Now Hear This: Demon - The Unexpected Guest

    Demon formed in Midlands, England in 1979, the original line-up was Dave Hill on vocals, Les Hunt and Mal Spooner on guitar, Chris Ellis on bass, and John Wright on drums. After an independent single they signed with the French label Carrere, also home to Saxon at the time. Carrere released Demon's first album, Night of the Demon, in 1981. The record was lumped in with the NWOBHM but it's really just a hard rock record similar to what Uriah Heep or Thin Lizzy were doing in the early eighties. It's a forgettable record, but the same cannot be said of the band's second album, The Unexpected Guest, which came out in 1982.

     Okay, bad album cover. At first glance it's a face? A scary demon face? Wait a minute! Upon closer inspection it's really the rather ripped torso of a member of the Blue Man Group. Terrible, but what we're truly concerned about here is the music, which is outstanding. Dave Hill has a great voice for hard rock and he kills it on this record. The album begins with a criminally overlooked hard rock/metal classic called "Don't Break the Circle." The song is built upon a solid foundation of excellent riffs. The verse chugs along nicely and segues into an awesome bridge that includes an album title mention, then the truly memorable ominous chant of a chorus unfolds. Great song and it also features a killer guitar solo.

     Second song "The Spell" is a very cool hard rock tune but the third song is when the album really hits its stride. "Total Possession" is the most upbeat song about demonic possession you are ever going to hear. These lyrics should not be delivered within such a catchy melody. Let's sing along:

Total possession he's out on his own
A crazed look of an insane man
A twisted face, a tormented victim
Someone's moving upstairs
A life leaks away under the shadows
There's no hope for him now
A tortured soul lies bleeding
Oh Father in Heaven where are you now?

     This strange dichotomy, evil lyrics delivered in an upbeat manner, continues with the next song, "Sign of a Madman." We're either contemplating murder or suicide but we're smiling.

     Next up is "Victim of Fortune," a quality tune but a tad generic, it simply sets the stage for the next song, my favorite on the album, "Have We Been Here Before," a joyous celebration of some very spooky deja vu. What a great song.

     The best song on the album is followed by the worst, a synth-drenched bluesy ballad called "Strange Institution." What have they done to the bass? Is that even a bass? Next up is the hardest rocking song on the album, "The Grand Illusion." Reminds me of Accept. The song's lyrics deliver a very different message from the Styx song of the same name.

     The second to last song, "Beyond the Gates," isn't great but the record ends on a high note with a fast-paced rocker called "Deliver Us From Evil." The song's lyrics seem to sum up the album and make me think that perhaps the record was supposed to tell a story. Wait, is this a concept album? I'd rather not try to ferret out the details. Just listen.

 

     Demon's next album, The Plague, was a synth-heavy snoozefest, very disappointing. The band would release six more albums between 1985 and 1992, writing some good songs along the way, but The Unexpected Guest was their moment to shine, and they did.

   

Fresh Blood: Another Lost Year

One of the thing I love about writing for the Decibel Geek is getting introduced to new music and getting to share these new bands with our readers. For a while through the 90's and early 2000's I had pretty much given up on new music. I had been so turned off with the coming of grunge and alternative that I closed down, enjoyed my CD's and that was that. Fact is there was some good music being made that I was missing. There is always great new music from great bands being made if one is so inclined to look. So this is the first in a series of discovering new bands, Chris and AAron spin Fresh Blood on the show from time to time so here is the web page version. Writing about the veterans is always a blast but this is some FRESH BLOOD...

This week I have been spinning the album "Better Days" from a band called Another Lost Year out of North Carolina. Released in 2011, Better Days is an album that deserves to be heard. Strong rock songs dripping with melody and tasty guitar hooks. They flirt with metal, heavy riffing guitars and vocal growls, yet keep one foot firmly in radio friendly territory that really works.

The title track "Better Days" opens the album with some heavy guitars that groove into a moody rocker that could easily be a single. This band could sort of be described as combining "Megadeth with Matchbox 20", a combination that on the surface looks weird but as the album moves along it seems to work and work well.


"War On The Inside", the albums first single begs you not to bang your head. It's almost impossible not too when the guitars kick in. Great melodic rock as solid as anything out there.From there the album balances grooving rockers, some moody mid- tempo numbers and couple of edgy ballads. The second single "Writing On The Wall" falls into the grooving rockers category and is another tune that had my head bouncing to the crunchy guitars.

