heavy metal

REVIEW: sHEAVY – The Electric Sleep (1998)

sHEAVY – The Electric Sleep (1998 Rise Against Records)

Last time, we talked about the “moment of epiphany” when I first heard this band. This is my favourite album by Sheavy, choice band from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Electric Sleep is an intense listen, throbbing and bottom-heavy, but it’s especially striking for its similarity to early Black Sabbath. My buddy Tom often said that this seemed like it should have been the next Sabbath album, as if Ozzy never left in 1979. I disagreed, as I found it to be more the mold of earlier period Sabbath. It doesn’t matter; if hearing a band that sounds pretty much exactly like the original Black Sabbath offends you in any way, then don’t listen to Sheavy.

The album opens with “Virtual Machine”, and Steve Hennessey’s distorted computerized yowl is mesmerizing. The riff detonates, it’s a keeper, and Sheavy have kicked me in the buttocks with the first track. “Velvet” abruptly changes the landscape to something more acoustic, atmospheric. A Sabbath analog would be a song like “Solitude”, for example. But then “Destiny’s Rainbow” arrives to kick your posterior again once you’re getting too comfortable.

“Electric Sleep”, the title track, recalls “Hand of Doom” from Paranoid. “Born In A Daze” has a groovier feel. You know how Sabbath kind of got a bit groovier on Never Say Die? Songs like “Junior’s Eyes”? Maybe Tom’s right, and maybe this album does sound like a followup to Never Say Die at times.

My favourite song is the stormy “Automaton”. This one actually reminds me of early Queensryche lyrically, when they were still singing about computers and robots and other cool stuff:

If all the secrets they’ve been hoping to find,
Unlock the programs buried deep in my mind,
And am I human or just a robot slave?
They sent me here so their world I could save, yeah-ahh!

Musically, “Automaton” is also the least Sabbath-like. The riff is swift, stout and precise, but not very Iommi, which is fine. And there’s a cool slide guitar hook that recurs in the song which helps give it a unique sound. This one’s a winner: my favourite Sheavy song, period.

That’s a hard act to follow, but Sheavy do so with the mournful “Savannah…Flights of Ecstasy”. In his best vintage Ozzy delivery, Hennessey laments the loss of someone close:

She forgot to breathe,
She forgot it was make believe,
Can’t avoid her eyes,
Never cared for long goodbyes.

If I had to compare this to a Black Sabbath song, it would actually be “Lonely Is the Word”, from Heaven and Hell. Hennessey’s Ozzy stylings aside, musically this has the same kind of vibe…until it gets heavy and riffy close to the end. Then suddenly it’s Vol. 4.

“Saving Me” gets the heads banging, but “Oracle” is something else. Beginning with a didgeridoo (an instrument that Black Sabbath definitely never used), it’s obvious that this song is a carbon copy of “Black Sabbath” itself. The riff is the same “devil’s triad”. Throw in some cool Jimmy Page “Dazed and Confused” wah-wah guitar licks on top and you have an idea of what this mash-up sounds like.

The album closes with “Stardust” and “Last Parade”, a duo of heaviness 15 minutes in length total. “Stardust” itself is loaded with guitars, no less than eight players are credited on it!

I think if this album wasn’t so derivative of the original Black Sabbath, it would be worth 4.5 stars due to the sheer quality. However, I think I have to knock off half a point simply because you can play “name that Sabbath song” for several tracks. Although Uncle Meat says the same is true for moments of Black Sabbath’s new album 13, I’m going to give Sheavy…

4/5 stars

Part 204: An Introduction to sHEAVY

sHEAVY_0002

Back then in the olden days, you were actually expected to type that whole url into your browser!

RECORD STORE TALES Part 204: An Introduction to sHEAVY

MARCH, 2000. Saturday night. One of our store owners was throwing a house party. Tom, being the usual musical selector at parties, put a cassette on for me. He rewound to the beginning and hit “play”.

“Mike,” he said, wild-eyed with excitement. “One of my customers gave me this tape. It’s the new Ozzy. It’s not out yet. This is a bootleg copy.”

This intense, guitar heavy distortion faded in. The voice, also distorted and processed, was a dead ringer for a young Ozzy!

“Ozzy’s singing great, isn’t he?” Tom inquired mischievously.

“That’s not Zakk Wylde on guitar,” I retorted. “I’d know if it was Zakk, and that guy’s not Zakk.”

