ZINATRA [NL] - AOR
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Discography
01|1988|Zinatra
719 (#2) 02|1990|The Great Escape NL #72 | 823 (#1) |
Rock Report's choice
The Great Escape
Mercury, 1990
Produced by Erwin Musper Charts: NL #72 Ratings: HH: 88 (36) | RYM: 3.83 (39) Total rating: 823 Updated: 150225 Line-up
Joss Mennen
(lv, bv)
Gino Rerimassie (g) Robby Valentine (k, bv) Ronald J. Lieberton (b, bv) Eddie Rokx (d) + Rob Janssen (bv) Roko Kohlmeyer (bv) |
Track listing
01|The Great Escape (V)
02|Take It To The Top (L) 03|Two Sides Of Love (L) 04|There She Was (Li/M) NL #48 05|Love Never Dies (V) 06|Unknown Skies (V) 07|Too Blind To See (V) 08|Candyman (K/Z) 09|Hold On (L) 10|Only Your Heart (L) 11|Jekyll And Hyde (K/M/Z) 12|The Roaring Silence (M/Li) Songwriters
K = Kelly
= Arnie Treffers aka Long Tall Ernie L = Paul Laine Li = Ronald J. Lieberton M = Erwin Musper V = Robby Valentine Z = Zinatra |
Rock Report reissues review
ZINATRA - Zinatra/The Great Escape - Snakebite Records, 2004
For the history of Zinatra - one of my favourite Dutch bands of all time - we have to travel back to the mid-80s. At the time Ronald Lieberton was helping songwriter Arnie Treffers (Long Tall Ernie and The Shakers) with the recording of his material in Denmark, when they hit upon the idea of putting together a rock band. Manager Bert van Klaveren - ex-Vandale vocalist and one of Lieberton's friends - liked the material and the idea to put up a band, thus joined in and approached his former Vandale colleague Eddie Rokx (d) as well as the guitarists Gino Rerimassie & Sebastian Floris as well as vocalist Joss Mennen. Zinatra was born. A first demo was enough to convince Phonogram to sign them. And what was more: they could take all the time they needed to record their first album under the guidance of Erwin Musper, provided the Wisseloord Studios weren't occupied by other well-known bands. So, when Queensrÿche and Def Leppard left the studio, the guys of Zinatra entered and recorded their debut album, without any pressure regarding time or money. The result of all that work appeared as "Zinatra" in 1988. The track "Love Or Loneliness" was released as the band's first single and became a major hit in the national charts. A handful of (small) club shows followed before they really hit the road as support of David Lee Roth during his "Skyscraper" tour. Other singles followed as well as a lot of radio and TV appearances, seeing their fan base grow and grow. However, for Seb Floris it all became too much and due to health problems he had to leave the band. Zinatra decided to carry on as a four piece. In 1989 the band toured in South Asia as well as South America, where their star rised even further.
Back home it was hard to get back in focus for the writing and recording of a new album. During a demo session they were introduced to keyboard player Robbie Valentine, who was asked by the band's management to become their new band member. A bit of a strange situation, as neither the guys in Zinatra nor Valentine himself were informed of this beforehand! Anyway, Robbie became an important songwriter and although he has always stayed a bit of an outsider, he had quite some impact on the material. Next to that, producer Erwin Musper came up with four songs of Paul Laine, which resulted in a pleasant mix of quality material for what was to become the band's second album "The Great Escape", which hit the streets in the spring of 1990. First single became "There She Was" and of course another tour followed, which costed them a fair amount of money. While the Japanese fans went nuts about it all, the band had to face problems elsewhere, due to the changing musical climate (grunge). When Valentine left the band in 1992 to concentrate on his solo career (in Japan), Zinatra's days were finally numbered.
Thanks to the good guys at Rock Inc. Entertainment both albums are now made available again, fully re-mastered and completed with exclusive bonus material (B-sides, demo recordings and live tracks). Even Eric Philippe was asked to revise and adapt the original artwork wherever necessary. It goes without saying that both albums are an absolute must for all the fans of 'happy' melodic rock, which can be described as a perfect mix between the repertoire of Bon Jovi and Europe. Both albums can be purchased seperately or as a 2CD in a special slipcase packaging, known as the "Zinatra Rockumentary Box" (catalogue number: SNB009). Great stuff, thus a maximum score is well-deserved!
Chris Lambert, April 2004
For the history of Zinatra - one of my favourite Dutch bands of all time - we have to travel back to the mid-80s. At the time Ronald Lieberton was helping songwriter Arnie Treffers (Long Tall Ernie and The Shakers) with the recording of his material in Denmark, when they hit upon the idea of putting together a rock band. Manager Bert van Klaveren - ex-Vandale vocalist and one of Lieberton's friends - liked the material and the idea to put up a band, thus joined in and approached his former Vandale colleague Eddie Rokx (d) as well as the guitarists Gino Rerimassie & Sebastian Floris as well as vocalist Joss Mennen. Zinatra was born. A first demo was enough to convince Phonogram to sign them. And what was more: they could take all the time they needed to record their first album under the guidance of Erwin Musper, provided the Wisseloord Studios weren't occupied by other well-known bands. So, when Queensrÿche and Def Leppard left the studio, the guys of Zinatra entered and recorded their debut album, without any pressure regarding time or money. The result of all that work appeared as "Zinatra" in 1988. The track "Love Or Loneliness" was released as the band's first single and became a major hit in the national charts. A handful of (small) club shows followed before they really hit the road as support of David Lee Roth during his "Skyscraper" tour. Other singles followed as well as a lot of radio and TV appearances, seeing their fan base grow and grow. However, for Seb Floris it all became too much and due to health problems he had to leave the band. Zinatra decided to carry on as a four piece. In 1989 the band toured in South Asia as well as South America, where their star rised even further.
Back home it was hard to get back in focus for the writing and recording of a new album. During a demo session they were introduced to keyboard player Robbie Valentine, who was asked by the band's management to become their new band member. A bit of a strange situation, as neither the guys in Zinatra nor Valentine himself were informed of this beforehand! Anyway, Robbie became an important songwriter and although he has always stayed a bit of an outsider, he had quite some impact on the material. Next to that, producer Erwin Musper came up with four songs of Paul Laine, which resulted in a pleasant mix of quality material for what was to become the band's second album "The Great Escape", which hit the streets in the spring of 1990. First single became "There She Was" and of course another tour followed, which costed them a fair amount of money. While the Japanese fans went nuts about it all, the band had to face problems elsewhere, due to the changing musical climate (grunge). When Valentine left the band in 1992 to concentrate on his solo career (in Japan), Zinatra's days were finally numbered.
Thanks to the good guys at Rock Inc. Entertainment both albums are now made available again, fully re-mastered and completed with exclusive bonus material (B-sides, demo recordings and live tracks). Even Eric Philippe was asked to revise and adapt the original artwork wherever necessary. It goes without saying that both albums are an absolute must for all the fans of 'happy' melodic rock, which can be described as a perfect mix between the repertoire of Bon Jovi and Europe. Both albums can be purchased seperately or as a 2CD in a special slipcase packaging, known as the "Zinatra Rockumentary Box" (catalogue number: SNB009). Great stuff, thus a maximum score is well-deserved!
Chris Lambert, April 2004
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