The Headless Children

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The Headless Children
Studio album from WASP

Publication
(s)

April 15, 1989 (original edition) / 1998 (new edition)

Label (s) Capitol Records

Format (s)

LP , CD

Title (number)

10/16

running time

48:32 / 78:21

occupation

production

Blackie Lawless

chronology
Inside The Electric Circus
(1986) 		The Headless Children The Crimson Idol
(1992)

The Headless Children is the title of the 1989 studio album by the US rock band W.ASP. Frankie Banali (drums) and keyboardist Ken Hensley took part in the recording .

background

WASP had released three studio albums and one live album since the band was founded in 1982, drummer Steve Riley left the band in 1987 after appearing at the Monsters of Rock Festival in Donnington and the release of the album Live ... In the Raw . As early as October 1987, the remaining members of the group, singer and guitarist Blackie Lawless, guitarist Chris Holmes and bassist Johnny Rod, had begun the songwriting for the follow-up album. Frankie Banali, the drummer of Quiet Riot , joined them in January 1988 and worked with the band for the next four weeks whenever his work at Quiet Riot allowed. A month later, demos of all the written songs were available, which were carefully worked out with the help of keyboardist Ken Hensley ( Uriah Heep , Blackfoot ).

The band's record company , EMI Records , had planned to release the group's fourth studio album in May 1988, but that date actually marked the start of recording for the album. Singer Blackie Lawless named one reason for the delay in an interview :

“When we went into the studio, it wasn't like in the past, when we stuck to the usual way of working with all bands that come in after their pre-production and spit their songs down in one fell swoop. We sat down again and checked whether they were already 100%. Much was changed during the recording. This is not only time consuming, but also very expensive. We overdrawn our budget three times. But that made this record the best I've ever made. "

- Blackie Lawless in: Metal Hammer, issue 8/1989, page 12

Of the songs recorded for the work, ten were released on the album, including a cover version of The Real Me, which Pete Townshend wrote for the rock opera Quadrophenia . Lawless had decided to record the song because he had recognized "that there are more important things than just keeping up an image facade on the devil." Another cover version appeared in the form of Jethro-Tull , written by Ian Anderson - Songs Locomotive Breath as the b-side of the single Mean Man, which was pre-released in February 1989 and reached number 21 on the UK music charts.

For the song Thunderhead were backing vocals from Lita Ford , Minka Kelly , Mark Humphreys, Diana Fennell, Jimi Image, Thomas Nellen, Cathi Paige, Mike Solan, Kevin Wallace, Melba Wallace and Ron Wallace added.

The album, produced by Blackie Lawless , was released on April 15, 1989, fifteen months after production began and almost a year after the originally scheduled release date. The production costs had added up to 600,000 US dollars , which corresponds to inflation-adjusted today (2020) 1,248,246 US dollars or 1,102,000 euros . Lawless had financed a not inconsiderable part of the sum out of pocket:

“They (note: the record company) only give us a certain amount for each LP, and we have to shell out anything beyond that out of our own pocket. (...) That's why I didn't look at the clock or the bank statements. "

- Blackie Lawless in: Metal Hammer, issue 8/1989, page 12
"Gateway to Stalingrad" (Digital Public Library of America)

Link to the picture
(please note copyrights )

Image of the album cover (US edition)

Link to the picture
(please note copyrights )

Image of the album cover (EU edition)

Link to the picture
(please note copyrights )

The cover of the album was designed by British designer John Kosh and based on the 1942 drawing "Gateway to Stalingrad" by Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel R. Fitzpatrick. It showed a skull from which a long line of well-known dictators , criminals , warmongers and ideologues such as Joseph Stalin , Adolf Hitler , Heinrich Himmler , Benito Mussolini , Charles Manson , Jim Jones , Idi Amin , Pol Pot , Al Capone , as well as members of the Ku Klux Klan seemed to be approaching the viewer. In the foreground of the picture you can see Jack Ruby attacking Lee Harvey Oswald . Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini , also shown on the US version of the album cover , was replaced by Grigori Efimowitsch Rasputin on the European editions of the album .

Due to the lack of a suitable drummer, the planned tour was initially postponed until Banali had ended his ongoing engagements with Quiet Riot and could support the band. In their early stages, the band was often accused of cleverly hiding a lack of musicality behind their lavish show, in which Lawless tossed raw meat into the crowd and drank fake blood. These performance elements had been removed from the program, so that the wind was taken out of the sails even to harsher critics, who now had to realize that the group had more to offer than just showmanship. The tour of Great Britain with Zed Yago in the opening act was completed at the end of May 1989; the second single, The Who Cover The Real Me , was released that month .