Tom faltered. “That’s, uhhh, the new guy.”

I called bullshit. “This isn’t Ozzy. It sounds a hell of a lot like early Sabbath, and it’s really good, but it’s not Ozzy.”

“Fuck!” Tom spat out. “I can’t believe you got it so fast. When I heard it, I truly thought it was new Ozzy at first. At least the way the new Ozzy should be, you know what I mean? Hear all that fuckin’ Sabbath going on there?”

I did indeed hear all the Sabbath going on. In fact, of all the bands that people hyped to me as being “Sabbath-y”, this band came closest.

The band is from St John’s, Canada, and they are called Sheavy. They kicked serious ass. The album we were listening to was 1998’s The Electric Sleep. The song: “Virtual Machine”. Often found on many bit torrent sites as a “lost” Black Sabbath reunion song. It is not. It is Sheavy, and that’s how close they nail the vintage Black Sabbath sound.

sHEAVY_0003 The singer is a fellow named Steve Hennessey, and according to the CD booklet, he once had an audition with Tony Iommi and Black Sabbath’s then-producer, Bob Marlette! What could that have been for? An Iommi solo album, or Sabbath itself? The CD doesn’t reveal. “Special thanks to Tony Iommi, Bob Marlette, Ralph Baker and Paul Loasby for the audition and an experience I will never forget,” is all it says! He nails every inflection that Ozzy used to do, it’s that uncanny.

I marveled at the music, and decided to buy it the next day. I ordered it from Amazon along with Jalamanta, the first solo album from then-Fu Manchu drummer Brant Bjork. (Even though I worked in a record store, there was no point in trying to order obscurities like these through our supplier.) When they arrived, I was blown away by both. I occasionally brought Sheavy to the store to play at work, and many people asked if this was the new Sabbath or the new Ozzy. “Nope,” I’d say. “This is a band from Newfoundland and Labrador called Sheavy. They’re awesome.”

Unfortunately for a Canadian band, their albums were really hard to find! A little while later, I picked up the next album, Celestial Hi-Fi, on Japanese import, from HMV. The bonus track “Nine December” is an asskicker that made it worth the extra cash. They’re just an awesome band, and they grew past the Sabbath-clone tag after a couple albums. Unfortunately, toiling away in relative obscurity for almost 20 years has taken its toll, and the band’s future is uncertain. For that reason I’m grateful they’ve left many great albums behind.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at The Electric Sleep in a detailed review. Check back soon.

GUEST REVIEW: Black Sabbath – 13 (by Uncle Meat)

Uncle Meat is back to tell us about the new Sabbath — the standard 8 track retail version. When I get the deluxe and Best Buy editions, I’ll do my own. Until then, please welcome Uncle Meat for his insightful take on one of the most anticipated albums of the last 33 years.

BLACK SABBATH – 13 (2013 Universal)

What is your favorite Black Sabbath album? How many times do you think that question has been asked over the last 30 years or so? Before today, I would have said my personal favorite would be a tie between Volume 4 and Heaven and Hell (cop-out answer I know). Expectedly, that has not changed after listening to the long-anticipated “reunion” album simply titled 13. There is a case to be made that this is one of the most anticipated albums of all time. So does this album live up to that hype?

The true answer to that question lies within you as the listener of course. Personally, I always find that something truly great will build momentum with every listen. With that in mind, my first listen to 13 was one of pleasant surprise. It has been a long time since Black Sabbath (or Heaven & Hell for that matter) has released something that I have connected with. Even Dehumanizer, which I believe to be the last relevant Sabbath album, went in a direction that was not really what I wanted to hear from Black Sabbath. My theory is that with Dehumanizer, they were trying to “reclaim the throne” so to speak. Being overly heavy just for the sake of being heavy, and losing the diversity and groove that made them true rock royalty. It appears Rick Rubin has brought back at least some of that old Black Sabbath magic.

Rick Rubin’s legacy is almost as iconic as Black Sabbath themselves. He has been responsible for the re-birth of several artists such as Slayer, Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash et al. The first thing that struck me about 13 was the bass sound. Geezer has never sounded better and is hot in the mix, complimenting and adding to every track. I also really like Tony Iommi’s guitar sound on this album. More than a few times I found myself reminded of that classic Iommi riff sound. Brad Wilk’s drums are great, and this could be nit-picking, but there is no doubt that Ward’s drum style is missed here on a few tracks. Even Ozzy gets a passing grade here but I suspect that has a lot more to do with Rubin rather than a resurgence of Ozzy’s voice. I was pleasantly surprised as well by the vocal melody lines on the album as a whole.

