Customer Reviews

Headless Children

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Headless Children is a very strong album from W.A.S.P. and certainly among their best. This album was certainly a welcome surprise upon its release after their previous uneven studio album Inside The Electric Circus and their okay live album Live...In The Raw. Blackie Lawless wanted to go in a heavier and more serious direction on this album and most of the time it works. The lyrics on this album are certainly among his best and only their next album The Crimson Idol rivals its intensity.

The first half of this album is simply killer as "The Heretic (The Lost Child)", "Thunderhead", and the title track are all among their best work. Frankie Banali's drumming on this album is fantastic, much better and heavier than on his albums with Quiet Riot. The band also added Uriah Heep keyboardist Ken Hensley on this album and his work on the title track, "Thunderhead" and "The Neutron Bomber" makes these tracks even more powerful. The band's version of "The Real Me", highlighted by Johnny Rod's bass playing and Lawless's vocals, is an excellent track. "Forever Free" is also a strong track, certainly one of their best ballads. The other tracks aren't as strong as the rest of the album with "Mean Man" being the best of them. The remastered version features several bonus tracks including their cover of Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath" and live versions of "Blind In Texas" and "L.O.V.E. Machine." This album along with W.A.S.P. and The Crimson Idol is their best work.

Well it's official, this ones a classic .Blackie and company really out did themselves on this album. The music is dark and sassy and says we did it our way and don't regret it one darn bit.If you are a W.A.S.P. fan than The Headless Children is a must. Get out you're little checkbook, put you're little pen in you're little hand and buy this cd. And to think W.A.S.P. put out this classic at the same time Blackie Lawless was in court fighting the battle of his life facing 5-10 on a practicing witchcraft in public charge.The charges were finally dropped and Blackie went on to record the album of his life! no mortal man could have pulled it off, but we all know Blackie Lawless is no ordinary man. This one rocks, buy it !

Masterpiece! No doubt about it, i consider this stuff the definitive heavy metal album cos' that's really complete.
Great production with a blasting sound, great lyrics, a thunderous drumming, killer guitars and the wonderful voice of Blackie. On the album there is an incredible variety of songs and that's the most important factor.
W.A.S.P. leave behind the old wild image and themes and focus on a more mature sound and image.
the opener 'The Heretic' is fast, heavy but melodic with an incredible guitar work. The middle part's riff is pure heaven!
The Title Track is another 90's piece with perfect vocals by Blackie and a killer drumming. Frankie Banali's performance is onre of the best 10 of all times,IMO.
Jhonny Rod has his moment of glory on the great Who's 'The Real Me'. He proves his ability on this album more than on 'Electric Circus' and the King Kobra's works.
The intro of 'Thunderead' is worth of a tear, so beautiful and sad. Then the song becomes heavy and progressive.
'Mean Man' is dedicated to Chris Holmes and it's the perfect link with the past of the band. That's a wild and powerful stuff with the classic trade mark of W.A.S.P. That song always gives me strength, i love it!
'Man Eater' is pure power and speed with a great solo from Chris Holmes.
'The Neutron Bomber' is another solid stuff, very very good.
Prepare to cry for 'Forever Free', a touching and intense power ballad with an excellent lead solo and a DIVINE performance from Blackie.
'Rebel in the F.D.G.' closes the album, that's another wild and powerful stuff remembering the old W.A.S.P.
The bonus tracks are excellent too and make tha album shine brighter: 'Lake of Tears' is a progressive song that should have been on the album. That's different from anything W.A.S.P. ever did and it reminds me to Pink Floyd.
Jetro Tull's 'Locomotive Breath' is good enough but 'Warcry' is another masterpiece, a track about the war.
'For Whom The Bells Tolls' (No Metallica here!) is a great track and that's the first version of the song 'The Gipsy Meets the Boy' on the Idol album. Two strong live versions of 'L.O.v.E. Machine' and 'Blind in Texas' complete the OPERA.
No other words, this album is a legacy. Buy it, no way!

This was a very cool album when it was released and still sounds good, even now.

