Rare Trax - Winger "Seventeen (Live, Unplugged)"

Every Saturday at BMF we present rare or deep tracks from my collection for your listening pleasure, or perhaps for your amusement!

This week’s track is by Winger from the album "Metal Mania Stripped Volume III". Ever wonder how aging rockers deal with performing fan favorites that just don't seem appropriate to sing anymore due to their age? Showing their good sense of humor, Winger deals with this by changing the lyrics "She's only 17" to "She's only 35"!

Classic melodic rock CD of the week

By Stephen Kasenda

WINGER "In the Heart of the Young" (1990)

Winger extended the success of their debut and eventually reached their height with this album. "In The Heart of The Young" was also certified platinum and featured a more serious approach in the lyric department and displayed a more complex composition as well as even better guitar playing by Reb Beach. Three singles that became their hits back then are also among my all time fave Winger tracks. "Can't Get Enuff" is such a huge uptempo rocker, "Easy Come Easy Go" blows high with its catchy groove, and "Miles Away" is definitely their best ballad ever written…but funny thing is that the author of the track isn't Kip Winger, who basically wrote almost all of their songs.

There are two other great power ballads inside: "Rainbow In The Rose" that featured the trumpet of Chris Botti and Beach's fantastic outro solo, and "Under One Condition", although this one isn't as good as the others, it is still a very good emotional piece. "In The Day We'll Never See" is also an underrated uptempo tune - it has the big power and hooks. However, tracks like "Little Dirty Blonde" or the title track are relatively weak and can be considered filler. "Baptized By Fire" actually is quite good and I highly admired the insane intro, but when the weird rap came in, it's all over.

Winger is one of the few bands that never disappointed me. I love all their albums and this one is also surely loved by many glam fans. If only a couple of the tracks were better, I wouldn’t hesitate to give this a perfect five stars. Reb Beach is the ultimate highlight of the band but Kip Winger's warm voice is unique, calming, and comfortably blended with their music. Great stuff and four-stars is warranted, I just can’t get enuff of this classic!

Read more of Stephen’s features at MetalMusicArchives.

Review: Kip Winger "Songs from the Ocean Floor"

Aptly named 2000 solo CD from former frontman for Winger. "Songs from the Ocean Floor" is for bottom-dwellers indeed.

I found it very hard to get excited about most of these tunes, even upon repeated listens. Much like his first solo CD (1996), "This Conversation Seems Like a Dream," Kip jettisons his punchy AOR talents in favor of lethargic and aimless collections of sounds. He still sounds great after all these years, but for those of us who love a good melody, this CD makes no waves. Being generous, I can say there are 3 songs that may spend a little bit of time on the ol' iPOD. "Two Lovers Stand" has some very nice orchestration and something reminiscent of a hook in the chorus, the mid-tempo track "Broken Open" ain't bad, and the closer "Everything You Need" is great because it marks the end of a very boring record.

iPOD-worthy: 4, 10, 12

Kip Winger on MySpace. Official site.