Twisted Sister

Well, Twisted Sister has now released this album several times. There was the original release, the 2004 re-recording, and now this, the 2009 "25th Anniversary" version, not to mention a plain remastering somewhere else along the line (forget when that came out). Since Twisted Sister got back together, they've done nothing else other than re-hash their old material. This is the last straw. They have to record a new album or stop. There's nothing left to re-release.

That said, it does kind of validate to me my remarks on the "Still Hungry" release saying that there was nothing wrong with the original 1984 version of this album. This version is cleaned up, and has some more power that the original version didn't have, yet still being the same as the original, unlike Still Hungry which wasn't a straight re-recording. The music on the original album is still as good as it was in 1984, which was right after I graduated high school - most of my "metal" from that era doesn't hold up as well (Ratt springs to mind). But this does.

This 25th Anniversary Edition has the original album, plus a second disc made up of a bunch of demos and whatnot from the original sessions. Those things are good as a novelty. You listen to 'em once or twice, then generally never again. There is, however one new track for this release, that being a studio track called "30", which looks back on the history of the band - somewhat. That's more evident in the video for the song, which I've embedded below. The 30 track is quite good, and dwarfs the entire Disc 2 in quality. Almost makes me wish they had stuck 30 on Disc 1, and dumped Disc 2.

Stay Hungry is still a really good album. This is probably for Twisted Sister hardcores only, or people who for some reason never bought the original. The second disc is a throw away, IMO, except for the new song, which is pretty good. Makes me wish they'd record a full album of new material something Twisted Sister hasn't done since 1987. It's a long time overdue.

A note though. I got this the day after it came out, and found Disc 1 sounded "flat". It didn't sound improved at all. Found out a few days alter that there was a printing error that affected all of the Disc 1's that went out. There was a message on the Twisted Sister website which game instructions on how to obtain a replacement disc, properly pressed. I had to go through that - so if you buy it, and Disc 1 sounds odd, you might have one of the defective ones. They said they were doing a recall, but I have to think some of the bad ones are still floating around out there.

The second, and supposedly final, recording by Twisted Sister after they reunited in the early 2000's. This is quite an odd beast, it is an album of traditional Christmas songs recorded by Twisted Sister. On the surface it seems like quite a bizarre concept; something that wouldn't work. But wow - does it work. I've been a TS fan since the early 80's right before they broke big with "We're Not Gonna Take It". I've followed them since then pretty well, I'd like to say I like something from all their eras, but when I heard about this, I thought "Ugh". But I gave it a shot, and it hooked me.

What makes this work for me I think is that I've always been someone who has disliked Christmas music. It's not because of the meaning behind the songs, it's generally been the music itself. Not so much the songs, but the way they're played. To me, most Christmas music is unlistenable. But this completely works. So much so I've been hooked since the day it came out. In the week and a half since it's been released (I'm writing this on the 27th, 10 days after release) I've probably listened to it 20 or 30 times. It has crystallized my feelings on Christmas music that it's the presentation of the songs. Since I'm a metal guy, I loved this presentation.

Two things to point out here. The actual songs themselves are unchanged (other than the instruments they're played on obviously) except for two songs. The first is "Oh Come All Ye Faithful". The lyrics are the same, but the music is the music from "We're Not Gonna Take It". It's quite interesting to see how well those lyrics fit that song. The other modified one is the 12 Days of Christmas. Instead of the traditional 12 gifts, TS has things like "Tattoo of Ozzy", "Spandex Pants", "Cans of Hairspray", etc. That's quite funny.

The problem with this album is that most metal heads will dismiss it out of hand because it doesn't fit their generally narrow view of what a hard rock/heavy metal album should be. Shame, as this album works very well for this old school Twisted Sister fan.

Amazon.com actually lists this under their DVD section, not the CD section, so if you look on their site for just Twisted Sister in CD's, you won't find this.

I got this right before Christmas and haven't had much of a chance to play it. It's a live DVD and an audio CD on one disc (but isn't a DualDisc, they call it at DVDplus disc - still has the same problems a DualDisc has in my truck CD player). It's a chronicle of the 2003 shows they did after getting back together in 2001 for a 9/11 benefit. When I get around to giving this a good listen/viewing, I'll have something more to say about it.

Update Oct 2006: Well, I did give this a brief listen later. Didn't really hold me. I guess I preferred the original recordings. Worth it if you're a TS diehard, I guess. Otherwise, there's probably better choices.

I've been a Twisted Sister fan since their first album (Under the Blade). I even followed 'em through Love is for Suckers, which most Twisted Sister fans tended to hate, so I would like to think I'd like pretty much everything Twisted Sister put out. I, along with most of the SMF's have waited for a really long time for Twisted Sister to get back together and record a new album.

Well, 2004 finally brought us a "new" Twisted Sister album. Well, not really. What they did was re-record their most popular album, Stay Hungry (now titled "Still Hungry"). In interviews, they claimed they were never happy with the sound of the original, bla, bla, bla. I disagree with that. The original was fine. The original is still good. This new version has (as I read in another review) "meatier" bass, bla, bla, bla.. It does sound heavier, but to be honest, I'm not terribly sure if I like it better.

I'm still a fan of the original, so the fact that after all these years Twisted Sister just chose to re-record their most popular record as their big reunion strikes me as a cash grab. There's nothing fundamentally WRONG with this album. It's not like the re-recordings sound horrible. They just sound different. The songs aren't radically different, they're still good songs. It's just feels "odd" to me as a long time Twisted Sister fan. The music itself is fine, but I prefer the 1983 version. It's lessened in my eyes due to the unoriginality factor of re-recording an album. It's worth a purchase, but it feels "wrong" buying it, because I've already bought this album before.

Oh yeah - there are some new songs, but they all are rather weak compared to the existing songs on this album (either the original or the re-recorded versions), I can't really bring myself to listen to 'em very much.

First off, I want to state that I have always thought that Twisted Sister was the best band name I had EVER heard. Another band that died before "my" age of CD's - I owned every Twisted Sister album at some point, just not on CD. This disc is remastered, so the songs sound a lot clearer than I remember 'em to be back in the 80's. Every track on here is one I like - there isn't any wasted space with a "new track", or some lame track I don't like. Solid Sister from start to end. Well recommended (unless you don't like 80's metal )

In fact, I'd say that it's far better recommended than the band's "Official" compilation album, "Big Hits & Nasty Cuts". There's an awful lot missing from that one, plus there's live "filler", too. Don't bother with that one, this is the one to get.