Twisted Sister-You can't stop rock and roll

Armoury
1983/1999/2011

Like many people I didn't get into Twisted Sister until Stay Hungry in 1984. I loved that album so much and played it over and over. Of course I wanted more so I sought out their two previous albums "Under the blade" and "You can't stop rock and roll. The debut "Under the blade" was a raw slab of hard rock with plenty of attitude. Their major label debut "You can't stop rock and roll" was a bit more polished, but also saw the band growing some as songwriters yet they still maintained their edge. One of the major type of songs that Twisted Sister would become know for is of course their anthems. There are some prime examples on this album with the stomping opener "The kids are back". The us against them attitude shows up in "I am, I'm me". The believe in yourself thinking dominates "We're gonna make it" and at this point in the band's career this song may have been a personal anthem for the band as they had been at it for years trying to get to "make it" in the music world. Other songs like "Ride to live, live to ride" and the mighty title track will have you singing along in no time. Originally released in 1983 by Atlantic this disc received a re-issue in 1999 on Spitfire records. That re-issue included three bonus tracks with the simple "One man woman", the fist pumping "Four barrel heart of love" and the adrenaline fueled "Feel the power". The problem with the re-issue was that it had the same production of the 1983 version. Although not bad it was shocking to put in the CD and still hear hissing at the beginning of "The kids are back" and the album as a whole didn't sound any better quality wise than the cassette version I was listening to some 15 years earlier. That was a shame because it deserved better. Fortunately someone else agreed as now Armoury has released a re-mastered version of the album with the same bonus tracks as the 1999 version. Now we can heard the classics in a much sharper version. Not all re-mastered versions improve the sound of an album as some show very little change and others strip the sound too much. On "You can't stop rock and roll" it's done right because the sound is clear, but the heaviness and the power is kept intact. A fine re-issue indeed.