By JAY ROBERTS

The Cassette Chronicles is a continuing series of mini reviews and reflections on albums from the 1980’s and 1990’s. The aim of this series is to highlight both known and underappreciated albums from rock, pop and metal genres from this time period through the cassette editions of their releases. Some of the albums I have known about and loved for years, while others are new to me and were music I’ve always wanted to hear. There will be some review analysis and my own personal stories about my connection with various albums. These opinions are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of anyone else at Limelight Magazine.

WINGER – IN THE HEART OF THE YOUNG (1990)

Despite the fact that I know the three singles that were released from Winger’s 2nd studio album In The Heart of the Young quite well, I have never actually listened to the whole album before now.

I can’t rightly explain how I managed to not buy this album back in 1990. With their self-titled first album, I had the album, saw them on their first tour and met them after the show I attended. So I don’t know why I never listened to or purchased the follow up album.

So it is a case of no time like the present to rectify this situation. The first thing I learned in the Internet research for this article is that this album is sometimes referred to as Winger II. I’d venture to say that this is due in large part to the album’s cover art which clearly shows the Roman numerals for the number 2.

But whatever you call the album, the music is immediately evident to be much in the same vein as the band’s first album. Winger used producer Beau Hill once again so the somewhat similar sound makes sense. But much like the first album, the material does branch out on some songs for a more dramatic and artful presentation. With every member of the band (singer/bassist Kip Winger, guitarist Reb Beach, guitarist/ keyboardist Paul Taylor and drummer Rod Morgenstein) having a hand in writing/co-writing at least some of the material in various combinations, the band’s various influences were sure to play a role in the variety of material.

As I said, there were three singles released from the album. And they come within the first four tracks on the album. “Can’t Get Enuff” opens up the album and it is a hot rocking type of song that has the kind of immediacy to it that still gets the listener amped up. The song “Easy Come Easy Go” is in that same style and I can still recall how I’d sing along to the song every time I would hear it either on the radio or on MTV.

The third single was the power ballad “Miles Away”. While the main lyrics drag a bit, I found that I still enjoyed the parts of the song when it hits the chorus and the tempo changes to become more of a rocker.
Now for all the songs I hadn’t heard before, I need to start with the only song of the first four tracks that wasn’t a single. “Loosen Up” is a superb song. It’s got a great rhythm to the music as the band rocks out on this song.

The first track that showcases the band’s more serious musical attitudes is “Rainbow in the Rose”. It bounces back and forth in terms of tempo and I wasn’t sure that I was going to like the song at first but I quickly found myself enjoying it quite a bit.

For “In the Day We’ll Never See”, there’s a slow build dramatic take at the beginning of the song before it launches it more a full burn rock number.

Much like “Miles Away”, the song “Under One Condition” starts off as a kind of ballad track but it eventually gets a far more intense and upbeat delivery in the performance which left me with a much more positive outlook on the song than I might’ve expected.

With a title like “Dirty Little Blonde”, you will likely be unsurprised to find the song as a down-and-dirty swinging rock-n-roll vibe working throughout the song. This is chiefly fueled by guitarist Reb Beach’s playing but for a song that might be easily dismissed because of the title and/or lyrics, this one stuck with me a lot.

Speaking of the guitar playing, I loved the intro to “Baptized By Fire”. It’s a quick little fleet-fingered exercise that gives way to a highly energetic rocker. I would say that I thought this was a killer track except for one thing. In the middle of the song, is Kip Winger rapping the lyrics for a couple of stanzas? I thought my ears were playing tricks on me but when I went back and listened again, it sure does sound like he is. That threw me off enough that I ended up being taken out of the song as I listened.

If Winger had released a fourth single from the album, I would not have been opposed it being the song “You are the Saint, I am the Sinner”. It’s another hard charging rock number but from the first time I listened to it and wrote the note “LOVE THIS ONE”, this song really stood out a lot to me.

The final song on the album is the title track and once again, Winger stretches their musical muscles to present a far more dramatic set piece type of song to kind of anchor the album. You’ve got a table-setting fade in to open the song that leads into a more uptempo performance for most of the song (it briefly eases off a bit later in the song). The song does a great job of putting a strong emphasis on a more progressive rock type of songwriting but I would say that it works wonderfully here.

So despite never hearing this album in full since it was released 34 years ago, I have to say that I was very satisfied with what In the Heart of the Young had to offer me, however late I was in discovering it. You’ve got both the classic hit tracks that helped the album’s commercial fortunes but then there are those undiscovered gems (to me anyway) that give you a fuller understanding of what the band was doing to follow up the success of their first release. I’m pretty sure this is going to find its way into a more regular playing rotation for me and for that I’m indeed quite thankful for this “new” listening experience.

NOTES OF INTEREST: In the Heart of the Young achieved platinum sales status in the US and the album peaked at #15 on the album chart. The Japanese version of the album has two bonus tracks on it: The studio track “All I Ever Wanted” and a remix of the song “Headed for a Heartbreak” from the first album.

The “All I Ever Wanted” track was one of two written during the recording process for the album. The other song is called “Never”. They didn’t make the album but got released as B-sides before the former showed up on the Japanese version of In the Heart of the Young. Meanwhile, “Never” eventually got released on the Winger compilation album Demo Anthology.

Guitarist/keyboardist Paul Taylor left the band after this album. He was out of the band for at least 30 years before rejoining in time to take part in the 2023 album Seven.