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"By respecting certain codes of Glam Metal while integrating an already asserted identity, Cinderella imposes itself from its first album as a leader of the genre."
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4/5
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It is not easy to make a name for yourself in the US Glam-Hair-Metal scene in the 80s. Not easy, except when destiny has the good idea to put a certain Jon Bon Jovi on your way, and that this one seriously hangs on the performance that you give to the Empire Rock Club of Philadelphia in this evening of 1985. So when he hand-delivers your demo to Derek Shulman, head of Polygram/Mercury, it's not surprising that "Night Songs", your first album is released on this label the following year. With such godfathers, (Jon Bon Jovi and Tony Mills of Shy also participating in the backing vocals on several tracks) here is an adventure which starts on good bases.
After a cover on which the group poses in the traditionally colored outfits of the genre, the 10 tracks presented by the quartet are not funny anymore, even if the good mood is mostly present. Cinderella essentially relies on the hard-rock side and integrates some elements of the blues, thus avoiding to be just another band. Carried by the high voice of its leader Tom Keifer which is not without reminding Brian Johnson's (AC/DC), the compositions are direct, effective and catchy, and only the power-ballad 'Nobody's Fool', chosen as single, allows the pressure to fall down.
This "Night Songs" does not contain any dead time and proposes dynamic tracks which mark the spirits. From the slow and dark 'Night Songs' with its riff with Middle-Eastern accents, to the efficient and catchy 'Push, Push' with its provocative chorus, passing by the groovy 'Shake Me', a 'Once Around The Ride' made for rides on the US highways, the faster 'Hell On Wheels' that Saxon would not have disowned or a 'Somebody Save Me' with its steamroller riff, each track shows a strong personality, even if the efficiency prevails over the originality during the 36 minutes total of this album. Because Cinderella also understood something important, that the length of an album does not make its quality.
Here is a first opus which has the merit to impose directly Cinderella as one of the greatest hopes of a style which starts to become redundant, by respecting certain codes while integrating an already affirmed identity. Let's face it, far from the Californian sun and beaches, the North-East American scene has also things to offer and Cinderella is already one of its leaders.
NB: If Fred Coury is credited, it is actually Jim Drnec who recorded the drum parts on the album before Coury joined the band. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Night Songs - 4:03 02. Shake Me - 3:44 03. Nobody's Fool - 4:49 04. Nothin' For Nothin' - 3:33 05. Once Around The Ride - 3:22 06. Hell On Wheels - 2:49 07. Somebody Save Me - 3:16 08. In From The Outside - 4:07 09. Push, Push - 2:52 10. Back Home Again - 3:30
LINEUP:
Eric Brittingham: Basse Fred Coury: Batterie Jeff LaBar: Guitares Tom Keifer: Chant / Guitares / Claviers
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READERS
3.8/5 (4 view(s))
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STAFF:
4/5 (4 view(s))
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