Twisted Sister "Under The Blade (Remastered); "Double Live: North Stage '82 & New York Steel '01" (Eagle Vision)
Few heavy metal bands have ever prowled the stage with the ferocity and intensity of Twisted Sister, the New York bar band that conquered the world in the 1980s. But that was after years and years of slogging away in tiny clubs and faraway venues.
Those challenging shows, however, sharpened the band's edge, and showed them they could survive whatever fate — and fans — threw their way, sometimes literally. The remastered version of their first CD, "Under The Blade," includes a DVD of the band's performance at the 1982 Reading Festival in England, where the costumed glam rockers at first didn't exactly enthrall the crowd of bikers, leatherheads and assorted headbangers, who catapulted a veritable farmer's market of produce, beer cups and unmentionables at the band members as they performed.
Yet Dee Snider, brandishing a real machine gun and firing it into the air, showed the crowd Twisted Sister was not intimidated, challenging anyone who was so inclined to meet him next to the stage after the show for a fight.
That kind of American, in-you-face attitude slowly won over the crowd. And by the time the 40-minute set drew to a close with a surprise all-star jam of Motorhead's Lemmy, Fast Eddie Clarke and Pete Way, Twisted Sister had truly won over one of the toughest audiences it ever had to face.
A far friendlier hometown crowd loses its mind for Twisted on the first half of a double DVD called "Double Live." The show at Long Island, New York's North Stage Theater shows Twisted just before they got on a plane to England to record their first album. It includes many chestnuts from the club days that have rarely, if ever, been performed since, including "Lady's Boy," Dee Snider's ode to a young man whose proficiency with the opposite sex far outstripped his age, their cover of The Shangri-Las hit "Leader Of The Pack," the anthemic "I'll Never Grow Up Now," and the even rarer "Rock 'N' Roll Saviours" to close the show.
In 2001, having been apart for years, the band reunited at the request of heavy metal radio host Eddie Trunk for a benefit concert to raise money for the widows and children of New York City police and firefighters killed in the World Trade Center attacks. Named "New York Steel," it brought the band back together for a reunion that was envisioned to last about three years, but continues a decade later. This disc also includes some goodies for old-school fans, including probably their most underrated song ever, "Come Back," and the epic dual-guitar-jam "You Know I Cry."
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Wayne Parry can be reached at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC