Another solid effort by Cinderella that once again failed to raise them to the level of their buddies Bon Jovi. And that is in some ways unfair as their debut and it's follow up had more honest grit than just about all of Bon Jovis albums combined. Not that they were great by any means but they were from a beer swillin' heavy rocker headspace, even if the image was that of a shameless hair metal band in search of cash and girls.

Heartbreak Station sees a considerable shift for the boys (now looking more like boys with each album) and this is portrayed upfront with The More Things Change. In with the blues, in with a less hysterical image, in with some slide guitar and honky tonk stylings. Each track feels totally as if it came from a different band to that which gave us the first two Cinderalla albums with the possible exception of the aforementioned track. A lot of jangly guitars, a more rustic feel and year another simplistic production job aid the band in this, what amounted to an effort by the band to be taken more seriously. The same trick was tried, with varying degrees of success, by a number of bands in the late 80's/early90's and given their musical track record Cinderella were perhaps more deserving of success. What shouldn't be forgotten is that this shift to more blues/country songs with open structures happened prior to grung. It came out in 1990 so this album deserves credit for NOT being a change in direction due to panic at impending oblivion.

Of course that doesn't make the music great. Whether you but into the new Cinderella will depend on how receptive you are to an ex-glam/hair rawk rock band suddenly "getting" a more laid back style of the blues and going into a studio where the radio was glued onto an alt-country station. And then a few months later coming out with this album.

This album scored OK with a bunch of critics at the time (Kerrang magazine etc) but the bands fan base either weren't up to the change in direction or had grown up and gotten jobs by 1990. Which is a pity as the band pulled off the change fairly well, even if by halfway through the album your hankering after a numbskull rocker like Hell on Wheels or Somebody Save Me. Which is probably why the album stiffed so badly - fans of their previous genre are more likely to slit their wrists listening to this maudlin stuff than tell their friends to go out and buy it.
Another solid effort by Cinderella that once again failed to raise them to the level of their buddies Bon Jovi. And that is in some ways unfair as their debut and it's follow up had more honest grit than just about all of Bon Jovis albums combined. Not that they were great by any means but they were from a beer swillin' heavy rocker headspace, even if the image was that of a shameless hair metal band in search of cash and girls. Heartbreak Station sees a considerable shift for the boys (now looking more like boys with each album) and this is portrayed upfront with The More Things Change. In with the blues, in with a less hysterical image, in with some slide guitar and honky tonk stylings. Each track feels totally as if it came from a different band to that which gave us the first two Cinderalla albums with the possible exception of the aforementioned track. A lot of jangly guitars, a more rustic feel and year another simplistic production job aid the band in this, what amounted to an effort by the band to be taken more seriously. The same trick was tried, with varying degrees of success, by a number of bands in the late 80's/early90's and given their musical track record Cinderella were perhaps more deserving of success. What shouldn't be forgotten is that this shift to more blues/country songs with open structures happened prior to grung. It came out in 1990 so this album deserves credit for NOT being a change in direction due to panic at impending oblivion. Of course that doesn't make the music great. Whether you but into the new Cinderella will depend on how receptive you are to an ex-glam/hair rawk rock band suddenly "getting" a more laid back style of the blues and going into a studio where the radio was glued onto an alt-country station. And then a few months later coming out with this album. This album scored OK with a bunch of critics at the time (Kerrang magazine etc) but the bands fan base either weren't up to the change in direction or had grown up and gotten jobs by 1990. Which is a pity as the band pulled off the change fairly well, even if by halfway through the album your hankering after a numbskull rocker like Hell on Wheels or Somebody Save Me. Which is probably why the album stiffed so badly - fans of their previous genre are more likely to slit their wrists listening to this maudlin stuff than tell their friends to go out and buy it.