Twisted Sister
Club Daze Volume I: The Studio Sessions

THE REVIEW

Twisted Sister was formed in 1973 in New York around guitarist Jay Jay French, with a lineup that would change continuously until '78: the definitive lineup gradually formed with the addition of Eddie Ojeda, Dee Snider, and Mark “The Animal” Mendoza. The only change from what is considered the "classic" lineup was drummer Tony Petri, the driving force of the "Twisted Sister" until 1980, the year he joined the Plasmatics.

With this lineup, they gained popularity in their city's clubs and recorded the single “I’ll Never Grow Up, Now!/Under The Blade”, which did not achieve much success. Twenty years later, Jay Jay French and Mark Mendoza became producers and released “Club Daze Volume I: The Studio Sessions,” which included recordings from that period, such as the aforementioned single and strong versions of “Shoot ‘Em Down” and “Leader Of The Pack”, which found their place in the band's subsequent LPs.

As evidence of the band's quality even back in the 70s is the fact that the aforementioned songs were re-recorded in official releases (probably to align them with the sound of the various albums) but with an unchanged structure compared to the versions here. Within the album reigns a bare and raw hard rock, far from the stadium choruses that our band would offer us in the years to come, inseparably linked to the lesson imparted a few years earlier by the forefathers of the genre.

The album opens with the powerful “Come Back”, where musical aggression perfectly marries Snider's roar, and continues with the lively “Pay The Price” and “Rock’n’Roll Saviors”; particularly in the latter the Twisted Sister proclaim themselves staunch defenders of rock’n’roll and declare all-out war on disco music, which was gaining ground in those years. It continues with easy listening rockers “High Steppin” and “Big Gun”, before encountering a pair of tracks performed by Jay Jay French, “TV Wife” and “Can’t Stand Still”, of more bluesy inspiration, while the lead singer returns forcefully with “Follow Me”, which precedes the band's adolescent manifesto, “I’ll Never Grow Up, Now!”, a raw rock’n’roll with a punk aftertaste, an anthem of rebellion against parents who want their children to be all about school and home, impossible to resist!

After this little gem, there's another excellent composition, “Lady’s Boy”, once again tinged with blues but this time hampered by an imprecise production: it would find its ideal dimension live, as evidenced by the subsequent Club Daze Volume II: Live In The Bars. Finally, we have the trio “Leader Of The Pack”, “Under The Blade”, “Shoot ‘Em Down”, which serve as a bridge between this record and the rest of the group's production.

In conclusion, the album is an excellent testimony of the early phase of our band's career, which would soon conquer America through their wild shows, and here show what their roots are, far from glam in favor of fresh hard rock. Two years later, Spitfire Records would release Club Daze Volume II: Live In The Bars, which, divided into three parts, re-proposes a radio show broadcast in  far-off '79 and whose listening is entirely complementary to this.

Not an album that has set standards (also due to the date of publication), but a recommended listen for all lovers of classic 70s hard rock, as well as all fans of the old Twisted Sister.