Wossp

[Spiff]

Yo

I bought WASP's "The Crimson Idol" yesterday, and it ROCKS! Great stuff - can't believe that for years and years and years, the only album of theirs that I had heard was "The Headless Children", when they have all this other great stuff as well!

So, I have those two, and Our Fearless Leader has the new one - what should I get next?

 

[Cooperman]

I believe Sydo is the resident WASP expert... he'd be the man to answer your question.

 

[Sydo]

WASP!!!!! cool .

I'd honestly have to say that with The Headless Children and Crimson Idol, you effectively have the best of WASP.

If you like The Crimson Idol, try Still Not Black Enough (1995). It was originally penned as a Blackie Lawless solo project before being releases as WASP. Sounds a lot like Crimson Idol, but sort of 'over-produced' in places.

The Last Command (1985) is very good album, if you like the older material. Wild Child and Blind in Texas the two most famous tracks from this one, but there is plenty more to be heard on this one.

Kill Fuck Die (1997) is anything but a normal WASP album. With an industrial sound and lots of naughty words, I love it!! A lot of people hate it.

Helldorado (1999) has three really great tracks. Helldorado, High On The Flames and Damnation Angels. The other 7 or so tracks sound identical to the title track, with different lyrics. Thus it quickly becomes very boring.

Unholy Terror is the newest album. Released this month! I don't have it yet, but I borrowed it from The Invisible Boy. To me it sounds as a cross between Helldorado (bad) and Still Not Black Enough (good). DO NOT believe anyone who says it is like Headless Children. Maybe some of the lyrics are, but the music is not. I got bored with it pretty quickly. It seemed as though there was only one 'new' song, the rest simply being recycled from Helldorado and SNBE. (but I haven't really heard enough to be judge it fully)

Avoid the first album, WASP (1984) and Inside The Electric Circus (1986) unless you LOVE The Last Command. The best thing to do would be pick up Live... In The Raw (1987). It covers these three albums in a live format, while keeping with the vibe that is on the studio recordings. Not a great live album, but they could have done much worse...

...And they did!! The Sting (2001) is really feeble. The show was recorded for a live net-cast and video. I'm sure the video would have been great, but it doesn't come to live on the CD. Overall it sounds very tired. Obviously no 'studio magic' was used to fix this one up. Blackie stops singing during songs, notes are dropped all over the place, the sounds levels are low... Nothing special, unlike...


...Double Live Assassins (1999). Fantastic double live CD (hence the name) that really rocks. Covers all albums up to that point, except for Still Not Black Enough. Great Crimson Idol Medley on the 2nd CD. Well packaged and sounds fu(king brilliant. Yes this was fixed up in the studio, but who cares! Until I heard The Sting, I didn't realize. Contains a number of songs from KFD, but they no-longer sound industrial - therefore they are really rocking.

WASP are great and I could go on and on... but I gotta eat.

If you've bothered to read any of this, I hope it helps.
Cya

Sydo.

 

[MRCROWLEY]

The Crimson Idol and The Headless Children are the best im a big fan of kill fuk die also but it took a while to get used to.
didnt like helldorado looking forward to the new one for a return to greatness.
double live is also very good for a live album he does a good job of the idol songs.

idol is the best my fav would be the invisible boy and i love most concept albums,,,

 

[Invisible Boy]

Originally posted by MRCROWLEY
my fav would be the invisible boy

Thankyou.

Anyway on a serious note The Criomson Idol is my favorite too, but the first time i heard it i thought is was crap and didnt listen again for ages.

KFD i liked right from the start but now i have to be in the right mood to listen to it, also i still love the original WASP album its great to sing along too

And also i like the new album a fair bit prolly a close third behing Crimson Idol and Healdess children

 

[Spiff]

Thanks Sydo, much appreciated!

I've been listening to The Crimson Idol some more and I must say that it's a great album! One of the tracks reminds me of one of the tracks from The Headless Children - in fact, I always think it is that song when I'm listening to it on the train of a morning (and afternoon). Track 5, "The Gypsy Meets The Boy", is the song in question.

Anyway, thanks again. Shall definitely look into purchasing Double Live Assassins, and go from there when considering what to purchase afterwards

 

[Joe Salami]

Far be it for me to throw a spanner in the works, but...

Yes, I agree that 'Children' and 'Idol" are great albums.
However, I love the first three albums. They are King!! Self-titled, 'Command' are great, and 'Inside The Electric Circus' is just awesome.

'Still Not Black Enough' was very disappointing. I really think it was a "oh, I wrote these songs, so..bugger it, we'll release them" type thing.
'K.F.D' was a strange album, but hugely likable because Chris Holmes was back.

