Twisted Sister-Stay Hungry 25th anniversary edition

Rhino/Atlantic
2009



To say that this album had a major impact on me would be a gross understatement. Back in those early days I was eagerly absorbing any hard rock or metal that I get my hands on. Twisted Sister along with the likes of Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Judas Priest and others were some of the first bands that I was exposed to. I don't know if it was the raw sound or the silly anti-authority lyrics, the drag queens gone wrong look or a combination of all of those, but Twisted Sister just struck a nerve with me.Their first three albums are fine examples of edgy hard rock done with a lot enthusiasm and fire. "Stay Hungry" was the one that really sucked me in. I wore out at least two cassette copies of this back in the mid-1980's. I had a Twisted Sister poster taped to my wall and of course I scribbled TS symbols all over my book covers. My love for the band tapered off on the albums after this as the band failed to deliver a good follow-up. Now twenty-five years later we get this two disc anniversary edition of "Stay Hungry" which also comes just a few years after the band re-recorded the album as "Still Hungry". The first disc is a remastered version of the classic album. Truthfully I don't hear a great deal of difference in the sound, but that's okay because the material still holds up well. "We're not going to take it" is a fantastic anthem that has never gotten old to my ears. Songs like "S.M.F' and the title track still have that powerful bite that they always possessed. Tracks like the two part "Horror-Teria" and the always fantastic "Burn in hell" have a dark side to them and they work even today. "Don't let me down" would be my choice for most underrated song on this album. "The Price" really should have been a bigger hit than it was as it's a slow song done right with feeling rather than the kind of whiny sap that made up many of the hard rock ballads of the day. Now I do have to admit that "I wanna rock" doesn't sound as good to me as it did back then. I still like it, but it's merely decent. That leaves "The Beast" and it is the one song on this album that I have never cared for. It's rather dull, but the rest of the album makes up for it. A great album, but that's not all because we still have disc two which is full of demos and previously unreleased tracks. There are demos for five of the songs on "Stay Hungry" and they vary in quality. The one for the title track is solid and not far off from the final version while "We're not going to take it" sounds very rough and the band has yet to figure out the groove that really drives the completed version. Interesting to hear these tracks in their early stages. Then there are ten older unreleased songs that recorded while the band was making "Stay Hungry" back in late 1983. For whatever reason they were not picked for that album, but at least we get to hear them now. There are some real gems like "What's love without you" and "We're coming on". Actually most of these songs are good although some sound like they could have been fleshed out a little more. In hearing these it's a shame that Twisted Sister went so far off the mark on 1985's "Come out and play" when they had some fine material like these songs already done. The first of the last two entries is a "KMET radio spot" which is brief, but slightly amusing. The other is "30" which is the band's first new track in a long time. It has a bit of an older drive to it, but definitely the kind of simple gritty sound that helped define Twisted Sister back in their prime. Surprisingly better than I was expecting. It's not like I needed an excuse to listen to "Stay Hungry" again, but this is a great album and the second disc is sure to please fans of the band as well.