White Lion’s Pride
While the Black Panther may be all the rage today, back in the 80’s teens looked to White Lion for an escape from the everyday routine. Powering this rock band were the duo of Mike Tramp and Vito Bratta. This duo proved to be an aqua net force with the sandpaper vocals of Tramp supported by the furious fretboard of Bratta. It still has not been determined if the band named themselves after Mike Tramp’s mane, or if the lead singer grew out that mane to match the moniker of his band. Either way, Tramp/Bratta showed the promise of performing in the same league as Michaels/DeVille, Neil/Mars, and even Roth/Van Halen. (Yes, Vito’s talent set White Lion apart from being just another rock band.) As with many rock bands however, talent doesn’t always lead to longevity. Oh White Lion, We never had a chance to love you!!
Lion’s tenure may have been short lived over the course of their 3 album releases, but the band peaked with their second release, Pride. Recently, Friday Music has released two special reissues of Pride. One in turquoise vinyl and the other in white.
Pride is anchored by the band’s feel good anthem, Wait, which peaked at #8 on the billboard charts. Wait took a slow climb to the top, as MTV didn’t start playing the video until over 6 months after the song’s release. That slow climb probably affected the overall momentum that it would have taken to reach the top 5. Surprisingly, the biggest hit on the album was When the Children Cry, which hit #3. You can argue that Children hasn’t aged well, but no one can deny the singalong draw of Wait. Some other gems on this album include Tell Me, Hungry, and Lady of the Valley.
How does it sound?
I listened to Friday’s release track by track along with my original from ’87. The best way to describe the difference in these two pressings is the difference between analog and digital. The original sounds more analog. In other words, it sounds warmer and also louder. It’s as if you hit the loudness button on your receiver when you put this pressing on compared to the ’22 release. The new version sounds like it has definitely been “cleaned up”. The bass and punch are tighter, but the overall volume is lower than the original release.
I thought this might mean the new release might sound better at louder volumes, but that wasn’t necessarily the case. As with any music, it just comes down to personal preference. The new release sounds great and delivers a CD-like sound, but if I had to choose, I would play my original ’87 pressing mastered by George Marino. If you are having trouble finding an original ’87 pressing out in the wild, then the new release by Friday Music is absolutely worth adding to your collection. This album was remastered by Joe Reagoso, who also remastered Friday’s recent reissues of Winger and Slaughter’s Stick it to You. I found this version to sound very similar to the Winger release. Of the three releases, I enjoyed Joe’s remix of Slaughter the best and highly recommended tracking down that release for your collection.