Twisted Sister-Club Daze: Volume 1 The studio sessions

Armoury
1999/2011

Many people didn't get into Twisted Sister until the mid-80's when they briefly became a household name due their anthems and crazy videos. Sometimes it's easy to forget that they spent nearly a decade playing in clubs in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut before finally getting a break and releasing "Under the blade" in 1982. This album is a collection of songs the band played back in the late 1970's-early 1980's while they were cutting their teeth and establishing themselves as one of the wildest club bands in their area. The band began in 1973 bringing in elements of glam, hard rock and early punk rock. In 1976 Dee Snyder joined and helped elevate the glam elements in the band despite the changes in the music climate around them. Many of the songs on here are from 1978 and represent a variety of styles. "Come back" is huge thumping rocker with a lot of power behind it. "Rock-n-roll saviors" has an early Judas Priest feel to the music and the lyrics are all about supporting our beloved rock music and pushing past the hated trend of disco. "High steppin' is a push groove-infused trip that bounces along and has a very live feel to it. By 1979 Mark Mendoza replaced Kenny Neill on bass and the line-up was getting closer to the one that most us would know. The tracks from 1979 include a version of "Leader of the pack" that is much more raw than the one that would doom this band when they chose to release it as a single in 1985. There is also and early version of "Under the blade" that shows they had this song about down three years before it became the title track for their debut LP. The real on here is "I'll never grow up now". I first heard this song when it was added as a bonus track on the 1985 re-mixed version of "Under the blade". Having been recorded in 1979 this could be considered a blue print for late anthems like "I am, I'm me" and "We're not gonna take it". However I would say for Twisted Sister that "I'll never grow up now" is the big daddy of anthems because it really is that good. It also makes me think it's shame the band couldn't have gotten signed sooner than they did. This album has plenty of early band pictures in the booklet plus noted from Dee and Jay Jay about their influences and ideas behind the songs on this collection. Twisted Sister fans are sure to be pleased by this one.