By Pat Prince

The release of quality Twisted Sister product from Eagle Rock Entertainment seemed endless this year.

Dee Snider

Reissues of “Club Daze, Vol. 1 – The Studio Sessions” and “You Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’ Roll,” hit the stores on January 25; “Come Out And Play” and “Love Is For Suckers” on February 22; and the latest release from Eagle Rock is “Double Live: North Stage ’82, NY Steel ’01,” a double-disc DVD package consisting of two Twisted Sister concerts, 19 years apart. But the prize piece (for many) was the “Under the Blade” album, released as a CD/DVD on May 31. Digitally remastered, this debut album (originally on the U.K.’s Secret Records indie label) has bonuses like the Ruff Cuts EP (first time on CD) and a fantastic video of Twisted Sister at the 1982 Reading Festival (see clip below).

Of course, “Club Daze” (originally released by Spitfire Records in 1999) is a pretty impressive release, too. This is a CD that perfectly captured the band’s beginnings as a superior club act in the ’70s-early ’80s. Worth every metal penny (For more information on purchasing some of this year’s Twisted releases, click here).

Jay Jay French (guitarist) and Mark Mendoza (bassist) are the force behind this product onslaught — they hold a grand vision of keeping the Twisted legacy alive and well. But we were interested in the frontman Dee Snider’s opinion on packaging the past and gearing it to a new generation.

The following is a recent interview with the lead singer:

What do you think of all the product on Eagle Rock coming out this year?
Dee Snider: The records have been available pretty consistently over the years. Our last licensing for the product expired and I’m happy that Eagle Rock —who I worked with before — have reissued them and freshened them up, so I’m glad about that. But I am one of those guys who is more focused on what lies ahead then what came before.

Jay Jay [French] is the mastermind on all things Twisted these days. My megalomaniacal — a word I just used in a book I’m writing about myself — those megalomaniacal days of the 80’s … I have handed the reigns completely over to Jay Jay and Mark Mendoza. I am often blown away by the quantity output that they were able to cull from our past … it’s like the living Tupac Shakur, who just keeps putting out new product (laughs). You’ve got some grand vision of the Twisted Sister legacy — and I don’t mean that in sarcastic terms — I don’t question the passion about pursing it, I’m just so busy doing other things. “Hey, man, run with it, run with it.”

“Under the Blade” (1982) was a great album. It has been said that the production wasn’t very good but I love the raw sound.
Snider: You’re not alone. There is definitely a body of people — and I’m not one of them — who feel that “Under the Blade” is the best record that Twisted Sister ever did. It certainly speaks to the time. To me, my favorite is “You Can’t Stop Rock and Roll.” I’m not speaking against “Under the Blade,” I’m just saying I don’t think it’s the best thing we ever did. I think that we were just getting comfortable with the studio and understanding what recording was, you know, the process. There’s a live environment and then there’s a studio environment and you’ve got to master each. I know there’s a whole argument where people say ‘why should it be different in the studio?’ But the answer is: people are sitting in their bedrooms or cars and not drinking a beer and jumping up and down like in a live environment. It’s a different environment and you have to recognize that, you’ve got to create the right sound for the experience. People alone in a bedroom as opposed to packed in a concert hall having a couple of beers and your rocking your ass off. So “Under the Blade,” by many, is considered to be the best thing we ever did. I think it also plays to the whole new age of heavy metal. A lot of people don’t know but we were at the forefront there, at the time touring with the Metallicas and the Anthraxs and the Maidens … all those bands of that sound and that stuff. It reflects that time, when we were in the trenches, so to speak.

So “You Can’t Stop Rock and Roll” is your favorite album?
Snider: Yeah, “You Can’t Stop Rock and Roll” is my favorite. Of course, I wrote all of them so I love them all, but it was the most enjoyable recording experience. It’s us embracing the studio experience … not just the experience, the sound. It’s a different kind of sound. We just didn’t come in and lay down songs like we did in the bars, literally live, which we did with “Under the Blade” for the most part. I mean, we were laying down tracks in a bar. Again, there’s certainly a charm to that. And (on “You Can’t Stop Rock and Roll”) we were happy with the producer, Stuart Epps. He was doing what a producer really should do, I feel, and that is sort of becoming an additional member of the band. Helping the band achieve what they want to achieve, not what he wants to achieve, while still bringing his opinion to the table. With “Stay Hungry,” we were assigned the producer Tom Werman, someone who didn’t get us, didn’t appreciate us, someone we had to beg to put “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna to Rock” on the record because he didn’t want them on the record. He didn’t think they were good enough. I literally begged him, had to sell him. It was a constant battle with Tom Werman, to protect the band and keep some truth to who we were, it was a constant fight with him. But on “You Can’t Stop Rock and Roll,” we were in there working with Stuart Epps, the band was in a great studio environment, we were never closer as a band, it was just an amazing experience, amazing recording. A very positive experience.