If you like melody with your metal this is a great record filled with great songs. In a world of bubblegum pop where rap solos have replaced guitar solos, it's refreshing to hear some real rock music played by real musicians. Looking forward to a new record and hopefully some Canadian dates.



Click here to check out their video for "War On The Inside"
and be sure to check out more at
http://www.anotherlostyear.com/home.cfm

Be sure to support your local live scene! 

Now Hear This: Gillan

     When Ian Gillan quit Deep Purple in 1973 I'm not sure what he thought he had up his sleeve but it took him three years to release his first album with his solo band, billed as the Ian Gillan Band, and he named the album Child In Time after the Deep Purple song of which he recorded a new version for the album. That's not exactly what I'd call cutting the cord, but the music on Gillan's first solo album was a departure from what he'd been doing with Deep Purple, the question being, was a departure necessary, and did he head off in the right direction? I have seen the album described as jazz-rock fusion and that might not be wholly inaccurate. It's not a great record. Two more lightweight albums followed before Gillan wisely decided on a change of direction. He swiftly formed a new band, recruiting guitarist Bernie Tormes, keyboardist Colin Townes, bassist John McCoy, and drummer Mick Underwood. Dubbing the band simply Gillan they recorded a heavy rock album called Mr. Universe which came out in 1979. Songs like "Secret of the Dance" and "Roller" are not that unlike Deep Purple's more upbeat material, but with a twist. It's great stuff.

     The band's next album, 1980's Glory Road, was a top ten hit in the UK. The band's sound was drifting closer and closer to heavy metal. Album opener "Unchain Your Brain" is a great proto-metal tune.

     The band's 1981 album Future Shock would hit number two on the UK album charts. The title track is a great hard rocker.

     As the cover art would indicate this is a heavy metal album, tried and true. Check out "The Ballad of the Lucitania Express."

     In that same year, 1981, Gillan would release a double album called Double Trouble, the first record containing brand new studio recordings and the second record live recordings. The band mellowed out on the studio stuff and the keyboards gained more prominence. It was at this point that Bernie Torme quit the band, apparently over a money dispute. He would soon resurface as a temporary, emergency replacement for Randy Rhoads on the Diary of a Madman tour. Torme's replacement in Gillan would be future Iron Maiden member Janick Gers.

     Janick Gers' time in the band would be short-lived. The band's next album, Magic, was not their best work, but had its moments.

     Magic would be the band's swan song. Ian Gillan disbanded the group soon thereafter, citing damage to his vocal cords. The rest of the band, upset about this sudden dissolution of their livelihood, sued Gillan, and they must have been even more annoyed when quite soon he was...Born Again.

Episode 77 - The Other Sabbath

This week's episode was a long time coming as it's the result of a suggestion by one of our faithful listeners over a year ago.

Dissecting and discussing the non Ozzy/Dio era of Black Sabbath was no easy task for Aaron and Chris as, quite honestly, it's a grouping of albums and songs that mostly went overlooked by them during their younger years.

Joining them to discuss this lost period for the forefathers of heavy metal is Rob Kern from the From Out of Nowhere podcast. Rob is a self-proclaimed fanboy of the 1983 Born Again album and has strong feelings (positive and negative) about all of the material released after it by Tony Iommi & co.

Going in chronological order, we begin with the aforementioned Born Again album from 1983. The only Black Sabbath album to feature former Deep Purple single Ian Gillan, this album was widely panned by critics but has become a cult favorite over the years. Opinions differ drastically among the hosts as they share facts about the controversial album cover, the over-the-top vocals from Gillan, and how the tour for the album factored into a major plot point for This is Spinal Tap. Rob's choice track from this album is Zero the Hero; a popular one among many fans of this album.

1986 saw Tony Iommi itching to go solo but the material he was crafting was forced to bear the Sabbath moniker due to pressures from Warner Brothers Records. Billed as Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi, Seventh Star sported a much more commercial sound as well as new vocalist Glenn Hughes.

The only track that partially broke through the public consciousness was 'No Stranger to Love' due to it's appearance on MTV. Rob's choice of album opener 'In for the Kill' is the closest thing that old-school Sabbath fans could sink their teeth in.

