Crank It Up To Eleven! 11.11.08: A Cinderella Story.

Posted by Sandeep Murali on 11.11.2008

Exactly what the title says. Except this one doesn't involve a flying fat lady with a magic wand.






Well hello there and welcome back to your Tuesday fix of Rock 'n Roll goodness. I dunno about you guys, but this whole economic recession thingy is having a significant impact on my life. For one thing, the company downsized, meaning more work for the rest of us. Overtime has become a norm rather than the exception. So if you're one of the three people that noticed my absence in last week's Top 5, there's your explanation.

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Talk dirty to me:

the_fiXer says, "First of all, props on the column topic.

Second, many props for having the insight to "get" the new Queen album. You should have reviewed it instead of the jabroni that actually did for the site."

First up, thank you sir for the support. Really appreciate it. With regards to Double M's review of "The Cosmos Rocks", you have to know that he is a person who grew up on Queen. It is only fair that his point of view is different from yours truly, for whom the band is an acquired taste.

jcon has a complaint. "im shocked u didnt mention NIN's Hurt and the Johnny Cash cover ".

Well jcon, the column was focusing more on the "Whys" rather than the "Which" with respect to cover songs. However, I will keep your suggestion in mind and do a subsequent column that focuses on such matters. Once again, thank you for being a reader.


Bouquets, brickbats, whatever you got; throw ‘em this way. It's all good.

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I Remember You... And your music:

Once upon a time, there was this beautiful young girl named Cinderella. I have on good faith that she led an eventful life and people ended up making movies about her and such, but none of that pertains to the subject of the column. What we ARE talkin' about today is a quartet from Philadelphia who, as time went by, were forgotten in the grand scheme of things. Ladies 'n gentlemen, tonight, we shall talk about Tom Keifer and the boys. Better known as Cinderella.



Seven foot tall Carl Thomas Keifer was a gifted man. In addition to having a wide vocal range, Tom was an expert guitar player, keyboardist and a song writer. Along with bassist Eric Brittingham, Tom founded Cinderella in 1983. Jeff LaBar, a second guitarist was soon added and drummer Jody Cortez completed the line up. And there begins our Cinderella story.



Let's start with the obvious: Kiefer's voice is hugely polarizing. We're talking abortion or gay marriage levels of polarizing here. The man either brought goosebumps upon your skin or took a cheese grater to your ear drums. You either love it or hate it. There are no shades of gray in this one, folks. But that also meant one other thing: You wouldn't mistake Cinderella for anything else out there. The band had a uniqe, distinctive sound with far stronger roots in the Blues than most of their contemporaries. Apparently, one Mr. Bon Jovi had similar sentiments as he recommended the band to his label, Mercury, after seeing them perform in 1985 at the Empire Rock Club.



Soon after receiving a recording contract, the band started work on their debut album. This was called "Night Songs" and was released in 1986. The album, which had Jon Bon Jovi's blessings (The man even lent his vocals for the backing tracks for two of the songs) was an immediate success and eventually went on to reach 3X Platinum status. Unsurprising, considering the amount of good music that was found in the album. The title track had a haunting feel to it and sounded even better when heard live. "Nobody's Fool", which for me is the band's best song, was a stellar ballad with some exceptional guitar work from Tom and Jeff. The album delivered in the Anthem front as well with three catchy tracks, " Somebody save me", "Push Push" and "Shake me". Definitely one of the best debut efforts of the whole era.







Shortly after work was completed on the album, Cortez left the band and Fred Coury stepped in as his replacement. The new lineup started work on the second album, which was titled "Long Cold Winter". The album saw a significant departure from the sound of "Night Songs". Cinderella toned down the glam aspect in this album and strengthened the blues influence instead. The result came in the form of the amazing "Bad Seamstress Blues/Fallin' Apart at the Seams " and melodic ballads such as the title song & the instantly recognizable "Don't know what you got (Till it's gone)". "Gypsy roads" is another great track from the album, with an AC/DC-esque riff holding pride of place. Other successful singles from the album include "The Last Mile" and "Coming Home". All the effort that Cinderella put into the album didn't go in vain and the album eventually reached 3X platinum status, like its predecessor.







"Heartbreak station" came out in 1990, but failed to reach the heights of success the previous two albums did. It was eventually certified Platinum, but the best a single from the album could do was #36 in the charts. I wouldn't really call it a sub par album (The title track is amongst one of my all time favorite songs) and attribute the disappointing commercial showing to the changing musical climate of the time. However, this was the least of Cinderella's problems. Soon after the supporting tour for the album, Coury decided to move on to other things. The band shuffled through a bunch of drummers as his replacement as they were preparing for a tour of Japan. And then the fairytale hit a roadblock.



Tom Keifer lost his voice.



The demanding vocal style Keifer pursued and the grueling touring schedule finally took a toll on his vocal chords. After several detailed examinations, Tom went through two surgeries and extensive therapy to regain his voice. This delayed work on their forth album, titled "Still climbing"., which eventually came out in 1994.


As we see in the history of most bands from the 80's, releasing an album in the early to mid 90's did no favors to their career. "Still Climbing" was quickly buried under the Grunge invasion and dropped out of the sales charts after holding on to a meek #178 for a couple of weeks. And that marked the end of the relationship between "Cinderella" And Mercury. A shame because the album was just as good, if not better than their previous efforts. Left with next to nothing in their laps, Cinderella slowly faded away into obscurity.







The end of the decade however, saw renewed interest in the band and the newly re-united band put out a live album "Live at the Key club" in 1999. The album was simply phenomenal, with some of the best renditions of my favorite Cinderella songs. Following this, the band released a few compilations and hit the road again with Poison. The band, which was slowly gaining their momentum back was supposed to tour extensively this year when tragedy struck again. Keifer lost his voice for the second time. Hopefully, things would get better in time and the band can pursue their second shot at glory.







Cinderella is one of my favorite bands from the "Hair" era. The band had what it takes to remain distinct from their contemporaries and made four solid albums in the course of their career. Tom Keifer is too much of a talent to stop performing just like that and I really do hope that he regains his voice a 100 percent. After all, fairy tales always have happy endings, right?




Now for something different:

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And that's what Rock 'n Roll is all about:

"No! Eric's good and Jimmy's crap. And with that I rest my case."
-Jack Bruce, (Bassist) "Cream"


I gotta say, NOTHING in the past few weeks entertained me quite like that little outburst from Mr. Bruce. Sure made a refreshing change from the usual headlines when everyone is hell bent on saving Trees, Whales and Martians. As for the actual topic, I don't have much to say. We're all allowed to like more than one and I love to listen to Clapton and Page both. Clapton a bit more perhaps. But of course, if we're talkin' about who is better technically, there is this one guy who they BOTH said were better than them:







I don't think anything else needs to be said.

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Never say goodbye:

I don't particularly care about their music, but my prayers go out to Deftones Bassist Chi Cheng as he remains hospitalized following a serious car accident. Get well soon, brother.


Rock on and see y'all next Tuesday.