Waysted – The Good, The Bad, The Waysted
Joe Siegler
- AllMyVinyl #122
- Band: Waysted
- Album Title: The Good, The Bad, The Waysted
- Release Date: ? 1985
- Date purchased: Unknown
- Location purchased: Unknown
- Color of vinyl: black
- Number of discs: 1
- Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website (N/A) | Complete album on Youtube ]
This is a band that fell off the map supremely quickly. Their first album was white hot amazing (1983’s Vices). I loved that album – still do. I have that album on vinyl, I’ll cover it later, but this, their second (full) studio album is the only other one I have on vinyl, so I wanted to write about them a bit here. After that first album, they put out a self titled EP the following year (1984), which I have a vague memory of having on cassette tape, but I always felt that was an odd choice. A band coming off a really good album should strike with another, but they offered a 6 track EP. Now it was new music, but I remember feeling underwhelmed by that. So their second album (which some places like Wikipedia call their third) was this one. However, they lost their record deal in the United States as I recall. I couldn’t ever find the bloody thing. Given this was the mid 80’s imports were hideously expensive. I mean they’re still more expensive now, but back then it was to the point where I couldn’t buy them due to the prices. After this they struck a new record deal, did a full new album for 1986 called “Save Your Prayers” which had a musical change of direction. At that point, the only one left from the first album was the band’s namesake – Pete Way. The original singer who I really loved was gone. That album didn’t do much either despite them trying to be more melodic and radio friendly. In the year 2000 they remixed Save Your Prayers and put it out as “Wilderness of Mirrors”. There was also a live album that year.
Jump forward a few years, and Pete Way got back together with Fin Muir, the original singer, and they put out a new album called “Back From the Dead” in 2004. They followed that up a few years later with another studio album called “The Harsh Realty” (2007), and that was it from them. No more new material. In 2025 I found someone had collected the entire Waysted catalog and re-released it all in a 9 CD set (spread out over two packages) – so I snapped that up, as a few of these albums I never technically owned. You can find them on Amazon here and here. One thing though – through all those releases, every time they put out new studio work, the band changed. There were some guys on more than one album, but as a whole, the band’s only consistent player was Pete Way. I always wondered if that inconsistency had something to do with the band being unable to make a major dent.
Going back in time…. One day at a time I can only remember as being AFTER the 1986 Save Your Prayers album I was randomly looking through a used record store and found this album I’m writing about today. I was surprised as hell to find the thing. I never thought I’d get it, because it never came out in the US. That’s the vinyl I have today, and even more amusingly when my brother sent me my old vinyl collection from our Mom’s basement, I had no recollection of still owning that, but I have it now. I remember buying it originally, but what I don’t remember was still owning it. The album back then anyway I never paid a bunch of attention to, because my brain already had the band in “broken up” land, and even if they weren’t, THIS version of the band was no more either. So when I sit down to listen to this, I can recall nothing from this by title save for one track which I’ll address when I get to the individual track section of this. As I write this part, I haven’t listened to the LP yet, so I’m really curious to see if any of it will pop back into my head at all, because I certainly don’t remember this one nearly 40 years after it came out.
By the time this album came out originally, the band were veterans of line up changes. This being the second full album (third if you count the EP) is on their third drummer, their fifth guitarist (although the fourth was on the EP as well). It’s probably why they all sound different from release to release. Anyway, let’s get to some tracks.
Hang ’em High – Song starts off with a good riff I quite like. It’s not as in your face as the Vices album was, but it’s still some good riffage. It’s still got that gravelly vocal delivery by Fin Costello, so that’s a plus as it was one of my favorite things from the Vices album. No clue what the song is about, but I was definitely digging the riffing here. Good beat I enjoyed. Nice fluid (if not really memorable) solo. I did discover by the time the song was over I was getting in the beat at end, so yeah – good song.
Hi Ho My Baby – Starts off with one of my favorite things – a drum intro (hello Mr. Colin Flooks). Very simple solid riff that runs through it. Once we get to the chorus, I really dug it. The way the song is delivered in the chorus makes it sounds like something that would belong on the Vices album. The chorus is excellent stuff. The way the vocals are delivered in the chorus are the big draw to the first album for me. It’s stellar shit. I really love this song. Probably the best thing on the album (so he says listening to just two tracks so far). As I listen to this I sort of remember this song from the past. “Hi ho. Hi ho my baby……” Catchy (to me). Has a little of the screaming that permeated the Vices album too.
