Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Winger
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2006
Length: 49:52
Rating: 3.5/5
Winger were simply incredible when they burst onto the scene in the late eighties. They could serve up proper “mainstream” songs like Can’t Get Enough or Seventeen, as well as artistically deeper hard rock achievements (In The Day We’ll Never See, Time To Surrender). Of course, that golden era was limited to the band’s first two studio albums (Winger (1988) and In The Heart Of The Young (1990)). “Pull” (1993), which, as you’ll see, this comeback album leans on in many ways, got a pretty controversial reception when it came out.
Frontman Kip Winger, who used to play with Alice Cooper, put together two albums with Winger that sold like crazy, though those were different times too (the late eighties). “Pull” then showed the band’s more obscure side and wasn’t exactly greeted with applause from critics or the masses, even though through today’s eyes it also holds some seriously interesting – brighter – moments. Winger brought intellect and esoteric poetry to that record; it was a much more mature album than the first two, and ironically the band fell apart because of the criticism, which is also why the album didn’t sell well.
Well, now, thirteen years after the release of Pull”, the band is back with “IV”. The lineup on the new album features three original members of the crew that recorded “Pull”: guitarist Reb Beach, bassist and singer Kip Winger, and drummer Rod Morgenstein.
“IV” doesn’t bring all that much of what the original Winger offered more than 15 years ago. People! Don’t expect songs like Easy Come Easy Go or Madalaine. The new album picks up from “Pull” and Kip’s solo records from the years that followed it, the years that buried good old glam/hair metal. That means we got a record of gloomy compositions and a big, dark atmosphere that doesn’t let up even in the album’s most melodic parts! There’s Kip Winger’s passionate but thoroughly pessimistic vocal, and the approach is steeped in doom and wandering through a crisis of lost identity. A killer sketch through atmosphere! The compositions have excellent vocal harmonies – the vocal choirs blend perfectly, and Winger, who have always been famous for exactly that, wow you with them especially in the choruses, which deliver the atmospheric peaks of the songs. The riffs have real essence, a recognizable charm, the playing is bravura, and the album is interesting because it combines melodic hard rock with a melancholic atmosphere, which is unusual for Americans and is something the hard rockers from the British Isles are masters of. Normally, in moments like these, American bands slide into desperate pathos and saccharine outbursts, but Winger deftly dodged that on “IV”.
Right Up Ahead conjures up the obscure vibe very effectively with shocking semitone doom riffing, Mi16 follows the mainstream tricks of the post-grunge era but with a typical melodic hard rock chorus, while a song like On A Day Like Today could even work as an effective sleeping aid, in the best way, with a gorgeous subtle touch. Disappear constantly rolls along the edge where mixing doom moves with standard hard rock melodies can tip into lasting tastelessness, which means Winger can steer very dangerously on “IV”, yet they don’t sink and always keep their heads above water. That’s surprisingly positive, because it brings freshness. It’s always fresh when an attempt at something new succeeds! Reb Beach shows off some seriously impressive guitar solo sorcery, and the guitarist’s juggling in Your Great Escape stands out above all. And Four Leaf Clover even has, believe it or not, some parallels with eighties neo-prog rock.
Everyone who can stomach the sadly obscure atmosphere of “Pull” and Kip’s solo work will find plenty of impressive moments on “IV” too. Everyone else, the ones looking for a “hair – shock” assault, won’t be missing anything if they deliberately steer clear of “IV”. Apparently Kip and company just can’t write glam anthems anymore. Which raises the question of why the reunion was even necessary. This record would surely have gotten a lot more praise if it were a debut, or if the band had come back together under a different name. All that said, this is an album that deserves every chance. The atmosphere is gripping enough, and it pulls melodic rock in the opposite direction from the familiar American pathos that usually hits so many bands of this kind when they try to offer something “different”.
Lineup
Kip Winger – vocals, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards
Reb Beach – guitar, backing vocals
John Roth – guitar, backing vocals
Cenk Eroglu – keyboards, guitar & FX
Rod Morgenstein – drums
Production
Kip Winger
Track list
1. Right Up Ahead
2. Blue Suede Shoes
3. Four Leaf Clover
4. M16
5. Your Great Escape
6. Disappear
7. On A Day Like Today
8. Livin’ Just To Die
9. Short Flight To Mexico
10. Generica
11. Can’t Take It Back
Album length: 49.58
