Climb - Take A Chance

Best remembered for his successful baseball career as a rising young star with the Montreal Expos, Warren Cromartie earned the affectionate nickname "Cro" and even had a candy bar named after him, a la Babe Ruth. After ten years in the major leagues, at only 30 years old, Cromartie became the first prominent American player still in his prime to sign with a Japanese baseball team. In Japan, Cromartie became a rock star of sorts, winning the coveted MVP award in 1989 and led his team to the Japan Series championship. What most people didn't know was the fact that Cromartie was an accomplished drummer who befriended and jammed with the Canadian rock band Rush - Cromartie's name appears on the back cover of Rush's 1982 album, Signals and he is also thanked in the liner notes. While in Japan, Cro formed an AOR band called Climb with Austrian lead vocalist Joe Hamilton. In 1988, the band put out a limited edition album that was released in Japan only. Cro enlisted a veritable all star lineup for the Steve Klein-produced album including Rush lead singer Geddy Lee; the legendary Detroit session player and producer Bruce Nazarian; Foreigner's lead singer Lou Gramm; David Rosenthal, the keyboard player of the popular rock band Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, who is currently keyboardist and musical director for Billy Joel's band; and award-winning veteran industry vocalist Mitch Malloy. Hit songwriter Russ Ballard contributed a track ("Caught In A Crossfire") as did Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly ("Lonely In Each Other's Arms"). Steinberg and Kelly were writers on Madonna's "Like A Virgin" and Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors, among many other hits. The album Climb is a funky rocking affair with Cromartie in the driver's seat, totally wailing on the drums and leading the band through nine solid tunes that can stand with the best the 80's had to offer. The album has been newly remastered and finally released Worldwide for the first time, with a bonus track, the instrumental version of the single "Girl Like You," that was previously only released in Japan as a 45 RPM single b-side. After hearing the album, one can only wonder what Cromartie could have achieved musically had he not become a baseball star.