Following the recording of Seventh Star, a crazy amount of personnel issues crept up with band members playing musical chairs and issues on tour forcing Hughes out of the band and a short stint with future Badlands singer Ray Gillen. Enter Tony Martin.

Tony Martin brought his full-throated voice to Black Sabbath for 1987's The Eternal Idol. Your hosts share some interesting stories about Gillen's exit, Eric Singer's short tenure, and a strange story about the making of the album cover.

While not a retro-sounding tune, Aaron's choice of 'Glory Ride' is definitely one of the brighter spots on an otherwise forgotten album.

Black Sabbath closed out the 1980's with Headless Cross. The album has been praised by Iommi; no small feat considering his dismissal of most material from these years.

When we solicited suggestions of some of our listeners favorite material from this era, the title track from this album came up quite often; necessitating a quick spin of the song.

The 1990's began on a strange note for Black Sabbath as they released the pseudo-concept album TYR.

Featuring a number of songs relating to Norse mythology, the album has been bashed by many critics and largely ignored by fans. Chris makes a case for some redeeming qualities on the album as he spins the track 'Valhalla' featuring a huge guitar riff.






1994's Cross Purposes featured some stronger songwriting for the band; some would say from a guitar legend. It's been rumored that the track 'Evil Eye' was originally written by Eddie Van Halen but his appearance was scrapped due to record company politics and re-recorded by Iommi. It remains to be cleared up.

One thing that is clear is the strength of Aaron's choice of 'Cardinal Sin' as a track to show off the album's highlights.

We finish things off with 1995's Forbidden album. Produced by Ernie C. and featuring an appearance by rapper Ice-T on 'The Illusion of Power,' Forbidden is an album released at a strange time for a veteran band that had been through a lot.

Some lively discussion of this album includes Rob's take on how comical the album cover appears; especially if you substitute flowers for a scythe.








These Black Sabbath albums will never sit comfortably alongside Paranoid, Sabotage, or Mob Rules; but that doesn't mean they should be ignored. We hope that we shed a little light on what the band went through during these lean years when the vast majority of the music-buying public ignored them. If you dug some of what you heard on this week's show.....


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Meister's "Views of the Cruise" - Volume #17 - Sunday March 17th, 2013

Sunday March 17th, 2013

After finally stumbling into interior stateroom #11039 and folding myself into bed around 4:30am the night before, I was surprisingly up at a decent hour and ready to take on the day.  Breakfast seemed to be the first order of business and so I headed off in that direction, meeting my friend from the Toronto Queensryche concert along the way.  The buffet was decent  enough, but not by any means astounding.  We chatted about the shows that we'd taken in the previous night and what was on today's plan.  After breakfast he headed off to meet up with his wife while I worked my way to the internet cafe to post my daily diary of Friday's adventures.......OK, so I'm a couple of days behind!  As I made my way there, I passed Georg Dolivo, vocalist from Rhino Bucket and we chatted for a few minutes which included my begging for them to play a show in Toronto, but he responded with the cryptic answer of "There's a secret reason that we don't".  I'll definitely be catching their set later on today and I moved on allowing Georg to get on with his day.  I reached the 7th floor and cut through the casino, running into my Quiet Riot agent friend and as we paused to chat about the cruise and events, Jason McMaster breezed past saying hello.  He remembered me from our email interview that we had done a few months back (Volume #2 of my cruise series) and shook my hand, saying how nice it was to meet in person.

Wow, shooting the breeze with two great vocalists already and the day's only just getting started!  Reaching the on board internet cafe, I examined the operation and decided that I could handle it.  Everything was a different menu and I felt the pressure of time ticking by and the "by the minute pricing" scale as I navigated around and began to curse under my breath at these different systems.  The thing was uber slow, kept freezing up on me and was generally very confusing to operate.  In any case I was finally granted success and got it posted, no time to spell check or post too many photos, this venture was quite expensive and was keeping me away from more drinking time!

