One of the things that was rumoured over the years after the album’s release was that guitarists Erik Turner and Joey Allen did not perform on the album, and that all of the guitar work had been performed by session musician Mike Slamer, who had at one time been the guitarist in the band Streets. At the time there was no verification of this, and it wasn’t until Slamer’s wife came out in 1998 and confirmed that her husband had played on the album that there was any proof of the rumours. Eventually, in an interview in 2012, Beau Hill also confirmed Slamer had played on the album, and that everyone in the band had signed off on it, and everything was above board. Which, makes you wonder, WHY it hadn’t been brought up at the time. The album's liner notes refer to Turner's function as "G-string" and Allen's as "Bong Riffs", adding that "Erik & Joey would like to thank Mike Slamer & Tommy Girvin for their Wielding G string Inspirations". As it was, there were several other guest performers on the album who were also listed, so the secret rumours were perhaps never so secret. Jani Lane's brother Erik Oswald, guitarist C. C. DeVille from Poison, guitarist and bassist Bruno Ravel and drummer Steve West from Danger Danger, and singer Fiona all add their contributions to the album that eventually went by the name of “Cherry Pie”.
The album opens with the title track and first single from the album "Cherry Pie", which was the famously 'written to be a hit song in fifteen minutes' by Jani Lane, after the album was completed. Having heard what was on offer the record company wanted an 'anthem' added to the mix, which Lane then provided in the aforementioned 15 minutes. I'm not sure how you would feel about this song if you were Jani Lane - happy that you were able to write a hit song in fifteen minutes, or pissed off because of the time you spent on the other tracks of the album that then became far less well known than the one you did in a coffee shop on a break. The music video, and subsequent massive rotation on music video programs, certainly helped to raise its profile and popularity, and no doubt raised album sales. Perhaps interestingly from my own point of view in 1990, it turned me off buying the album until many years later, as I assumed that this single was a reflection on what the remainder of the album would sound like. This was followed by the song that was supposed to be the title track of the album, "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Unlike the obvious commercial bent of the opening track, this is a hard rock song that could have led Warrant into the harder section of the rock community had it been the focal point of the album. Indeed, it can be argued that the musical direction of the band’s following album actually takes its cues from this song. This has great guitars and solid vocals that make for an good hard rock song.
On the other hand, to complete the circle of musical genres stacking into the Warrant quiver is "I Saw Red", an atypical sugar coated piano/synth based ballad, complemented by the soaring vocals and standard soft rock guitar solo to top it off. Inspired by a true story of Lane finding his girlfriend in the sack with his best friend, like many albums of this genre, this is where the kicker is, the place where you divide fans loyalties immediately. A most regular listeners to this podcast will already have ascertained, the opening to the album is shot down in flames by the change of parity in the songs, which I believe destroys the momentum and makes a meal of the party vibes the opening tracks had produced. Others I’m sure adore it. Once again, it isn’t bad, but it should not have a place here. Except that it was released as the second single and went to #10 on the US singles charts, so what the hell would I know.
"Bed of Roses" is a standard hair-pop metal rock song. In fact, vocally it even begins to sound like Jon Bon Jovi singing, which is a bit scary because this really could be a Bon Jovi song... and no, not the one of the same name. This is better than that claptrap. Better is to come in "Sure Feels Good to Me" which has a more enjoyable, up-tempo style that shows off the faster heavier side of the band nicely, with guitar riffs and licks to match. "Love in Stereo" is of a similar vein, utilising a bit of boogie-woogie keyboard in an old rock-n-roll fashion with memories of Jerry Lee Lewis.
The segue trilogy comes up next, interpreting itself as almost the same song in three parts, in three different moods. "Blind Faith" reverts back to the stock standard acoustic guitar based ballad that plagued the airwaves around this time. There must be plenty of fans out there who love this style of formula driven ballad drivel, and on the few occasions in history when it has been done with an original bent then I guess you can enjoy it, but when it just comes across the same as every other song like that then you can only shake your head. "Song and Dance Man" segues straight out of this, and finds itself moving out of this bland ballad state to a place in soft metal purgatory, neither ballad nor rock. Finally the third piece of the trilogy is "You're the Only Hell Your Mother Ever Raised", which is a standard soft metal rock piece, moving a bit harder and faster, along with that rock soloing to help drag the song into a harder territory.
"Mr Rainmaker" is one of my favourite songs on the album, introduced with a great riff and harmony throughout, and Jani's vocals being the driving force while the imported outside help guitar solo section proves its worth here. This is the most melodically metal song on the album, and is worth checking out even if nothing else here tickles your fancy. "Train Train" is a cover of a song by a band called Blackfoot, which sounds like southern blues rock and sticks to that theme, while the album concludes with "Ode to Tipper Gore" which is just a bunch of swearing pieced together from a live gig is an amusing ditty, but overall perhaps not the ending to the album I would have been looking for. In fact, if you just stopped the album after “Mr Rainmaker” you will have a far better experience.
Despite my following of hair metal bands that are often lumped into the genre of hair metal, bands of the ilk of L.A. Guns, Ratt, Cinderella and Motley Crue to mention a few, as well as fleeting interest through my late teens with Poison and other such bands, I never really cottoned on to Warrant in their prime. My main musical interest was in a heavier direction, which those of you who have listened to recent episodes of this podcast will be well aware. So unless I had friends who were pushing bands onto me I didn't immediately chase down every new band that came our way. And as I mentioned earlier, the ballads that had been released off the bands first album along with the video and antics for the first single off this album had turned me away from having any desire to track down this album and give it a listen. From what I had heard with those instances, I just assumed that Warrant wasn’t for me.
So it wasn't until I read an article a few years later – quite a number of years later as it turns out - proclaiming that Warrant had a bad rap in the metal community and that people should dig deeper than the surface of their singles, that I decided to follow up on them after all. And the obvious first step was the album “Cherry Pie”. And what I found was interesting. Beyond the singles and the ballads, there is more to this album than I expected. There is a bit more to some of the tracks. The guitars sound great. The songs have that bent that is a definition of the genre they are a part of, but it is not on the sad and soppy side of that. The songs that have a real hard rock basis to them, such as “Sure Feels Good to Me” and “Mr Rainmaker” in particular, are actually very good songs. The tempo and mood of most of the tracks is great. And I found myself enjoying having the album on. Now, to be fair, this didn’t happen until late in the first decade of the new millennium, so I had grown out of my 30 year phase of turning my nose up at music that wasn’t what I usually listened to, and that I had begun to listen to more music that made me reminisce on a time when I was young and able to enjoy life without its harsh realities hanging over me. And so an album like this slotted into that stage of my life.
But here we are, in a week where I come to review it for this podcast, and I can’t remember having listened to this album since that time that I first discovered it. And I have listened to it half a dozen times over the past few days. And what have I discovered about this album now? In essence, “Cherry Pie” is an album that I imagine I can put on and listen to in most casual situations. My lack of interest in ballads does mean that some portions of the album aren’t massively enjoyable, but I can tolerate them. And I still think there are some diamonds within the framework, such as "Uncle Tom's Cabin", "Love in Stereo" and "Mr Rainmaker". No doubt those with more of a fetish for the soft metal ballad will have a field day with this album. For me it will always be a comfortable reminder of the early 1990's, with just enough harder stuff to make it at least somewhat enjoyable.
The band continued on – indeed still does despite the passing of Jani Lane some years ago – and it was their next album “Dog Eat Dog” that also created a stir at the time. But that is a tale for another episode.
