"SHAKE ME.......AAAALL NIGHT!" Now that is some profound shit man. God I loved...alright LOVE these guys and I'll try to explain why. First of all, I could actually play most of their songs on guitar way back when. Simple, yet powerful - in a nice AC/DC kind of way. Secondly, they were evolving musically at the same time and in the same direction that my musical tastes were evolving. With their 1986 debut, Night Songs, Cinderella were basically marketed as a Motley Crue meets Bon Jovi pop-metal outfit. Just look at the Night Songs album cover for Christ's sake. Black leather, pink chiffon, and the 12-inch high, teased hairdos. Then again, that WAS the 80's metal scene. Only two years later, with their second album, the excellent Long Cold Winter, Cinderella had drastically changed their image and sound, which now felt more like an Aerosmith tribute. By the time Heartbreak Station came out in 1990, the band was creeping into Rolling Stones territory with a mixture of raunchy, blues-based tunes that featured more acoustic and slide guitar work than on their previous two albums. This DVD picks up at that stage of their careers.
In Concert was recorded in Detroit, Michigan during Cinderella's 1991 Heartbreak Station tour, and catches the band at their peak, headlining a large venue and fronting a killer stage show. I was caught by surprised when this came out, since there was no hint about it from the band's official website (they still don't mention it?), even though they were heavily promoting their new Rocked, Wired, & Bluesed: The Greatest Video Hits DVD. I have been eagerly awaiting a live concert video from the band since they stole the show at the Moscow Music Peace Festival in 1989, which so far has only been released on its original VHS set. It is a crime that this 80s-metal masterpiece has not been released on DVD yet. We're talking Skid Row, Ozzy, Cinderella, Scorpions, Motley Crue, and Bon Jovi all in their prime, rockin' over 100,000 commies in Lenin Stadium, as hordes of heavily armed, red soldiers stood guard. It was awesome. Anyways, this DVD features a typically strong Cinderella performance, but is unfortunately marred by an outrageously stupid production blunder. These genius producers thought it would be just great to overdub in this laughably obvious audience track, which nearly succeeds in making the DVD unlistenable. Think of a 1970's sitcom laugh-track. This audience track is constant throughout the video, and sounds like the same ten-second clip, of a manically cheering audience, looped over and over again. The volume or intensity never fluctuates. It was both pathetic and hilarious when Tom Keifer gets the crowd to do a little sing along and chant, and all you hear is this same stupid track, which in no way follows the crowd's response. It was so frigging annoying that my blood pressure is rising just thinking about it as I write this.
Article comments
1 - SFC SKI
Great review, thanks.
I have to agree that Night Songs was a great album. IIRC, only one power ballad, otherwise a bunch of meaty riffs and a wall of sound onslaught.
2 - G. Rue
That's a great review. I've always loved Cinderella. I saw them back in 1986 when they opened for David Lee Roth. And just recentley saw them on the Rock Never Stops Tour. I was blown Away. They are so GOOD.
Since the Live DVD has a cheering track added. I probabley won't buy it. It's just not real. Anyway. I have over 50 live Cinderella cd's and a bunch of live video. Just glad to see this band still kicking butt and hopefully for many more years to come.