March 31, 2013

THE ALBUM OF THE DAY
CINDERELLA...Long Cold Winter  (1988)
Long Cold Winter is the second album from Cinderella, released 25 years ago in 1988.  It reached number 10 on the U.S. billboard album charts.  So often the second album from a band does not match the quality of the debut, but that is definitely not the case here.  This record is much, much better than their first, and I highly recommend it with a 3 out of 5 stars.  This time around the band kept those hard rock/heavy metal hooks alive, but they added some bluesy-type rock, such as the fantastic title track 'Long Cold Winter.'  Cinderella still were smart enough to record "the hits" on this album as MTV was heavily behind the music video  era of the 80's.  "Gypsy Road," "Don't Know What You've Got (Till It's Gone)" and "Coming Home" (all 3 good tracks) saw heavy rotation on MTV.  Mock me if you will but the "Hair Metal" era of rock n roll was a fun time, good bands, poofed hair and some good tunes...I miss the 80's.

(CD, vinyl, Allmusic review)


ROCK BIRTHDAYS FOR MARCH 31
Mick Ralphs of Bad Company is 65; Angus Young of AC/DC is 58; Sean Hopper of Huey Lewis And The News is 60;

ON THIS DATE
1967 Jimi Hendrix sets fire to his guitar for the first time as he began his first British tour in London
1982 The Doobie Brothers announce that they are calling it quits
1992 Bruce Springsteen releases two albums of all new material on the same day, Human Touch and Lucky Town
1994 Kurt Cobain of Nirvana walks out of drug treatment center in California after only 3 days
2009 The Soundstage Sessions: Live in Chicago by Stevie Nicks is released