Author: Jernej Vene
Artist: Winger, Kip
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2008
Rating: 4.3/5
American composer, singer, bassist and producer Kip Winger broke onto the scene in the mid-eighties as the bassist for Alice Cooper. In 1988 he founded the band Winger and paved a successful musical path with their debut. A mix of influences from bands like Whitesnake, Van Halen and Ac/Dc, along with an excellent sense of musicality, runs through that first record. Two years later Winger put out the slightly more polished and technically refined In The Heart Of The Young. Each of them sold over a million copies in the US alone. The grunge blow at the start of the 90s didn’t spare Winger either. In 1993 they still had enough inspiration for the highly complex Pull, and then their paths parted. Kip Winger carried on as a solo artist and in 1996 released the eclectic, exploratory Thisconversatinoseemslikeadream. The pop metal of the Winger days was gone, and the almost singer-songwriter approach to creating music offered a brand new experience of Winger’s inspiration. The acoustic album Down Incognito showed yet another side of this exceptional musician at the turn of the century. It was followed by the studio album Songs From The Ocean Floor, which thrilled true fans and critics but of course failed to win over the dumbed-down masses, for whom music is just a backdrop to some more important task. In the following years he worked on films, collaborated with Brit Alan Parsons, and also got Winger back together for a few tours and the album IV in 2006.
From The Moon To The Sun boldly explores new territory. Winger’s creative growth shows a new face on it. Kip Winger spiced up the intros of some songs with Eastern-flavored sonic mysticism, which is really thanks to keyboardist Cenk Eroglu, who is also a member of Winger. On From The Moon To The Sun, Kip Winger keeps chasing new sounds and pouring his deepest feelings and hidden ideas into the music. Whether Winger is putting his thoughts into rock, pop, ballads or calm acoustic passages, he wins you over every time with a mystery that can convince anyone with even slightly open ears. Besides the aforementioned Eroglu, the sound was shaped by guitarists Andy Timmons and Rob Eberhard Young, drummer Ken Mary and keyboardist Alan Pasqua. It’s fascinating to hear how Winger matures artistically with every new record, and luckily he can record only what he’s convinced is the best thing at that given moment. He shows his tender side in the Beatles-esque Where Will You Go and the bitter Runaway. With the songs on From The Moon To The Sun, Kip Winger often sails seriously into orchestral waters that most recall film soundtracks. Then he pushes to the edge and beyond, driven by a longing for the not-yet-created, forever chasing the best possible musical expression, one that would let him turn his desires into sonic reality. This record is far from a strictly rock or pop collection; Winger comes from both, but he rebuilds the music from the ground up and slyly serves it up in a completely new sound. There are plenty of Beatles influences, maybe a touch of Peter Gabriel or even King Crimson, and it would be interesting to hear California if George Michael had recorded it. To me at least, it feels tailor-made for him. From The Moon To The Sun is a monument to an artist who looks at the world soberly and soaks up its juices, creating the musical impulses needed to generate honest, pure songs.
As a true artist, he reaches a high level of quality with deep, lyrical and emotional songs, because he never slips into sentimentality. After losing his wife a few years ago, he surely needed time to come back. Every album is surely a kind of salvation for him. Let him at least try to help you too!
Lineup
Kip Winger – vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards
Cenk Eroglu – keyboards
Production
Kip Winger
Tracklist
1. Every Story Told
2. Nothing
3. Where Will You Go
4. Pages And Pages
5. Ghosts
6. In Your Eyes Another Life
7. Runaway
8. California
9. What We Are
10. One Big Game
11. Why
12. Reason To Believe
13. Monster [Remix] (European Bonus Track)
