Skid Row: Subhuman Beings On Tour (2021 Reissue)

Part 5 of Skid Row The Atlantic Years (1989-1996)

Kinda interesting that this live EP (recorded in London England) would be the last release of the  Sebastian Bach fronted Skid Row.

Too be honest until this box set was announced I had no idea this EP existed so for me it was a no brainer that I wanted to hear it.

Subhuman Beings (or Beigs!!) On Tour is a quick little ass kicker of a 6 song, 36 minute listen that is friggin heavy.

Opener” Slave To The Grind” lights the fuse as the band goes into hyperdrive in terms of tempo and Bach singing and screaming and hailing a bunch of Fucks like only he can do.

The band behind him are playing at a ferocious pace. Skid Rows pal Robert Halford shows up and shares the mic with Bach on “Delivering The Goods”.

The only tune featured from the “Subhuman Race” album is the classic “Beat Yourself Blind” which just flat out wants to blow your speaker with Rachel Bolan’s Fuzz distorted Bass tone. I friggin love this track.

Speaking of Bolan who lifts off with a super charged take on “Psycho Therapy” which goes right into a 120 mph version of “Riot Act”.

“Riot Act” is another one of those killer tracks. Short-Fast-To The Point.

“You say its raining but its pissing down my back”

“Monkey Business” closes out the record which is the longest track as it features a bit of a jam in the form of “Mississippi Queen” to which the band ramps up..

Funny that nothing from the debut was on this and if there is one knock on this is that its too short.  But holy moly what an ass kicking EP.

Since this was an original Japan only release each band member thanks the Japanese fan base for coming out at the end of the album. Included are both the lyrics in Japanese and English. Just like Cheap Trick did back on their “Budokan” album.

 

deKe’s 2022 score of Subhuman Race: 8.5/10

Well friends thanks for reading and commenting along the way on this handful of Skid Row reviews.

I had a great time over the holidays digging into these albums. A pretty good flashback if anything and nice to own now on vinyl.

It’s too bad they get lumped in the whole Hair Metal tag but outside the debut release they are pretty much a cheese free band as once “Slave To The Grind” and “Subhuman Race” proved there were many more layers involving this band.

It’s  shame really that they couldn’t get there shit together on personal level but I guess that why there is a word called divorce.

Sabo/Bolan really prove themselves are prolific songwriters who at the time had a lead vocalist that could deliver the goods(so to speak).

Skid Row had a great run really and of course Bach is doing his own thing while the other guys are doing there’s. Regardless of what the future holds you can honestly say that these 5 guys did let the music do the talking for the seven years of recorded material for Atlantic Records.

deke’s 2022 score of the The Atlantic Years Box Set: 8.5/10