I put my stuff back in the room and headed out to catch the first show of the day with my ears still ringing from last night's.  I arrived at the theatre a bit after noon for Alcatrazz's first show on the boat.  The first thing I noticed was that Graham Bonnet was quite energetic on stage during the already started song, Too Young To Die, Too Drunk To Live.  The rhythm section of the bass and drums was thundering around the Carlo Felice Theatre and the surprisingly sparse crowd, must be a ton of folks still sleeping or at Femme Fatale on the pool deck, who appear later in my concert plan.  Graham even thanked the crowd at one point for coming to see Alcatrazz instead of the boobs on the pool deck although they were nice boobs.  Jet To Jet featured drummer Bobby Rock showing off his ample skills in his second performance aboard ship during an incredible, but waaaaaay too long for a shortened one hour song set drum solo.  Their set also included
playing God Blessed Video, Will You Be Home Tonight, Kree Nakoorie, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Dancer (written with Schenker before they fired me claimed Graham), Since You've Been Gone and Lost In Hollywood (The Rainbow classics).  I noticed that there appeared to be lyric sheets attached to the stage, I guess Bonnet is getting old and can't remember a few of the songs as well, but it was still an excellent show and I will definitely be looking out to catch them again.  The only disappointing thing for me was that I wanted to hear Wire And Wood.

From there it was off to the Acoustic Lounge Bar Dei Poeti to catch Ted Poley.  It was great to see that Ted had a full room as last year when I saw him in this venue it was a sparse crowd, probably due to the fact that we were in port and he was playing at 10am.  I noticed Ron Keel and his wife in the room as well as Johnny Dee (drummer for Doro/Britny Fox) as Ted welcomed us to his acoustic show and promising to kick us in the teeth at his electric set (which I'd already had witness to at the Rockerz Gone Wild Pool Party).  They opened up with a "special song", The Love Boat which drew a big laugh from the audience and rolled right into Monkey Business, while tossing several bananas into the crowd.  Ted is quite a charismatic performer and gets the crowd into his fun set, evidenced by the "Ted Poley" balloons that went out to the crowd next as he played what I think was called Can I Hold You Tonight followed by
Bang, Bang.  Shot Of Love (or Shot With Lunch as Ted claimed he preferred to call it) brought him out into the crowd, trailing his microphone cord as he sang from several points in the room standing on the armchair couches.  One Step From Paradise brought him out again singing to many of the ladies in the audience and generally getting everyone involved.  At this point, already having seen Ted's show at the pool party and having him on my radar for his electric show (I'm not huge on the acoustic sets anyway) I moved on intending to get a great spot for Rhino Bucket in the trippy Zebra Lounge.

There were a few folks already crowding the stage as I arrived and joined them.  Eddie Trunk's "Stump The Trunk" and book signing session went on a little longer than scheduled and when his table was cleared away, the rest of the Bucket fans closed in.  I was basically centre stage and while guitarist Brian Forsythe was gearing up I had the opportunity to speak to him briefly about our email interview that is currently in progress.  I traded him my business card for a guitar pick and was anxiously awaiting to see again what Georg describes as the "last real rock and roll band".  Rhino Bucket was a huge highlight for me last year, their Hardest Town CD being one of my all-time favourite albums cover to cover and I never get tired of listening to it.  I looked down the set list and was happy to see the title track, but that was the only selection from it on the roster.  During my study of the set list, a roadie appeared and placed three Coronas next to the mike stand for Georg during the set.  several minutes later it was "Coronas Down" as they were tipped over by the activity getting the stage set for the already few minutes late show.  With Coronas fixed, we were ready to go and the boys played a great no frills/gimmicks set including One Night Stand, Beg For Your Love, Train Ride, Welcome To Hell, Who's Got Mine?, She's A Screamer, Beat To Death Like A Dog, Hey There, Ride The Rhino and also a new song Raise Your
Glass from the forth coming record, planned for release around August (although Georg admitted that he was a bit lazy and it might be later than that).  I was able to procure a drumstick as they flew into the crowd at the end of the performance and secured an autograph on it to make it complete as another blistering performance by Rhino Bucket.  If you get an opportunity to see these guys, do whatever you have to do to make it happen!  I had a few folks thanking me after the show as I had been telling them to check it out for the past few days, now they understand why I'm rabid about these guys!

