Cinderella — Long Cold Winter

intothewellsabyss
Jul 5, 2023
4 min read

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…

35 years ago this week, Cinderella took us down the “Gypsy Road” through a “Long Cold Winter”.

On July 5, 1988, Cinderella released their second full-length studio album, “Long Cold Winter” via Mercury Records (Vertigo Records in the U.K.).

Background:

Cinderella's second album, “Long Cold Winter” signified a shift towards a Blues Rock sound, though it could still be described as Glam Metal.

The record reached No. 10 on Billboard in the US and became double-platinum for shipping two million copies in the US by the end of the year, just as their debut album “Night Songs” had done earlier. It was later certified triple platinum by The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The album featured four singles, which all charted on the Billboard Hot 100. "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)", the band's highest-charting single, reached No. 12...

The Last Mile" reached No. 36...

"Coming Home" reached No. 20...

and "Gypsy Road" hit No. 51, more than a year after the release of the album.

On April 17, 1990, the band released a video compilation called “Tales from the Gypsy Road” featuring four promo videos from “Long Cold Winter” plus two live medleys, the second of which contained a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's famous "Sweet Home Alabama".

Long Cold Winter Tour 1988-1989:

A 254-show tour to support the album lasted over 14 months.

In August 1989, the band performed at the Moscow Music Peace Festival alongside other Metal acts, such as Ozzy Osbourne, the Scorpions, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, and SKID ROW.

The tour's stage show included Tom Keifer being lowered to the stage while playing a white piano during their radio hit "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)".

Critical Reception:

The album received mixed-to-positive reviews. All the music critics remarked the shift of the band's musical style from the “clichéd” Glam Metal of their debut to more Blues-oriented compositions, but they did not agree in the evaluation of the songs' quality. Contemporary reviewers criticized the album for being "too Bluesy" (as if there could be such a thing) and too derivative of other more famous bands' influences. Although, Rock Hard considered “Long Cold Winter” "a surprisingly strong Rock 'N' Roll album, rough, unpolished, powerful, but still melodious", and praised Keifer's vocals and the level of songwriting.

Modern reviews are similarly polarized. Steve Huey of AllMusic reviewed “Long Cold Winter” as "a transition album for Cinderella, mixing Pop-Metal tunes with better hooks than those on “Night Songs” with a newfound penchant for gritty Blues-Rock à la the Stones or Aerosmith", and further explained his rating by saying "[not] all of the songs are memorable, but most of them are".

Canadian journalist Martin Popoff was harsher in his judgement and wrote that Cinderella strived to be "the next Rolling Stones or Aerosmith, not realizing that such talents are both rare and natural, and that without the gift and conviction, [their] attempt reeks of imitation and crass commercialism."

22 years after its release, Geoff Barton re-evaluated the album for the British magazine Classic Rock, praised the band for their change of musical style and called “Long Cold Winter” "a minor classic."

In 2019, Chuck Eddy of Rolling Stone also praised the album and wrote that "in retrospect “Long Cold Winter” ranks with any Blues-Rock of the Eighties".

In 2003, Metal-rules.com ranked “Long Cold Winter” No. 15 in their “Top 50 Glam Metal Albums”.

In 2005, Rock Hard ranked the album No. 457 on their list of “The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time”.

In 2011, the album was placed in the ninth position of “Chuck Klosterman’s Favorite Hair Metal Albums” in LA Weekly.

In 2014, the album was ranked No. 42 in Rolling Stone’s “50 Rock Albums Every Country Fan Should Own”. While in 2019 the album was ranked No. 10 in Rolling Stone’s “50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time”.

Links to Artists, Albums, and Music Videos:

Click this link to listen to “Long Cold Winter” via Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/long-cold-winter/1434883206

Click this link to listen to “Long Cold Winter” via Spotify: Long Cold Winter https://open.spotify.com/album/5EsAeGDozof1PIH3WPXLr2

Click this link to watch the official music video for “Gypsy Road”: https://youtu.be/6j7E7pvLxmI

Click this link to watch the official music video for “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)”: https://youtu.be/i28UEoLXVFQ

Click this link to watch the official music video for “The Last Mile”: https://youtu.be/Xbz5WUqWZfg

Click this link to watch the official music video for “Coming Home”: https://youtu.be/j-qG6o5N7oQ

Click this link to follow the Cinderella YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UClAqw8sxbxBfALxZQW82-ug

Click this link to follow Tom Keifer on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TomKeiferOfficial

Click this link to follow Tom Keifer on Instagram: https://instagram.com/tomkeiferofficial?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Click this link to follow the unofficial Cinderella Fans page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rockcinderellafans/

Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells