Winger (album)

Winger
Studio album by Winger
Publication (s)	August 10, 1988
Label (s)	Atlantic Records
Format (s)	CD , LP
Genre (s)	Hard rock , heavy metal
Title (number)	10 (LP), 11 (CD)
running time	43:35 (CD)
occupation	Vocals , bass : Kip Winger Guitar : Reb Beach Guitar : Paul Taylor Drums : Rod Morgenstein
production	Beau Hill
Studio (s)	Atlantic Studios, New York City
chronology - Winger In the Heart of the Young (1990)

Winger is the debut album by the American hard rock band Winger , released in 1988 .

background

The Sahara group was founded by Kip Winger and Paul Taylor along with Reb Beach and Rod Morgenstein. Winger and Taylor had previously been musicians on Alice Cooper's Constrictor tour and then decided to start their own project together. Sahara signed a recording deal with Atlantic Records and went into the studio with producer Beau Hill to record the debut album. Only shortly before the album was released, the group renamed itself Winger. Since the album cover was already designed, only the band name was inserted; the original name of the group can still be seen on the cover (lower right corner).

The record edition of the album contained 10 tracks, the CD edition also contained the song Higher and Higher . In addition to their own tracks, the band had also recorded a cover version of the Jimi Hendrix song Purple Haze , to which Dweezil Zappa contributed a guitar solo that can be heard on the left audio channel.

Track list

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Winger   US 21st 02/11/1989 (63 weeks)

Singles

Seventeen   US 26th 05/06/1989 (16 weeks) Headed for a heartbreak   US 19th 08/18/1989 (18 weeks) Hungry   US 85 10/14/1989 (6 weeks)

1. Madalaine (Winger, Beach) - 3:41
2. Hungry (Winger, Beach) - 3:58
3. Seventeen (Winger, Beach, Hill) - 4:04
4. Without the Night (Winger, Taylor, Beach) - 5:05
5. Purple Haze (Hendrix) - 3:37
6. State of Emergency (Winger, Taylor) - 3:35
7. Time to Surrender (Winger, Beach) - 4:09
8. Poison Angel (Winger, Beach) - 3:27
9. Hangin On (Winger, Beach, Hill) - 3:34
10. Headed for a Heartbreak (Winger) - 5:10

Bonus track from the CD edition

11. Higher and Higher (Winger, Beach) - 3:18

reception

Winger reached number 21 on the Billboard 200 , the three released singles all reached the Billboard Hot 100 , with Headed for a Heartbreak even reaching the top 20. The album was awarded a gold record on January 27, 1989 in the USA ; Platinum followed on June 13th.

Holger Stratmann wrote for Rock Hard that "apart from a pre-cassette with the titles and the note" Produced by Beau Hill "" he himself had nothing to hand that could say anything about Winger, but that was not necessary. The group played “interesting commercial hard rock in the style of Dokken, Prophet, Bon Jovi” etc., so it was “nothing outstandingly new,” but “still recommendable because the combo was class” and had been produced excellently. Polyphonic choruses, keyboards, an outstanding singer, two ballads, eight (mostly good) commercial rockers, including a cover version ('Purple Haze') - that says it all.

Web links

• Winger at Allmusic (English). Retrieved March 6, 2012.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ CD booklet
2. ↑ Charts US
3. ↑ http://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/ RIAA database
4. ↑ http://www.rockhard.de/megazine/reviewarchiv/review-angebote.html?tx_rxsearch_pi1%5Breview%5D=6208 Review from Rock Hard, issue 28 (1988)