Inside the Electric Circus is the third album by the American heavy metal band W.A.S.P., released on October 22, 1986, through Capitol Records.
A remastered edition featuring two bonus tracks was reissued in 1997 through Snapper Music."Inside the Electric Circus" . waspnation.com. Retrieved March 26, 2015. The album is the band's first to feature singer and bandleader Blackie Lawless playing guitar, having switched from bass to rhythm guitar. It reached No. 60 on the US Billboard 200 chart, where it remained for 19 weeks.[ "W.A.S.P. - Chart history"]. Billboard. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
Critical reception
Greg Prato at AllMusic gave Inside The Electric Circus three stars out of five, calling it "[an attempt] to grow musically with each successive release". Canadian journalist Martin Popoff considered the album "slightly more simplified and hard rock-based" than previous works and reminded in his review how Lawless "in retrospect considered this record a failure."
Lawless himself has been critical of Inside The Electric Circus, going as far as to name it his least favorite W.A.S.P. album, calling it a "tired record done by a tired band".
Metal Hammer included the album cover on their list of "50 most hilariously ugly rock and metal album covers ever".
Track listing
Personnel W.A.S.P. Blackie Lawless – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, producer Chris Holmes – lead guitar Johnny Rod – bass, background vocals Steve Riley – drums, background vocals
Production Duane Baron, Alex Woltman – engineers Hans Peter Huber, Kevin Lehue – additional engineering Michael Wagener, Garth Richardson – mixing George Marino – mastering at Sterling Sound, New York
Charts Album
Chart (1986) Peakposition Australian Albums (Kent Music Report) 94 Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) 16
Singles YearSingleChartPosition1986"9.5.-N.A.S.T.Y."Finnish Singles Chart 18UK Singles Chart701987"I Don't Need No Doctor"UK Singles Chart31
References