SLAUGHTER – Stick It Live (Chrysalis EP, 1991)

Slaughter were hot on the heels of their self-titled debut with a quickie live EP.  They were on the road so long, they still touring while the EP came and went on the front racks of the record stores!  The band were on fire in 1990 and 91, and Stick It Live was necessary to satisfy demand for more Slaughter.  However…

I absolutely hate listening to a live album when you can hear two or three tracks simultaneously of the lead singer.  Here, you can hear several Mark Slaughters singing together at once. Come on, Slaughter. We’re not stupid. And the thing is, from seeing them live opening for Cinderella, I know they don’t need the overdubs. The review that I wrote for my school paper at the time said, “Mark Slaughter has proved that his high-pitched wail is not studio trickery.” Well, you can’t tell that by this live EP!

Take the opening track, “Burning Bridges”. At several points you can hear several Marks singing at once. Why was this done? Did the live recordings suck?  Was it because the record company forced it?  Or because it was the fashion at the time?  I dunno. A live album (or EP) is an historical document, so too many bands feel they have to make them “perfect”. When in reality, perfect should have been as-is.  Documentary style.  My favourite live albums are often bootleg quality.

“Eye To Eye” follows “Burning Bridges”, opening with some stupid Crue-esque spoken word bit about an “ancient book of wisdom” and other unrelated nonsense. It’s a shame because “Eye To Eye” was one of their best songs. Once the song gets going, it’s fine, but you can still hear two or three Marks on the pre-chorus.  From there it’s into rote versions of the two big singles, “Fly to the Angels” and “Up All Night”.  The set ends with a high octane “Loaded Gun”, their album closer as well.  One issue to the overall listening experience is that the songs fade in and out, which may or may not be to your taste.

One fascinating note:  Mark goes out of his way to tell the audience that “Fly to the Angels” was not about suicide because “it sucks”!  Judas Priest were fighting for the musical lives in their infamous “suicide trial”, and Ozzy Osbourne was dealing with similar accusations of promoting suicide to the young and vulnerable.  An interesting artefact of 1990-91.

2/5 stars. A pretty fine live set otherwise spoiled by the dreaded studio trickery.