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Friday, January 26, 2007

Cinderella-Still Climbing, 1994

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I did it again, that's right I underestimated yet another Cinderella album. It was late in 1994 when this was released. Hard rock like this was way out of fashion by that point and it had been four years since Cinderella's last album. There is no band logo on the cover, they had a session drummer and yet it may just be their second best album next to 1988's Long Cold Winter. They made no attempt to try and make their sound current and applaud them for it. It's another blues based hard rock effort and what an effort it is. There is no doubt in my mind that they were one of the best hard rock bands between the mid 80's and the mid 90's. The playing is solid, Tom Keifer's vocals are rough (as they should be) and most of all the writing is fantastic. In some ways this album almost comes across as a combination of the styles presented in the previous three albums. It has the hard rock simplicity of Night Songs, the catchy hooks of Long Cold winter and some of the blues licks of Heartbreak Station. What this album brings that's new is just the ease with which the band goes through the tracks and the attention to detail. It's a shame that this style of music was gone then and that the album was ignored because it is surprisingly strong. Cinderella have been so unfairly lumped in as a hair metal band. There were a lot of cheesy metal and hard rock bands out there. Yet these guys were one of the shining examples of just a great rock band whose songs speak for themselves. Hopefully a label like hair band won't tarnish the great music they made in just four albums. Truly a band for hard rock fans to be proud of. I really do think of their material in a similar way that I think of the Rolling Stones in the late 60's to early 70's and Aerosmith in the mid 70's. Favorite tracks here include Talk is cheap, Hard to find the words, the title track, Through the rain and Easy come, easy go.

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:54 AM

    You hit the nail right on the head with this review. Cinderella is one of those bands that just gets better with age. I listen to their albums now and I think of what a great band they were and how they could have been bigger than they were.

    Still Climbing is very under-rated. It's a solid album that does blend various styles from each previous album. If this record was released 5 years earlier, it would have been a big hit, IMO.

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  2. Anonymous2:09 AM

    They really kickass, I need to listen to them again....thanks for the reminder;)...I guess their like a good wine if they get better with age...;)

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  3. I heard this album once when it came out and then just never got around to buying it until recently. I got it just a few weeks ago at my local record store. I found a used copy cheap and strangely enough it was filed under "S". I guess someone was confused by the lack of the band logo on the front of the cover.

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  4. Another one who agrees with you here. As you know, I've always defended Cinderella. This is the band's only album I don't have, and I've been looking for it but can't find it yet.

    -- david

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  5. Anonymous5:18 AM

    Cinderella was always so underrated... Because they got caught in the "hair metal" genre and didn't deserve to be there...Great album!

    Even though I love that genre...Cinderella was more real than that.

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  6. Anonymous6:13 AM

    I've always loved Cinderella. This is probably my least favorite of their albums, but it's still a good listen overall.

    Erik and Jeff also play in a band called Naked Beggars...Erik's wife Inga sings...

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  7. Anonymous8:14 AM

    i took a while to get into cinderella precisely because of that incomprehensible hair metal tag they have.

    this is a great album.

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  8. I've only heard Long Cold Winter and I love it. I just never got around to hearing any other of their albums.

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  9. Yeah, they got thrown into that category. I totally forgot about Cinderella.

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  10. Anonymous7:49 AM

    I've always loved Cinderella. Saw them for the Long, Cold Winter at Red Rocks in CO, then again in the early 90s at a small club in Louisiana.

    It was sad to see them get shifted from big arenas to dumpy road house places, but they were still as great as they ever were.

    keeping my fingers crossed that their style will be in fashion again soon...

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  11. I think we have a unanimous decision here. I remember getting furious about Long Cold Winter back then and I was so devoted to Night Songs and now I play my copies of LCW and Heartbreak Station far more than Night Songs. Really weird how that turned out, but yes, they really kicked it into gear and the older you get, the more you relate to their work. This is one I don't have yet.

    You should've shared your story about this album that you told me today, Mark! I meant to comment on your Cinderella shirt you had on. Very cool.

    Also, for all of you Cinderella fans, Eric Brittingham and Fred Coury have a killer band called Naked Beggars and Eric's wife is in it too. Real solid, picks up from Cinderella's roadhouse style. Poor Eric, though, Mark informed me of his health problem late last year!

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  12. Anonymous5:58 PM

    I agree. Cinderella was labeled a hair band because of when they came out, but they actually have talent.

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