If it wasn’t enough that I’m in the middle of a year-long
\nretrospective of Frank Zappa’s
\nYou Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore<\/i>, I’m kicking off a new
\nproject today to commemorate the re-released, remastered albums
\nfrom shock-rock group W.A.S.P. that were originally on Capitol.<\/p>\n
In 1984, the world was kneed in the groin with a well-placed
\nsawblade, courtesy of one Mr. Blackie Lawless and his bandmates,
\ncollectively known as W.A.S.P. Their music sent shivers down the
\nspines of parents and certain Washington wives, and gave teenage
\nAmerica something to cheer about. Here was the ultimate band to
\nlisten to as a sign of rebellion against your parents!<\/p>\n
Of course, there was more to W.A.S.P. than a gimmick – there had
\nto be, ’cause teenagers aren’t stupid. While the band’s self-titled
\ndebut album features some great music, it also showed a band
\ngrowing into the legacy it seemed to carve out of stone, and it
\njust wasn’t a perfect fit yet.<\/p>\n
The re-mastered disc opens with undoubtedly the most
\ncontroversial song of the ’80s, “Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)”.
\nOriginally, it was supposed to be the opening song for the album
\nuntil the powers that be put the kabosh on plans. (The song
\neventually made its way to smaller, indie labels, and became a
\nsensation.) For all the hoopla surrounding the song, it’s not that
\nbig of a deal. It’s merely an okay song, and the word “fuck” is
\nonly used twice, albeit clear as a bell both times.<\/p>\n
Of the original ten songs on
\nW.A.S.P.<\/i>, several stand out as early classics for Lawless
\nand crew (Chris Holmes on guitar, Randy Piper on guitar, Tony
\nRichards on drums). “L.O.V.E. Machine” is still an incredible
\ntrack, and “Sleeping (In The Fire)” showed an entirely different
\nside to W.A.S.P. – that of the metal balladeer – that is so
\nshocking that it works unquestionably. “The Flame” and “On Your
\nKnees” both are solid rockers as well.<\/p>\n
Another aspect of W.A.S.P. that many people don’t bother to
\naddress is their seamless vocal harmonies. This work, especially on
\n“The Flame” and “Sleeping (In The Fire)” is hauntingly beautiful,
\neven if the rhythm is bashing your head into the wall. Who said
\nthat a metal band couldn’t have a solid grasp on harmony – and, for
\nthat matter, the art of songwriting?<\/p>\n
Well, the songwriting needed a bit of work, but not much.
\n“School Daze” is a throwaway track (even though it made the cut as
\na single), while “The Torture Never Stops” conjures up too many
\nFrank Zappa images in my mind. Another “classic” W.A.S.P. track, “I
\nWanna Be Somebody,” also falls under this category.<\/p>\n
Of the bonus tracks, “Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)” is worth
\nadding on if only for the novelty of it, while “Show No Mercy” (its
\noriginal b-side) is a decent enough rocker. The final bonus track
\nis a cover of The Rolling Stones’s “Paint It Black,” which
\npurposely seems to stay away from being a note-for-note copy in
\norder to inject Lawless’s personality into it. This is one that’s
\nfor the die-hard fans.<\/p>\n
\nW.A.S.P.<\/i> still remains a good metal album, even if it shows
\nthe signs of being a young band who needed to log some serious road
\ntime. It also does show some scars of age. There has been a lot of
\ntalk about how Snapper Music (the European label that issued this
\nand the other five discs) handled (or mis-handled) the remixing.
\nThere is a noticeable drop-out right at the beginning of the guitar
\nsolo for “Animal”, but this could have been a weakness in the
\nsource tape. Still, one wonders if something couldn’t have been
\ndone to cover up this one flaw.<\/p>\n
\nW.A.S.P.<\/i> is still worth adding to any serious metalhead’s
\ncollection. It serves as a birth cry for the Alice Coopers of the
\n’80s, while it shows a band still in the process of growing. By
\ntheir next album,
\nThe Last Command<\/i>, they would have matured quite nicely…
\nbut we’ll talk about that in a few weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5899],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-39314","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-w-a-s-p","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39314"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}