Coffin Shakers: W.A.S.P., Reidolized (The Soundtrack to the Crimson Idol)

It’s been awhile since we’ve talked about music around here. The last Mass Burial wrapped up in December, and I was hoping to get another one together during my move, thinking that would allow me to keep blogging without the ancillary components of action figures and pictures and time. Well, that didn’t pan out, as I couldn’t decide on a band to examine. But now it is spring, and the weather is finally starting to change for the spring-like, at the end of April. Spring always brings a young mans’ heart back to rock and roll.

Twenty five years ago, generally overlooked Glam/Thrash band W.A.S.P. released The Crimson Idol, one of the best concept albums of all time. The story of Jonathan, a failure of a son who seeks fame and glory as a musician only to eventually crash and commit suicide, The Crimson Idol has always been viewed as being loosely autobiographical and focusing on the life of Blackie Lawless. The album runs the gamut from exciting, rocking jams to emotional ballads and introspective tunes. It is an album that really elevates the W.A.S.P. property value, both in terms of music and reputation, from being the “Fuck Like A Beast” and raw meat throwing band to a legitimate musical collective. That may be too strong praise, honestly: it elevated them from the raw meat throwing band to a band that had at least one high quality offering that resonated beyond topics like wild sex and outlaw behavior. And every band needs one of those at some point in their careers. The original album was released in 1993, and Reidolized is a rerecorded version, as well as the soundtrack to a movie of the same name and story.

I’ve not seen the movie, so this will only be focusing on the music. I would like to see the film, and if or when I do, perhaps I will amend this post to include some  thoughts on it, but seeing as The Crimson Idol is kind of a metal version of Pink Floyds’ The Wall, I feel that I’ve got the gist of it down already.

Reidolized is a faithful rerecording of the original record, with some new songs thrown in. it’s a cool mixture of the familiar and something unheard, although the new material doesn’t really offer any highlights. It all fits, like it sounds like it should be included, and none of it is burdensome or like too much, and doesn’t push the record past the point of wearing out its welcome, despite adding 23 minutes to the running time. None of the new material is all that memorable either, with only “The Lost Boy” being a flat out dud, although it does add to the story the record is telling.

These kind of rerecordings are generally a mixed bag of feelings, as on one hand they do offer the potential of taking classic songs and making them the beneficiaries of modern recording technology and quality: the rerecordings of ancient Thrash metal songs are practically divine when done well. But, rerecordings also threaten to expose classic material, which itself never ages, to the musicians who age constantly: Reidolized is 2017 Blackie Lawless singing songs that 1992 Blackie already did magnificently, and that’s taking quite a chance. The original Crimson Idol is a collection of songs that really benefit from the snarling, shrieking Blackie of the 90’s, and that delivery is an integral part of the songs and their impact. If Blackie’s 2017 performance is too clean, or substantially worse than, the original, this entire undertaking is futile. Fortunately, Reidolized presents a Blackie that is still pretty with it vocally, and the band, totally different from the one on the original recording, is note-for-note accurate. The rerecording also allows for changes to the original material, as some changes occur in “Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue),” one good and one kinda lame. In the first instance, a pejorative is changed to instruct Jonathan to disregard the “maggots and the ruthless scum,” and is a positive change. The other, immediately prior to the aforementioned, apparently was intended to demonstrate the totality of Blackies’ conversion to Christianity (seriously. . .), now describing Charlie as a “bloodsucking asshole” and “a liar with a monster”, both really PG versions of the original lines. This is, again, good in one instance and kind of laughable in the other, but in any case, these changes are downright puzzling when one considers that the racial slur in “I Am One” remains unchanged. The title of a controversial Patti Smith song, and being much more conceptual than the pejorative in “Chainsaw Charlie,” the reference in “I Am One” is working expressing an idea, and could be used to make several points in terms of message, but here was a chance to change it, and it was not taken, and it probably should have been.

In terms of the sound, the record often sounds like Blackie’s vocals are low in the mix, or like he was far away from the microphone. To be fair, the original recording generally sounds the same, and my personal theory has always been that Blackie was afraid of actually singing, as much of The Crimson Idol is actually sung, with only a handful of tunes like “Chainsaw Charlie,” “I Am One,” “Doctor Rockter,” “The Invisible Boy” and “Arena of Pleasure” being in the more standard W.A.S.P. style. Sure, that’s more than half of the album, but the real emotional weight is borne by the other tracks, the ballads that comprise the latter half of the album. The same is true of the do-over, but now the rougher voice adds something extra to the narrative, as this is a tale of fame and the toll it takes on a person. So, a gravelly, rough delivery adds realism to the story.

The Crimson Idol is one of those records that either speaks to you or doesn’t, and if it doesn’t is easily dismissed. But, if it does, it is one of the best listening experiences that can be had. I had a friend ask me a while back if W.A.S.P. was really worth the space on my iPod (back in the days of last summer. . .  –mr), and for a variety of songs and reasons, the answer is yes. But for me, there is no greater reason than The Crimson Idol. Reidolized does an admirable job of recreating that masterwork, without compromising anything or messing anything up. I think that’s the biggest potential problem with these rerecordings: it’s not a problem if the songs come out different or are somehow worse for being rerecorded in the modern age. If you don’t like the redone version, you simply ignore it in favor of the original. Kind of like a cover version. But, if the redoing messes something up, or changes something, or does something to jeopardize the magic and strength of the original, the new take sticks in the ear and somehow does impact the appreciation of the original. True, the disfavored new can always be ignored, but knowing that something so magical has been sullied is often a hard piece of knowledge to deal with. Reidolized offers a solid if unexciting modernized version of The Crimson Idol, and is probably not necessary at all to almost anyone; but it does a good job of what it does, so that there’s not any danger of impacting the original, either for the better or for the worse. Long ago I knew a guy who I would bet money waiting outside a record store for it to open so he could buy this immediately, but I can’t really see anyone finding such an effort necessary or warranted. Somehow, it manages to invoke the same kinds of emotions in this listener as the original does, so I’d count it as a success.