Style: blues-rock, hard rock
Label: Mercury
Year: 1994
Home: Pennsylvania
Members: Tom Keifer ~ vocals/guitar/piano
Jeff LaBar ~ guitar
Eric Brittingham ~ bass
Additional: Gary Corbett ~ keyboards
Kenny Aronoff, Fred Coury ~ drums
John Purdell ~ Hammond organ/piano/percussion/b. vocals
Jay Davidson ~ saxophones
Steve Jankowski ~ trumpet/trombonium
Rosanna McNamara ~ violin
Annette Hardeman, Charlene Holloway, Luana Norman, Carla Benson, Evette Benton ~ b. vocals
Cinderella's debut was the glam end of '80's cock rock, but is for me a soundalike throwaway with an annoyingly pitched singer. They followed-up with a change of direction that saw them incorporate blues elements into an '80's rock sound. My review of Long Cold Winter essentially called it a good try & a huge improvement on the glam rock, but it didn't go far enough with the blues. For me, it feels like they didn't want to go too far into new musical waters out of fear of alienating their fan base or not getting on the charts. The result is that the album never really takes off. You keep waiting for it to fly like an eagle, but it instead flies like a penguin. My feeling was excitement for the hunt & disappointment at giving up before the hunt was over. Given where their career would go commercially, in hindsight, they really didn't have much to lose & everything to gain. Their third album, Heartbreak Hotel, did go deeper into the blues, for the better. Yet, instead of getting gritty & finding a new personality with a new hybrid sound, they went the route of being a soundalike throwaway again. This time instead of copying their '80's peers they copied their musical influences. The album sounds a bit too much like the Rolling Stones meets early bluesy Aerosmith, with Axl Rose fronting. They even copy the Stones with big female choruses & horn sections. It almost feels like they aren't actually blues fans, but just know the white boy blues, the Eric Clapton blues-rock blues, not the deep Mississippi stuff. The album also suffers from them trying to do a song in every blues style they can, acoustic included, but never really getting to the core of any style. Its like they picked up a book in the music store on how to play the blues, took an Aerosmith song as their composing guide, & played what was in the book. Its an odd outcome that at times is enjoyable, as it successfully dumps the glam into the garbage & streamlines the chunkiness of Long Cold Winter, but also fails by never really knowing any blues style enough to give it feeling. Blues without feeling is just rock & imitation. Still Climbing is their fourth album. Coming into this I'm actually feeling that I'll be disappointed rather than not, as I've come to feel Cinderella is the band that re-invented itself but never found themselves. The band of could be's & what if's. It's important to note, if they didn't make magic with this album, then they wouldn't. This would be the final album from Cinderella. They would be dropped by their label within the year after its release. They'd continue to perform until 2014 when irreconcilable differences ended the band. They would not record after Still Climbing. Both keyboardist Gary Corbett & guitarist Jeff LeBar died on the same day in 2021, limiting any future reunions. It thus feels strangely ironic that their final album would have a title looking into the future, i.e. they still have places to go. What those places are, we don't know. Maybe they did, or maybe they didn't. Did they see the end in sight? I don't know enough about them to say. All that being said, how did they end the musical side to their story? Does it climb or accidentally fall like its predecessors? Its climbs. This album has some of their strongest compositions career-wise. Its almost like they've given up on trying to get on the charts, & just want to turn in a gritty blues-rock album. The weakest part remains the lyrics, which I've complained about before. There is a fine line between blues song & rock power ballad. They often got on the wrong side of that line, which is where outside songwriters might have helped from day one. That being said, its really the only complaint I have with this album. The music shines so much here that even though the lyrics could be better, they don't drag the album down. There's also so much feeling in these songs, that where the lyrics lack the music makes up for it. That's something that hasn't happened before. The songs generally feel gritty, versus being made for the radio. The mood is generally tough & loose, versus overly polished, or at least polished in a way that still feels a bit raw, as in like AC/DC is raw but polished. George Thorogood is another who comes to mind as a good comparison. Beer drinkin' hard rockin' shufflin' blues-rock which he made a career out of with little deviation is the name of the game here. Actually, while editing this I was listening to Thorogood's 2006 album The Hard Stuff, & easily could have switched some of his songs into the Cinderella catalog. It really sounds like they've dug into the blues more than just trying to imitate the Rolling Stones & Aerosmith. They want something beyond imitation. Or, if there is an imitation, Thorogood is a far better fit for them, & doesn't sound like a suit that's the wrong size. In terms of the blues this album goes where I wanted them to go albums before ... finally. High octane high emotion wild blues with some rock elements that reflects Keifer & company, not another band. When the songs rock, like on "Blood From A Stone", they give it balls to the wall power, & happily no glam. Actually, all the songs are balls to the wall, even the grittier blues ones like the country blues meets Bret Michaels solo of "Hard To Find The Words." For when the styles change, having it all rock hard keeps the album feel more uniform than it might really be. "Bad Attitude Shuffle" gives a kick to a blues rhythm that starts the album off strong. It has bluesy laid back moments & over-the-top driving rock parts, a blues bass line, & the guitar sounds loose like mistakes are welcome. If you're going to do high octane blues-rock this is the way to do it. The energy keeps going as the songs roll on. The songs end up being memorable. This album has more personality than any before it. There's a lot of personality here ... another finally. This is it. This is the album I've waited for from Cinderella. It finds that perfect balance between blues & rock, since its obvious they're not becoming a straight rock band or going the way of Eric Clapton. The songs generally have big shuffling riffs that immediately grab you & shake you. While they all have so many great textures, versus just grinding chords like on Long Cold Winter. There's a lot to hear here without the songs sounded bloated. This is their shining moment with the mix is just perfect! Sadly, this is their final studio album. What would come after would only be live albums. Had they done this album years earlier maybe their career would have gone differently, but at least they got to make this great album before it ended. Its a good way to go out. They can go out knowing the finally did it. I walk away feeling great for them. RIP.
