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White Lion: Anthology '83-'89
 Don't let the title of this 2CD set fool you-yes, this is an anthology of some of White Lion's greatest and most popular songs. However, these are not the original album versions that we all know, but the original demo studio versions. Blasphemy you might say? Well, partly yes. Former singer Mike Tramp is the one behind this collection, and he admits in the liner notes that these are all songs in their early stages, so one quick listen and it is apparent that many of these tracks were later reworked musically and lyrically before making the final cut on the albums Pride, Big Game, and Mane Attraction. The talent of the band is still very evident here, but the quality of the recordings is very raw and unpolished, sounding more like garage rehearsals than anything resembling what an "anthology" should sound like. There lies the problem-the fact that this is called Anthology '83-'89" when in actuality it really isn't, will certainly piss many people off expecting a jam-packed 2 CD set of White Lion classics that we all have come to love over the years. Each track has an annoying hiss and plenty of background noise, and while the performances are very good for the most part, it all sounds just a little too raw and many of the songs have a sort of unfinished feel. For the metal fan who always thought that White Lion had a little too much glossy sheen, this might be a good thing, as the songs are a tad heavier here, with the always underrated Vito Bratta's guitar riffs & solos way upfront in the mix.
So if you are looking for the ultimate White Lion collection, this isn't it. On the surface it appears to be the best extended set of the band's classic material, but in reality it should have been titled "Rare Tracks & Demos" so as not to fool the buyer. For completists only.
Track Listing
Disc: 1
1. Hungry
2. Lady of the Valley
3. Wait
4. All Join Our Hands
5. Tell Me
6. Say Goodbye
7. When the Children Cry
8. Little Fighter
9. If My Mind Is Evil
10. Living on the Edge
11. Cherokee
12. Cry for Freedom
13. How Does It Feel
14. Raod to Valhalla
15. Early Warning
Disc: 2
1. Lights and Thunder
2. Back on the Streets
3. Love Don't Come Easy
4. Out with the Boys
5. It's Over
6. You're All I Need
7. Broken Heart
8. Till Death Do Us Part
9. Farewell to You
10. Deep in Love with You
11. Two People
12. Rock You Tonight
13. Evil Angels
14. Ride Through the Storm
15. We Rock All Night
Added: August 20th 2006
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:  
Related Link: Mike Tramp Website
Hits: 5202
Language: english
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| » SoT Staff Roundtable Reviews: |
White Lion: Anthology '83-'89
Posted by Ken Pierce, SoT Staff Writer on 2006-08-20 07:40:17
My Score:
As someone who grew up in Brooklyn and was a frequent patron of L'Amour the Rock Capitol, I felt that the idea of a White Lion Anthology would be something to look forward to and also something that would be really enjoyable. The reason behind this was because to many people like me White Lion were the hometown heroes and when they played the club you could not get in anywhere. It was over the top Hard Rock power with one of the best guitarists you could hope to hear; Vito Bratta was our own Eddie Van Halen and actually Mike Tramp was our David Lee Roth in most cases. Drumming was Greg D'Angelo and bass was handled by James Lomenzo with the result being some truly memorable Hard Rock with a commercial edge that gained them tremendous success. The band released three studio albums and a best of compilation on Atlantic Records and thus far we have not seen these albums remastered. This fact is a shame since the band also had a strong presence on MTV and made the label quite a bit of money. The Anthology would have been perfect if it actually included music from these 3 albums but instead we get unreleased versions and outtakes. While I am not sure of the reasoning behind this, it seems clearly obvious that perhaps no access was granted to the original music in order to release it in this fashion. This would only leave the outtakes and demos for the tracks available. The oddest part of the release was its total exclusion of real versions of the bands debut, Fight To Survive. While Pride was the groups major label debut, the smaller independent label Grand Slamm released the bands true first album and it was killer. We do have acoustic versions of songs from this release but they are terrible, and the re-do of "Broken Heart" was beyond dismal. It especially took the fire out of the original song, so you can imagine how bad an outtake of this disaster could be. I cannot honestly recommend this CD for anyone more than the staunchest of band supporters and even they should be warned about it.
My rating stands because of my disappointment in the release but I left it as higher than 0 based on it reminding me of this music. After suffering this CD, I dug out my original releases and played them. I was brought back to a time where Hard Rock was as pure as it was exciting. If you don't own any of these albums then find a copy of Pride or the Greatest Hits, I doubt you can find Fight To Survive anywhere no matter how hard you try. While Lion was a band that never did a "Farewell Tour" and instead, just vanished. Sadly, there would also be no "Reunion Celebration" when these shows became the fashion in the industry. You only have the legacy music to remind you of the special nature of this group.
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White Lion: Anthology '83-'89
Posted by kumalion on 2009-09-09 01:43:18
My Score:
As pete mentioned. This is a "Rare & Demo tracks" version of their great songs you can find in pride, big game, mane attraction. My point is that although these tracks in this album are original version or demo version, you can tell the power of the each songs. Voice of Mike sounds much better than you hear his late album. Vito's guitar sounds like he is on his edge. Yes the sound is a bit rough, but the energy of each songs you can never get out of other albums. Very powerful. There are other things that I like about this album is that you can hear a different version of songs such as "Hungry" and "Tell Me" and I like this version better than you hear in pride. If other album is pop rock album this is a rock rock album. Fans mus hear this one!
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