Heaven Tonight – Now this is the song that I remembered before listening to the album. That’s because Waysted re-recorded it on their next album “Save Your Prayers” where it was the lead single, and the only song that got any attention there. It’s the same song that’s on here, although the version recorded on the next album had a different vocalist. I prefer this one because it’s got a harder sound than the more polished 86 version. As I’ve said before Fin Costello is my favorite Waysted vocalist, and he does this song justice. It’s slower than most Waysted songs, but it’s definitely NOT a ballad. It is the most commercially accessible track on the album. That it wasn’t released as a single here is a bit of a surprise, might have gotten them more attention on an album that really got none. I enjoyed this listen today far more than I thought I would. I had forgotten about this version of the song since I haven’t owned this album in bloody forever, so the 86 version was more in my head. VERY enjoyable track.
Now we get into the tracks that I am a blank slate on. Everything from here is a “no idea” song.
Manuel – The songs starts off faking you out. For the first minute you thought it was going to be a slow song, but then the main part kicks in and it’s a nice transition. Sometimes these things are more of a “bang” in your face (Dio has done that a LOT in his career), but this one was just a nice transition. Once it gets going, the riff is nice. Nothing super special, but pleasing enough to my ears. Guitar solo is excellent. The song ends with some really great guitar work too with a nice bass run mixed in. I wish the bulk of the song sounded like the end – would have been a LOT better. Definitely ends better than it starts.
Dead On Your Legs – This song has a few of the guitar flourishes I liked a lot from the first album, but not a LOT. Song is enjoyably simple. Guitar solo is good. The simple beat runs through that too. Not a lot to say about this, it’s helped by the solo, which is more enjoyable than the rest of the song.
Rolling Out the Dice – This has the same kind of Vices sound – a good solid guitar sound with some echo in the background. I loved that sound from the first album. It’s here in this song. This is another one with a catchy chorus. The way Fin sings “rollin” in the chorus is my favorite part of the song. This is one of those songs that you don’t like them singing the same thing over and over it will turn you off, but it’s my favorite part of the song. It keeps going into the fadeout too. Side note: This album in my iTunes library says I played it twice in the past, but I don’t remember that. But I must have somewhere as I remembered the chorus when I listened to it.
Land That’s Lost the Love – This is a song that about 4/5 of the way through I realized I forgot to write about it, because I was too busy enjoying the song. It’s got a bit more depth than the usual song that just has a single beat that runs through a simple track. This is a bit deeper than that, and I very much enjoyed it. Good song that I remember squat about on today’s listen. It wasn’t quite a ton of time changes, but it had a few different sounds which was nice then the usual 4 mins of the same riff.
Crazy ‘Bout The Stuff – This is a slower song. It’s got a military sounding drum part at the start. It’s similar to Manuel from earlier on the album where the opening sound goes away after a minute, and the full band kicks in. One of the best guitar solos on the album. Really enjoyed that. In fact, the entire song was pleasant – it does definitely have my favorite – the time change. The slow part at the start reappears about 3/4 of the way through. Enjoyed the different sounds for sure. Great guitar work.
Around and Around – This is another one that reminds of Vices. That album has a cover of the old Jefferson Airplane song “Somebody to Love”. This is exactly like that. This one is a cover of the old Chuck Berry song of the same name, which was originally a B side to the song ‘Johnny B Goode.” This cover starts off with a version that sounds like the original, but quickly escalates to a very much in your face cover of a non metal song. I love covers like this. This is fast, in your face, and still retains a bit of the OG blues feel of early era Rock & Roll. Love this cover. I wish more of this album sounded like this. It would have smoked.
That brings me to the end of the second Waysted album, “The Good, The Bad, The Waysted”. I remember feeling it was a lost album ( because of the story I told above), and today when I listen to it, I can see why it didn’t make a dent. It’s not as in your face as the first album was. It had some enjoyable tracks, the kind I’d add to a playlist or two, but listening to the full album front to back probably won’t happen a bunch. I’d rather listen to – you guessed it. Vices. I know I keep talking about the Vices album on this one, but that’s because it’s REALLY darned good. One thing this album did was tone down the sex rom the first album. It was there in spades (Love Loaded, Women in Chains, etc)… I don’t think that alone had anything to do with the different sound on this album (probably more to to with the change in personnel). However, there are sone good songs on this album, just perhaps not a wall to wall selection of them.
NOTE: I do have Vices on vinyl, but that will take awhile to get to due to alphabetical listings. :)
