Stay Hungry is to
Twisted Sister what
Metal Health is to
Quiet Riot,
Operation: Mindcrime is to
Queensrÿche, and
Appetite for Destruction is to
Guns n' Roses -- it isn't their only worthwhile release, but it is widely regarded as their best and most essential. So when
Twisted Sister decided to re-record one of their albums in 2004, the most logical choice was
Stay Hungry -- and
Still Hungry finds a reunited
Twisted Sister revisiting that 1984 classic 20 years later. Of course, it's impossible to improve upon perfection, and some fans of
Sister's '80s output will wonder if favorites like "We're Not Gonna Take It," "I Wanna Rock," and "Burn in Hell" really needed to be re-recorded. But here's the thing: according to guitarist
Jay Jay French,
Stay Hungry wasn't perfection -- at least not from a production standpoint.
French had problems with the way
Tom Werman produced
Stay Hungry;
Werman and Atlantic Records insisted on a glossier, lighter sort of production, while
Dee Snider and his bandmates had envisioned a tougher, harder, heavier sound (and didn't get their way). Stylistically,
Still Hungry isn't a big departure from
Stay Hungry;
Sister plays the same nine songs in pretty much the same fashion and offers them in the same order (adding seven bonus tracks, which range from 2000's previously released "Heroes Are Hard to Find" to some tunes that were written in the '80s but went unfinished). On
Still Hungry, bassist
Mark Mendoza's production does, in fact, give
Stay Hungry's nine songs a dirtier, less glossy sound -- and these 2004 performances are undeniably inspired. Twenty years obviously haven't robbed
Snider,
French, or
Mendoza of their enthusiasm for this material. Nonetheless, the original,
Werman-produced 1984 version of
Stay Hungry remains
Sister's most essential disc; casual listeners should start out with
Stay Hungry, not
Still Hungry. But for collectors and hardcore fans,
Still Hungry paints an enjoyable, interesting picture of the sound that
Snider and friends originally had in mind for their most famous album.
–
Alex Henderson, Rovi