Formed in early 1998 in Philadelphia by Walt “Wiggy” Kaye ,April Fool had many line up changes until 1989 where the final line up was finally settled upon to record their debut album “Playin' To Win”. Independently released by the band themselves on cassette in the fall of 1989 the first pressings sold out, with a second pressing followed to meet demand. April Fool did a lot of club gigs with the track “Bad Boy Willie” receiving a lot of airplay, whilst been the support act for bands like Britney Fox, Heavens Edge and Bang Tango ,with a few headlining shows pushed sales more. Videos for the singles "Cover Girls" & "Next Time Around" were produced and the band appeared on New York City cable television with the two videos/singles gaining airplay on mainstream & indie radio alike. Interest & conversations with many record labels followed for a release, but didn't get the break they hoped for.

Heaven & Hell Records bring us this reissue remastered for 2024 of “Playin To Win” complete with three bonus tracks. I do like getting these reissues to review as I have said before previously. The opening track “Cover Girl” is a pretty good hair metal track a good time party track reminiscent of early Poison vocally and musically, if I didn't know better I could have mistaken it for being them.”Playin To Win “ does have some good tracks ”Take Away The Heartache” is a track more melodic with some nice guitar runs & a great guitar solo great American arena rock. But also it has some not so good tracks which for me don't have the attitude ,conviction or big bang within the choruses and melodies to make them memorable like bands of that era produced “Playin' To Win “, “Bahama Mama” and “Next Time Around” are examples of this which in turn makes them unforgettable and not very catchy keeping you hooked. ”Help Me Understand” is has some catchy riffs ,which is a vast improvement the whole melody of the track is better ,vocals with a bit more attitude & swagger. ”Borderline” and “Sleepless Nights” both have some great hooks, superb guitar solos with huge potential but vocal performance which are lacklustre. ”Bad Boy Wille” is the opposite the vocals are much better bluesy with swagger, a mid song funky bass line, some nice guitar licks. ”Can't Stop Rockin' ” is the last track on the debut before the bonus tracks again the potential for an absolute banger of a track is missed letting the album fizzle out, instead of ending with an almighty bang,

April Fool “Playin' To Win” is a reissue that I will easily forget. There are a couple of good tracks on the album but the rest are lacking that killer touch & fire. Back in 1989 I'm afraid there were much better bands around fighting for that break, that lucrative record deal who were better, with better songs which record labels deemed more commercial that would sell records. With the market also flooded with bands like April Fool this meant even though they sold cassettes, with a good following with some good support gigs the big time was just beyond their reach.