Do you still  listen to vinyl? Do you still have all the Twisted albums — the EP, the singles, the original issues — on vinyl?
Snider: No, no, I’m not a vinyl guy. I don’t have a stereo. I’ve got an iPod and I’ve got an intercom system in the house that has a CD player in it — which I don’t ever use except for Christmas music. I don’t listen to music too much. Like I said, I’m working on a gazillion other things and there’s too much noise going on in my head. People say, “How can you sit here in silence?’ and I say, ‘I’m not in silence. There is so much noise in my head.’

But I saved all the old stuff. I don’t fanatically collect my own stuff. I’m proud of my past, very proud, I have no regrets — maybe a regret here and there, some things I would have done differently — but I’m not one of those people who looks back and goes I’m embarrassed by my past.

Years ago in Metal Edge, they used to do a thing where they’d ask a question and then print the answers from all different artists. (One time) the question was ‘When you see your old pictures who do you think?’ And every single heavy metal guy was apologizing. ‘It wasn’t my idea. Everybody was doing it. The manager made us dress like that. I feel stupid …’ Bah, bah, bah, and it gets to Dee Snider and it’s ‘I think I look cool.’ That’s what I said. You know why I look cool? I wasn’t following anybody. I wasn’t trying to emulate anybody. Nobody was making me. I was doing what I wanted to do and saying f*ck the rest of you. I was defining the era, not following. So I look back proudly.

Right now I just signed a book deal with Simon & Schuster and I’m in the middle of writing my book. The talk is to release it this Fall. Right now it looks like it’s going to be about the rise and fall of Dee Snider. Basically, how I wanted be a rock star, what it took to get there, my struggle and then ultimately taking a tremendous fall, a devastating fall. Obviously I’ve come back from it but I think people will take inspiration from it. It’s inspiring and it’s a cautionary tale. So I’m working on that.

And I’ve signed on to do a new record. I’ll preface this by saying, no, its not metal. It’s called “Dee Does Broadway.” I’m taking Broadway show tunes and I’m making them rock. It’s sort of a Twisted Christmas taken to Broadway. But there are some pretty metallic moments there, I’ll tell you. Sweeney Todd translates into a metal song amazingly — bass, drums, guitar — so some of the songs are really metallic, but it’s a rock record. I’m doing it as a solo artist. I’m working on that.

One last thing … can you quickly give us the 10 albums that changed your life?
Snider: I’ll give you what comes to mind: Led Zeppelin I, Led Zeppelin II. Queen I, Queen II. Slade “Sladest.” Black Sabbath’s first album. AC/DC – “Powerage.” Alice Cooper – “Love It to Death,” “Killer.” And Sex Pistols’ “Never Mind the Bollocks.”

For related items that you may enjoy in our Goldmine store:

• Check out Mick Wall’s 2011 biography on Metallica, “Enter Night” — click here

On July 26, Eagle Rock Entertainment will re-release one of the greatest debuts in all of hard rock, “Shades Of Deep Purple,” in addition to its follow-up, “The Book Of Taliesyn” (originally released four months later that same year), and Deep Purple’s 1969 self-titled third album. All three re-releases come complete with bonus tracks of b-sides, studio outtakes and BBC jams.

“Shades Of Deep Purple” indeed had many colors. The high percentage of instrumentals immediately set them apart from their peers. Their covers of The Beatles (“Help”), Cream (“I’m So Glad”) and The Jimi Hendrix Experience (“Hey Joe”) are totally unique.

“The Book Of Taliesyn” cemented their rep for swirling keyboard drama and very electric guitar soloing. This time the hit was a cover of Neil Diamond’s “Kentucky Woman.” But it was the creative reworking of another Beatles tune, “We Can Work It Out,” as well as a righteous treatment of Ike & Tina Turner’s “River Deep Mountain High,” jamming on for over 10 minutes that caught the attention of the underground.

And “Deep Purple,” the album, had a mix of the psychedelic and the growing jam mentality.

Track Listing:

Shades of Deep Purple:
1.) And The Address
2.) Hush
3.) One More Rainy Day
4.) Prelude: Happiness I’m So Glad
5.) Mandrake Root
6.) Help!
7.) Love Help Me
8.) Hey Joe
9.) Shadows (album outtake)
10.) Love Help Me (instrumental version)
11.) Help! (alternative take)
12.) Hey Joe (BBC Top Gear session)
13.) Hush (live US TV)

The Book of Taliesyn:
1.) Listen, Learn, Read On
2.) Wring That Neck
3.) Kentucky Woman
4.) a.) Exposition / b.) We Can Work It Out
5.) Shield
6.) Anthem
7.) River Deep, Mountain High
8.) Oh No No No (studio outtake)
9.) It’s All Over (BBC Top Gear session)
10.) Hey Bop A Re Bop (BBC Top Gear session)
11.) Wring That Neck (BBC Top Gear session)
12.) Playground (remixed instrumental studio outtake)

