Customer Reviews

Wild Life, The

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This albulm is good time fun rock and roll. Days gone by has always been a very meaningful song to me. It takes me back to the times when this song came out. I dont know why it didnt get much airplay its a great song. Shake this place is another personal favorite. Most fell in love with slaughter when stick it to ya came out, but for me it was the wild life that made them my #1. I recommend all their music if youre looking for a positive vibe. Unlike most of the 80's bands who have tried to change their sound to match popular music today, slaughter's latest studio albulm BACK TO REALITY is full of good time rock and roll. I havnt heard an albulm of its kind in years, and it was very refreshing. The live show is also great!!!

Slaughter, a product of the late 80s/early 90s radio rock invasion, have proven to be one of the more musically consistent groups from that era. As a long time fan and owner of just about all of Slaughter's albums, I can say that the Wild Life is one of the best and most diverse outings.

The Wild Life reminds me of the type of "classic" rock albums no longer allowed to be made by the majors. The band successfully explores new ground and broader influences while keeping the album flowing and full of hooks. From the Beatles-ish ("Streets of Broken Hearts", "Days Gone By", to the tried and true rockers("The Wild Life", "Dance for me Baby"), there is something for everyone and everything for someone.

With its hit singles, Slaughter's 1990 debut Stick It to Ya might have brought the band most of their fame and glory, but their 1992 follow-up the Wild Life was a much better overall album. All of the elements that made Stick It to Ya such an uneven album are present - the clichéd lyrics, cookie-cutter hair metal style, and Mark Slaughter's high pitched wail - but somehow the band manages to make things work this time around.

What works in the Wild Life's favor is that the album has a much more melodic feel to it. It's still full of your basic love songs and party anthems, but the songs are catchier and more consistent than they were on Stick It to Ya. There is less of what I'd consider filler on this album. Sure, a hair metal album with 14 tracks is bound to have a few duds (Dance for Me Baby and Shake this Place come to mind), but it's a lot more consistent than the previous album. The album is again dominated by Mark Slaughter's signature vocals, but he appears to have learned when to hold back that sonic wail.

As much as I still enjoy this album (and similar releases by Firehouse, Steelheart, and Nelson), it's not really surprising that it was blown away by Nirvana and the rest of the grunge scene. The grunge movement provided a necessary wake up call for mainstream music, even if it soon became every bit as repetitive as the hair metal scene had become. Besides, all the Nirvana albums in the world can't change the fact that for a time, millions of people were buying albums like this one, even if they won't admit to it now.

NOTE: The 2003 reissue of the Wild Life features digitally remastered sound and a pair of bonus tracks. The digital remastering really cleans up the sound of the album, bringing it closer to today's standards. The bonus tracks are a demo version of Real Love and a "gather `round the campfire" sing-along called Perfect World. It's a shame they couldn't add the song Shout It Out from the Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991 Film) soundtrack. That would have made more sense as a bonus track than another demo song.

Slaughter's album, Stick it To Ya! was a huge success and the follow-up album, The Wild Life, was one of my favorite in albums in 90s. Slaughter had hit singles from this with Wild Life and Real LOve and the song "Days Gone By" is one of my favorites.

I miss Slaughter and I miss a number of bands from the 90s and I can't believe that I am the first person to review this under-rated and under-appreciated albums.

Slaughter has always been, and will always be, one of the greatest rock bands of all time. In 1990, Slaughter released their first album, "Stick It To Ya", which was very good. And then in 1992, Slaughter released "The Wild Life"- which turned out to be even better than their first album. Here is a rundown of every track:

"Reach For The Sky"- A good feel good song, a good way to open an album. There is a cool intro at the beginning of this track.

"Out for Love"- A heavy metal rock anthem. At the beginning of this track, there is a replay clip of the Slaughter song "Up All Night"with car sounds.

"The Wild Life"- A song about a girl who parties all the time. The best song on the whole album, and defintely one of the best songs Slaughter has ever recorded.

"Days Gone By"- A very pretty ballad that shows Mark Slaughter's talents as both a songwriter and a pianist. Sounds a lot like Queen.

"Dance For Me Baby"- Not one of Slaughter's best songs, but pretty good.

"Times They Change"- A song Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum wrote during the Gulf War. A clip of this song appeared on the January 16, 1992 NBC segment on the one-year anniversary of the U.S. bombing on Baghdad, and clips of the special appear on this song.

"Move to the Music"- A fun song, shows Blas Elias's talent as a drummer.

"Real Love"- This track sounds very 80's, and it is about a guy who was dumped by his girlfriend, and is depressed because he can't find real love. Don Johnson should be jealous by the fact that he didn't write this song.