Now I rushed over to the Meet & Greet session featuring Saxon among others.  I had to meet the boys, as they are a huge favourite of mine and even appear in my sleeve tattoo.  I had been searching all over the boat for members of Saxon to shake their hands, but seemed to miss them every time, while tons of other people kept running into them......just my luck, like a watched kettle never boiling!  Also at this meet & greet was Helix and Kaleb (the guitarist) and I had made a loose plan to try and meet up after it was over so that we could bang out our little interview.  The line-up was quite long and I felt a little like cattle again as we were herded around.  I will not rush to participate in another meet and greet session as they are a sham and waste of time in my eyes.  Bands have been sitting there for photos for a couple of hours, are not allowed to sign anything and were generally looking tired and not into it.  I will say that my boys from Helix and the girls from Femme Fatale made a great effort and I can't wait for the photos.  It was my heroes of Saxon that looked lifeless, but never the less I dashed in quickly and sat on the couch for my photo, holding up my "Heavy Metal Thunder" flag and had a chance to pass my cards onto Nigel before I was ushered out of the way for the next group.  I was anxious to get back out and see more concerts as Black N' Blue were currently on the pool stage and I made the decision to by-pass John Corabi and Lita Ford who were also in this session and they had huge lines.  Unfortunately in that I also made the grievous error of passing by JSRG.  I should have stopped by them for a moment as their performance from the Pre-Party was truly mind blowing and in giving it after thought I realised that they were happy posing with their fans as well.  I will look out for them aboard ship for sure.

I went out onto the pool deck to await Kaleb after his meet and greet, realised that I'd forgotten my voice recorder in the room and that I should probably put this drumstick somewhere safe before I accidentally poke out someone's eye or something!  So after pausing quickly for a few bars of Black N' Blue, I tore myself away.  Returning in time for Nasty Nasty which was followed by the black sheep of the Nasty Nasty album Jamie St. James proclaimed, I'll Be There For You.  We Got The Fire, Miss Mystery, I Want It All, School Of Hard Knocks, Live It Up, Hold On To 18 and Target off of  the newest CD Hell Yeah from 2011 all filled out the set list.  Black N' Blue were one of my live discoveries from last year and they were every bit as good again this trip.

Now having about two hours to kill before Saxon, well maybe just an hour as I planned to get there early, I want to be leaning on the stage for this one, I ambled in the direction of the buffet and more
sustenance to ward off the already taking their toll effects of the sun and beers.  I stopped to chat briefly with Dwain Miller (drummer for Keel) and let him know that I hadn't seen Saxon yet as I'd promised to introduce him to Nigel Glockler.  As we were chatting Johnny Dee passed by and we shook hands as he remembered me from our brief conversation at the Doro show in Toronto in February.  I should have introduced him to Dwain who was still standing next to me.......doh!....idiot.....lol.  After a quick chow down, noticing Brain Jay and Marc Ferrari (of Keel), John Claus (guitarist for Helix) and Jeff Keith of Tesla all at various tables in the buffet and how some fans were bothering them during their dinner, I exited and ran into a friend chatting with Graham Bonnet of Alcatrazz.  Mr Bonnet was very friendly and told us a bit about the death of his cousin whom he was very close to and posed for a picture before I moved on to secure my Saxon position.

While waiting for the show to begin and leaning on the centre of the stage, I met some of the folks also hanging about nearby and getting ready for the show.  A rather strange young lady approached and requested that I sign her breasts, so I happily obliged.  The guy directly next to me was the very same one who had tried to purchase my Four Horsemen shirt at the pool party a couple of days earlier.  I teased him about it and he claimed that he would have that shirt by the end of our trip!  Eyes front as Saxon blasted on stage opening with The Power & The Glory during which Biff gave me a strong hand slap, they moved next into Chasing The Bullet from the stellar Call To Arms 2011 CD.  Saxon were not letting me down and were absolutely killing it already!  20,000FT and the huge hit 747 (Strangers In The Night) followed before Biff requested for more red wine.  Biff announced that they had a new album (not out in Canada yet,
unfortunately) and this was the title track as they powered through Sacrifice.  Sometimes newer unknown songs do not come off well in concert, but Sacrifice sounded amazing and Saxon do sound awesome live.  It's a bit heavier than the last release and Nigel really drives it with his drum beats, a definite purchase for me!    One of the first Saxon songs that I heard (I know, a bit late to the party) was Rock & Roll Gypsy, which sounds way better in a live setting, was next and after that Biff announced that the next song had been banned in many countries as they rolled into the epic Crusader.  Strong Arm Of The Law led us into This Town Knows How To Rock or more aptly This Boat Knows How To Rock and I marvelled at how strong Biff's pipes were still.  A pleasant surprise for me next was Solid Ball Of Rock, another Saxon favourite of mine that is not too often played live according to the statistics I've seen and it was great live, inciting me to scream even louder that I already had been,  I could feel the ole throat getting a little rough after yelling at Rhino Bucket and now Saxon.  Denim & Leather, Motorcycle Man, Wheels Of Steel all followed in what Biff
proclaimed was odd for them with this short set as they were used to playing for two or three hours and I along with those around me and I suspect many more would not have complained if they did so!  Princess Of The Night served as their closer and I remarked to the folks around me at the end if it was wrong that I felt strangely aroused after that show and they all agreed that they felt similarly.  On a total high after Saxon, I spent a few moments chatting with the Four Horsemen shirt fan and I passed him my card.  He responded with "No way!  Are you The Meister?  I read your articles and they were great!"  That alone almost won him the Four Horsemen shirt, but I settled for a handshake and thanked him very much.

