Fine metal for a bargain price
Wayne A. Chandler | Maryville, MO United States | 06/19/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The price of this collection is excellent for two above-average metal albums. And one must remember that the music itself is the real value here, because the collection's packaging is ugly, the original albums' artwork is poorly represented, and the few lines of notes (brief description of Blackie's career and the band's fortunes through the eighties) are unsatisfying. The comments particularly on the two albums here (Inside the Electric Circus and The Headless Children) are misleading, apparently written by someone who did not actually listen to the albums.
The music itself, though, is another story. Inside the Electric Circus, W.A.S.P.'s third album, remains a mild disappointment after the excellence of the first two (W.A.S.P. and The Last Command), but it nonetheless bears repeated listening and holds up better, twenty-plus years after its initial release, than most of the other metal released at that same time. Generally, the songs are a bit shallow, and the hooks aren't as catchy as those on W.A.S.P.'s first two efforts, but it still rocks, and occasionally (for example, on "Restless Gypsy") the album brings the same kind of shivers as those inspired by earlier songs like "The Last Command" or "L.O.V.E. Machine."
The Headless Children, on the other hand, represents a long musical stride forward for Blackie and the band. In emotional tone and musical form, it builds on the foundation formed by earlier successes such as "Sleeping in the Fire" and "Widowmaker" and is easily the most lyrically mature and musically ambitious album that W.A.S.P. had produced to that point. Stressing politics and emotions over sex, and frequently eschewing the standard binary song structure in favor of more complex arrangements, The Headless Children is the rarest of metal beasts: the heavy, head-banging album that actually has things to say *without* becoming pretentious, boring, or preachy.
Short answer: This is a damned fine collection."
Track Listings (30) - Disc #1