Winger – ‘Pull’ (1993) – Album Review

By 1993, the music landscaped had completely changed for the 80’s glam metal scene. Gone were the bands I’d had grown up loving and replaced by Grunge, but that didn’t stop bands from putting out albums. In fact, for one band, Winger, it might have produced its best album to date. Beavis and Butthead might have made Winger a laughing stock, but us diehard fans, didn’t take stock in that farce. No, we continued to follow the band’s music and if we hadn’t we might’ve missed out on the band’s heaviest and most daring album.

The band was down to three members with Kip Winger, Rob Morgenstein and Reb Beach as keyboardist Paul Taylor had left the band. He wasn’t the only one to leave as producer Beau Hill was out as well. In his stead were Kip Winger himself along with the help of Mike Shipley who had recently worked on Def Leppard’s Adrenalize album. Released on May 18, 1993, ‘Pull” showcased a very mature Winger and a band that wasn’t going to be stopped creating and putting out their best material (even though this was their last album for years to follow).

The opening track, “Blind Revolution Mad”, starts off with an acoustic guitar with a very dark overtone. Kip was singing in richer, deeper tone that came across as eerie and meaner. The song keeps building slowly with each line and you feel an intensity that is about to be unleashed. The first chorus is ready to explode and the song goes full on gangbusters. It is bombastic, energizing and electric. The guitar riffs are shocking, the drums are destructive and when Kip lets loose, his energy is set forth upon the world. A brutal and glorious song.

Continue reading “Winger – ‘Pull’ (1993) – Album Review”

Gary Schutt – ‘Sentimetal’ (1994) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

We have seen Gary Schutt before in the Jeff Scott Soto Series and that was with the review of the Takara album ‘Eternal Faith’ from 1993. Gary Schutt was the bass played. However, here is the not only the bass player, but he is also the guitar player, the keyboardist, the drum programmer. The only thing he doesn’t do on here is sing as that is left up to his good friend, Jeff Scott Soto. The two were spending a lot of time together because at the same time Gary was making his debut solo album, so was Jeff and we will get to his for the next review.

The album was recorded over a two week period in May of 1994 as both Gary and Jeff were renting a house in Delray Beach, Florida. The album was released on August, 31, 1994 in Japan and sometime in 1995 in Europe. It did get a reissue in 2005 that has 3 Bonus Tracks, but we are going to review the original album with the basic 11 tracks. And what we get is a cross between hard rock, melodic rock, aor and a little prog thrown in. Let’s check it out

The album kicks off with “Warpaint” and immediately you are sucked in to some great guitar playing as Gary rips some massive riffs. His bass is thunderous and powerful. The drum sound is the only negative because they are programmed sounding. To me it feels like an Extreme song a la ‘III Sides to Every Story’. The guitar has Nuno fill along with the bass and Jeff sings with a hint of Cherone and there is nothing wrong with that. An explosive opener and a sign of things to come.

Continue reading “Gary Schutt – ‘Sentimetal’ (1994) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)”