'UnHoly Terror' is just awesome. The boys are back in a big way.

Still, I think my point was - don't discard the first 3 albums. This is how W.A.S.P started out, and there is some great material there. To ignore these albums would be to ignore what W.A.S.P really are.

Anyway, that's my two cents worth.

Cheers

 

[Sydo]

Certainly don't discard the first three, but don't buy them expecting them to be anything like Headless Children or Crimson Idol. I love them, and probably didn't give them enough credit in my earlier post.

As for Still Not Black Enough, I was really disappointed the first time I heard it. In fact, so much so that I thought Scared To Death was one of the worst WASP songs I'd ever heard.
Now I think of it as one of their best! At least one of my favourites anyway.

Still havn't heard much of Unholy Terror, although at the very, very least I'll admit it's better than Helldorado.
Cool jam with Roy Z during the end of Wasted White Boys!

 

[Wrathchild]

Sydo, can you recommend a WASP best-of? Duellist tells me there are quite a few around, but the only one I can find has Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting on it and I can't stand Elton John- no matter who's singing it. Also, which of their albums does Bob Kulick (Bruce's brother) play on?

W

 

[Sydo]

As far as I know, there are two different WASP 'Best Of' complimations out there.

The 1st FIRST BLOOD.. LAST CUTS was released in 1993. Just after the Crimson Idol. Tracklisting is as follows

Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)
L.O.V.E. Machine (remix)
I Wanna Be Somebody (remix)
On Your Knees
Blind In Texas (remix)
Wild Child (remix)
I Don't Need No Doctor (remix)
The Real Me
The Headless Children
Mean Man
Forever Free
Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue)
The Idol
Sunset and Bablyon
Hold On To My Heart
Rock And Roll To Death

The remixes are generally not very different to the originals. Although I Wanna Be Somebody is much faster and I Don't Need No Doctor Sounds cool.
Has 4 tracks from T'he Headless Children' album, and 3 from 'The Crimson Idol'.
'Rock and Roll To Death' and 'Sunset And Babylon were previously unreleased, although the former made in onto the cut for Still Not Black Enough a few years later.
Contains 3 of the best ballads you'll ever hear by a metal band.


The 2nd Greatest Hits package was released only last year (2000), title simply THE BEST OF THE BEST

Saturday Nights Alright For Fighting
Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)
I Wanna Be Somebody
L.O.V.E Machine
On Your Knees
Show No Mercy
Blind In Texas
Wild Child
Sex Drive
9-5 N.A.S.T.Y
Mean Man
Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue)
Unreal
Helldorado
Dirty Balls

Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting is an Elton John cover tune - and it really rocks! Unreal is another new song - but only average sounding.
This recording contains no ballads and only 1 song from The Headless Children and 1 from The Crimson Idol. 5 tracks from the first album is too much.
The only benifit this album has over the first is the inclusion of 95 Nasty and Helldorado.

First Blood.. Last Cuts is hard to find these days (I think it's out of print), but definately the better of the two.

Bob Kulick plays lead on The Crimson Idol and Still Not Black Enough. Lita Ford plays lead on the track Sunset and Babylon (Not that anyone cares about that..)

A better Greatest Hits package would be Double Live Assassins. Unfortunately it can be very expensive at various places. For a while I couldn't find it anywhere for under $40. (Although I picked mine up for $29.95 a few years back.

Sydo

 

[Sydo]

I should add, that as good as Bob Kulick is, he doesn't manage to improve on Chris Holmes' effort on The Headless Children.
I'll admit he does play some extremely nice solo's on the slowers track from The Crimson Idol, but Chris really rips 'em up on Headless.
Which is queer, because Chris Holmes is far from the best guitar player around..

 

[Wrathchild]

Cheers, Sydo. I will add First Blood, Last Cuts to my "must buy if I can ever manage to find it" list.

I read the other day that Blackie Lawless looks on Pete Townshend as one of his biggest influences. Considering what Pete thinks of other theatrical/shock rock acts (eg Alice Cooper), I wonder how he feels about that?

W

 

[Lord Tim]

Originally posted by Sydo
Avoid the first album, WASP (1984) and Inside The Electric Circus (1986) unless you LOVE The Last Command

Wow, you're kidding, right? I LOVE the 1st album! I think that's one of their best! Raw and rude - everything WASP was!

IMHO, The Headless Children was the last good WASP album, the ones after that were either WAY too self-indulgent or just really trying to grasp at their former glory. Just my opinion, of course! Crimson Idol is a common fav. amongst fans...