Published on Oct 22, 1999
For Blackie Lawless, the writing and recording of
The Crimson Idol was an emotional purge that I don’t think
he expected would be as powerful as it was. One can’t help but
listen to this album and compare it to a work like The Who’s
Tommy (in fact, Lawless saves thanks in the liner notes for
one Pete Townshend), only this portrait is an even darker one than
The Who could have thought of.
I didn’t get the message of
The Crimson Idol the first time I listened to it a few years
ago – but having gone through the entire W.A.S.P. discography up to
this album, I now can appreciate what led Lawless to the tale of
Jonathan that is told in these 10 songs. Now released as a double
CD,
The Crimson Idol adds lots – both good and bad – to a story
that some claim is W.A.S.P.’s best album ever.
First, I might as well get the potential flame mail going: I
still do not think that
The Crimson Idol is W.A.S.P.’s best work. I’ll save that
title for
The Last Command, with a close runner-up being the group’s
overlooked recent release
Helldorado. But by no means do I think
The Crimson Idol is a bad album; if anything, it has grown
on me over the years to the point where I think I’d have a
difficult time pulling this one out of the CD player’s
rotation.
The story revolves around Jonathan, a young man who is seen as
the “black sheep” of his family. He both looks up to and despises
his parents, and the only light of hope in his world – his older
brother – is taken from him thanks to a drunk driver. Even more
isolated than before, Jonathan runs away from home and falls into
the traps of drugs and alcohol before discovering the key to making
a name for himself: music. However, the success only leads to more
excesses and, upon the breakup of a Caligula-like party, more
isolation. He reaches out to the parents he ran away from, hoping
they will accept him as the success he’s become – only to be
crushed when they reject his attempt to reach out to them. Whether
Jonathan commits suicide or not at the end of the story is for each
listener to decide.
Musically,
The Crimson Idol features Lawless and a skeleton crew at
their angriest and at their most introspective. Gone is long-time
guitarist Chris Holmes, and with a few exceptions, Lawless himself
handles a good portion of the instrumentation. And while this is a
solid effort, I can’t help but miss the bite of Holmes’s guitar
work; Bob Kulick is good, but his work does lack something.
Some of these songs, if they catch you in the right mood, will
be heartbreakers. “Hold On To My Heart,” “The Idol” and “The Great
Misconceptions Of Me” all are tracks that will get you thinking.
“Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue)” is one of W.A.S.P.’s
best songs ever – and one strong indictment against certain record
company executives. Ka-pow.
The bonus material starts with Lawless’s narration of “The Story
Of Jonathan,” which is also printed in the booklet. Frankly,
hearing Lawless tell the tale adds more power to the story than
just seeing the printed word, and is a well-spent 16 minutes. The
two b-sides that were apparently left out of the original story,
“Phantoms In The Mirror” and “The Eulogy,” both flesh out the story
and seem to suggest what Jonathan’s fate really was.
It is the bonus material that contains some of the surprising
moments, as well as the frustrations. Let’s talk about the
frustrations first. I don’t know if this problem has been
rectified, but there are several occasions during the live
performances where the sound completely drops out for two to three
seconds. If this wasn’t enough (bad enough it happens
once, for God’s sake), the start of “The Invisible Boy”
sounds like a tape machine was started out of fast-forward. I mean,
I can’t believe any label would put out shit like this – and I’m
positive the original source material isn’t to blame. Whoever
okayed this should be hung by their manhood, ’cause there’s no
fucking excuse for any CD to go out like this in the digital age.
‘Nuff said.
While all the W.A.S.P. discs have had bonus material slapped
onto them, it’s on The Crimson Idol that it reaches a pinnacle,
turning it into a 2-CD set. The funny thing is, every added on
track is must-listen material. From the almost note-for-note cover
of Led Zeppelin’s “When The Levee Breaks” to the acoustic
renditions of “The Idol” and “Hold On To My Heart,” Lawless and
crew simply amaze the listener. The live tracks recorded at
Donnington in 1992 (and the source of most of said problems) are
also fun to listen to, although one wonders if they were really
needed with the promise of a live album (
Double Live Assassins) on the horizon of this disc’s
original release.
If you already own
The Crimson Idol, you’ll definitely want to retire your copy
and pick the double-CD set up, sonic warts and all. If you’ve never
owned it before, you will want to experience this tale, even though
it’s so powerful that you might be scared to listen to it more than
once.