W.A.S.P.
First
Blood....Last Cuts
Released: 1993
In
the fine tradition of shock theater, created in the early seventies by
Alice
Cooper, Blackie Lawless came on the scene in 1984 with a band called
W.A.S.P. Armed
with a stage show, that involved chainsaws, fire, torture rack and raw
meat being thrown
into the audience, took the shock theater idea a little further, into what
he referred to as
psycho drama. Most importantly, he got everyone's attention with a song
called Animal
(Fuck Like A Beast), an independent release that his record company
refused to put out.
This song remains to this day the best selling independent release.
Unfortunately with this song, his questionable stage antics involving half
dressed
women and the band's name, which he said meant We Are Sexual Perverts, got
the
attention of the PMRC. This "wonderful" organization launched a censorship
campaign,
using as one of their exhibits the cover of Animal, which depicts a man's
crotch being
sawed in half. Amidst all the controversy Blackie and his band kept making
great music,
with infectious melodies, driving rhythm and Blackie's vocals that sounded
somewhat like
a chainsaw. In 1984 they put out a self titled CD, of which the three
singles included here
are remixed giving a fuller, meaner sound. They followed up with The Last
Command
('85), Inside The Electric Circus ('86) and Live...In The Raw ('87),
generating six singles,
but it seemed that the PMRC was catching up with them.
After a few personnel changes, they came back in 1989 with a critically
acclaimed
CD, with the misleading title, The Headless Children. This represented a
change in the
lyrical content, dealing mostly with war, because Blackie was apparently
tired of singing
about his crotch. The album contained a great cover of The Who's The Real
Me and three
other singles. More internal problems followed, leaving only Blackie to
continue, therefore
it took three years for the next album The Crimson Idol to come out. This
is a rock opera,
with a story and all the songs written by Blackie. With a few ballads,
like Hold On To My
Heart and The Idol and a hard hitting Chainsaw Charlie that takes a
direct stab at the
recording industry, this the best W.A.S.P. album to date.
This compilation covers all the singles released by them since the
beginning plus
two new tracks, Sunset And Babylon and Rock And Roll To Death and shows
that
W.A.S.P. are not only about sex and abuse, but mostly about great melodic
heavy metal. I
hope, that Blackie will go on, keep making great music and prove the PMRC
wrong.
Rating: 8
Lestat
Sun Valley, 12 July, 1995
Tracks:
1. Animal (Fuck Like A Beast) 9. The Headless Children
2. L.O.V.E. Machine 10. Mean Man
3. I Wanna Be Somebody 11. Forever Free
4. On Your Knees 12. Chainsaw Charlie
5. Blind In Texas 13. The Idol
6. Wild Child 14. Sunset And Babylon
7. I Don't Need No Doctor 15. Hold On To My Heart
8. The Real Me 16. Rock And Roll To Death
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