Most people in the metal community tend to give Hair Metal bands a lot of shit. Yes, these bands wore outrageous outfits, overdid it with the hairspray can, and wrote cheesy love songs about messing around with females who would later become queens of the trailer parks.
However, there were some great bands that unfortunately do not get the credit they deserve, because they were lumped in with that scene. One of those bands is Cinderella, and I am going to make the case why you should all check out their second album, “Long Cold Winter.”
Cinderella may have looked like a typical glam band, but they could play their instruments well and created some solid hard rocking bluesy like songs. “Long Cold Winter,” is just full of ripping seventies style hard rock tracks and of course some ballads. However, these ballads are not your usual glam pop metal softy songs. Tom Keifer’s voice definitely gives the songs a unique edge and his vocal tone sounds similar to that of Brain Johnson from AC/DC. Guitar wise Cinderella seems to offer up countless catchy hard rocking riffs with wicked sounding blues pentatonic leads. Jeff LaBar and Tom Keifer work great together trading guitar parts and making the music consistently exciting. Bassist Eric Brittingham and drummer Fred Coury create a solid rhythm section that is consistent and keeps the sound grounded for Tom and Jeff to explore with their leads.
The songs on this album all seem to have their own special sound and are written with great consideration for quality. Track number one, “Bad Seamstress Blues,” is a bluesy beast of a track. The heavy distorted guitar tone matched with that classic rock rhythm gets the foot tapping instantly. Following the opening track is in my opinion the best song on the entire album, “Gypsy Road.” This song is a perfect reflection of the rock and roll life style and has a killer main guitar riff. The guitar solo is nothing too fancy, which I think fits the song nicely. Cinderella definitely goes for that AC/DC mentality where the music is simple yet hard rock’n to the bone.
Track three, “Don’t Know What You Got,” is probably the band’s most well know song. One reason for this is that the song was constantly played on MTV since the track is a ballad. In the eighties ballads seemed to define hair metal bands, but compared to the other eighties glam ballads I have heard, I think this one is by far the best. Tom Keifer sings with sincerity and his piano playing adds so much emotion to the song. Also, I really like the guitar solo that seems to transcend over the music and grab the listener’s attention with its vibrant tone. Another ballad type track on this album, “Coming Home,” is also very different from those other cheesy glam ballads. Cinderella may slow the tempo down, but the rock and roll spirit is always there and composition sounds good.
Another track I want to mention is the title track. This slow blues jam sounds like something straight out of the days of Howlin’ Wolf and B.B. King. Jeff and Tom really throw out some wicked sounding guitar fills. The last track on this album, “Take Me Back,” is another one of my favorites from this album, because the overall sound is pure rock and roll. Play this song in a club or play this song in an arena, the rock and roll vibe and sound does not change.
Out of all the eighties glam bands, I think Cinderella definitely stands out from the usual excessive hairspray can groups. They make look the part, but this band is just a great hard rock band. Highly recommend this album if you have not heard it before. Do not let the band’s name or image deter you, they know how to rock!
Tracks:
1. Bad Seamstress Blues
2. Gypsy Road
3. Don't Know What You Got
4. The Last Mile
5. Second Wind
6. Long Cold Winter
7. If You Don't Like It
8. Coming Home
9. Fire and Ice
10. Take Me Back
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