I continued the day of blistering rock at sea by rushing down to the Zebra Lounge for Keel's first set aboard ship.  I arrived a few minutes late and the boys were already loudly under way, but I
managed to find a decent vantage point at the side of the stage.  I noticed Lita Ford, Mitch Perry and Steve Riley watching from the other side of the stage as all of the band members noticed and acknowledged my presence with a nod....very cool right there alone!  The boys invited their side stage watchers (unfortunately not me this time....lol) up on stage to help them out with The Right To Rock and I was glad to see that I was not the only one a bit shy to get up there as Steve Riley had to be convinced a bit by Ron, Lita and Mitch.  My voice was really hurting now as I screamed out my appreciation for Keel during their whole set which included United Nations, Looking For A Good Time, Somebody's Waiting, Speed Demon, Push & Pull, Streets Of Rock & Roll, I Said The Wrong Thing To The Right Girl, Because The Night, Tears Of Fire and You're The Victim I'm The Crime.

And now, reeling from the emotional roller coaster of all the awesome shows I'd seen during this rockin' day at sea, I reloaded on beverages and headed back up into the open air of the pool deck to
check out Japanese rockers Loudness.  Secretly to myself I was kinda hoping that they sucked as I wasn't sure that I could handle another ass-kicking today and certainly my voice and throat would thank them as well.  This was not the case and they blasted out with Crazy Nights followed by Crazy Doctor.  The Stronger was up next, but the beers and lack of food began to overtake me and I decided to make my way over to the buffet as I will certainly be seeing Loudness in Toronto in May and I needed to rest if I was going to make it through the night, it was only around 11pm!  Loudness sounded tight and Akira Takasaki's solos were blistering and many people are putting them on their lists for best show on the boat, probably I should have toughed it out for the full set.

After tying on the feedbag to soak up the beer in my system, I promptly got another drink and chatted with a few folks as I circulated around the pool deck and the Mojito Bar, killing time untill JSRG took the pool stage.  After the ladies impressed me so much and basically kicked my ass at the MOR Pre-Party, I was looking forward to this set.  I found a friend from the Keel rehearsal experience and we secured a spot at the front of the stage.  The girls opened up with Rev It Up with How Much Love close on it's heels and I was again amazed at how much these chicks rock.  Someone had mentioned to me a few days prior that they "just don't think that chicks rocked as hard as guys except for Lita Ford" and after seeing JSRG at the pre party and Lita Ford not holding a candle to that show, I will make it my mission to get theses people to a JSRG show!  Hopefully the ladies will make the excursion north into Toronto, but until then these girls were great aboard ship.  Bad Reputation came next, following the same set as the pre party until Love Made Me found it's way onto the roster.  Cryin' , I Want You To Rock Me (which contained a little crowd incitement in the
middle and portions of We Will Rock You and Pour Some Sugar On Me) and Streets In Paradise led us to Share taking vocals over again for the cover of Neil Young's Keep On Rockin' In The Free World.  Love Is A Killer, Never Say Never and Wrecking Ball showed off Gina's absolutely ballistic guitar skills, although the ladies did look a little tired tonight, it was near 2am after all, they were rocking hard again.  The girls finished up with Mas Tequilla and Edge Of A Broken Heart and I got a hand slap from Janet and a handshake from Gina as they appreciated their audience.  I fully admit that these ladies finished me off tonight and I couldn't help but think Lita who?