Deep Purple:
1.) Chasing Shadows
2.) Blind
3.) Lalena
4.) Fault Line
5.) The Painter
6.) Why Didn’t Rosemary?
7.) Bird Had Flown
8.) April
9.) The Bird Has Flown (alterntive b-side version)
10.) Emmaretta (single a-side)
11.) Emmaretta (BBC Top Gear session Jan. 16, 1969)
12.) Lalena (BBC radio session June 6, 1969)
13.) The Painter (BBC radio session June 6, 1969)

In a move sure to delight audiophiles and collectors of classic pop music albums, the Audio Fidelity label will reissue of two classic Grateful Dead albums on 180-gram pure virgin vinyl, in limited numbered edition gatefold packages on June 7th, according to label president Marshall Blonstein.  The band’s 1975 BLUES FOR ALLAH and 1978′s SHAKEDOWN STREET will be available from both online and brick-and-mortar retail outlets as the latest offerings in Audio Fidelity’s continuing program of audiophile reissues.

The two Grateful Dead reissues occupy special places in the fabled San Francisco band’s history.  BLUES FOR ALLAH, originally released in September of 1975, was the third of only four albums issued on the group’s Grateful Dead Records imprint.  While the LP’s best remembered cuts, “Franklin’s Tower” and “The Music Never Stopped,” remained in the band’s concert set list for some 20 years, the title track-the first part of an ambitious suite-was performed only a few times in 1975 before being retired from the band’s repertoire.  BLUES FOR ALLAH reached No. 12 on Billboard’s album chart; from the LP, “The Music Never Stopped” was the Dead’s highest charting single since “Uncle John’s Band.”

First issued in November 1978 on Arista Records, SHAKEDOWN STREET was the Dead’s tenth album, its eighth to go Gold.  Produced by Little Feat founder Lowell George, it was an eclectic collection that featured updated versions of venerable live Dead favorites (“Good Lovin,’” “All New Minglewood Blues”) and also introduced songs that would become staples of the band’s concerts for years to come, most notably “I Need a Miracle” and “Fire on the Mountain.” The lighthearted SHAKEDOWN STREET cover illustration was done by renowned underground-comics artist Gilbert Shelton, famous for The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and Wonder Wart-hog strips. The album remained on the Billboard chart for close to six months, peaking at No. 41.

The Grateful Dead vinyl reissues represent Audio Fidelity’s expanded vinyl release schedule, which has recently included titles such as Cheap Trick’s IN COLOR, Laura Nyro’s FIRST SONGS, Harry Nilsson’s A LITTLE TOUCH OF SCHMILSSON IN THE NIGHT  and Kate Bush’s HOUNDS OF LOVE.  While the label often issues a title in both Gold-CD and virgin-vinyl formats, Blonstein admits some of the impetus for producing the latter comes from the renewed interest in vinyl LP’s.  According to the R.I.A.A., vinyl sales surged 26% in 2010 over the previous year.

Go to www.audiofidelity.net to order

This week ABKCO Records releases “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter (Music From The Original Soundtrack)” , from the 1968 film starring Herman’s Hermits. The album includes the hit title track as well as the smash hit “There’s A Kind of Hush” and seven more songs from the film. The film starred the group along with veteran actor Stanley Holloway who had earlier been featured in My Fair Lady.

ABKCO is including the entire soundtrack from “Hold On! ,” the band’s previous film, originally released in 1966, as a bonus with Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter . It includes the hits “Leaning On The Lamp Post,” and “A Must To Avoid.” Going back to original source tapes, the albums have been painstakingly remastered for this release. The soundtracks are offered together as a specially priced physical release and are available individually from digital retailers at the same time both films have been released on DVD from the Warner Archive Collection .

The original tracks for both “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter” and “Hold On!” were produced by legendary British producer Mickie Most who also produced the Animals, The Yardbirds, Donovan and many others. Of special note is the fact that almost all of the Mrs. Brown.. soundtrack selections were arranged by John Paul Jones who would go on to be a founding member of Led Zeppelin. Four of the Mrs. Brown tracks were written by Graham Gouldman who had been a source of hit songs for not only Herman’s Hermits but also for The Yardbirds, Hollies, Wayne Fontana, Jeff Beck and others before he formed 10cc. Enigmatic American songwriter P.F. Sloan wrote (or co-wrote) four of the Hold On! soundtrack selections including the title song.

Tracklisting:

HOLD ON! (MUSIC FROM THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK)
Hold On!
The George And Dragon
Got A Feeling
Wild Love
Leaning On The Lamp Post
Where Were You When I Needed You
All The Things I Do For You Baby
Gotta Get Away
Make Me Happy
A Must To Avoid

MRS. BROWN, YOU’VE GOT A LOVELY DAUGHTER (MUSIC FROM THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK)
It’s Nice To Be Out In The Morning
Holiday Inn
Ooh, She’s Done It Again
There’s A Kind Of Hush
Lemon And Lime
The Most Beautiful Thing In My Life
Daisy Chain Pt. I
Daisy Chain Pt. II
The World Is For The Young
Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter