For Hard Rock fans and collectors, having the two major-label SLAVE RAIDER albums on CD has been akin to finding the Holy Grail. Since neither offering from the costumed Minnesotans sold a lick on CD, finding a copy would typically cost a small fortune.
After almost 30 years since Slave Raider’s debut was out, both SLAVE RAIDER ’80s albums were freshly remastered courtesy of the sage pop metal purveyors at Divebomb Records. As requested, here’s these now sold out items.
The first Slave Raider album Take the World By Storm is a really good one, but my favorite always was their more ambitious 2nd CD “What Do You Know About Rock ‘N Roll?“.
Like Kix on the East Coast and Y&T in Northern California, Slave Raider’s core fan base was in the Twin Cities, and thus, their over-the-top image was easily drowned out by more popular national acts like Twisted Sister, WASP or Lizzy Borden, despite their sound & style took a lot of those same cues as well.
For “What Do You Know About Rock ‘N Roll?” Slave Raider got famed producer Chris Tsangarides (TNT, Gary Moore, Thin Lizzy, Yngwie Malmsteen) who helped them add a more melodic polish to their sound.
You hear that especially in the opening tracks “Is There Rock N’ Roll In Heaven?” and “Youngblood” the latter of which got some decent radio play and rotation at MTV Headbanger’s Ball.
They also made the second half of the album some kind of concept about a dystopian future where Rock music is a crime, ending the CD with one of the best versions of Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” you’ll ever hear.
Originally released in 1988, “What Do You Know About Rock ‘N Roll?” was one of the best US Hard Rock albums of the year, sadly pretty ignored due to the poor promotion provided by RCA/Jive Records, despite the title track being featured on the ‘Nightmare On Elm Street V’ movie soundtrack in 1989.
The term ‘cult classic’ gets tossed around pretty freely, but in Slave Raider’s case it is completely appropriate. Here’s a band that had a wild look, an even wilder sound, and that went beyond the normal party rock clichés.
“What Do You Know About Rock ‘N Roll?” is quite unknown for many Hard Rock fans, not strange as the album never was reissued and with copies being sold for over $200.
Now you have the opportunity to discover a band that should have been huge with this excellent Divebomb Records remastered reissue, now sold out.
Highly Recommended
01 – Is There Rock ‘N Roll In Heaven
02 – Youngblood
03 – Bye Bye Baby
04 – Keep On Pushin’
05 – Sin City Social
06 – Roller Coaster
07 – The High Priest Of Good Times
08 – The Magistrate
09 – What Do You Know About Rock ‘N Roll?
10 – Guilty
11 – Iron Bar Motel
12 – Wreckin’ Machine
13 – Jailbreak
Chainsaw Caine: vocals
Nicci Wikkid: guitars, vocals
Lance Sabin: guitars
Letitia Rae: bass, vocals
The Rock: drums