saw the video for Wait in 1987 on MTV, about the same time Welcome To The Jungle by G&R was becoming huge. It was a little tempting to write WL off as a pretty boy hair metal band but I liked that song. I was very pleased when I got the album. Vito's guitar playing is melodic and his guitar tone is great. Mike's vocals are very emotional. My favorites are Wait, Lady Of The Valley (cool riff), Tell Me (great feel good vocals), and When The Children Cry. There is not really any song that I dislike on this album. I give it 4.5 stars.

For fans of great guitar solos and great rock anthems, "Pride" should definetly be in your collection. From start to finish, you feel the chemistry of this band that really seems to work together so great. Mike Tramps raspy voice really sounds well with Vitos remarkable heart felt guitar playing. "Lady of the Valley", "All you need is Rock N Roll", "Tell me" and ofcourse the 2 monster songs "Wait" and "When the Children Cry" are really worth having a copy of this time capsule, that captures the great rock bands of the 80's. To go back to a time when amazing solos and passion were the priority in songs. A solid album that will not let you down.

Please ignore Mr Russ.

There is no more emotional guitar player than Vitto Bratta, and it is a HUGE loss that he gave up, and an indictment on the music business that "forced" him to make such a decision.

Brilliant album ... one of the few in my collection that has no weaknesses, anywhere.

I remember an interview way back when Vitto was talking about Nuno ... he said that he was reminded of a 'graph' when he heard Nuno soloing. I can see what he meant, although I think Nuno is a phenomenal player. However, the key difference is that Vitto was never obvious, formulaic, or derivative. He was pure emotion in rock guitar, and I have no better album in my collection that exemplifies this.

Ok, so the singer looked like Fabio. I don't care what anyone says about the 1980's or this band. This is pound for pound one of the 5 great pop-metal (I hate labels) albums of the late-1980's. Vito Bratta's guitar playing is incredibly tasteful throughout and always goes hand-in-hand with his terrific acoustic guitar parts and passages. In fact, one might even make the assumption that Vito was in fact the most tasteful guitarist of the genre (I dare you to find anyone else who would've restrained themselves during the solo to "When the Children Cry"). Interestingly, this album has NO negativity to it whatsoever-it's overall themes and messages are unrelentingly positive and encouraging. The real crime here is that Vito and co. were rewarded for their superb songwriting by being tossed aside so that Kurt Cobain could write about deoderant and incest. If you want to get a disc that never lets you down and boasts both chops and songwriting, pick this one up. You won't be disappointed.

Rock would not be what it is today without the sheer force that this White Lion record unveiled upon the world. And their next two records weren't bad, either!! This effort was unfortunately released in 1987, the same huge year that Leppard's "Hysteria" and G + R's "Appetite for Destruction" were released, two very overrated and commercial albums. If not for those two metal releases, I truly believe White Lion's "Pride" would have been even huger than it was. Whereas the aforementioned bands either mired themselves in a glossy studio sheen (Leppard), or delved into the hard-partying lifestyle that can break a band (G + R), White Lion wrote sensitive ballads with an eye towards a life larger than themselves. In other words, they weren't your typical 80's metal band; they wrote about social issues, and their love ballads were more than just about sex (Leppard), or using women (G + R). No, the boys from Lion aimed a little higher than your average 80's metal filth. Take, for instance, the heartwrenching ballad entitled "When the Children Cry," a tune that still brings tears to my eyes in 2002. When others wrote about lust, drugs and partyin' all night, White Lion wrote a tender ballad that came from the meek child's point of view, as on this special song. How many metal bands...no, check that, how many bands in general would ever even dream of writing from the meek child's perspective, except perhaps the lover of "all the children of the world," Michael Jackson - The King of Pop. Except for perhaps a hymnal song in church, folks, you ain't gonna' find this kind of love for the world.

Though they were a platinum selling act, White Lion did not get the props they deserved. They should have been the Zeppelin of the 80's, not the Peter Frampton of the 70's. Anyways, for true metal, check out "Pride" by Lion.