''Long Cold Winter'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American glam metal band Cinderella. It was released in July 1988 on

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

. The record reached No. 10 in the US and became double-platinum for shipping two million copies in the US by the end of the year, just as their debut album '' Night Songs'' had done earlier. It was later certified triple platinum. The album features four singles, which all charted on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

. "

Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone) "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)" is a power ballad written by Tom Keifer and performed by the glam metal band Cinderella, from their second album ''Long Cold Winter''. Released in August 1988, it was their most successful single, peakin ...

", the band's highest-charting single, reached No. 12, " The Last Mile" reached No. 36, " Coming Home" reached No. 20, and " Gypsy Road" hit No. 51, more than a year after the release of the album.

Reception

The album received mixed-to-positive reviews. Music critics remarked the shift of the band's musical style from the clichéd glam metal of their debut to more blues-oriented compositions, but they did not agree in the evaluation of the songs' quality. Contemporary reviewers criticized the album for being "too bluesy" and too derivative of other more famous bands' influences. Only ''

Rock Hard "Rock Hard" is a single by the Beastie Boys, released by Def Jam Records on 12" in 1984. The track contains samples from the AC/DC song "Back in Black", which was used without obtaining legal permission, causing the record to be withdraw ...

'' reviewer considered ''Long Cold Winter'' "a surprisingly strong rock'n'roll album, rough, unpolished, powerful, but still melodious", and praised Keifer's vocals and the level of songwriting. Modern reviews are similarly polarized. Steve Huey of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

reviewed ''Long Cold Winter'' as "a transition album for Cinderella, mixing pop-metal tunes with better hooks than those on ''Night Songs'' with a newfound penchant for gritty blues-rock à la the Stones or

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

", and further explained his rating by saying " otall of the songs are memorable, but most of them are". Canadian journalist

Martin Popoff Martin Popoff (born April 28, 1963) is a Canadian music journalist, critic and author. He is mainly known for writing about the genre of heavy metal music. The senior editor and co-founder of ''Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles'', he has additionally ...

was harsher in his judgement and wrote that Cinderella strived to be "a next Stones or Aerosmith, not realizing that such talents are both rare and natural, and that without the gift and conviction,

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

attempt reeks of imitation and crass commercialism." 22 years after its release,

Geoff Barton Geoff Barton (born July 1955) is a British journalist who founded the heavy metal magazine ''Kerrang!'' and was an editor of ''Sounds'' music magazine. He joined ''Sounds'' at the age of 19 after completing a journalism course at the London Col ...

re-evaluated the album for the British magazine ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

'', praised the band for their change of musical style and called ''Long Cold Winter'' "a minor classic." In 2019, Chuck Eddy of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' also praised the album and wrote that "in retrospect ''Long Cold Winter'' ranks with any blues-rock of the Eighties".

Track listing

Personnel

;Cinderella * Tom Keifer – electric, acoustic and

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

guitars,

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, producer *

Jeff LaBar Jeffrey Philip LaBar (March 18, 1963 – July 14, 2021) was an American guitarist in the glam metal band Cinderella (band), Cinderella, in which he replaced original guitarist Michael Schermick. During Cinderella's temporary break-up in the mid- ...

– guitar (lead guitar on "Falling Apart at the Seams" and "Coming Home") *

Eric Brittingham Eric Brittingham (born May 8, 1960) is an American bass guitarist best known for playing in the band Cinderella (band), Cinderella. Early life Brittingham was born in Salisbury, Maryland. Career In 1983, Brittingham along with guitarist Tom Kei ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

, producer *

Fred Coury Fred Coury (born October 20, 1967) is an American musician best known as the drummer for the glam metal band Cinderella. Coury lists Neil Peart, Peter Criss, Bobby Blotzer, John Bonham, Eric Carr, Tommy Lee and Tommy Aldridge as his drumming i ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(credited but does not play on the album) ;Additional musicians * Jay Levin –

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

Cozy Powell Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English rock drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, ...

– drums on all tracks except 5 * Denny Carmassi – drums on track 5 * Rick Criniti –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

* Kurt Shore, John Webster –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

* Paulinho Da Costa –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

;Production * Andy Johns – producer, engineer *Thom Cadley – assistant engineer *Ryan Dorn – overdubs engineer * Steve Thompson,

Michael Barbiero Michael Francis Barbiero (born June 25, 1949)Infidel Biography
. Infidel Records. Retri ...

– mixing *George Cowan – mixing assistant

Charts

Album

Singles

Gypsy Road

Coming Home The Last Mile

Sales and certifications

Accolades

References

External links

"Long Cold Winter" at discogs
{{Authority control Cinderella (band) albums 1988 albums Albums produced by Andy Johns Mercury Records albums Vertigo Records albums Blues rock albums by American artists Southern rock albums