Twisted Sister Goes Back “Under the Blade”
For years, fans of Twisted Sister have rightfully complained about the less-than-ideal treatment of the band’s catalogue on CD. Rhino Records, who’d have first crack at the band’s output for Atlantic Records, largely stayed away even after a great 25th anniversary deluxe edition of the band’s classic Stay Hungry, which yielded the metal-pop classics “I Wanna Rock” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” And recent releases through Eagle Rock Entertainment have been nothing more than straight reissues.
Now, however, Eagle Rock is coming through in a major way with a deluxe edition of the band’s debut album, 1982’s Under the Blade, at the end of the month. This CD/DVD set will feature a few great things that TS collectors have been waiting for: the album features the original track listing, mix and album sleeve as released by British label Secret Records (a 1985 Atlantic reissue added one track, “I’ll Never Grow Up, Now!”, and remixed the album), the CD debut of the Ruff Cuts EP, which featured three alternate versions of tracks from Blade and a cover of the The Shangri-La’s classic “Leader of the Pack” and a live track from the band’s performance at the famed Reading Festival in 1982. That performance is captured in full for the first time ever on the accompanying DVD, and features not only powerhouse performances from the band (with guest appearances from rock bassist Pete Way and Motörhead’s Fast Eddie Clarke and Lemmy Kilmister) but 40 minutes of new interview footage from the band regarding the record and the subsequent performance.
It looks like Eagle Rock may be the label to give Twisted Sister fans the deluxe sets they deserve. It’ll be out on May 31 and the track list is after the jump.
Twisted Sister, Under the Blade: Deluxe Edition (Eagle Rock ARM250472, 2011)
Disc 1: Original LP and bonus material
- What You Don’t Know
- Bad Boys of Rock ‘n’ Roll
- Run for Your Life
- Sin After Sin
- Shoot ‘Em Down
- Destroyer
- Under the Blade
- Tear It Loose
- Day of the Rocker
- What You Don’t Know (Alternate)
- Under the Blade (Alternate)
- Shoot ‘Em Down (Alternate)
- Leader of the Pack
- Shoot ‘Em Down (Live @ the Reading Festival – 8/29/1982)
Tracks 10-13 released as Ruff Cuts EP – Secret Records SHH 137-12 (U.K.), 1982
Track 14 previously unreleased
- What You Don’t Know
- Sin After Sin
- Bad Boys of Rock ‘n’ Roll
- Destroyer
- Shoot ‘Em Down
- Tear It Loose
- Under the Blade
- It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (feat. Pete Way, Fast Eddie Clarke and Lemmy Kilmister)
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The “Ruff Cuts” E.P. featured two early drummers that were in the group before A.J. Pero, but the four tracks are excellent recordings. The mediocre Spitfire CD series reissued a few of these tracks, but taken from scratchy records. Hopefully, they’ll be from tape this time.