Cheers,
The Meister

Now Hear This: Twisted Sister - Love Is For Suckers

     Most of you probably know the story: Twisted Sister had a big hit with Stay Hungry and Dee Snider, ego inflated, insisted they record "Leader of the Pack" and release it as the first single from their next album, Come Out and Play, only to have it flop magnificently. But did you know that Twisted Sister had included "Leader of the Pack" in their live set for years and the band had already recorded and released the song three years earlier on their 1982 EP Ruff Cuts? Covering the song wasn't a new idea, it was a recycled idea. Come Out and Play didn't flop because "Leader of the Pack" sucked, it flopped because pretty much the whole album sucked. The title track is okay and "Kill or Be Killed" is a great tune but that's it. Great album title, great cover, but Come Out and Play was a disastrous follow-up to the amazing string of records that had resulted in Stay Hungry's triumph. The band has unfairly made it known in recent years that they are not happy with Tom Werman's production on Stay Hungry but Dieter Dierks, who had done great work with Scorpions (Blackout sounds amazing), really shit the bed on Come Out and Play. The guitars are buried and muddy and there's way too much echo going on. I'm also guessing Dee wrote some better songs than the ones that ended up on the album, or perhaps the songwriting could have been tweaked or tightened up in the studio. Feels like a rush job. "Leader of the Pack" is just a convenient scapegoat for an overall mess.

     So the band choked. Stay Hungry had gone triple platinum but Come Out and Play barely went gold and the subsequent tour was a disaster, the shows that the band didn't cancel were performed for half empty arenas, and when a band is on tour the age old idiom does not apply: that arena ain't half full. By all accounts the band was in bad shape by the end of the tour and on the verge of breaking up. Actually, they probably did break up. According to Dee Snider the band's next album, Love Is For Suckers, was originally conceived, written, and recorded as a Dee Snider solo record, and guitarist Jay Jay French has stated publicly that he doesn't think he played on any of the songs. Rumor has it Reb Beach, future Winger member, played most of the guitar on the album, which makes sense since Beau Hill would soon produce his band's debut. Dee claims the record label cajoled him into converting it to a Twisted Sister project, but it's hard to imagine Dee Snider being cajoled into anything. He probably got cold feet and realized the album had a better chance of being a success under the Twisted Sister banner. I'm not sure how much label pressure had to do with the band's accompanying new image but in an unfortunate move they jettisoned their classic costumes and make-up and adopted a more conventional eighties pop metal look.

     But what we're really concerned with here is the music, and even though Love is For Suckers is almost universally ignored or reviled, even by Twisted Sister fans, I think it's a good record. Not great, it has its flaws, and yes, the band were guilty of changing with the times, they definitely changed their look and the first single from the album, "Hot Love," was an obvious attempt to fit in with what was on hard rock radio in 1987, but I believe the album is unfairly maligned and dismissed. And it's a lot better than Come Out and Play.

     When Love Is For Suckers was released on August 13, 1987 Slippery When Wet, Girls Girls Girls, and Whitesnake 1987 were all in the top ten on Billboard and Look What the Cat Draged In was at number 13. Was Dee Snider conscious of this? Sure, but here's the thing, "Hot Love" is a great song. When Dee Snider sat down and tried to write a song that he thought might be a hit in 1987, he did a great job. Why be cynical about it? It's a really good song. The video for the song was even more of a departure, the band were unrecognizable compared with their previous videos, but any fan of the band had seen numerous photographs of this Bizzaro Twsited look: jean jackets and jeans. Just look at the back cover of You Can't Stop Rock n' Roll. It was not a new or entirely unfamiliar image, but on MTV it was. So on the surface everything about "Hot Love," the song and the video, screamed sell out, but all that really matters to me is that it's a good song, and I like it. 

     Love Is For Suckers was produced by Beau Hill, who had made a name for himself producing Ratt, but he could have done a much better job with Twisted Sister, I believe that most of what people do not like about the record is Beau's fault, but allow me to reiterate: these are good songs, production be damned. The album opens with a classic Twisted Sister song called "Wake Up (The Sleeping Giant)." It's undeniably good, I can't imagine why any Twisted Sister fan would not like this song. Sure, that might be a drum machine, but...

