Customer Reviews

Live Fast, Die Fast

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

 

 

1989's Live Fast, Die Fast was the debut album from British hard rock act Wolfsbane, which is perhaps best known for featuring vocalist Blaze Bayley before his (mercifully) brief stint with the legendary Iron Maiden.

Live Fast, Die Fast is essentially a New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) album that came about 8 years too late. It wasn't metal by 1989's standards, and aside from some very "metal" solos didn't seem relevant to the types of metal that were popular at the time. The basic, fast paced dirty hard rock of Live Fast, Die Fast sounds more like a leftover album by Dragster or Trespass. I keep trying to hear what might have made Bayley such an appealing choice to replace Bruce Dickinson, but nothing here is convincing me.

Wolfsbane's debut is a completely decent, completely forgettable late 80's hard rock album. Unless you're a major Blaze fan or are compiling some kind of Maiden tie-in collection, I can't give this album a very strong recommendation.

Awesome debut album from an amazing band with a tremendous singer Blaze Bayley. Here even in his early years his voice is killer. Great album, awesome metal songs.

Wolfsbane came late to the Heavy Metal party, but injected a(n) (un)healthy dose of much needed energy into a flagging genre.

Blaze Bailey's voice coupled with Jase Edwards's guitar made a great partnership; especially considering Edwards seldom recorded a separate "rhythm" track - his solos are backed by the hard-hitting rhythm section of Jeff Hateley (bass) and Steve "Danger" Ellett (drums). It was a refreshingly underproduced record in a time of overproduction and shoegazing to see where Metal went wrong. It was the same approach going on over in Seattle, but instead of creating a new subgenre of sub-par rock/pop, these guys took Metal, shook out its pockets, and picked out the best bits.

Subtitled "Wicked Tales of Birds, Booze, and Bad Language", the album spans ten tracks. Plenty of birds, evidence of booze, but strangely no bad language. Stand-out tracks are Man Hunt, Shakin', Killing Machine, Fell out of Heaven, Money to Burn, and All or Nothing. The other four tracks aren't crap -- they're just in need of editing. What's makes this album perfect is that Side A segues all the way from start to finish, yet they stand alone.

Shades of early (80s) Ozzy, a bit of Priest, definitely British though, with no Americanized overtones of grandeur: these are the little guys standing up for themselves and the music they love instead of trashing it. They rose from the gutter, and unfortunately, fell right back there a few years after.

Addendum: It's pretty plain what caused Steve Harris to pick Bailey to replace Bruce Dickinson. He had energy, was hard working, and had a distinctive voice. He was the life of the party at the live show. There's also an element of his image. What puzzles me is why his work in Iron Maiden was so listless and dull. It seems he was sapped of all creativity with Steve Harris at the helm. Oh well, that story ended well enough...

...Man this was blaze's first band, who were pretty popular back in the late 80's and early 90's in the UK, and this album delivers some good hard rocking, metal tunes. The bass wasnt produced that great, but for this album having to be low budget, not everything sounded great, alot of times the drums were electric too, which I thought was odd. However it grew on me fast, cause this album rocks, with some killer guitar riffs and blaze's screaming vocals.

Manhunt-Fast song, instant winner. Great double bass, killer solo.

Shakin-Cool smooth rock&roll song, cant believe blaze would write these kind of lyrics, very funny, sexual oriented. Also the melody with the bass solo flowing with Blaze's vocals really is awesome.

Killing Machine-Opening sequence for electric drums, however this song rocks. A catchy chorus and some powerful lyrics.

Fell out of Heaven-Nice tune, as fast as it comes in after the song before it, you wonder if your on the same song still. Nice love lyrics, I just cant believe Blaze Bailey would be singing love songs.

Money to Burn-A bit on the corny side, but still alot of fun. It is a song that everybody wishes to get to do if they were a millionairre. Very funny and enjoyable.

Greasy-A very solid metal song, the opening guitar lick is very cool, along with some nice edgy vocals, with a dynamic guitar solo, this one is not to be missed.

I like it Hot-As all men should, another nice wicked love song, very romantic, some headbangers might find this song kind of corny, but its still good.

All or Nothing-Dear sir I want to be a rock&roll preacher? Awesome song, a song about a man trying to work on getting famous with a band. Alot of local metal bands should really enjoy this song, it shows what you go through. Very fast and very intense, the chorus is just simply awesome.

Tears from a Fool-A very nice melodic song, with a very neat acoustic guitar inwards in it. The riffs are just simply great, this song is also the best produced on here. With terrific bass and drums flowing along with some nice vocals from Blaze, a very deep love song, and could be known as the mellow song off the album. Dont miss this one.

Pretty Baby-Average love, wicked song like Hot and Heaven, still not a bad closing for the album. It ends with a killer solo.

This was a great metal band in their day, I wanted to give this album 5 stars, but the production and some of the lyrics made me think otherwise, still this album really is great. They improved over the years after this cd though. I wish this band and their albums weren't so underrated, cause they simply rocked. Blaze fans dont miss this album. Hope I actually can convence someone to buy this album and write about it.