Come Out and Play (album)

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Come Out and Play

Studio album by Twisted Sister
Released	November 9, 1985
Recorded	1985 New York and Los Angeles
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	39:36 (46:02 with bonus track)
Label	Atlantic Records
Producer(s)	Dieter Dierks
All Music Guide Link
Twisted Sister chronology
Stay Hungry (May 10, 1984)	Come Out and Play (November 9, 1985)	Love Is For Suckers (August 13, 1987)

'Come Out and Play' (November 9, 1985) is the fourth album by the American rock/heavy metal band Twisted Sister, released by Atlantic Records. It was less successful than its predecessor Stay Hungry (1984) both critically and commercially.

1 Overview
2 Track listing
3 Personnel
4 External links

[edit] Overview

After the success of Stay Hungry, Twisted Sister were faced with the question whether they should continue in a more pop-oriented direction or return to their early heavy metal roots. They tried to do a bit of both, but the approach proved unsuccessful since Come Out and Play marked the start of the band's decline. According to an interview with the lead singer and songwriter Dee Snider found in the CD sleeve of Club Daze 1: The Studio Sessions, The Shangri-Las cover "Leader of the Pack" which was also included in Ruff Cuts (1982), an early E.P. mostly unknown to those outside the core fan base, was intended to boost the band's popularity while keeping old fans pleased. Eventually neither that one nor "Be Chrool To Your Scuel" featuring such musical guests as Alice Cooper, Brian Setzer and Billy Joel among many others received the reaction that the band was expecting.

Although the album sold more than 500,000 copies, earning the band gold albums, supporting tour was a fiasco with cancelled dates and low attendances. Drummer A.J. Pero left the band after the tour contributing further to the chaos which eventually lead to band's breakup after the release of Love Is For Suckers in 1987.

From a musical viewpoint, the album was not a huge departure from Stay Hungry, despite a little more commercial sounding production by Dieter Dierks. The vocals though, lacked the crisp of earlier records, partly due to the down tuned guitars.

Music videos of "Leader of the Pack" and "Be Chrool to Your School" followed the comedic nature of band's earlier videos but the later featuring Alice Cooper was banned by MTV on the grounds that it was offensive.

The album was re-released by Spitfire Records in 1999 along with other albums of the band.

[edit] Track listing

"Come Out and Play" (Dee Snider) – 4:51
"Leader of the Pack" (Ellie Greenwich, Shadow Morton, Jeff Barry) – 3:48
"You Want What We Got" (Snider) – 3:45
"I Believe in Rock'n'Roll" (Snider) – 4:03
"The Fire Still Burns" (Snider) – 3:34
"Be Chrool to Your Scuel" (Snider) – 3:53
"I Believe in You" (Snider) – 5:23
"Out on the Streets" (Snider) – 4:27
"Lookin' Out for #1" (Snider) – 3:07
"Kill or Be Killed" (Snider) – 2:47
"King of the Fools" (Snider, bonus track in cassette and CD versions) – 6:26

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Band members

Dee Snider – lead and backing vocals
Eddie "Fingers" Ojeda – guitar and backing vocals
Jay Jay French – guitar and backing vocals
Mark "The Animal" Mendoza – bass and backing "growls"
A.J. Pero – drums and backing vocals

[edit] Other musicians

Alan St. John – keyboard
Don Dokken – additional vocals
Gary Holland – additional vocals

[edit] Special guests on "Be Chrool to Your Scuel"

Billy Joel – piano
Clarence Clemons – saxophone solo
Brian Setzer – guitar solo
Alice Cooper – accompanying vocals
Maxine Waters – backing vocals
Julia Waters – backing vocals
The Uptown Horns – horn section
- Arno "Cool-Ray" Hecht – tenor saxophone
- Crispin Cieo – baritone saxophone
- Hollywood Paul Litteral – trumpet
- Bad Bob Funk – trombone