     "Wake Up (The Sleeping Giant)" is followed by the previously mentioned single "Hot Love" and then comes the title track of the album, "Love Is For Suckers." The song was co-written by someone named Marky Carter, I cannot find any information about who Marky Carter was, if anyone out there knows anything please tell us in the Comments section below. I'd like to thank Marky personally. I guess I'm a sucker, because I love this song (cue groan). It's my favorite song on the record. Great guitar licks, great verse, awesome chorus, and Dee's little parody of the Dr. Pepper commercial at the end cracks me up. GREAT SONG.

Update: wow, so it turns out "Love Is For Suckers," written by Marky Carter, was originally recorded and released in 1985 by Gary Private on a 12 inch single. The song was next recorded by a female metal band called Poison Dollys, who were from Long Island and apparently had worked with Dee Snider at some point. The Poison Dollys version of the song is quite different from Gary Private's version and much closer to the Twisted Sister version but on the Poison Dollys record Marky Carter is still given sole writing credit for the song. Dee Snider definitely tightened up the tune and rewrote the first verse but the essence of the Twisted version is there on the Poison Dollys record. Thanks Chris and Anonymous reader for info! Here's the Poison Dollys version.

     Next up is one of the most obnoxiously commercial sounding and generic songs on the album, "I'm So Hot For You." This is really Dee Snider trying to write a non-Dee/non-Twisted song, a song he thinks will get airplay in 1987, but Dee Snider is a talented man, so it's still an alright song, but not great, and the lyrics are atrocious. Exhibit one:

Girl, do you know what you're doin' to me?

I'm gettin' burned in the first degree.

     The last song on Side One is a more traditional Twisted Sister headbanger. Like I said, the production is thin and the "drum sound" is unfortunate, but "Tonight" is a good Twisted Sister song and not incredibly far removed from Under the Blade or You Can't Stop Rock n' Roll. Wait, did Dee just say "Did you come to see us put it in the hole!?"

     Side Two kicks off with another classic Twisted Sister song and once again I don't know why any fan of the band would dislike this song unless they just never gave the album a chance. Yeah yeah, I know, the production, fake drums, but "Me and the Boys" is great stuff.

     The next song is a very generic tune called "One Bad Habit" and it's probably the worst example on the album of Dee trying to write a Bon Jovi or Poison song. It's not great and when he rhymes "rude" with "dude" I cringe. Let's skip that one. Now we've arrived at the poppiest song on the album and the least Twisted, "I Want This Night (To Last Forever)." Yeah, I don't really like this one either.

     Oh boy, now it's time for the obligatory ballad. It's called "You Are All That I Need" and it's really not that bad, it's a lot better than the two songs that preceded it. What the hell, I like it. The song would have fit nicely over a romantic montage in a film like Top Gun. I like this kind of AOR blast of forced emotion.

     The album ends with a song that maybe could have been a sneering Twisted rocker but thanks mostly to Beau Hill's studio wankery it suuuuuucks. I don't know what the hell to call it, but it ain't metal. You can maybe hear the Twisted Sister song buried in there somewhere but the song as it exists on the record is unlistenable. "Yeah Right" is the worst song on the album, but luckily it's the last song. So yeah, wow, Side Two kind of sucks. But don't forget, Side One is really good. So hopefully I've convinced you that this album has some merit, and it is not nearly as bad as you may have been told. At least half of it is actually quite good.

     When the album was reissued the CD included four bonus tracks. Replace "One Bad Habit" and "Yeah Right" with "If That's What You Want" and "I Will Win" and you'd have a better album.

     There's also a bootleg floating around of Love Is For Suckers demos. "Rock You" is great and "I'm Not Everybody" has potential, inclusion of these songs could have made this a much better album. So here's my new track list:

Side One

1. Wake Up (The Sleeping Giant)

2. Hot Love

3. Love Is For Suckers

4. Rock You

5. Tonight

Side Two

1. Me and the Boys

2. If That's What You Want

3. I'm Not Everybody

4. You Are All That I Need

5. I Will Win

     Fire Beau Hill's ass, replace him with Tom Werman, record it as a Twisted Sister album not a Dee Snider album and...

     It still would have flopped in 1987 but would have a better rep these days. Oh well.