For the main part it is brilliant in its darkness and fear of what we are becoming (well so it seemed at the time). The headless children and the heretic embody this like very few other songs do: the mess and immorality, decay and bereftness of society and the overarching fear of war and destruction. The track, the real me, sandwiched between these two tracks, makes it personal. So this starts with a triple shot bang...1-2-3...bang-bang-bang. Great stuff. It tends to lose its way a little after the headless children: thunderhead is corny and dumb. Mean man redeems this for the most part (except for the line about a heavy metal creature-> never refer to yourself) Forever free is a good ballad, not WASP's best (Hold on to my heart, Crimson Idol takes that honor) but not bad either: it was surprising at the time because it was un-wasplike! Meaneater and neutron bomber are kinda benignly blah: filler. And rebel in the FDG (f**king degenerate generation) is okay. Mephisto Waltz is the track that most annoys me since it could have, should have been developed into a song. Such a waste of a good melody. A crime that it was used as a segue rather than being explored in its own right- hence devaluing its hauntedness.

SO there are some very, very killer songs here and some others that just emphasize how good the really good ones are by their lack of quality. The fact that i give this 4 stars: one each for the really good songs.

I had given up on WASP until a friend turned me onto this album for "one last try". If you don't have any other WASP album, at least get this one!

If you've followed WASP from the early days you'll hear that somewhere in the making of this album they grew up. Gone are the shallow lyrics saturated with sexual innuendos, non-innuendos, and jabber about boozing yourself to death. You know, lyrics easily grasped by your average 13 year old? Instead thoughful musings about life and the world we live in abound. Ok, they digress a little bit, but not in near the fashion of the old days. Blackie Lawless still sings like he's got a bunch of those old saw blades stuck in his throat. A signature of the WASP sound remains, fear not.

The music matured with the band too. Gone are 100% pre-canned, tired, metal riffs strummed with some idea that rhythm may exist, and a sort of catchy melody thrown on top. Instead? Solid, fat, rhythms, with interesting melodies and counter-melodies have taken their place. The bass drives harder than a Harley on a dirt road, and the drums are rock solid! Together they are solid metal worth listening to!

This album is blistering! I first bought it when it came out around '89. I have described the beginning of "The Heretic" as the music you would probably hear as you're entering Hell! Mean Man and Maneater are my favorites, but there's not a single song I don't love on the album. It's like getting hit in the chest with a 20 lb sledgehammer! Buy this album!

just kidding! "the neutron bomber" was the reason i bought this album in the first place, plus, i like the live version of l.o.v.e. machine and where a loyal fan gets on the stage and tries to sing "blind in texas". this album kicks [...].

Individually- (Bassist, Drums, Lead & Rhythm Guitars) this may have been the most talented band of the 80's, second to the first David Lee Roth record. But aside from the individual talent is the outstanding writing into the album.
Blackie Lawless has a high amount of talent for writing & this may have been his finest effort-. The First 3 tracks (Heretic, Headless Children, Thunderhead) are powerful & memorable.
I really dont believe there has been a better Metal Album since its release in 1989 or so.

This album has it all...lyrics with philosophical overtones on par with Dylan's reputation, coupled with equally impressive music that even includes keyboards. I've been an enthusiastic fan of this band ever since I read/heard "Lost Child (The Heretic)". The cover of "The Real Me" would have Pete Townshend proud. Substance Abuse, especially heroin, is never far from the world of music and here the subject is tackled with the brutal honesty that few can so eloquently express like Blackie Lawless does in "Thunderhead". Although the Reagan references are somewhat dated now, another subject that is addressed is the accelerated build-up of the Defense Department during his tenure as President. Even the 'ballad' "Mephisto Waltz/Forever Free" is as intense as it is stellar. This album is DEFINITELY a far cry from when Blackie Lawless was a favorite target of the P.M.R.C. and because of that this album is as timeless as any album from any genre released in the last 20-30 years.

Finally, any motorcyclist should own this album even if only for the presence of three of the finest songs ever written mentioning the sport. Yes, each of these songs ("Mean Man", "Rebel in the F.D.G." & especially "Maneater") is better than "Born to Be Wild". (My apologies to Steppenwolf for my heresy.) With just the phrase "Born Free---I ride" (Maneater), how much more succintly could an nebulous idea such as the love of motorcycles be portrayed?

(The review was only written in reference to the Original Release.)

The Headless Children is without a doubt the best album WASP ever produced. The most ironic part of this is that all the humor was gone. One of the things that had drawn me to the band, their sharp stick in the eye humor was long forgotten here.

The original album kicks off with Heretic (The Lost Child) a black tale of life in LA street gangs and that sets the tone for the whole record from Forever Free to Mean MAn. You just couldn't miss that Blackie and Co. were pissed and meant business here.

Let me close be putting this record into perspective by saying, that on a hot summer night in August years ago the songs on this record almost caused riot in a small club in Boston. It was without a doubt one of the most intense shows I've ever scene and I've almost 200.