Published on Mar 17, 2000
No disrespect is meant to Blackie Lawless, but was it really
necessary to bring out another “best-of” of W.A.S.P. at this time?
After all, it’s only been seven years since
First Blood… Last Cuts appeared on store shelves, and the
band has only added four new titles (one of which was a live disc)
to their catalog in the interim. Not to mention the fact that
Snapper Music recently re-issued the entire W.A.S.P. catalog up to
The Crimson Idol complete with bonus discs filled with
rarities.
Oh, well; if you’ve got a good thing going, I guess too much is
never enough. That said, enter the picture
The Best Of The Best Volume One: 1984-2000, the first
release from Lawless and crew since the band left CMC
International. Focusing on the balls-out approach to their music on
this part of the collection (the second volume, featuring the
“softer” side of W.A.S.P., is expected later this year), Lawless
gathers together 13 of the band’s killer tracks, along with two new
tracks.
Of the new tracks, it might surprise some people that Lawless
chooses to cover, of all people, Elton John on “Saturday Night’s
Alright For Fighting”. (Why not? W.A.S.P. has covered Mountain,
Uriah Heep and Led Zeppelin in the past.) What could have been a
mess turns out to be a wonderful new approach to the song that
stays faithful to the original song without sacrificing any of
W.A.S.P.’s power. Who knows? Sir Elton might even like this new
spin.
The other track, “Unreal,” sounds like it could have been a
leftover from the criminally-ignored
Helldorado CD – but unlike the tracks on that disc, this one
doesn’t quite have the magic that other W.A.S.P. songs have, and it
tends to fall a little flat. Why this track just doesn’t work for
me, I don’t know – and I’ve been trying to think of one concrete
reason for the last hour. (Damn – see if Blackie ever returns my
calls again.)
Let’s face it; if you’re interested in
The Best Of The Best Volume One: 1984-2000, chances are
you’ve already got most of this material in your collection. That
doesn’t mean it’s not fun to listen to again; I’ll never shirk from
the opportunity to listen to tracks like “Blind In Texas,” “Mean
Man,” “Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)” and “Chainsaw Charlie (Murders
In The New Morgue)” for the hundredth time. There’s something
special about W.A.S.P.’s music – namely, that it hasn’t lost a
single iota of its power or relevance, no matter when it was
recorded.
All of this being equal, there are noticable absences on this
disc – namely, the lack of material from
Still Not Black Enough and
K.F.D. (Admission: I have yet to listen to Still Not Black
Enough – both the American and British versions that I bought via
eBay.) I’m not saying that
Inside The Electric Circus – the only W.A.S.P. album I can’t
say I like – shouldn’t have been included here. But I think Lawless
is doing himself a disservice by not focusing on two albums that
some fans might not know exist. Geez,
Helldorado didn’t get a great promotion job, but two tracks
from it are featured.
This doesn’t mean that
The Best Of The Best Volume One: 1984-2000 isn’t a good
disc; hell, it’s a great disc. But in all fairness, I kinda miss
having a slower track thrown in from time to time to act as a
buffer from the constant assault. (Sorry, Blackie – but that’s
another thing I’ve always liked about W.A.S.P., namely you know
when to let the intensity slip in order for the audience to catch
their breaths.) Still, if you’ve gotta have one disc to be the
soundtrack to your road rage, this is a great one to slam into the
CD player.