Re-Idolized

When I first heard about WASP rereleasing The Crimson Idol with the film in the same package, I was ecstatic. The news of having additional tracks that were supposed to be part of the original album were also a cause for excitement. Since I discovered The Crimson Idol ten years ago, it quickly became my favorite album and I had been looking forward to seeing the film since.Then, I read that Reidolized isn’t just a rerelease; it’s a rerecording. Instant alarm bells started going off. How on Earth do you rerecord a masterpiece? The old saying is, “if it ain’t broke, don’t’ fix it”. I approached this one with cautious optimism; hoping for the best, yet trying not to expect too much.--I’ll help ya, son, to rearrange your mind--If you’ve kept up with WASP’s direction over the last three albums, then you’ll know what to expect in terms of how Reidolized sounds. Production seems to be about the same as Golgotha, but with some twists on drum work. In comparison to the original, there are some major changes to the audio mixing. Drums and Bass, in particular, are louder across the board.These adjustments don’t always work. Songs like Doctor Rockter and The Invisible Boy benefit a lot by having more pronounced drums and a fuller sound. Others, such as Titanic Overture suffer from instruments that seem like they were brought up too much. In said track, the synth and guitar sound borderline distorted. Drums in Chainsaw Charlie don’t sound as precise, and could afford to not be as loud compared to the other instruments.In terms of new material, it’s mostly filler. The biggest offender being Miss You, which is a copy/paste from Golgotha. If I wanted to listen to Golgotha, I would have bought that. I didn’t, and this doesn’t belong here. The Peace is mixed so poorly that I can’t understand what Blackie is saying in the mismash of vocal tracks. Michael’s Song and Hey Mama are brief interludes between songs that are similar to “Why Am I Nothing?” and “Me and the Devil” from Neon God, though Michael’s Song is basically a rereleased Euphoria from Unholy Terror.The star of the show in this case is The Lost Boy, which is awesome and sounds like it should be a part of The Crimson Idol. I’d go so far as to say it’s the best track on the album. It doesn’t try to recreate past glories and injects the CD with a shot of fresh air. The lyrics are great and, more importantly, they’re well executed. In an album so inconsistent in its mixing quality, this one hits the nail on the head and provides an ideal balance.Speaking of lyrics and vocal execution, there are some obvious differences here. The vocals throughout this album are not as strong as the original. Blackie doesn’t maintain his vocals as well as he once did. Being that this is 25 years after the original recording, one should expect some differences. This is most notable in Arena of Pleasure(verses), The Great Misconceptions of Me, and I Am One. They’re still serviceable, but lack the precision and fluidity of the original.There have been some minor changes to lyrics and dialog in story pieces. This falls on Chainsaw Charlie and Alex Rodman’s dialog prior to The Idol. All curse words have been removed or replaced. For Chainsaw Charlie, the new lyrics don’t flow well and sound forced. Alex’s dialog isn’t a problem. How it’s executed is. The actor sounds like he’s just talking into the mic, instead of acting. The performance is a big step down.What doesn’t make a lick of sense about these lyrical changes is that I Am One remains completely unchanged with its racial slur. You mean to tell me that you won’t drop an f-bomb, but you’re still willing to say n*****? I’m sorry, but that kind of hypocrisy is just mind blowing. If that wasn’t worthy of a change, then none of it should have been changed. Further, these are characters. Characters can say and do things that one doesn’t necessarily believe in. An example would be Charlie. I cannot imagine that someone as morally bankrupt and ruthless as he is would have any problem saying curse words.Unlike the original release, I found myself skipping songs. I couldn’t even get through my first listen of The Peace. I had to go back and force myself to finish it. In all, I’m not too impressed with the new sound or songs. I can’t help but think of demo CDs, like the Winger Demo Anthology or the Death Magnetic Demos where it’s the same song for the most part, but unrefined. Like when Def Leppard rerecorded Hysteria and Pour Some Sugar on Me, things like this don’t always work out.--It’s showtime--The package includes a DVD and Blu Ray of the film. Unlike the audio CDs, the movie does not include any of the new songs. It sticks to the original track listing with the Story of Jonathan narrated by Lawless between songs. It wastes no time with pointless interludes or filler and brings the story to life brilliantly.It’s the rock n’ roll opera that one would expect to see based on The Crimson Idol. We’ve seen some glimpses of the film in prior music videos, and those bits and pieces are here with all the extra content. It’s edited using lots of different filters and effects that play well to the vintage look they seem to have been going for. Each scene makes sense for the song and it had me hooked from start to finish.--Long Live the King of Mercy--The album by itself is a three-star product. It attempts to tear down and reconstruct something it shouldn’t have. This results in a padded product that, while still good, is largely inferior to the original. Everything that it does do better could have been achieved with a remix. However, the movie alone is worth the price of admission. It strips out said padding and leaves you with a playlist that is all killer, no filler. This brings it up to four stars.If there is one thing Reidolized has going for it, it’s that it provides the most complete package for The Crimson Idol. You get four discs in this package – the music and the film that should have been beside the original release in the first place. If you love the original, then Reidolized is worth owning. Maybe you’ll like the changes, maybe you won’t, but I think it’s going to be hard to feel disappointed with the movie.

