Customer Reviews

Winger

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the wave of hair metal that was coming out, one of the harder ones was Winger, which strongly benefited from guitarist Reb Beach's crunching guitar and with all band members accompanying bassist Kip Winger in the chorus and pre-chorus segments. His vocal register is high like David Coverdale, and there are times when he emulates Robert Plant's banshee-like yelps. Other times, imagine if Jon Bon Jovi had the bestial intensity of Gene Simmons. He sounds like that when he's belting'em out.

"Madalaine" was their first single and is just the latest in a long line of women over whom a warning sign should be placed: "Beware the girl/beware the pain." Pretty intense guitars and power vocals here, as there are in many of the other songs.

Their use of actual strings on the melodic soft portions of "Hungry" must count for something where others were using synths. The rest of the song is straight up slow metal.

The hard-rocking and hook-catchy "Seventeen" was the second single I heard from them. I will have to say KISS had that beat with "Christine Sixteen" via the age of the girl, but the forbidden love aspect is hinted with "Daddy says she's too young/but she's old enough for me." Love that fiery guitar solo towards the end.

With its keyboards and lighter electric guitar, "Without The Night" could've been a good power ballad single, just as good as "Headed For A Heartbreak."

Their take on "Purple Haze" is definitely heavier than the original, and while there is some aping of Hendrix's guitar, probably Dweezil Zappa's left-side solo, it's still an exercise in bombastic hard metal.

"Time To Surrender" with a chugging guitar riff, is an all-out "no mas" against a woman he's had enough of. I wonder about the poker analogies that always come out in these situations: "I won't play your game and I won't play your fool" and "Best be makin' your move/play your last hand"

"Poison Angel" is very high energy metal and guitar theatrics. That is followed by "Hangin On", with some Eddie Van Halen-style guitar. Come to think of it, David Lee Roth could've made something of this, 1984-era.

Power keyboards are prominent in the light rocker "Headed For A Heartbreak", and which probably helped it hit the Top 40.

"Higher And Higher" is another power rocker and is about one of those kind of women. What kind? "Primal scream, she's got the body of sin/should be a law against such an invention", which usually means she's bad news, and she is.

Harder than Poison or Whitesnake, more on the Def Leppard end of the spectrum, but nothing surpassing early Ozzy or KISS's Animalize. Their heavy sound is what carries this sound, thanks to Reb Beach's guitar and Kip Winger's vocals.

I have loved the majority of songs on Winger's debut album since its release in 1988. I had an intense crush on Kip Winger (who I thought was incredibly sexy. My opinion hasn't changed) but he proved he could back up those sexy looks with his immense talent, belting out such ballads as "Headed For a Heartbreak." His voice was seductive in "Seventeen" and I loved the way he wailed on "Madalaine."

I don't know who created this term "hair bands" to describe late-80's heavy metal groups but it's a bit annoying. Yeah, I realize they had "big hair" (hence the label) but I just look at groups such as Winger, White Lion, and the like as great bands of the late-80's who could write and sing their own songs (creating some great ballads in the process) who were, unfortunately, flushed out by "grunge" bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam in the early-90's.

For shame because Winger and company were a talented group of musicians. - Donna Di Giacomo

This is the first album from a band who received one of the worst backlashes in the 90's. Kip Winger, the vocalist, really has a distinct voice from his peers, it sounds great! Reb Beach is one of the underrated axe men in the business and is now in Dokken. Rod Morgenstein was good enough on the drums to become a drum teacher.

There are a lot of good songs on this disc, the best of them come early, "Madalaine" "Hungry" "Seventeen" "Without the night" and "Purple Haze" in that order, with tracks 1 and 3 being the big hits. The band does a fine job with Hendrix's "Purple Haze" but it led to a HUGE number of bad reviews from critics and fans alike who deem Hendrix's work to be untouchable and any band to cover it to be pompous.

Tracks 6 through 9 are quite generic and not that memorable but Track 10 is the big ballad "Headed for a heartbreak" and Kip sings the song in two different vocal styles, one for the first half of each verse and another for the second. Track 11 is a bonus track "Higher and higher" which while it isn't overly memorable, make sure your copy has that bonus track on it before you buy so you can get the most bang for your buck.

This album has a lot of keyboard work and you can compare this first album to "QRIII"-era Quiet Riot, Night Ranger, Danger Danger's first album, "Long way to heaven" by Helix and most of Autograph's output. Here's some good news, each subsequent album ("In the heart of the young" followed by "Pull" in 1993, after which the band split up) is better than the one before! A must buy for fans into the lighter side of rock (this stuff isn't TOO light, though!), fans of heavier stuff should listen before buying.

