Dee Snider - Dee Does Broadway

First of all this isn't the first time this sort of thing has been done and I'm sure it's not the last and usually the endeavor is a hit and miss affair. Dee Snider's take on most of these songs are pretty typical to his usual style which doesn't work as well sometimes as it should. I'd much prefer him to tone down the Twisted aspect and turn up the pop fun side of his history.

The cover of "I Get A Kick Out Of You" is much to grinding and heavy to allow the melody to be as playful as it should be. I don't like the guitar riffing at all in the song as it's grungy and works against the melody overall. Then you get "There Is Nothin' Like A Dame" with Priscilla Queen of the Desert cast that works because there was more thought and effort put into the arrangement of the song. The entire Broadway feel isn't lost or buried for the metal aspect.

Dee does get it right a bunch here and "Music Of The Night" is one of those tracks that just doesn't work here it completely suits his voice and he sounds comfortable singing the melody. It could have been written by him or for him as it fits so well. I wish he would have put this kind of effort into each track instead of complete crap like "The Joint Is Jumping" where he duets with his son Jesse who I think sings great but again too much metal and not enough swing and swagger. They could have made some really great here but they miss the point.

When the album is on the right track tunes like "Cabaret", "The Ballad Of Sweeney Todd" and "Mack The Knife" deliver the goods brilliantly. I enjoyed "Razzle Dazzle" a lot which sounds very much like an old Twisted Sister song that if you didn't know better you'd be fooled. In the end this album is a novelty album and will be nothing more than one. It is good but it's not great and it will not make Dee any more or less famous or credible. He is an entertainer and he doesn't seem to want to rock out any more in a serious manner so this is what we get instead of the proper TS record or a heavy metal crusher reminiscent of Widowmaker's Stand By For Pain. Take it or leave it Dee Snider's Broadway metal record is here, I'm probably going to leave it once the dust settles and the novelty wears off.