WINGER: Live (Shrapnel)
By Fizz
Rating: 7.0
So, how many of you were eagerly anticipating the double-live release from Winger? Anyone? Anyone at all? Nope, me neither. And don't get me wrong, I actually like the band. I played the hell out of their debut album back in '89, and even had a shirt with the band's logo on it, the same one worn by Stewart, the dorky neighbor on Beavis And Butt-Head. I can admit all this now, because I was just a kid, and anyway, I've never really been one to be guilty about guilty pleasures. Even so, nearly twenty years later, while I still like to give their old material a spin sometimes, I guess I've moved on as a metal fan, and so their recent comeback album, and this live offering, didn't rate very highly at all on my list of CD's to check out.
However! Thanks to Eddie Trunk and some quick thinking and quicker dialing on my part, I have the live discs. I didn't know they were part of the prize when I called in to Eddie's XM show. I'd just been vowing that one of these days, I was damn well going to win the Underground Classic contest. I managed to hide my disappointment when Eddie told me what I'd won, but I felt it. So I've got it here, and I'll be damned if this isn't actually pretty good.
You'll notice that this is on Shrapnel Records, a label not exactly known for big-budget affairs, so the packaging is very basic, and the sound quality is quite raw and unpolished. Despite Kip Winger himself being listed as the producer, it sounds like there's not been a whole lot of producing going on. So I was all ready to trash the record, after skipping through a few select tracks. But then the next evening, I actually listened to it straight through, both discs, and found myself being pleasantly surprised.
Not counting a guitar solo, drum solo, and acoustic studio track, there are sixteen songs presented here. Three are from the band's 2007 album, Winger IV. Four are from the criminally underrated '93 release Pull. Oddly, the band's multi-platinum debut sees only its three hits performed, while the lightweight (and not particularly well-regarded) follow-up, In The Heart Of The Young, accounts for a whopping six tracks. Luckily, these are given some much-needed extra heaviness. Longtime guitarist Reb Beach is a real shredder, we all know that; but John Roth, who acts as the keyboard player and second guitarist, depending on the song, more than holds his own, so there's no shortage of crunch. Roth actually reworks a few of the riffs, making them heavier, and a bit more "modern"-sounding, such as on "Loosen Up" and "You Are The Saint, I Am The Sinner". These were two songs I hadn't really been looking forward to hearing, but, especially the latter, turned out to be highlights. Check out the dueling solos!
Disc One is given over mostly to deeper cuts from the catalog, with "Easy Come, Easy Go", and "Down Incognito" being the only two hits, and they were lesser hits at that. Roth is given a chance to strut his stuff in a really cool blues breakdown at the end of "Down Incognito". He switches over to keyboards for probably the best song off the second album, the mystical "Rainbow In The Rose". I was tickled to see this one made the setlist, but this live rendition seemed to lack something. Plus, like a handful of songs, they didn't seem to know how to end it, so it just stopped abruptly. Two tracks from Winger IV also appear on the first disc, and while "Generica" didn't need to be dragged out for almost eight minutes, I found them both to be much less boring than when I'd heard the original versions last year. "Your Great Escape" is particularly heavy and fast-paced.
Disc Two kicks off with another new song, the slow, grinding "Right Up Ahead", which, again, was pretty good, and not as boring as I had expected. After the typically blazing guitar solo, and the surprise punch of "You Are The Saint", AND a long drum solo that turns into a spacey keyboard jam (Rod Morganstein WAS in the Dixie Dregs, after all), it's finally time for the hits. "Headed For A Heartbreak", the thirteenth track altogether, is actually the first ballad to appear. The three megahits from the first album are probably the songs that stand up the least, when compared next to the other material in the set. But they had to be played, so there they are. The last chorus of the classic ode to statutory rape is changed to "She's only thirty-five". I guess that's Winger's idea of high comedy. What I find funnier is how, after that song, when the band leaves the stage, and while the audience waits for them to come back for the encore, none of the crowd noise is edited out. So we're treated to two and a half minutes of largely female whooping and hollering.
But come back they do. First up is an exceptional rendition of "Who's The One", the acoustic closer from Pull. Then comes the sequel to "Headed For A Heartbreak", "Miles Away", which was kind of boring in its original form, and just the same here, sorry. Finally, the show wraps up with "Madalaine", which is just okay. As long as "Who's The One" were inserted somewhere else in the set, I think they could've ended with "Seventeen" and not been any worse off. And the acoustic version of "Blue Suede Shoes" (a sluggish semi-ballad from Winger IV, that's about as far as you can get from the more famous song of the same name) tacked on at the end of the second disc is completely unnecessary. ZZZZZZZ!
I don't know how big a demand there is for a Winger live album, much less a double. I don't even know how much play it'll get down the road, for me personally. If you're a diehard fan, of course you'll want this. But if you're on the fence, maybe you liked 'em back in the day, or are just a fan of guitar wizardry and strong melodic metal, you'll probably find yourself enjoying this. The musical talent in this band speaks for itself, never mind the cheesy videos and bygone legion of teenage female fans. Everybody in the band is in fine form, even if Winger maybe isn't the most enthralling live act, and for that, it just wouldn't be fair to give this release a bad rating.
Best Songs: "Blind Revolution Mad," "Down Incognito," "Junkyard Dog," "WHo's The One" (all four originall from Pull, notice?)
Worst Song: "Blue Suede Shoes"
