It May Be A Long Cold Winter, But It's No Wasteland
Written: Jan 22 '06
Product Rating:
Pros: Solid, commercialized metal. Same satisfying vocalizations. Worthy music for metal fans.
Cons: Less powerful thematics than Night Songs, their first album.
The Bottom Line: A must have for Cinderella fans. It captures the band in transition, creating a mature voice. But that also means leaving the raw edge of their earliest tunes behind.
swopedesign's Full Review: Long Cold Winter by Cinderella (Metal)
I wrote earlier that Cinderella's debut album Night Songs appeals to us because its themes are core to the experience of blue collar Americans. We know how it is to live paycheck to paycheck without any relief, how the world beats us down every chance it gets. Cinderella's tunes from Night Song, filled with gravelly sweet vocals, sharp steel guitar work, rapid fire drum beat, and angst about work, bad relationships all around, certain death and the unknown future, still speaks to fans today (and I hope new fans, too, as today's world is IMHO bleaker than my teenage years).
Cinderella's follow-up album, Long Cold Winter, starkly contrasts Night Songs. The cover immediately sets Long Cold Winter apart, the proverbial black-and-white cow in a snowstorm. The artwork is simple: white background, two lines of Cinderella-purple type identifying the band and album. The music also sets Long Cold Winter apart from the first note to the last. The tracks on this CD are considerably less metal, more blues. Gone are abundant references to the specific things of our world that trap us, make us angry and despairing: fast automobiles, pointless jobs, unpaid bills, broken homes, soul-saving sex, & etc. Instead, Cinderella brings a somewhat softer, commercialized vanilla album to the party.
Cinderella: Long Cold Winter Track List:
1) Bad Seamstress Blues
2) Fallin' Apart at the Seams
3) Gypsy Road
4) Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)
5) The Last Mile
6) Second Wind
7) Long Cold Winter
8) If You Don't Like It
9) Coming Home
10) Fire & Ice
11) Take Me Back
"Bad Seamstress Blues" sets the tone for the rest of the album and seamlessly leads right into "Fallin' Apart at the Seams" after 60 seconds. That 60 seconds features twangs and harmonica and bluesy vocals enough to satisfy. Too bad it's not longer. "Fallin' Apart at the Seams" is bluesy metal, no twangs here. Certain Cinderella sound, with all the musical power Cinderella offers.
Like many fans, my favorite track on this album is "Gypsy Road." It returns to the themes of restless wandering and needing to break free that made Night Songs so thematically powerful and satisfying. With "Gypsy Road" we once again drive all night to get to light, to keep the rat in the race, while a fast-talkin' mama puts a smile on our face, despite the fast-talkin' jerk who wipes that smile immediately away. For "Gypsy Road," a wish and a prayer aren't enough, we also need to cross our fingers to get by until tomorrow. No matter what happens, this gypsy road can't take us back home. It just ain't so.
Cinderella had a huge hit with the next track, a satisfying power ballad, "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)." Much less angry and rebellious than the power ballad on Night Songs, this song spoke to many late 80s teenage lovers. Despite the broken relationship, this tune is hopeful, understanding that perhaps the relationship isn't completely collapsed, that perhaps all that's needed is a little time. While a better, wholesome approach, still a softer message. Nobody can be angry forever.
This improved attitude is carried over through "The Last Mile." This song is about many things. It's about efforts and experiences that leave our heads spinning, confuse us, but the simple folk on the farm got it right. Walk the last mile before you sleep, slow down in order to rest, because tomorrow's more of the same. Not as dark or heavy as the debut tracks, but a nice driving tune all the same.
Night Songs was an anger and adrenalin driven album. But neither lasts forever. Long Cold Winter represents Cinderella's own "Second Wind." Though a solid metal tune, it just doesn't capture my imagination. It's standard metal fare, average at best. Perhaps the weakest cut on the disc.
"Long Cold Winter" brings us back to the metal-edged blues and vocals, with clear Cinderella spice. For blues and metal fans, this song is worth a listen. What what it is worth, I prefer the blues styling of "Bad Seamstress Blues" that opens this album. It is much less repetitive musically and vocally. "Long Cold Winter" IMHO runs too long for a metal band and metal fans.
It seems that Cinderella anticipates those who would criticize "Long Cold Winter" (the song, maybe even the album). With "If You Don't Like It," a defiant metal attitude returns. The message is clear. We'll do what we want to do, to hell with those of you hung up on what you yourself have done. Thematically reminiscent of the best f^*k you tunes on Night Songs, though less stirring.
Another of my favorites from this album is "Coming Home." A lonely track about reminiscing and returning to the family. Evokes that feeling of relief and safety that a true home creates. This track recognizes that coming home is a familiar type of freedom. No matter what has passed. One of Cinderella's finer cuts. Not a power ballad, but worthy of couples nonetheless. Nothing like this track appears on Night Songs; but it is a welcome departure.
With a few catchy lines, "Fire & Ice" reminds me of a couple of tracks from Night Songs, but it's not as evocative or raw. The sexuality is toned down, masked, commercialized for radio play perhaps. Instead of giving and getting some push, push or shaking all night long, we'll get our hearts and breaths taken away. Despite the commercialization, this is still a solid metal track and a pleasant listen, but not one of Cinderella's strongest.
Long Cold Winter wraps up with "Take Me Back," a track about getting back to one's youthful roots, full of fire and desire. Unfortunately, though that is what the track is about, it fails to capture that fire and desire (of Night Songs in particular). It is another commercial metal cut, still a pleasant listen, but not one of my favorites. Nothing unique about it.
Most of us like vanilla. But not all of us. Some of us like a little extra flavor, texture, kick in our ice cream. If you enjoy Cinderella, you're one of the latter. Cinderella's Long Cold Winter marks the band's move to a more professional but commercialized, homogenized, and sometimes bluesy sound. Though Tom Kiefer's screeching/gravelly voice still characterizes Cinderella's tunes, the tunes themselves are less stirring overall than those of their first album, Night Songs, speaking less about our blue collar experiences and despair and more about accepting and understanding those experiences. Long Cold Winter is a solid, sellable album. But missing is the raw desperation, anger, soul-saving sex and need for freedom that were the foundation of their debut album.
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