Wildside released 2 albums "Under the Influence" in 1992 and "
Wildside" in 1995. While "Under the Influence" is considered a classic in 80's Hard Rock circles, the second album from
Wildside is surely one to avoid. Most famous
Wildside member is Brent Woods, who only played on their first album and later went to join Vince Neil for his "Carved in Stone" album.
"The Wasted Years" is like the title indicates unreleased tracks recorded for the debut album, various demos, live tracks and B-sides from around the period 1989-1993 with the same line up, who played on "Under the Influence". Some of the tracks are recorded with Andy John's at Eddie Van Halen's 5150 Studio.
Overall the sound quality is very good for a demo collection and same goes for the quality of the material.
Wildside sounds like a typical 80's band with strong vocals from Drew Hannah and cool axe work from Brent Woods. The live tracks prove that
Wildside was a great band - there is a cool acoustic version of
Dear God with some thick bass from Marc Simon and very impressive vocals. The song was recorded at the Whisky a Go Go in 1993.
The Clock Strikes is just as impressive - it captures
Wildside at a very energetic performance at Milwaukee Summerfest 1992. Drew Hannah sounds really good live, the raw guitars and great backing vocals makes you wish for more tracks from Milwaukee Summerfest.
Wildside hits bulls eye on the 80's Hard Rock with songs like
Easy 1,2,3 and album highlight
Crash Diet (written by Axl Rose and West Arkeen). There are great guitars and excellent solos, like on
Dance-Swing. Singer Drew Hannah sounds like a crossover of
Stephen Pearcy and Mark Slaughter.
Of course there are some standard tracks since this is leftovers.
Sweet Little Sinner is among them plus
Makin' You Bleed recorded in 1993.
Makin' You Bleed sounds like a band in transition, which is underlined by the newest track
Killing Machine from 1994, where
Wildside sounds a lot crueler and has an industrial sound to them.
This is a treat for fans of
Wildside and not a fan release only. Most 80's fans will enjoy this CD and the album certainly is a treat for lucky owners of "Under the Influence". There is value for money since the album has 14 tracks of pretty high quality with decent sound. However, the album looses a grade since the songs were recorded more than 10 years ago and of course sounds a bit outdated. Not all aspects of the songs age like fine wine.
Wildside has reunited with 4/5 of the original line-up; Drew Hannah (vocals), Brent Woods (guitars), Marc Simon (bass) and Jimmy Darby (drums). They have played a few reunion dates in the US and judging by the live tracks these guys should be worth to catch in concert
Written by
Michael Wednesday, January 12, 2005
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