The biggest shame of the 80's was that track 4 was never released as a single. the rest of the tracks on this c.d. are very strong from start to finish.from the lush vocals of headed for a heartbreak to the driving thunder of seventeen to the haunting sounds of without the night. a must of any 80's rock collector.

Thanks to the 1980's coming back into style recently, it is now somewhat safe to discuss this album with confidence and pride. Of all the lame acts in the late '80's, it will always remain unclear why Winger ended up becoming the example for all things "don't". The writing on this album is, on the whole, first-class material and the instrumentation blew everyone else in the industry away. Rod Morganstein-sick, Reb Beach-sick. Reb is too nice of a guy so I have to say this for him: He is better than you. If you're familiar with this group, you'll recognize the opener "Madalaine" and the uber-catchy "Seventeen". Though every song on this debut is in fact "radio ready", Winger slyly throws in a progressive rock stunt into each song (in "Seventeen", the off-kilter meter during the post-solo interlude). This album isn't for everyone, but if you enjoy quality music with some bombast and a never-ending line of hooks, this could be a favorite within your collection. Knuckle up and get past the "Winger sucks" fascade, this one will surprise you.

Winger IS great! This album is great!!!
What I wanted to point out is that there are subtle things that make these songs great...different 'background' type sounds that make the songs funky or make you hungry to hear them again. (pun intended on 'hungry'!)
For example, on "Seventeen" there is a fabulous center section where the guitar riffs are sexy and fun, and the rhythms change...it really adds to the song, it isn't just 'plop plop, plop plop' with the same rhythm throughout the song, which in my opinion, gets very boring!

Yes, Winger has slightly cheesy lyrics as was mentioned (on some songs) but the quality of the songs is not to be overlooked!
Top songs (IMO) are almost all the songs, notably Seventeen, Madalaine, Hungry, Without the Night (which I also agree is a great midtempo ballad!) and Headed for a Heartbreak. Maybe I am the one of the only people to like this, but I think the Purple Haze cover is actually quite hot, and an interesting interpretation!

Please pick this cd up, it truly rocks, and since I have picked up the cd version recently, I can't keep it out of my radio!!!

Of all the rock bands that came in the 80's, not too many had a clean, polished sound as winger did. Fluffed off as being " Soft ".. they never claimed to be " Hard " rock. Nevertheless, not anyother rock band could write a song like Kip Winger, mix the melody just right and fit all the movements together.

Combine all this with a top notch drummer Rod Morganstien, and inspiring guitar power, you have a rock band that will not go away..

First of all, I don't understand why Winger has such a negative reputation. People who lived in the 90s and even people who live in the new millenium LOVE to criticize the 80s and often write nasty reviews of Winger's music. Why can't they see how much more talent Winger has than say Nirvana or Pearl Jam? Guitar virtuosos Reb Beech and Paul Taylor could play guitar better with their toes than Kurt Cobain or Eddie Vader could play with their hands. Kip's bass and Rod's drums are a way better rythem section than Dave Grouhl or Chris Novosellic. Even Kip's voice is far better than Kurt's monotone mumbling. If you like well played rock/ pop metal and aren't biased against the 80s and everything that ever came out of it, you'll probably like this album,. But if you prefer grunge and alternative rock, just go pick up some of that cr@p by Pearl Jam, Nirvana, or Alice in Chains.

Like, oh MY GOD! I am the biggest Winger fan and I can't find this cd anywhere! I just found Amazon and am totally excited that you guys have it! I have a Winger tattoo on my stomach that's how big of a fan I am. Kip is sooooooo sweet. I met him backstage once and he kissed me! What a sweetie pie! Anybody who likes god musical expression will totally dig this! Anyone can enjoy the passionate lyrics. These songs can totally help you through some tough times like they helped me! I remember I had just been fired from my job and I put on "seventeen" and felt all better again! It was like magic! I hope that others can enjoy this album as much as I did! Thanks Amazon!

okay, first off this is a great album. kip winger has a lot of songwriting talent along with REB BEACH the band's guitar player who wrote the seventeen guitar parts and all the other riffs on the album. i happen to play guitar and if you for one second doubt the genius and pure ability of Beach then i throw down the gauntlet and tell you to learn a few of his songs.

i am mainly writing this review because an earlier one was talking about how great kip winger's guitar playing was on this album. i got news for you, the playing on this album does rock, but it's not kip winger. he plays bass. reb beach played guitar and then went on to replace george lynch (another guitar god) in dokken and then sykes and vai (both insane players) in whitesnake. yeah, he's THAT GOOD.

buy this album if you like great playing and not feeling bummed by feel-sorry-for-yourself lyrics like todays music.