TRACK 1 – “END OF THE BEGINNING”

The guitar parts in the verses paint an almost too-reminiscent picture of Black Sabbath‘s “Black Sabbath”. But overall this track is strong throughout its 8:07 running time. Definitely a great start to the album. Ozzy hits some notes at the end of this song that I find hard to believe even came out of the man. Steroids?

TRACK 2 – “GOD IS DEAD?”

I was not thrilled about this song when it was released prior. Not that I dislike this song, just nothing special here to me. Next.

TRACK 3 – “LONER”

Good track. They are somewhat ripping themselves off here to be honest, and that’s OK ’cause every band with longevity does it to an extent. Main riff is VERY reminiscent of “N.I.B.”, and also Ozzy’s “Alright now” and “Come on, Yeah!” made me genuinely smile. Anyone remember Barry Horowitz? Patting himself on the back?

TRACK 4 – “ZEITGEIST”

More self-pilfering, this is the the “Planet Caravan” of the album. Don’t particularly like that song to begin with. There are more strong vocals from The Madman here though. But, still glad it’s the shortest song on the album (4:37).

TRACK 5 –”AGE OF REASON”

This track is in a tie right now with upcoming Track 7 (oh the drama!) as my favorite tune on the album. Not only are the best riffs of the album on this song, I found myself loving the progressions here. They remind me of the diverse song-writing on Sabotage, for example. “Age of Reason” also contains a CLASSIC Tony Iommi solo. This cannot be under-stated. One kick-ass monster Tony Iommi solo!

TRACK 6 – “LIVE FOREVER”

The second shortest track on the album at 4:49, this is a good little song; and a great main riff on this track. Very reminiscent of one of my favorite Sabbath songs, “Cornucopia” and even Brad Wilk seems to channel some Bill Ward in the open crash cymbal playing on this song.

TRACK 7 – “DAMAGED SOUL”

This is what we have been waiting for. This is Sabbath being Sabbath better than all the bands that try, intentionally or un-intentionally, to be Sabbath. [Wait until you see tomorrow’s story — LeBrain] This is what I want from my Black Sabbath. Doom meets gloom meets the blues. There is something wonderfully sloppy about the guitar on this song. Like a cross between Iommi and Keith Richards. We even get some Ozzy harmonica in there. Love the bridge in this song and the harmony vocals that come with it. The last third of this song is just lovely. Yes… I said lovely. Check it out. I must take back a proclamation made earlier in this review. This is my favorite track on the album. It’s that simple.

TRACK 8 – “DEAR FATHER”

The last track on the album is solid. Once again there are some great drums on this song. It builds momentum as well, getting more majestic as it goes along. The last track on the album has a very fitting ending. The track ends with the thunder, rain and tolling of the bell that started off their very first album 43 years ago.

The bottom line is this: Black Sabbath have released a very relevant album in 2013. I had my doubts if that was possible, and I am sure the presence of Rick Rubin was a big part of this being a very good if not great album. Even without Bill Ward, there is life and inspiration within 13. I find the ending of this album (hopefully) very fitting. They have made an album which will be rightly recognized as something special, and this should be the end for Black Sabbath. A glorious end indeed.

A solid 3 ¼ / 5 stars

Look for Mike Ladano’s upcoming review of the super duper extra-special royale deluxe version … containing several more tracks … coming soon.

Uncle Meat

REVIEW: Whitesnake – Forevermore (2011)

This has become a bit of a series I guess, unintentionally! Here are my Whitesnake reviews thus far:

Snakebite – Come An’ Get It – Slide It In – Live at Donnington – Good to be Bad

WHITESNAKE – Forevermore (2011 deluxe edition, Frontiers)

Considering that this band has housed such monster players as Steve Vai and John Sykes among many others, I take great risk with my opening statement, but here goes: I think Forevermore, the newest album by Whitesnake, is the most guitar-heavy of their entire career. Indeed, on first listen, one is blown away by the extremely well recorded antics of Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich. These guys can wail.

And wail they do, the opener “Steal Your Heart Away” (not to be confused with “Steal Away” from Snakebite) just roars with bluesy chords, fast fretwork, and slippery slides. The guitars are greasy! And that’s just the opening track.

