Long Cold Winter
Long Cold Winter is the second studio album by American glam metal band Cinderella. It was released in July 1988 on Mercury Records.
Long Cold Winter | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | July 5, 1988[1] | |||
Recorded | 1987–1988 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 43:51 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer | Andy Johns, Tom Keifer, Eric Brittingham | |||
Cinderella chronology | ||||
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Singles from Long Cold Winter | ||||
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The record reached No. 10 in the US and became double-platinum for shipping two million copies in the US by the end of the year, just as their debut album Night Songs had done earlier. It was later certified triple platinum.[1] The album features four singles, which all charted on the Billboard Hot 100. "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)", the band's highest-charting single, reached No. 12, "The Last Mile" reached No. 36, "Coming Home" reached No. 20, and "Gypsy Road" hit No. 51, more than a year after the release of the album.[3]
Reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [4] |
Classic Rock | [5] |
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 5/10[6] |
Kerrang! | [7] |
Rock Hard | 8.5/10[8] |
Rolling Stone | [9] |
The album received mixed-to-positive reviews. Music critics remarked the shift of the band's musical style from the clichéd glam metal of their debut to more blues-oriented compositions,[4][5][7][8][9] but they did not agree in the evaluation of the songs' quality. Contemporary reviewers criticized the album for being "too bluesy"[7] and too derivative of other more famous bands' influences.[9] Only Rock Hard reviewer considered Long Cold Winter "a surprisingly strong rock'n'roll album, rough, unpolished, powerful, but still melodious", and praised Keifer's vocals and the level of songwriting.[8]
Modern reviews are similarly polarized. Steve Huey of AllMusic reviewed Long Cold Winter as "a transition album for Cinderella, mixing pop-metal tunes with better hooks than those on Night Songs with a newfound penchant for gritty blues-rock à la the Stones or Aerosmith", and further explained his rating by saying "[not] all of the songs are memorable, but most of them are".[4] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff was harsher in his judgement and wrote that Cinderella strived to be "a next Stones or Aerosmith, not realizing that such talents are both rare and natural, and that without the gift and conviction, [their] attempt reeks of imitation and crass commercialism."[6] Twenty-two years after its release, Geoff Barton re-evaluated the album for the British magazine Classic Rock, praised the band for their change of musical style and called Long Cold Winter "a minor classic."[5] In 2019, Chuck Eddy of Rolling Stone also praised the album and wrote that "in retrospect Long Cold Winter ranks with any blues-rock of the Eighties".[2]
Track listing
All music is composed by Tom Keifer except "If You Don't Like It" by Keifer and Eric Brittingham
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Bad Seamstress Blues/Fallin' Apart at the Seams" | 5:19 |
2. | "Gypsy Road" | 3:55 |
3. | "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)" | 5:56 |
4. | "The Last Mile" | 3:51 |
5. | "Second Wind" | 3:59 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
6. | "Long Cold Winter" | 5:24 |
7. | "If You Don't Like It" | 4:10 |
8. | "Coming Home" | 4:56 |
9. | "Fire and Ice" | 3:22 |
10. | "Take Me Back" | 3:17 |
Total length: | 43:51 |
Personnel
- Cinderella
- Tom Keifer – electric, acoustic and steel guitars, harmonica, vocals, producer
- Jeff LaBar – guitar (lead guitar on "Falling Apart at the Seams" and "Coming Home")
- Eric Brittingham – bass, backing vocals, producer
- Fred Coury – drums (credited but does not play on the album)
- Additional musicians
- Jay Levin – steel guitar
- Cozy Powell – drums on all tracks except 5
- Denny Carmassi – drums on track 5
- Rick Criniti – piano, organ, synthesizer
- Kurt Shore, John Webster – keyboards
- Paulinho Da Costa – percussion
- Production
- Andy Johns – producer, engineer
- Thom Cadley – assistant engineer
- Ryan Dorn – overdubs engineer
- Steve Thompson, Michael Barbiero – mixing
- George Cowan – mixing assistant
Charts
Album
|
Singles
Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)
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Sales and certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Canada (Music Canada)[24] | 2× Platinum | 200,000^ |
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[25] | Gold | 25,000^ |
United States (RIAA)[26] | 3× Platinum | 3,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Accolades
Publication | Year | Country | Accolade | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|
Metal Rules | 2003 | US | Top 50 Glam Metal Albums[27] | 15 |
Rock Hard | 2005 | Germany | The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time[28] | 457 |
L.A. Weekly | 2011 | US | Chuck Klosterman's Favorite Hair Metal Albums[29] | 9 |
Rolling Stone | 2014 | US | 50 Rock Albums Every Country Fan Should Own[30] | 42 |
Rolling Stone | 2019 | US | 50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time[2] | 10 |
References
- "RIAA - Gold & Platinum". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
- Eddy, Chuck (August 31, 2019). "Rolling Stone - 50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
- "Cinderella - Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
- Huey, Steve. "Cinderella - Long Cold Winter review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
- Barton, Geoff (January 2011). "Cinderella - Long Cold Winter". Classic Rock. No. 153. London, UK: Future plc. p. 113.
- Popoff, Martin (November 1, 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5.
- Hotten, Jon (July 2, 1988). "Cinderella - 'Long Cold Winter'". Kerrang!. No. 194.
- Stratmann, Holger (1988). "Review Album: Cinderella - Long Cold Winter". Rock Hard (in German). No. 28. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
- Neely, Kim (November 3, 1988). "Cinderella - Long Cold Winter". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on August 26, 2006. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
- "Australiancharts.com – Cinderella – Long Cold Winter". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- "Top RPM Albums: Issue 8567". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
- "Offiziellecharts.de – Cinderella – Long Cold Winter" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- "Norwegiancharts.com – Cinderella – Long Cold Winter". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- "Swedishcharts.com – Cinderella – Long Cold Winter". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- "Swisscharts.com – Cinderella – Long Cold Winter". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- "Cinderella | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- "Cinderella Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- "Cinderella Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- "Cinderella Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- "Top RPM Singles: Issue 8683." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- "Canadian album certifications – Cinderella – Long Cold Winter". Music Canada. Retrieved July 15, 2022.
- "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Cinderella; 'Long Cold Winter')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 15, 2022.
- "American album certifications – Cinderella – Long Cold Winter". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved July 15, 2022.
- "Metal Rules - Top 50 Glam Metal Albums". Metal Rules. December 2003. Archived from the original on November 26, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
- Best of Rock & Metal - Die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten (in German). Rock Hard. 2005. p. 25. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
- Westhoff, Ben (December 6, 2011). "Chuck Klosterman's Favorite Hair Metal Albums". LA Weekly. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
- Eddy, Chuck (November 12, 2014). "50 Rock Albums Every Country Fan Should Own". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
here's where hair-metal found its roots — which, oddly enough for suburban Philly boys, turned out mainly to be in Seventies Southern rock