This week on the collection, we are going to go through everything I have in my collection that relates to the band Cinderella and yes, that includes Tom Keifer albums as well. We will start with the debut ‘Night Songs’ and end with the Tom Keifer solo album ‘Rise’ and go through everything in between. And that includes Vinyl, CDs, Singles and even Cassettes…the works. If you like their 80’s Glam sound or their more bluesy rock, it is all here from studio albums, to live albums to greatest hits compilations. Okay, it isn’t all there, but it is everything I have!! So sit back and enjoy!!
So go check it out as it will be live tonight, September 15, 2025 at 7pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
We have Gene Simmons of Kiss and Jon Bon Jovi to thank for Tom Keifer and Cinderella. Gene tried to get them signed first, wasn’t successful though. Then Jon came in the picture and boom, a contract. Cinderella’s debut album came out in 1986 and wow was it over the top with the packaging of the band’s look and their sound. They fit right in to the Hair Metal style. Their next album in 1988 came out, ‘Long Cold Winter’, and they got as far away from that sound and look as they could. With their third album, that took it the extreme the other way. That lineup of Tom Keifer, Eric Brittingham, Jeff LaBar and Fred Coury were a house hold names for me.
After their third album, Tom suffered major throat problems with paralysis of his left vocal cord. This delayed their fourth and final album, ‘Still Climbing’ in 1994, With little to no fanfare, the band basically called it quits…well with at least albums as we never received another one. It wasn’t until 2013 did we even get Tom Keifer’s first solo album, but that is a story for another day. We are talking ‘The Mercury Years’ box set of Cinderella which takes all 4 studio albums and puts them in one set. You also get a Bonus disc of live tracks and a booklet that gives some album information but mostly is a great story of the band. Since it is the music we love and want to talk about, let’s go through the albums included.
As we end another month, it is time to go back and see what 2 Loud 2 Old Music added to the collection. This is January 2025 and we have lots of vinyl, CDs, cassettes and a great start to the year.. So much to go through including more Voice of America Archive Albums as well as additions to the Rock Candy collection, the Kiss collection and Box Set collection. Lots of great albums to go though and show for this month so I hope you enjoy the show!!
So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, February 3, 2025 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
And if you can’t watch the video…here is everything…
We have Gene Simmons of Kiss and Jon Bon Jovi to thank for Tom Keifer and Cinderella. Gene tried to get them signed first, wasn’t successful though. Then Jon came in the picture and boom, a contract. Cinderella’s debut album came out in 1986 and wow was it over the top with the packaging of the band’s look and their sound. They fit right in to the Hair Metal style. Their next album in 1988 came out, ‘Long Cold Winter’, and they got as far away from that sound and look as they could. With their third album, that took it the extreme the other way. That lineup of Tom Keifer, Eric Brittingham, Jeff LaBar and Fred Coury were a house hold names for me.
After their third album, Tom suffered major throat problems with paralysis of his left vocal cord. This delayed their fourth and final album, ‘Still Climbing’ in 1994, With little to no fanfare, the band basically called it quits…well with at least album as we never received another one. It was until 2013 did we even get Tom Keifer’s first solo album. What a comeback it was. But then nothing for six years until the most current release in 2019 with ‘Rise’. It has been a long ride, and sadly only 6 albums so far. I hope we get more, if not from Cinderella, at least from the voice of the band, Tom Keifer.
Let us go ahead and rank the 6 albums we do have and I can’t wait to see what order you would place them. I hope you enjoy.
THE WORST: Tom Keifer: ‘The Way Life Goes’ (2013):
Ok, let’s get this out there in the open right away. There is no “Worst” Tom Keifer album. There is only Favorite to Least Favorite as he hasn’t really made a bad album. Out of all the albums he’s done, this is only the one I don’t play as often as the others, so it is my least favorite of the bunch. They are all favorites. What a welcome sight it was to finally get some new material for Tom after 20 years of nothing. It felt like a personal album and his writing and playing have matured and improved and aged perfectly like cheese, but no cheese here. All well crafted songs. They didn’t capture me as tightly as the other album which is the only reason this one is a the bottom, but it is far from being a bad album.
Alright…You Picked It! Apparently, people didn’t like the new format as the vote count was way down. I am getting back to what my site is about and that is what is in my collection which is why I changed things. I was tired of the other way and needed to change…so I did. Get used to this way because this is how it will be for the time being. The first vote getter in this month’s picks ended up the winner. Therefore the winner was Cinderella’s ‘Long Cold Winter’. Here are the results.
Cinderella – ‘Long Cold Winter’ – 5 votes
Winger – ‘Pull’ – 4 votes
White Lion – ‘Mane Attraction’ – 2 votes
Night Ranger – ‘Man in Motion’ – 2 votes
Poison – ‘Look What the Cat Dragged In’ – 1 Vote
Thanks to all for participating. The December choices will be up on Saturday! And the choices are all now from my collection and will have a loose theme of 70’s Classics!!!
CINDERELLA – ‘LONG COLD WINTER’ (1988):
Cinderella hit it big with their Glam Rock debut ‘Night Songs’ back in 1986 with a lot of thanks to Jon Bon Jovi who saw them play and helped them get a deal. Gene Simmons was interested first, but they weren’t interested in Gene. The debut album had them dressing all Glam in colorful outfits and I don’t think they were very fond of that whole concept. That became obvious with their second album when they went to a more all black and blue jean look and changed their sound to mostly blues rock. They wanted to distance themselves as much as they could from the Glam scene and I don’t think they did, but they at least sounded different. Fans of the debut, followed along with this one as well…I know I did.
