Stephen The fourth album, "...Twice Shy", strengthened Great White's position by claiming double platinum in 1989, thanks to their huge hits, "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and the ballad, "The Angel Song", which raced the ladder of Billboard Hot 100 back in the days. Musically, Great White stripped down most of their rocking tracks and introduced a more laid-back release compared to their prior albums, but tracks like "Move It" or "Baby's On Fire" still rolled highly, rocking with style, and Mark Kendall's soulful solos with Russell's roaring vocals were paired perfectly.

"House of Broken Love", a bluesy ballad with such a passionate intro tells the story about a failed relationship from both Kendall and Russell's point of view, the emotion he poured into his singing is just flawless, this track is definitely one of the best they ever made, but I always have a thing about Great White's ballads, they really know how to make a great one. The Ian Hunter's cover, "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", is another hot track for the money, probably these two tracks worth the whole album alone, but without exaggerating too much, I have to admit that despite the commercial success, this album has too many fillers, including the unnecessary "Heart The Hunter" and "She Only".

"Twice Shy" isn't really essential since you can find all great tracks inside in their greatest hits compilation except for the piano ballad, "The Angel Song", but if you like a relaxing rock and roll show with ballads for the cold and lonely night, this album can be bought cheap easily, so grabbing one won't cost you any harm.

Negoba The Metal is Gone, but Here Comes the Money

Great White had made a name for themselves with the previous album and a bluesy single, and on Twice Shy they decided to go an almost completely blues-rock route. The metal was essentially gone, and the music sounded more like the Georgia Satellites than Judas Priest. This was capped off by the Ian Hunter cover of "Once Bitten Twice Shy." This extremely basic sex-song was a surprise hit, and as it was my least favorite Great White song, I never really listened to the band again after the overplay of the single.

There are some hard rockers like "Mista Bone" here, but Mark Kendall is held much more in check than he was on the previous album. He was already very restrained on the previous album, and actually sounds dumbed down here. Clearly, this album was a very calculated move to appeal to a certain mainstream audience and it worked. But I don't believe the band was true to themselves, and this music doesn't move me at all.

Bottom Line: Formula hard rock hit.