With Volume One of Mike Tramp‘s look back at his past in one of glam metal’s best bands, White Lion, clearly doing good enough business to entice label Frontiers into a second bite at the cherry, certain snarky naysayers (I’m looking at you, Strickmann) commented that maybe a second compendium might be a little light-on, hitwise. And whilst that’s certainly true in basic terms, if you’re a fan of the man and his music and enjoyed that first set, then there’s certainly enough here to warrant a return visit.

Without the smoke, mirrors, bells and whistles of the hysteria that the band created in their heyday, it’s nice to be able to concentrate on good old virtues like talent and songcraft, and re-imagined ripsnorters like El Salvador certainly enable the listener to hear, in these back-to-basics incarnations, just how good some of the band’s ‘lesser’ numbers really were, and are.

Lonely Nights pulls up quite a few trees, too, with Tramp’s band adding real value in the instrumental department. Marcus Nand, of course, was on a hiding to nothing recreating the work of Vito Bratta here, but it’s a tribute to his playing that you rarely, if ever, find yourself disappointed with what he brings to the table. And then there’s the welcome presence of Claudio Pesavento, who’s swirling Hammond and piano work adds real depth to The Road To Valhalla in particular, helping transform it from it’s slightly twee origins into a weighty, classic rock tour de force.

It’s doubtful this exercise is going to draw in too many new converts, or indeed longterm fans who feel that they don’t need to hear Tramp singing the classics in a lower register without Bratta; But, if you approach this with an open mind and just enjoy tracks like the superb Don’t Give Up for what they are, then the whole thing becomes more than worthwhile.

Songs of White Lion Vol. II is out now.