The final single in the 3 I found at the Charlotte Record Show is another from Cinderella. This time around it is the 2nd single from ‘Heartbreak Station’ titled…well…”Heartbreak Station”. The song didn’t do as well as “Shelter Me”, but did got to #44 on the Hot 100 just missing Top 40 Status. On the Mainstream Rock Chart it went to #10 so all-in-all not a bad run. The song was written by Tom Keifer (imagine that as he pretty much writes everything for the band).
And like with “Shelter Me” we get another French Promo single. This one wasn’t promoting a show like the last time, just promoting the 1990 album ‘Heartbreak Station. The B-Side is another deep cut from the album called “One for Rock And Roll”. I have to admit, I think really like finding the promos as they are a little special to me and to get a French one is even cooler. Look at the labels from Vertigo, really cool lettering and styling I have to say.
The 2nd 7″ Single I found was for the band Cinderella for the song “Shelter Me” which was the first single off their 1990 album ‘Heartbreak Station’. The song was written by Tom Keifer and actually broke the Top 40 in the U.S. going to #36 and #5 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock stations. The B-Side of the single is also from the album and is the deep cut “Long Gone Bad”.
My version is pretty cool…at least I think it is. It is a French Promo but it wasn’t just promoting the album, it was promoting the upcoming show in Paris on February 11, 1991 at the La Cagila which ia a theater at 120, boulevard de Rochechouart near Place Pigalle, in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. That is what the (Le 11 Février 1991 A La Cigale) was referencing on the front of the single. The place was built back in 1887 so it has lots of history. Like I said, I think this is a cool piece.
A-SIDE:
“Shelter Me” took the band back to their roots pulling influence from both the Stones and Aerosmith with the bluesy rock. Just listen to that Stones Boogie in the song and you will know what I mean. Keifer’s raspy vocals add so much grit and then throw in Tom and Jeff Labar’s steel guitar work and you have a great track. There is even some honky tonk piano, some saxophone and I swear I hear a mouth harp (or whatever that twangy sound is). You get both a guitar solo and a saxophone solo, what more could you want. It is a down home good time song.
B-SIDE:
The B-Side is “Love Gone Bad” and is a very deep cut on the ‘Heartbreak Station’ album. It was also written solely by Tom Keifer but that is to be expected. This song leads more to the rock then the blues even though there is still a lot of blues in it. Fred Coury is slamming the skins and Tom’s vocals are on the harder edge of things as he screams a lot more on this one and with the raspy vocals you get that rock side to his vocals. The guitar work by him and Labar is stellar as usual. You get more saxophone and piano from Jay Davidson, organ work by Ken Hensley and some background vocals from Eric Troyer. Another stellar track from the band.
And that is it for this single, the last of the 3 from the Charlotte Record Show is up next week. Thanks for stopping by and hanging with us.
Welcome to the new decade and my monthly recap of purchases that I make. I do this as not everything I buy ends up on the site so you can see some of the items in my collection. Also, it helps me remember when I bought something and now I have it stored in the Internet universe forever (or as long as I keep paying annually for my site).
On the weekend before New Year’s Day, I went and did a little digging. Now, I know that is not January, but I had already finished and edited my December post and I didn’t have time to update. So, these purchases get to be a part of this post.
First up was a trip to Lunchbox Records in Charlotte, NC. My oldest daughter wanted to go and being the good dad, how could I say no. I did some digging and found somethings, but nothing that I hadn’t seen before or that was priced right. I found my way over to the 45’s and the 10″ records and there I saw and old Cheap Trick 10″ called ‘Found All the Parts’. I know it probably isn’t super rare, but I had never seen one so I grabbed it. I tell my daughter the fun thing about digging is finding that one thing you haven’t seen before. And when you see it, you better buy it. I haven’t always followed that rule and I have a couple regrets on that.
Welcome to the Top 20 Rock Songs of 2019. These songs are my favorite songs of the year and were not necessarily played on the radio or even shot up the charts. They just moved me in some way good or bad!
#20 -“Chase the Feeling (feat. Chris Cester)” by Wolfmother – Single:
No album, just a single and anything they put out will probably end up on my list. It is full of the distorted guitar sound that is reminiscent of Wolfmother and don’t forget that voice os Andrew Stockdale. The drum fills are great and that groove keeps the song driving forward. I hope this is a sign of things to come.
#19 – “All Animal” by Through Fire off the album ‘All Animal’:
I like it loud and I like it heavy at times and this does both. Pounding drums, blistering guitars and vocals that can scream it out or sing with such great melodies. A modern rock sound that rips it from the opening notes until the very end. Perfect for driving down the road at 100mph as it wakes up the beast in you!!
2019 was another year with some great releases and way too many to get through them all so I am sure I missed a number of great albums and if you look around the web, there will be tons of Top Album lists you can get a pretty good idea of what you should check out in case you missed any of these.
This list will be my favorite “Rock” albums of the year. All other types of music will be for a later post. I am going to leave this one to my favorite genre. It is a broad genre, but these are the albums that I consider to be ROCK!!
Also note, these are MY FAVORITES!! These are not the most popular or trendy albums. You won’t find the new Tool album here because I don’t like them and I never had any desire to hear it. So, they won’t even be rates as worst album because I didn’t listen to it. These are the albums that I connected with during the year and I kept coming back to again and again. And without further adieu, here are the Top Rock Albums of 2019:
#10 – Michael Sweet – Ten
Michael Sweet’s 10th solo studio album brings us a very Stryper sounding album, but one that takes us back to the early days of Yellow & Back Attack and To Hell With the Devil which in my opinion is a very good thing. He brings a special guest on each song which you would think would make the album a little disjointed, but it works on so many levels. The album rocks out from beginning to end!