FOREVERMORE_0004 You can definitely hear an urge from Coverdale and Co. to keep everything loosely based on the origins of Whitesnake. You get a lot of bluesy rock, a lot of soul singing from one of the best there is, and some serious groove. On the whole, this album sounds like a growth from the last album, the solid but safe Good To Be Bad. Good To Be Bad was a decent album, but very “safe”. It did not stray much if at all from the classic Whitesnake 1987 sound, complete with guitar solos from the John Sykes School of Axe Wizardry. Now Whitesnake are stretching out more, and dropping a lot of the Sykes-isms. If the last album was a debut album of sorts, this one definitely sounds like the more confident second album.

David is singing great. His voice is as marvelously rich as it was on the Coverdale-Page album back in 1993. And speaking of Coverdale-Page, some of these songs definitely bring that great album to mind.

The only thing that I really don’t like about Whitesnake today are the lyrics. David’s a capable lyricist, and songs like the oldie “Sailing Ships” are really well written. When David, at his current age, starts singing about girls that way that he sings about girls, I feel mildly queezy inside. But then, on the album closer “Forevermore”, David returns to his philosophical lyrical side, a side I prefer. (And it’s a great song.)

It is what it is, and musically this is just a freakin’ great album. My current fave track is “All Out Of Luck” which sports this nifty space age blues metal riff. You will find your own favourites too. Fans of both 70’s and 80’s ‘Snake should find something to enjoy here.

FOREVERMORE_0003

There’s a bonus DVD: A music video, some making-ofs, and a track by track commentary by DC himself.

There are bonus tracks on my “deluxe edition”, all remixes and alternate versions. Just a nice bonus, not essential for the enjoyment of this album. The “Evil Drums” mix of “My Evil Ways” is a little crazy. Of note, Japan also got an exclusive bonus of their own, a “Swamp Mix” of “Whipping Boy Blues”. Like our bonus tracks, it’s just a bonus, not essential to the flavour of the album. Track it down if you’re a collector. I’ve heard it, it’s cool.

4.5/5 stars

FOREVERMORE_0002

WTF SEARCH TERMS: “Runny James Dio”

WTF SEARCH TERMS Part II: “Runny James Dio”

Welcome to the second installment of WTF Search Terms. If you missed the first one, click here. If you didn’t, then remember these two things:

1. Each of these are real search terms, typed in by real people on a search engine like Google.

2. Somehow, each of these search terms led them to ME!

So here’s 10 more for this installment!

A week isn’t a week unless I get hits from people looking for stuff like this. I’m still assuming that people don’t know how to spell the word “lesbian”.

lebrain sex

lebrani nude 1

Here’s a good one:

why is here i go again not on reissue of slide it in

Because it’s not on Slide It In. It’s on 1987, sillypants.

This guy can’t spell the singer’s name, nor the name of the site he’s looking for.

you too runny james dio neon nights

Here’s a selection that led people to some of my Kiss reviews:

just how bad is peter criss’ ’78 solo album?

was peter criss’ ’78 solo album really that bad

why did paul feel unwanted and alone in the carnival

patty stanley stripper

jean simmons with a moustache

And finally, if this guy had his way, we’d all be speaking Anglesh:

hmv dvd prices iron maiden maiden anglend

See you next time for more WTFs!

Part 203: Bitchin’ About Staff Meetings

RECORD STORE TALES Part 203: Staff Meetings

I used to enjoy staff meetings. When we were a small chain, we’d gather all the employees up after work at one of the larger locations. If memory serves (and Lord knows we’re talking about 18 years ago now), the boss even brought a case of beer to the first one. We’d go over ideas, improvements, problems, shoot the shit, it was informal and it was great! It was one of the only times we’d have everybody together in one room.

As we expanded, that became impractical. We started having meetings with just the managers. These were a bit more serious in nature, sometimes heated, but we held them at a restaurant. The boss would pay for everybody’s beer and food, which was really cool. We’d have a good time, it was for social purposes as well as practical. We usually held these “Manager’s Meetings” in the closest East Side Mario’s. Decent, not the greatest food in the world, but I liked it.

It’s a shame this wasn’t the 1980’s. Then we could have had the meetings at a place like Mother’s Pizza! Mother’s Pizza was the best pizza place in town. I went there for every birthday. It was co-owned by Ernie Whitt, the catcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. Later on, Cito Gaston bought in as well. Mother’s. Now that was a pizza.*

Ahem. Sorry. I tend to lose my train of thought when I talk about food.

