Collectors Dream Records

The recordings of this live album date back from quite a while, to be exactly this was recorded over two days, October 2^nd and 3rd 1998 at the Key Club in Hollywood – California.  And to be completely honest, this album, minus two songs was already released as ‘Live At The Key Club’.  So it’s easy money, if you understand what I mean.

While Cinderella still is active, I find it a pity that they release this kind of albums, instead of releasing a new album, remember their last – and it was only their fourth – studio album dates from 1994!

 Great White has pleasantly surprised me with this album.  Not only does it contain 3 songs of their own, among them ‘Once Bitten, Twice Shy’ and ‘Rock Me’, but it also gives us 12 covers of other bands, the one even more famous than the other.  To my opinion, but who am I, there is ons song too many though, and that’s the last one ‘Blue Christmas’ a song originally sung by Elvis Presley.

The origins of L.A. Guns go back to 1983 when the band was formed, but this line-up, with Tracii Guns had a very short lifespan and was disbanded in 1985.  That same year the group was reformed by Guns, but with other band members.  They achieved some success in the late 80ies and early 90ies, but never made the big breakthrough.

First time I came across this English multi-instrumental musician/ singer-songwriter, is when I came across his solo debut album Ahh...Laine (1973) around the end of the '70s (well...it might also have been the early '80s!).

Following compilations of White Lion material, albums by Molly Hatchet (a live one and a tribute of the band to its musical influences), Great White, Night Ranger, and L.A. Guns, German oddity label brings us a commemorative Wings material album by Denny Laine (see elsewhere), and this compilation of old Sweet material.

This double CD contains 18 tracks in total two of the tracks rather being a solo then a song, and as a bonus an interview with Brad Gillis and Kelly Keagy.  The songs were recorded in 1997 during a show at the Akasaka Blitz in Tokyo – Japan.

There really ain’t that much to say about this album.  It’s a reissue from the original 2002 album ‘Recover’, and nothing has changed if you compare it to the original, except the order of the tracks has been tampered with.

This album contains a dozen covers which were given a Great White treatment. Not that it has changed that much to the tracks, they all sound a bit bluesier, and I don’t think these cover versions otherwise have much to offer, besides, the original album contained a lot more songs than this reissue.