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Sail Away

Great White - Sail Away Audio CD

A fair review of the Great White "Sail Away" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Great White reviews here, or go back to the Great White tabs.

Band: Great White
Title: Sail Away
Rating:

Release Date:
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Short Overture 2: Mother's Eyes 3: Cryin' 4: Momma Don't Stop 5: Alone 6: All Right 7: Sail Away 8: Gone With the Wind 9: Livin' in the U.S.A. 10: If I Ever Saw a Good Thing

Great White - An Acustic Departure For Great White
It was a terrible tragedy that should have been avoided. Great White is now most infamously known for the horrible nightclub fire that occurred at one of their shows a few years ago, killing hundreds of people. Prior to the fire Great White was best known as a band from hair metal's glory days in the 80's and early 90's. In reality Great White was in my opinion a cut above your average hair metal band. The band always incorporated a lot of blues into their material, and if you got into some of their non radio album cuts there was a significant amount of substance to be found. This two disc set was put out when for the most part the band's popular radio years were behind them. The first disc Sail Away, is an acoustic oriented album of (at the time) new material. It is quite different than most of the stuff they had put out previously. The 2nd disc is a live album recorded, as the title suggests, in Anaheim California, containing most of their best known songs along with some album cuts. The Sail Away disc is a nice departure from the usual heavy rock that Great White is famous for. More than half the songs are ballads and even the rockier stuff features mostly acoustic instruments. It is not a fully unplugged album, but leans in that direction for most of it. Highlights for me are Mothers Eyes, Sail Away, Alone, and the terrific little blues tune Gone With The Wind with a guest sax solo by Clarence Clemmons. The whole thing is nothing that will go down in the rock history books, but I always enjoy it every time I put it on. The 2nd live disc features the bands two big hits Rock Me and the cover of Ian Hunter's Once Bitten Twice Shy. They both sound great live. They also do a cover of Led Zeppelin's Babe (I'm Gonna Leave You) which is very well done. Throw in some killer blues like Old Rose Motel and the power ballad Love Is A Lie and what you have is a nice little sampling of that the Great White live experience was about. I saw them opening for Judas Priest years ago and enjoyed what they did live. This album is a good representation of that. Unfortunately unless you find this used I don't believe that the live album is included in the Sail Away package if you buy it new today.

Fantastic change of pace from a terribly underrated band
I found it to be a great follow-up to Psycho City (my favorite GW album), as it slowed things down considerably. What a wonderful album. Several other commenters have gone into great detail, so I really don't need to now, but suffice it to say that out of over 1000 CDs I own, this is one of only a few that I could play in an endless loop.

The only negative comment I could possibly make about this CD is that it contains only 10 songs. Considering the groove they were in during the recording, I wish they had done at least 4 or 5 more. My least favorite tune is probably "Mother's Eyes", but that is admittedly like saying that out of a garage full of sports cars, I like the Corvette the least.

The first time I heard the album in 1994 I actually didn't really care for it much, since I probably was expecting Pyscho City Part II, but after a couple of spins, I completely "got it". In retrospect, this should have been played all over the radio, but thanks to the bland, spoiled, and unexplainably-rebellious grunge scene it had a really short radio run.

Fans of unplugged music may want to avoid this one, however, since they may never want to listen to their other "official" unplugged albums again.

Complements Psycho City Perfectly
I'm a big GW fan. . liked "Once Bitten Twice Shy" at the time, but didn't really get into them until I was given a copy of Psycho City, which I thought was great, and then I went back and collected their previous three releases (I've only gone as far back as Once Bitten).

I love GW for their blues-based rock'n'roll with the perfect combination of guitars, rhythm section, vocals, and frequent piano use. Psycho City was a fantastic album with some edgier stuff mixed in with some mellower bluesy tracks, and I had high hopes for this album when it came out. I was surprised when the first track on the album was a slow number, and even more surprised when the second one was a ballad also. In total there are five songs-of-the-slower-variety ("Mother's Eyes," "Cryin," "Alone," "Gone with the Wind," and "If I Ever"), but they're all fantastic, emotional, bluesy ballads of the sort that only Great White can do. Powerful stuff.

The songs that do rock ("Momma Don't Stop," "All Right," "Sail Away," and "Living in the USA") are primarily acoustic, but they rock just the same. There aren't any heavier songs like "Step on You" or "Psycho City", but the songs that are here stand on their own merit. I think GW's choice of a more toned-down, mostly acoustic album made for a perfect companion to the heavier Psycho City, and I think it was a fairly bold move for them to take a step in a different direction instead of just restricting their amazing rock 'n' roll song-writing talents to 'more of the same'.

These two albums together I think present a perfect picture of what Great White are all about and what they are capable of. .

Great White - 'Sail Away' (Zoo Entertainment)
A major downfall for them is it didn't fly. Notice that on 'Sail Away',the band is trying to recapture their formula that put them near the top of their heap in the '80's. However,both long time and new fans JUST might like what they hear on this disc. Vocalist Jack Russell is in fine form as the rest of the guys are too,as for their playing. As for the tunes,there are some good ones,like "All Right",the bluesy "Mothers Eyes","Gone With The Wind" and "Livin' In The USA". If you're looking for an outstanding lp like their 'Once Bitten' or 'Hooked',you won't find it here.

Review on Sail Away
The album sucks and is Great White's worst one! If you're looking for a Once Bitten or a . . Twice Shy then by all means stay away from this cd. The album is all acoustic and the songs are just terrible with exception of "Alone" and "Sail Away". .

You can see a complete list of all Great White discography, or go back to the Great White tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.