In 1998 the album was digitally remastered and re-released with six bonus tracks . Four of these songs had been released on the singles' B-sides in 1989, specifically Locomotive Breath, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Lake of Fools, and War Cry . Also included was a live version of the songs LOVE Machine and Blind in Texas , recorded on the 1989 tour at Hammersmith Apollo in London .

Track list

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
The Headless Children
  DE 22nd 04/24/1989 (8 weeks)
  UK 08 04/15/1989 (10 weeks)
  US 48 04/15/1989 (48 weeks)
Singles
Mean man
  UK 21st 03/04/1989 (5 weeks)
The Real Me
  UK 23 May 27, 1985 (5 weeks)
Forever Free
  UK 25th 09/09/1989 (5 weeks)
The Headless Children (first edition, 1989) 
No. title Songwriter length
1. The Heretic (The Lost Child) Blackie Lawless , Chris Holmes 7:23
2. The Real Me Pete Townshend 3:20
3. The Headless Children Lawless 5:56
4th Thunderhead Lawless, Holmes 5:56
5. Mean man Lawless 4:57
6th The Neutron Bomber Lawless 4:07
7th Mephisto Waltz   1:24
8th. Forever Free Lawless 5:11
9. Maneater Lawless 4:47
10. Rebel In The FDG Lawless 5:07
Overall length: 48:32
The Headless Children (reissued, 1998) 
No. title Songwriter length
1. The Heretic (The Lost Child) Blackie Lawless , Chris Holmes 7:23
2. The Real Me Pete Townshend 3:20
3. The Headless Children Lawless 5:56
4th Thunderhead Lawless, Holmes 5:56
5. Mean man Lawless 4:57
6th The Neutron Bomber Lawless 4:07
7th Mephisto Waltz   1:24
8th. Forever Free Lawless 5:11
9. Maneater Lawless 4:47
10. Rebel In The FDG Lawless 5:07
11. Locomotive Breath ( bonus track , cover version , single B-side ) Ian Anderson 3:01
12. For Whom The Bell Tolls (bonus track, single B-side) Lawless 3:49
13. Lake Of Fools (bonus track, single B-side) Lawless 5:34
14th War Cry (bonus track, single B-side) Lawless 5:34
15th LOVE Machine (Bonustrack, Live At Hammersmith 1989) Lawless 4:49
16. Blind In Texas (Bonustrack, Live At Hammersmith 1989) Lawless 6:53
Overall length: 78:21

reception

The album was able to establish itself in the music charts in the USA, Great Britain and Germany; on Billboard 200 , where it reached number 48, it lasted 13 weeks. In Germany reached The Headless Children Platz 22, UK number 8 in the charts. Here it was also awarded a silver record on May 17, 1989 . The three released singles, Mean Man, The Real Me and Forever Free all hit the top 30 on the UK charts.

Thomas Kupfer wrote for Rock Hard that the days when the band triggered "downright hysteria in underground circles" are long gone. But may one stand by the "quartet, which has meanwhile become a lot more melodic" as one may, Blackie Lawless' voice has "lost none of its charisma." So the organ of the "lawless" is "also in the foreground on the new long player" and give the song material, which sometimes sounds “too simple”, “the decisive drive.” All in all, the present LP “comes closest to the ingenious debut album” because tracks like The Heretic , “the massive title track or the typical WASP -The Neutron Bomber, which was performed in the manner, “easily compensated for the sagging of the album.” The reviewer awarded seven out of ten possible points.

In Metal Hammer was Matthias Penzel believes that will clear "after the first few bars" that WASP "her Kasperlethetaer no longer necessary" to have. The intro to The Heretic could “almost come from Queensrÿche”, but this impression “only flickered briefly” from the loudspeakers, then the band smashed “with 365 hp from the speakers” and Mr. Lawless suddenly yelled in your ear what he was saying have to say. Thematically it is about "violent street gangs, heroin, the everyday madness of a rock 'n' roller, motorcycles ..." The album is "a successful balance between the old, straight WASP and a much more sophisticated 90s version, the BIG to become “promise. The album is one of the "most pleasant surprises of the year." Penzel awarded six out of seven possible points.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h The Real Me in: Metal Hammer, No. 8/1989 (Issue 03-2), pages 10-13
  2. ↑ a b W.ASP history .
  3. ↑ credits of the album
  4. ↑ US inflation calculator
  5. ↑ Charts DE Charts UK
  6. ↑ Charts UK
  7. ^ British Phonographic Industry Awards Database, accessed March 11, 2020
  8. ↑ Review on rockhard.de , accessed on March 10, 2020
  9. ↑ Review in Metal Hammer, issue 03-2 / 1989, page 47