Great White

My knowledge of this band was limited to a louzy best-of purchased a couple of years ago, which i barely heard a couple of times.

That is until i purchased Once bitten last saturday.

Wow! I never knew these guys would be so good. Any specific recommendations?

S/T
Shot In The Dark
Great Zeppelin:A tribute to Led Zeppelin
Recovery Live

I really enjoy Cant Get There from Here and Psycho City.

Arttie is the man to answer here. He's a Great White fanatic.

However, you can also check out my site for my thoughts:
http://www.nolifetilmetal.com/greatwhite.html

Like most bands with a large discography, they've got some good stuff but also a lot of "meh."

My faves would be the self titled from '84 (arguably their most "metal" sounding disc) and SHOT IN THE DARK from '86.

I have a handful of their discs, mostly older material. I've always been partial to the Hooked album. Not sure why, but I like that album best. Haven't heard anything recent from them.

Been thinking about filling in some gaps in my collection, just haven't been that motivated. I had more tapes that I've never bothered to upgrade to cd. I think most of their albums can be found fairly cheap though.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I've always been partial to the Hooked album. Not sure why, but I like that album best. Haven't heard anything recent from them.

Yeah, HOOKED is a good'un too. I think that may have been the last album of theirs I bought as a "new release." I've picked up a few others over the years but ended up trading them off. I remember there was a lot of hype over the supposed "return to form" album CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE in '99 or so but that one bored the man-titties off of me so I ditched it and haven't really bothered with'em since. The infamous Rhode Island nightclub fire incident never exactly filled me with desire to go back and investigate the ones I've missed either.

There is no band I love more than Great White, as Ult stated. I am not sure fanatic even describes it... Sickness, maybe.... Anyway...

To your question, it all depends on what you liked off the compilation as to what to recommend. Great White, while not really changing their sound a whole lot at any one given time, has, nonetheless, molded their sound a bit as they have aged. Their most "metal" stuff is easily the first album, followed by Shot In The Dark, which is one of my top 3 faves by them. Their most "commercial" stuff is either found on Once Bitten... or ...Twice Shy, both of which are also excellent albums. By the time Hooked rolled around, the band had really started letting their blues-influenced roots show. Can't Get There From Here and Back To The Rhythm are the best of their most recent material and both have some great rockers as well as some very solid ballads. Their last studio disc, Rising, is very laid back, very mid-tempo, and NOT a good place to start if you are wanting to hear the best these guys have to offer...not by a long shot. I would say the same of Sail Away...excellent musicianship, but very laid back and acoustic in a lot of the songs and not a prime example of what the band is really about. Psycho City and Let It Rock are also both pretty good discs with some HUGE ballads on them.... I wouldn't recomment Great Zeppelin because, well, it's an all Zeppelin covers disc.


Arttie

Hooked and Psycho City are two of my favorites by Great White. If you're a sucker for a ballad, I think that GW has written some of the best.

kethdredd wrote:

Hooked and Psycho City are two of my favorites by Great White. If you're a sucker for a ballad, I think that GW has written some of the best.

Hooked is my fave, also. I have 5 different versions of that album, alone....

Also agree about Great White writing some of the best ballads ever...




Arttie

The S/T, Shot In The Dark, Once Bitten, Twice Shy, and Hooked are all good albums.

I think they're all either great, good, or somewhere in between.

DeathCult wrote:

The S/T, Shot In The Dark, Once Bitten, Twice Shy, and Hooked are all good albums.

I agree. Shot In The Dark is my favorite GW album.

Eyesore wrote:

I think they're all either great, good, or somewhere in between.

I think he's onto something here. While I have quite a few gaps in my collection, I've heard quite a few of their older albums courtesy of my old roommate who was a big fan. I don't think they're released a truly "bad" album yet. They're different levels of great/good, rocking/mellow, but no real clunkers in their lengthy catalog.

I have always been a big fan of the song "Rock Me", I still hear it pop up on my local classic rock station from time to time. Years ago, one of my best friends was a huge Great White fan, I would hear all their stuff from hearing it hanging around him. I seem to remember Psycho City the most played. I wanted Once Bitten, he wanted PC. We would play Pool or Paddle Ball...etc and the winner would pick the next album played, my friend was seriously stuck on PC!

The S/T is their best by far. Much more metal than anything else they've ever done. Some other good tunes here and there though. I think the S/T and a greatest hits comp is all you need.

Don't listen to that guy.

Eyesore wrote:

Don't listen to that guy.

I just purchased Twice shy, hooked and Psycho city.

I'm gonna have a busy weekend

I agree with Witchifinder in that Great White: S/t is the best of their catalog. My order would go something like this:

S//t >Once Bitten>Shot in the Dark>Psycho City>Once Bitten Twice Shy>Hooked>Can't Get There From Here...

I don't have anything else regarding the Great White catalog.

While the s/t disc is good, it is not representative of their overall sound and what Great White really is as a band.



Arttie

arttieTHE1manparty wrote:

While the s/t disc is good, it is not representative of their overall sound and what Great White really is as a band.



Arttie

i remember buying the "out of the night" EP after a show in 82' or early 83'. It was hard to believe (then) that this was pretty much Dante Fox with a new name and "sound". The later Great White material is more akin to Dante Fox. I auditioned for this band when they kicked Gary "one trick pony"Holland to the curb.

I am missing aot of their stuff in the collection.

talented musicians

Gilbert wrote:

I just purchased Twice shy, hooked and Psycho city.

I'm gonna have a busy weekend

nice!! Good choices!

Self titled and Shot In the Dark is all you need.......

James B. wrote:

arttieTHE1manparty wrote:

While the s/t disc is good, it is not representative of their overall sound and what Great White really is as a band.



Arttie

i remember buying the "out of the night" EP after a show in 82' or early 83'. It was hard to believe (then) that this was pretty much Dante Fox with a new name and "sound". The later Great White material is more akin to Dante Fox. I auditioned for this band when they kicked Gary "one trick pony"Holland to the curb.

I am missing aot of their stuff in the collection.

talented musicians

Sounds like a good story James!

The S/T is a great metal album, but as stated the band oviously is more akin to that bluesy/Zeppelin-esque style of rock.

They are certainly a bit infamous for cover tunes, Once Bitten Twice Shy was a pretty big hit for them (among others). I have always enjoyed Shot In The Dark and the Angel City-Face The Day cover is a frickin scorcher!