Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the concept album “The Crimson Idol”, Blackie Lawless decided to rerecord the masterpiece, and include three songs (plus three interludes) that didn’t make the original release in 1992. Plus, the full length hour long music video movie is part of the set which has Blackie narrating several segments of the story over the clips, and the songs cut in. With Blackie on rhythm guitar and vocals, joined by long time guitarist Doug Blair (1992, 2001, 2006 -) and Mike Duda on bass, plus new drummer Aquiles Priester, the updated versions are completely faithful to the original album. The only difference is some mild change in the guitar phrasings in a few spots (but that is almost unnoticeable), and some added background orchestrations to give the songs more of that cinematic feel. Blackie also is a bit more aged in some of his annunciations and projection. Other than those observations, no complaints.

Concerning the new songs…instrumental ‘Michael’s Song’ follows the excellent acoustic ‘The Gypsy Meets The Boy’ and precedes eight minutes ballad ‘Miss You’. ‘Hey Mama’ before rocker ‘The Lost Boy’ has a familiar gallop to ‘Invisible Boy’, while “The Peace” (another sad ballad) does not pack as much as emotional punch as ‘The Idol’ and ‘Hold on to My Heart’, on side two. You just can’t follow and touch those heartfelt leads from Bob Kulick on the original recording. Epic closer ‘The Great Misconceptions of Me’ - those peaks and valleys are still unstoppable with those rolling drums, and Doug recreates those killer leads on ‘Chainsaw Charlie’ and ‘Arena Of Pleasure’.
Pick up this landmark timeless gem once again to enjoy the full picture and story even more. One of my all-time favorite albums still.