We’d mess with each other. I remember my boss had one pen that he just loved. Loved it. Freaked out when he misplaced it. He’d run around the store yelling “WHERE MY PEN!” in a funny voice. So somebody sneakily stole his pen just before the staff meeting.

We went to Mario’s for the meet. Upon arrival, he complained a bit about misplacing his pen, but got on to business. A short while later, one of the store managers was casually writing with it, nonchalant. His pen. His precious…waiting for him to notice it in someone else’s hands.

Suddenly, he saw. He pointed. “MY PEN! MY PEN! YOU HAVE MY PEN!” he yelled in that funny voice again. Kids at the table next to us stared, wondering who this guy was!

Yeah, those were good times. But as George Harrison said, all things must pass. I’ve talked before about “The Great Change”, when CD sales started to slump. Budgets got tighter, things got more serious. Staff meetings were moved to a stuffy boardroom in the back of one of our stores. We started receiving extensive emails with the “minutes” from the meeting, the mind-numbing minutiae. This was a long way from beer and pizza. The atmosphere was dour and the meetings sometimes dragged on for 2 hours.

After the meetings, I’d sometimes shoot the shit with one or two of the other store managers.

“What was that?” I would say. “I could have said all that in one email!”

“Was there anything said in that meeting that couldn’t have been covered in one email?” someone asked rhetorically.

It was at one of these staff meetings that Joe dubbed me with the nickname Señor Spielbergo because of my thick beard. But in the later days, that was one of the few moments of levity. For me these meetings were just a stagnant waste of time. Hours upon hours of time that I’ll never get back.

* I hear they opened a new Mother’s Pizza in Hamilton. Maybe, for future record store kids, the dream of a staff meeting at Mother’s Pizza is alive again? I hope so.

NEXT TIME ON RECORD STORE TALES…

Fuckin’ sHEAVY!

REVIEW: Fight – A Small Deadly Space (1995)

Part 3 of a miniseries on Rob Halford’s solo career! Missed the last part, Mutations? Click here!

FIGHT – A Small Deadly Space (1995 Epic)

Russ Parrish was out, and in came youngster Mark Chaussee. This change negated one thing I loved about Fight, which was the interplay between two different guitar players. Chausee and Tilse are too similar in tone, and so the followup album A Small Deadly Space renders me deaf if I try to listen to it in one sitting. The mix on this album bothers me, it has so much bottom end, but then not enough on top to balance it. I don’t like the vocal effects that reduce the power of Rob’s voice. Halford doesn’t scream much on A Small Deadly Space.

The songs are powerful enough, and this time Rob is writing with his bandmates. The opener “I Am Alive” is slow and massive, unlike anything on War of Words. “Mouthpiece” is different yet again, with a slippery riff and an accelerated pace. “Blowout in the Radio Room” is actually psychedelic metal. Halford sings about how music gets him high, and goes for a tripping druggy sonic assault. The guitar solos are straight out of the Hendrixian Book of Knowledge, it’s just great. “Never Again” is one of the few moments of Halford screams, and it’s like an injection of adrenaline! This is a Priest-quality album track.

I still think of CDs in terms of being albums, of having a “side one” and a “side two”, and to me this sounds like a natural break between two album sides. I like side one, but side two wears on me. The title track has a wicked wicked cool sounding guitar solo, but it’s just one lick that repeats four times. Typical 90’s simplicity. Then there’s “Gretna Greene”. The lyrical matter is that of abuse, but unfortunately this very important subject is relegated to the back seat by the title of the song. Yes, it’s an O.J. Simpson trial reference. That wouldn’t matter so much if the music stood up, but this song is pretty boring. They stay that way until “Human Crate”, which is slower but a really cool song with powerful vocals. The album ends with a ballad, “In A World of My Own Making”. For the first two minutes it’s just a piano, and Rob. It’s a side of Halford rarely heard. Then the band comes in, and it becomes a slant on “Beyond the Realms of Death”. Except…with flat sounding drums and brittle guitars.

But that’s not all, there’s also the super hard to find secret bonus track, “Psycho Suicide”. It’s noisy and tuneless, but it sure is heavy, and I kinda like it.

So, I think I’ve been clear that I’m not a fan of the mix of this CD. A Small Deadly Space was remixed as part of the 2008 Into the Pit box set. As I get along in this series of reviews, I’ll revisit that box set and see if this album makes a new impression on me.

