Pull

Pull is the ambitious third album, on which Winger kept the craft and melody of melodic hard rock while stepping into heavier guitars, more complex rhythm and an introspective air. Replacing Beau Hill, Kip Winger co-produced with Mike Shipley (who had worked on Def Leppard’s Adrenalize), released on Atlantic in 1993. Recorded as a trio after Paul Taylor’s departure, with John Roth added on guitar, it is a work Kip himself calls among his best. The riffs sit lower and harder, and “Blind Revolution Mad” and “Who's the One” carry a social gaze. The six-and-a-half-minute “Junkyard Dog (Tears on Stone)” is deeply progressive. The lead single “Down Incognito” reached number 15 on the US Mainstream Rock chart. Amid the headwind of grunge it stalled at number 83, but by keeping its precision and melody it is often named by fans as the band’s finest. After it, the band paused: Reb Beach joined Dokken and Whitesnake, and Kip went solo.