WHITE LION – White Lion [Live, remastered]

The audio of this WHITE LION recording  is taken from ‘White Lion; Bang Your Head Festival 2005’, the DVD-only appeared in 2005 via Frontiers Records. As the audio CD never was released, the recording was bootlegged due to fan’s demand. Later, Mike Tramp later sanctioned the release, and after some remastering, appeared on iTunes, Amazon, etc on digital format.

White Lion disbanded in 1991 and it wasn’t until 2005 when singer Mike Tramp decided to handpick a handful of musicians to carry the White Lion flag again on a long European tour that culminated in a successful appearance at the Bang Your Head Festival in Balingen, Germany.
The concert was filmed and released on DVD only, including the full show held at the Festival with a track-listing featuring all the major hits the band is well known for, including ‘Broken Heart’, ‘Wait’ and ‘Radar Love’ among others.
However, the live performance of ‘Lights And Thunder’ featured here is taken from the USA tour.

The line up includes founder Mike Tramp along guitarist Jamie Law, bassist Claus Langescov, keyboard player Hanning Wanner and drummer Troy Patrick Farrell; the same personnel that would record White Lion’s comeback studio album ‘Return Of The Pride’ three years later.

The songs are faithfully performed, very much in line with the original versions and the band really seem to be having a blast, particularly Patrick on drums and Jamie on guitar put on a great show and they play full of fire.
Tramp’s vocal delivery is fine, but definitely not as strong as in the Eighties, changing some melody lines to hit the notes. Truth is there are times (like in ‘Lonely Nights’ or ‘Little Fighter’) that you’ll feel your spine shivering with his classic ‘stuffed’ throat. Fortunately, the backing vocals are more than well-worked and bring on the trademark dominance of White Lion choir harmonies.

Anyway, this record is a good representation of the revamped White Lion (this line-up rocks as it did on the underrated ‘Return Of The Pride’) with the original audio now taken from the original tapes with very good results.
Pretty unknown release even for White Lion rabid fans.

01 – Wait (Live Version)
02 – Little Fighter (Live Version)
03 – Tell Me (Live Version)
04 – Radar Love (Live Version)
05 – Hungry (Live Version)
06 – Broken Heart (Live Version)
07 – Fight To Survive (Live Version)
08 – Lights And Thunder (Live Version)
09 – Living On The Edge (Live Version)
10 – Lonely Nights (Live Version)

Mike Tramp – vocals
Jamie Law – guitar, backing vocals
Hanning Wanner – keyboards, backing vocals
Claus Langeskov – bass, backing vocals
Troy Patrick Farrell – drums

BUY IT !
www.amazon.com/dp/B0029CUZBQ
itunes.apple.com/us/album/white-lion-live/id309501764
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