Originally I bought "The Crimson Idol" on Blood Red Vinyl...because it wasn't released at first on anything else (Not cassette, or CD at the time) Luckily I had an awesome Turntable at the time.....I fell in love with this album, Every Song!! I was really excited 6 months later while in Canada at a music store store to see it was released on CD (I don't believe it had a US release yet at the time) This album became my favorite and probably the greatest album I had ever heard in my life.(Still to this day). There hasn't been a piece of music that has affected me as much as THIS album...Maybe because I'm a guitarist who moved from the Mid West out to the West Coast to persue my dream...AND maybe the message in this album saved me from alot of hard times like "Jonathan" went through :)) "The Crimson idol" has been there through the best and the worst times of my life....so you can imagine my excitement to know this was being released.....I figured there was NO WAY Blackie could take what was already perfect and Make it better....I was WRONG!!!The weeks leading up to this release, i could barely sleep at times lol......I paid for the extra shipping to make sure i had it the day it was released and found an empty parking lot and sat in my car blasting it , and WOW!!!! While you can't take anything from the original......Sonically , I love it!!! Unlike two of my favorite singers of all time , Paul Stanley and Geoff Tate....Blackie still has it, I actually love his voice on Reidolized, especially "The Gypsy meets the Boy" and he hits ALL of the screams like in the original......I was skeptical....excited about the release but expected alot less and figured Id listen to it once or twice and never again....kind of like that painful idea Don Dokken had re-recording their greatest hits years ago singing everything an octive or two below the original. Happy to say this is NOT the case with this....I'm in love with this album....even ordering it on Vinyl to hang on my wall next to the original that's signed by Blackie :) I cant say enough how great this is, Ive seen some mixed reviews but if you go in with an open mind, you'll be suprised.....Blackie, Stet, Doug, and Mike definately treated this project with alot of LOVE. As far as the movie goes....it's cool to have it as a legit release...I had the original version of it on VHS which was the footage you see in a shorter compressed 20 minute version which didn't have the music but just "The Story of Jonathan" narrating over it, Glad i can finally throw that away, the VHS was in great quality but with this you get about 40 minutes more, it's cool to have but it's "Busy" and at times hard to watch....Between the two, I prefer the CD's to the Movie but as i said it's awesome and cool to have as a legit release. Bottom line for me....The Original is the greatest piece of music ever to be recorded...and THIS doesn't dissapoint, in fact...it stands up and keeps it going...Blackie should be proud!! even with the lyric changes taking the profanity out...I'm good with it :)

The Crimson idol has always been my favorite W.a.s.p. album mainly because it's the album that introduced me to them. That being said, When I first saw the trailer for the 25th anniversary edition I was more than excited. Then I heard the re recorded version of My Favorite track off the album, Chainsaw Charlie and i thought God why? Even after that I still decided to get it and I'm glad I did. While it doesn't compare to the original it still sounds great except for C.C. And proves that Blackie still has an incredible voice. A lot of people are criticizing Blackie for changing the swear words which I can understand because C.C. doesn't sound as angry without them and that's part of the reason I dislike the new version but he has found his faith again and as fans, We should respect that.

This was a beautiful package. Some of the lyrics and guitar have been changed. So if you expect it to sound exactly like the original don't buy it. I love the added songs and the guitar is fantastic. I am a fan of Bob Kulick but the new guitar totally blows the original away. Blackie Lawless' vocal performance on Miss You was enough to justify buying this album alone for me. It is powerful and emotionally moving. A standout on the package. I strongly recommend this for an Wasp fan that is willing to embrace some changes. You can tell this was still a labor of love for Blackie.

Like many, Crimson Idol is one of my all-time favourite albums. All I can say is that this is a brilliant realease and a real homage to the spirit and integrity of the original concept. The sound is great, clear, powerful and has been brilliantly mixed. Dupke, Blair, Duda and Lawless do a phenomenal job on this this re-recording and the thing I'm enjoying the most is the sheer clarity. Great job. The Great Misconceptions of Me is simply sublime and doubly sublime on the movie, which I found really powerful. Great package... The only thing I am missing is Blackie's story about the project, it would be really interesting to read. Defo buy it if you're a fan of the band or album. All this said, it is nothing compared to the magnificence of the live performances of the album - coupled with the movie images - that the band brought on tour at the end of 2017! Sheer class!

£7.99 for 2 cds, a blu Ray and a dad! Brilliant.Great band , great quality item, sounds fantastic on blu Ray ( hooked up to hifi ) really pleased.A highly underrated band , known and dismissed back in the day like a lot of others for their big hair etc but I'm revisiting a lot of these bands and finding that a lot of their stuff is far better than I remembered. Highly recommended

I can't give this WASP release 5 stars as it's not up there with 'The Headless Children' or even their early stuff. Blackie Lawless went a bit 'weird' at this point and this was his version of a 'rock opera', (for want of a better term?), which WASP never really returned to form from...That said, it's a great value release, CD x2, Bluray and dvd. Nicely packaged in a folding case with an outer box to.protrct it all. Highly recommended!

I've been a WASP fan for over 30 years & seen them live on many occasions! When the Crimson idol first came out in 1992 I saw the live in Manchester on the same tour. They were & still are a treat to see live! This album is master peice & the DVD that accompanies the set is unique! Worth every penny!!

From one of the greatest concept albums of all time to a pale woke copy, never thought I’d see the day when blackie lawless, the scourge of the pmrc sold out. Meeting your heroes is disappointing, watching them sell out before your eyes is worse.don’t believe me? Check out the new lyrics to chainsaw Charlie…… can we have our money back please