Club Daze Volume II: Live In The Bars North Bergen NJ

Club Daze Volume II: Live In The Bars

Twisted Sister

Spitfire Records, 2001

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 03/12/2002

Admitting that you're a Twisted Sister fan, even today, isalmost akin to standing up in an Italian restaurant and declaringyourself to be a Mafia informant. Once the creators of the greatteenage anthem "We're Not Gonna Take It," Dee Snider and companybecame the group that no one wanted to admit they liked.

Not me. I've proudly said since discovering them in 1984 thatI'm a Twisted Sister fan. For the longest time, I've told anyonewho would listen that there was more to the band than the Spandexand makeup; there was often a lot of substance to the music.

Maybe that's why Club Daze Volume II: Live In The Bars is such a wonderfulsurprise, even to my ears. Years before the band would get afoothold (albeit a brief one) on the ladder of mass popularity,Snider and crew prove once again that Twisted Sister really was aband worth listening to. Hungry for the fame which they wouldeventually taste, Twisted Sister plow through some tracks whichcould have easily been classics - and may yet achieve thatstatus.

The opening two tracks, "Never Say Never" and "Blastin' Fast AndLoud," take drum tracks recorded in 1984 for Stay Hungry and add Twisted Sister circa 2001. Althoughthese tracks are a tad shallow, they do show that the magic theband had in their glory days is still alive and kicking. If thesetwo songs aren't enough to convince Snider and his former bandmatesto give a new album a try, I don't know what would change theirminds other than a burning bush barking out the orders.