W.A.S.P.

I very nearly blew it big time collecting W.A.S.P. CDs. I had all early releases on crappy vinyl, and figured I could upgrade at any time, la de da de dum...and suddenly, I come to discover, THEY'VE ALL GONE OUT OF PRINT!!! Dear God, was I kicking myself over that one (the debut album was still available on cassette, but yeah, like I'm gonna DOWNGRADE my collection here!) But then, I ran across their first 2 CDs used! Thank GOD!! The other stuff is still only available as super-expensive Japanese imports, but for now, I ain't sweatin' it....

...well, looks like I worried my pretty head for nothin'. Now I know why they were deleted -- to make room for the "remastered" (are they?) series, all with bonus tracks!! Heh, good thing I didn't waste my money on horribly overpriced imports, eh??

"W.A.S.P." (reissue w/ bonus tracks)

  1. "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)" (3:08)
  2. "I Wanna Be Somebody" (3:44)
  3. "L.O.V.E. Machine" (3:54)
  4. "The Flame" (3:40)
  5. "B.A.D." (3:57)
  6. "School Daze" (3:38)
  7. "Hellion" (3:39)
  8. "Sleeping (in the Fire)" (3:58)
  9. "On Your Knees" (3:51)
  10. "Tormentor" (4:15)
  11. "The Torture Never Stops" (3:56)
  12. "Show No Mercy" (3:48)
  13. "Paint It Black" (3:28)

When this album came out, back in 1984, it was the most outrageous thing out there. At first I hated them with a passion, and by happenstance suffered through TWO of their concerts (first with Helix and Krokus, and later opening for Iron Maiden)...but after a few listenings to "On Your Knees" and "L.O.V.E. Machine", I was hooked!...or racked, perhaps? :) "I Wanna Be Somebody" has been covered by Witchery.

The reissue contains their first "single", "Fuck Like a Beast"...no biggie, since I already have that on CD, but it *also* has the Rolling Stones cover "Paint it Black", which previously was only available on their "School Daze" crappy vinyl single...so that pretty much forced me to buy this CD a 2nd time just for that one song!

"The Last Command"

  1. "Wild Child" (5:12)
  2. "Ballcrusher" (3:25)
  3. "Fistful of Diamonds" (4:16)
  4. "Jack Action" (4:17)
  5. "Widowmaker" (5:20)
  6. "Blind in Texas" (4:20)
  7. "Cries in the Night" (3:41)
  8. "The Last Command" (4:10)
  9. "Running Wild in the Streets" (3:31)
  10. "Sex Drive" (3:02)

The band's second album was less shocking and graphic, and more humorous and naughty in tone. Several good songs here, but not their best material by far...

The reissue contains "Mississippi Queen" and "Savage", which I already have, plus a bunch of live tracks I could care less about...good thing, saves me from upgrading this one. :-)

"Inside the Electric Circus" (remaster w/ bonus tracks)

  1. "The Big Welcome" (1:21)
  2. "Inside the Electric Circus" (3:33)
  3. "I Don't Need No Doctor" (3:25)
  4. "9.5.-N.A.S.T.Y." (4:47)
  5. "Restless Gypsy" (4:59)
  6. "Shoot from the Hip" (4:38)
  7. "I'm Alive" (4:21)
  8. "Easy Living" (3:11)
  9. "Sweet Cheetah" (5:15)
  10. "Mantronic" (4:09)
  11. "King of Sodom and Gomorrah" (3:50)
  12. "The Rock Rolls On" (3:52)
  13. "Flesh and Fire" (4:38)
  14. "Douche Bag Blues" (3:22)

I'm not sure if I never listened to the crappy vinyl or if that experience was so painful I blocked it out of my memory. Regardless, this album just plain SUCKS. It's only saving grace is their cover of Uriah Heep's "Easy Living", which is actually quite good. The first couple songs are bearable, I suppose, but that's IT, I tell ya! This reissue import was a mere nine bucks...quite a bit less than the forty-dollar Japanese import that I actually considered buying. I shudder to think of that now.

"I Don't Need No Doctor" was originally done by Humble Pie (I think)...Great White has also covered it.

"Live...in the Raw" (remaster w/ bonus tracks)

  1. "Inside the Electric Circus" (4:31)
  2. "I Don't Need No Doctor" (3:39)
  3. "L.O.V.E. Machine" (4:27)
  4. "Wild Child" (6:01)
  5. "9.5.-N.A.S.T.Y." (5:10)
  6. "Sleeping (in the Fire)" (5:26)
  7. "The Manimal" (4:43)
  8. "I Wanna Be Somebody" (6:42)
  9. "Harder Faster" (7:19)
  10. "Blind in Texas" (5:40)
  11. "Scream Until You Like It (theme from Ghoulies II)"--studio track (3:25)
  12. "Shoot from the Hip" (5:14)
  13. "Widow Maker" (4:35)
  14. "Sex Drive" (3:41)
  15. "Sleeping (in the Fire)"--acoustic version, studio track (4:02)

The weirdest thing about this live album is that there are two non-album tracks here, "Manimal" and "Harder Faster". A pretty good set, since it focuses mainly on their "hits"...

"Animal (F**k Like a Beast)/Live...Animal"

  1. "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)" (3:07)
  2. "Show No Mercy" (3:38)
  3. "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)"--live (5:33)
  4. "Hellion"--live (4:50)
  5. "Mississippi Queen" (3:22)

The band's infamous first single (which was censored from their debut album), with their Live...Animal EP thrown in to boot. This CD came out when all their other CDs had gone out of print, so I bought it IMMEDIATELY to avoid screwing myself again! Of course, as I said earlier, I worried myself for nothing...damn cool cover art, though. :-)

There's another non-CD W.A.S.P. song called "Savage", which I was kicking myself over not buying (I think it was on the "Blind in Texas" single), but while building this homepage, discovered that I already own it, on the Nightmare on Elm Street 5 soundtrack! (It also appears on the Last Command reissue, along with the Live...Animal tracks.)

"The Headless Children" (remaster w/ bonus tracks)

  1. "The Heretic (The Lost Child)" (7:22)
  2. "The Real Me" (3:20)
  3. "The Headless Children" (5:46)
  4. "Thunderhead" (6:49)
  5. "Mean Man" (4:47)
  6. "The Neutron Bomber" (4:10)
  7. "Mephisto Waltz"--instrumental (1:28)
  8. "Forever Free" (5:08)
  9. "Maneater" (4:46)
  10. "Rebel in the F.D.G." (5:08)
  11. "Locomotive Breath" (2:59)
  12. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (3:47)
  13. "Lake of Fools" (5:32)
  14. "War Cry" (5:33)
  15. "L.O.V.E. Machine"--live at Hammersmith '89 (4:48)
  16. "Blind in Texas"--live at Hammersmith '89 (6:52)

This was the album where Blackie Lawless & crew decided to dispense with the blood 'n' razor blades and turn socially conscious. Quite a change in musical direction, and pretty damn good overall ("Thunderhead", a song about heroin addiction, is probably the best song they've ever done.) "The Real Me" was originally by The Who. Frankie Banali of Quiet Riot plays drums here, but not as an official member of the member. Ken Hensley (of Uriah Heep fame) adds some moody organ chords here and there.

The remaster contains a gang of bonus tracks, the most notable one being "Locomotive Breath"...yes, the Jethro Tull song! ("For Whom the Bell Tolls" is NOT the Metallica song, however!)

"Still Not Black Enough"

  1. "Still Not Black Enough" (4:02)
  2. "Skinwalker" (4:00)
  3. "Black Forever" (3:17)
  4. "Scared to Death" (5:03)
  5. "Goodbye America" (4:46)
  6. "Somebody to Love" (2:52)
  7. "Keep Holding On" (4:04)
  8. "Rock and Roll to Death" (3:45)
  9. "I Can't" (3:07)
  10. "No Way Out of Here" (3:40)
  11. "One Tribe" (4:59)
  12. "Tie Your Mother Down" (3:39)
  13. "Whole Lotta Rosie" (4:00)

I pretty much stopped following the band after Headless Children, but this one caught my eye because of the large number of cover songs (which W.A.S.P. has been unusually good at.) "Somebody to Love" (the Jefferson Airplane song, of course) is excellent, and "Tie Your Mother Down" (the Queen song) is okay. "Whole Lotta Rosie", on the other hand, is even more annoying than the AC/DC version (never thought it possible!) I suppose "One Tribe" is a cover as well, but I have no idea who it was by originally. The original songs are rather uninteresting.

Previous Band Back to Index Next Band