Whenever I hear this record, I think that Blackie Lawless hit the ultimate peak with this opus. It is an album that exceeded all expectations of any
W.A.S.P. fan, finally brining the conceptual entity while adding a progressive edge to Lawless' arsenal of musical endeavors.
By this point, Blackie was the only original member left, Chris Holmes left only a few years earlier, and Blackie was now free to pursue this project however he pleased. Although Blackie would provide the majority of the instrumentation; guitars, keyboards, and bass; Bob Kulick would provide his virtuoso lead axework to the album, while Frankie Banali and Stet Howland would pound the skins. The musicianship would be like no other
W.A.S.P. record, the drumming would now start to become completely technical, with precision based fills played out on the toms at machine gun speed, while the production work would set standards for many Progressive Metal albums to come.
While the concept of the record brought the "Rock Opera" vibe to the record, the story itself can be seen as somewhat depressing, but yet at the same time, it seems to teach a hard lesson. The story is about a misguided youth named Jonathan, who rises to fame, but yet cannot seek the acceptance of his father while not being able to understand and handle the fame; not to mention that he indulges in it.
The songs on this record stay consistent in structure and key, but the tempo changes and constant progressive diversity, keep the record from becoming redundant, while keeping the mood of the record's concept constant. Most of the cuts on here are heavy, one cut in particular that really strikes a chord with the listener is
"Chainsaw Charlie," a brutal and much needed insult to greedy music business executives, Blackie sings it with complete anger, probably influenced by his own experiences. Ballads include "
The Gypsy Meets the Boy" and
"The Idol," which are dark acoustic laden tracks that add to the emotional atmosphere that graces the record, while another cut called
"Hold onto my Heart" has a classic power ballad vibe to it.
The second disc, is comprised of B-sides and bonus tracks (including a cover of Led Zeppelin's
"When the Levee Breaks") that were not present on the original U.S. release, but were recorded during the sessions for The Crimson Idol, being that this is a great continuation of the music on this record, especially for fans that couldn't get enough the first time. The live cuts that were recorded at Donnington in 1992 around the time when the album was being recorded, so it all coincides perfectly with the release, even though some of the songs were originally written several years earlier. The sound quality on this reissue is punchier than the original release, giving new life to the record.
When you look back, most people will say that this record was overlooked, probably due to the "Alternative Rock" movement that was now dominating the mainstream music scene in the U.S. at the time, but the album was received with complete positive reception from critics and musicians alike, they put aside the whole anti-80's attitude and praised it. But when it comes to the subject of the Crimson Idol falling by the wayside, we have to look and see that all Metal was taking the plunge in the mainstream, everybody and every band in Metal was affected, without warning, and to the commercial programmers it was nobody's tears, and we were now living in the age of Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins (Yuck!!!).
The Crimson Idol really stood out, it was really one of the last gasps of Metal in the U.S. mainstream, but did not go unnoticed. It was a precursor to what was to come from Blackie, seeing that he would branch out in directions that would please
W.A.S.P. fans (although some were questionable, like K.F.D.), but regardless The Crimson Idol still sounds as good as it ever did, and still endures as one of the best Metal records of the nineties.
Written by
Hashman Sunday, July 20, 2003
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