Well, topping off a monumentally $hitty week, where bad news, lost friends and total assholes combined to make me pissed-off at pretty much the entire human race, I at least knew I had THIS to look forward to.
There was a "leaked" YouTube video that was uploaded by a number of people over the last 2 months (and then each was made "private" a couple of days after uploading) that included a full ONE MINUTE snapshot of each of the 12(13) tracks on the album. Having listened to those, the vinyl was ordered after the 1st play-through (let alone the multiple times I got to listen before each was taken down).
Well, today was the official release, and the playlist is here . . .
- Winger - Seven https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=O ... 46fxkU3174
The talent in this band is off the charts . . . Reb's guitar work, Kip's AMAZING vocals (how does he get even better as the years go by?), Kip's multi-genre influenced production and musical directing, and 3 other solid musicians whose genuine friendship over 30+ years SHINES through . . . this band is truly one-of-a-kind.
OMG. Chills. EVERY track is so different. So impressive.
Winger are possibly the most underappreciated, unfairly overlooked, and unjustly maligned band in the history of rock.
"Pull" + "Karma" and now "Seven" all fall into that very short list of albums that can be categorised as "absolute perfection" .
I can only hope that more and more folks get to hear tracks from this new album, and then realise what they have been missing all these years.
Much like Ghost's "Impera" from 2022, I can tell already that this is likely to be my album of the year for 2023.
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