"Shake This Place"- One of those fun songs that makes you want to throw a big party with loud music.

"Streets of Broken Hearts"- One of Sluaghter's prettiest ballads. This one should have been a hit.

"Hold On"- A nice and catchy ballad.

"Do Ya Know"- Not one of my favorite Slaughter songs, but this one is very good with a good message. Sounds like a song Gene Simmons would write. I won't give away this one, because it is one of those songs that is so good that you have to listen to the lyrics to figure out what the song is about.

"Old Man"- A Slaughter blues song. Not something I ever pictured, but for their first attempt at blues, Slaughter did a pretty good job.

Accoustic version of "Days Gone By"- This is the version of "Days Gone By"that is performed only on accoustic guitar. Very pretty, you can listen to the music and know what the lyrics are while just listening to the music.

Original demo of "Real Love"- Good thing the original demo of "Real Love"wasn't released as a single, but cool to have on the album anyway.

"Perfect World"- A very patriotic song about what it would be like if we could live in a world with peace and no war or fighting. A good song to listen to after 9/11 and this whole Iraq mess.

So there you have it all. "The Wild Life" is a very good album, and you should hear it for yourself.

I bought this album when it came out but sold it back when I found that I never played it anymore. Well, I recently found it in a used CD bin for a cheap price and decided to pick it up. I'm glad I did. It is a nice addition to my ever-growing rock CD collection.

This album isn't quite as good as its predecessor, the higher-selling debut "Stick It To Ya". No single released became well-known like on that first album. Nonetheless, it is still a decent effort. The title track is a cheesy but fun, good-time rocker that was a minor rock radio hit. "Reach For The Sky", "Out For Love", and the anthemic "Times They Change" are all solid tracks. "Days Gone By" and "Real Love" are both quality ballads that deserved more airplay. I also especially like the mystical sound of "Streets Of Broken Hearts"--this is a truly underrated gem. Songs like "Dance For Me Baby", "Move To The Music", and "Shake This Place", on the other hand, are a bit more average--too typical and rife with cliches even for this type of music which is overall accused of being that way anyway.

I listen to a variety of rock music, but my favorite "type" among it all is melodic rock. Slaugher is overall an average, not necessarily ground-breaking, band within that genre; but they are still worth a listen. Certainly this album is worth a listen if you like melodic rock as a rule. Overall rating: 3 3/4 stars.

This second album from Slaughter has recently been re-released with additional tracks. The fun-time, rock and roll attitude initiated on their first album, Stick It To Ya, carries through onto this, their second album.

The only complaint I have was that there could have been more extra tracks...but other than that I felt that this was an excellent addition to my cd collection.

I look forward to the DVDs.

I was very happy with the product itself however the case i received it in was practically broken in half due to bad packaging for shipment, (Was received in just bubble wrap)

This is such a fun album. It was created in a time of innocence - the early 1990's. Well, it was a time of innocence for me. I was only eleven when this came out; I was enrolled in a Christian school at the time, and rock 'n' roll was both new and slightly forbidden to me. I'd heard "Up All Night" and "Fly To The Angels" on the radio-I think they were unavoidable during those early years of the 1990's-but, it was the Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey soundtrack that made me a Slaughter fan for life. For an eleven year old, Bill and Ted were cool and rock `n' roll was definately cool. Slaughter had a song on the Bill and Ted soundtrack, so, a fortiori, Slaughter were cool.

After hearing "Shout It Out" on the Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey soundtrack, I started to notice Slaughter albums wherever CD's and cassettes were sold. The Wild Life was Slaughter's new album at the time, and the cover art for that one really struck a chord with me. That front cover of a longhaired adolescent boy holding an electric guitar and being whipped by an authority figure that looked like a lion tamer represented, to me, something strange, dark and mysterious. For some reason even at that innocent age, I identified with the intimations of young tortured genius that were on display on the front cover of the Wild Life.

I didn't buy the album at the time, though. Actually, it's probably better I didn't; the boyhood stirrings of my imagination were far more remarkable than the music of the Wild Life. Nevertheless, the Wild Life is a fun album. It'll lift your spirits. It'll make you feel good. It's rock `n' roll comfort food from "Days Gone Bye." They don't make `em like this anymore.

I own this album along with all of Slaughters other albums and there is not a bad album in the batch. All their album are great. they change their style just a little through the years but never for the bad. As for the one reviewer who said it was bo-o-ring, I'm just guessing that they were one of the ones that went to Kurt Cobane's funeral holding the candle and crying. Grunge is the reason MTV does not play music anymore!