For now?

2.8/5 stars

Part 202: Smoking Makes You Impotent

Be sure to “LIKE” the LeBrain Facebook page!

RECORD STORE TALES Part 202: Smoking Makes You Impotent

My journal is full of interesting characters that I met daily at the record store.

Date: 2004/05/21

[Co-worker] was coming in from having a cigarette outside. I was inside helping customers.

A funny little old lady asked if peanut butter was good for fixing CDs. I explained that your laser cannot read through peanut butter.

Then she told [Co-worker] that smoking made you impotent. [Co-worker] said thank you.

There are times I do miss it — but not too much. Never will you meet more interesting characters then while serving the public!

Part 201: Warren

RECORD STORE TALES Part 201: Warren

Trevor told me about Warren first. “He’s a big guy,” he said, “With big, blonde Sammy Hagar hair and glasses. Nice though. He was friends with my mom when I was growing up. I used to call him Wookiee!”

Warren was bringing in some promo CDs to sell, and Trevor was giving me a heads up and asked me to treat him right. Warren is a fan of a lot of the same musicians I am (guys like Ritchie Blackmore and Steve Morse) but his passion was bass. His favourite bassist was Chris Squire of Yes. So obviously Warren and I were going to get along. We did, and he frequently came to me as his first stop for selling music, buying music, and making conversation.

Warren was trying to do a few music magazines. He originally worked on a country music mag, but that wasn’t his thing and soon he started up Global Bass Online. Warren needed help with some of the interviews. He was really excited to be speaking to Victor Wooten, but he needed someone to interview Eddie Jackson, from Queensryche. Queensryche were promoting their new CD and DVD, Live Evolution. Warren gave me copies of each, and asked if I wanted to write the Jackson piece.

“Are you kidding?” I said, stunned. “You want me to talk to Edbass?”

A pause from Warren. “Who?”

“Edbass,” I replied. “That’s how Eddie Jackson credits himself on the album.”

“Oh!” said Warren. “Yes, Eddie Jackson. I know you can do it. Here’s a cassette deck you can plug into your phone. And here’s Eddie’s cell phone number. He’s expecting your call, he knows what’s going on.”

Wow. Eddie Jackson was expecting my call. Cool.

Warren and I collaborated on some initial bass-related questions, but he left the rest up to me. He gave me tips, but told me that I was a good conversationalist and that I would be fine.

I called up Eddie that night, keeping in mind that Seattle was 3 hours behind us. Eddie answered, we had a brief chat and set up an hour the following day to do the interview.

The results of my very first interview are still there in the November 2001 installment of Global Bass!

Warren ended up following his dream and moving to paradise (Switzerland). And we still keep in touch. And maybe I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now if it wasn’t for his confidence.

The full, transcribed text of the Eddie Jackson interview can be found by clicking here.

Next time on Record Store Tales…

You meet the most interesting people!

REVIEW: Twisted Sister – “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (12″ single)

This is the third review from the The Toronto Musical Collectibles Record & CD Sale! Wes bought me this 12″ single, which was real nice of him. So for Wes, here’s the review!

For the last review in this series, click here.

TWISTED SISTER – “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (1984 Atlantic single)

I’ll skip the formalities, and I won’t be discussing the single A-side. What is understood need not be discussed. On the off chance that you spent your youth in Antarctica, here’s the very clever and original music video (later ripped off by Michael Jackson for his own “Black or White”).

The B-sides are three of Twisted’s all time best, recorded live, and unreleased on CD to date. All three are classics from You Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’ Roll: “The Kids are Back”, “We’re Gonna Make It”, and the album’s title track. These were recorded live in Poughkeepsie, New York. Although it seems odd, Dee’s usual spoken opening, “We are Twisted fuckin’ Sister” skipped the expletive. I’m not sure if it’s edited out or not, for the release of this single.

As far as a single side of Twisted onslaught goes, I don’t know if you could have selected three better songs. The performances are typical live Sister; fast and reckless. In other words, perfect. The live tracks were co-produced by bassist Mark “The Animal” Mendoza so you know that the band at least had their hands in the mix, too.

Another cool fact: neither “The Kids are Back” nor “We’re Gonna Make It” are on the Live at the Marquee CD, minimizing overlap with that later release. They were recorded within the same time frame, so the band is in similar ferocious shape to that great live album.